From 6 to 3 to 2 to 3

Faust29

Faust29

iMTB Hooligan
We started with 6 at Peltzer's Tree Farm at 7:00. @mtnbikej, @BonsaiNut, @HBkites, @singlespeedrider, and HBKite's friend, Jeff.

Low 40s in RSM when I left the house, but 50s at the tree farm... Hmmmm... No pack, no arm warmers, just a very light jacket. We're playing it risky today. With the crazy weather this winter, I've been riding with extra clothes for cool and wet weather in the pack. When it was 26 on Main Divide a few weeks ago, it was nice to have. I also ditched the 3rd bottle I had planned on bringing. Traveling light for the death march! I had two bottles of Tailwind on the bike, and enough to mix up 4 more. I also brought a "Belvita breakfast bar". It was on the counter... Never needed the real food, so I took it for a 45 mile tour of the mountains. :thumbsup:

Rolling out onto Silverado Canyon Road, the rabbits started running! Uh oh. This isn't supposed to be a short ride... What's the rush! I hung back and spun the pedals. When the road turned upwards, I managed to reel them back in. :thumbsup:

Rollin' at 7:00...
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We didn't push the pace up Maple Springs. It was a cruise... The pavement section has been completely cleared of the debris from the water runoff. There are still some water crossings, but they are much tamer than a few weeks ago. :thumbsup: Before we knew it, we were at 4 Corners... Still in the low to mid 40s, but the trail was pretty dry.
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Cool views today! Looking down on the other side of the mountain. This is about where the Garmin Mount came loose and I lost the little rubber bands. The Garmin spent the rest of the ride in a pocket...
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This was at the top of the big climb on the way to Motorway... Never noticed it before.
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The turnoff to Motorway. Bonsainut, singlespeedrider, and Jeff decided to opt for the kids' ride. :whistling: Mtnbikej, HBKites, and I continued on to Eagle. I'll admit that I was a little jealous. Motorway and I are now really good friends, and I was a little bummed that we wouldn't be riding it today.
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Eagle will never be popular from the OC side of the mountain... It takes a lot to get there, and there are more technical descents around, like Motorway, which is only a mile from the Eagle trailhead. Eagle is a riot, however. It was fire road at one time, but has overgrown into a true single/double track descent that reminds me of Golden Eagle in spots, and Monroe Truck Trail in others. Sort of a smoother, steeper STT. You can carry as much speed down the twisty plunge as you are comfortable with... :thumbsup: Today it was green!

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Checking out the exit to the street... Avoiding the private property. The part we're looking at isn't bad, but the trail hangs a sharp left onto a steep, slippery, rutted chute. One of us rode it easily... Two walked most of it!
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I was probably doing 30 MPH on the street when I snapped this one... 15 minutes, mostly downhill to the Skyline trailhead.
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Our first water break... Mile 28. And only one bottle down. :thumbsup:
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I think this guy has been smoothing out the ruts on Skyline. It's usually like riding on pea gravel. Today it was like riding on a pool table. But, the climb still seemed to go on forever. :gag: There are a lot of DH type trails on the Corona side, and we passed a guy on his Giant DH bike...
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A quick regroup.
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The wind had been gusty all day, but was absolutely brutal at Beeks. I almost didn't make the left to head to the ruins, as I was pummeled from the left and almost blown into the gate. We decided that the second loop was out of the question and we would head down Black Star. Mrs. Mtnbikej was pedaling up from the bottom, and we would meet her most of the way down. Jason and I turned around and made the climb back to the first Mariposa sign with Mrs. Mtnbikej, while Sharone headed down...

A little rut...
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Mrs. Mtnbikej let us know that there were some hikers on the lower section of Black Star. There were hundreds! Many looked like they were discovering the outdoors for the first time... o_O

Every car here had at least 12 passengers.
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45 miles and 7500 feet. :thumbsup: 2.5 bottles of Tailwind...

Nerdball video: https://www.relive.cc/view/864419690
 
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Yeah, so today was Sunday Funday....and we did a fun spin through the mountains.....just because we could.

Big turnout today for one of my rides....weird. @Faust29 , @BonsaiNut, @HBkites, @singlespeedrider, and HBKite's friend, Jeff.

Mark was only planning the kids ride....thus pushed the pace. :eek: Ok, so he had a date with the wife....or something like that. The pace up Silverado was on the quicker side....it was a social pace as we were all talking. :whistling:

Maple Springs spread us out a little bit, but we regrouped at the end of the pavement. Once on the dirt, the miles just kinda rolled by. At one point @BonsaiNut slipped off the back. Eventually he caught up and we were off again. In no time we were at 4 Corners. We didn't hang out long. The wind was whipping about and it was a little chilly. Across Main Divide was like Maple Springs...it just seemed to go by quickly. Well, at least until we got to the climb after Bedford. Pushed up a little bit then walked the rest. I wasn't the only one. ;)

The closer we got to Motorway, the stronger the wind became. At Motorway, after a short break, the group split up, with Sharone, Steve and I continuing on. Jeff and Mark had time constraints...Greg had only planned on going this far. No problem, have a good ride guys.

We dropped down from Motorway and started the ball buster climb. I cleaned it last weekend, I cleaned it again today. It is longer and steeper than it looks, but it is getting easier. We rolled right into Eagle Rd. The trail was in great shape, and I knew the boys could handle themselves, so I kinda just went. I slowed up a few times when we got to a couple of forks in the road. The trail varied from wet and sticky to dry and tacky.

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Dropped into the chute that puts us at the bottom. The dirt up top was nice and tacky. The top part after the left hand turn, started off tacky then proceeded to get muddy and slippery. Wasn't sure i was gonna make the turn and stay out of the big man eating rut...but it worked out.

After the headwind unaided road spin to Skyline, and a quick water stop. There was nothing left but to start on up Skyline. As Steve said, the road was in great shape, the work done on the road made it really smooth. It would have made for a quicker climb, if not for the howling winds. The higher up we got the worse it got. We made it past Echo Point and did the downhill before the climb at the split to Sierra Peak. We were welcomed by a horrible headwind and a warm peanut butter like mud on the road....just not right.

With the wind we had already sh!tcanned the 2nd loop. At Beeks' the wind was blowing over the top of the ridge(found out when I got home 30-40 mph gusts). We headed down Blackstar...pretty uneventful. Occasional tailwinds were welcomed, but seemed it was mostly a headwind. We caught up to my wife at the entrance to the last singletrack. Sharone continued on down, while we turned around and continued with her. A few spot before the cattle gate, the wind nearly blew us to a stop....GRRRRRRR!!!!!!

We turned around just past the cattle gate and headed down. It was all good on the way down. Then we got down into the lower canyon. In the last 4 weeks or so, Blackstar has all of a sudden become the Aliso Woods of the Santa Ana's. The people just kept multiplying.....cars packing like sardines.

Otherwise it was a grand day out on the mountain. Yes, the wind sucked......er, blew.:stop::thumbsdown: However the clear views and great temps offset that nicely.
 
Good RR guys.
I don't have much to add. Here are some of the things that stood out in my mind.

5 hr of sleep is not enough for me (the drinking didn't help).
The tails condition far exceeded my best expectation.
One of the shortest ride up MS I can remember.
I never like MD. Today's ride didn't change my mind much.
First time down Eagle. It quickly bolted to the top of the list of "downhill runs from MD". Too bad (for me) that it ends in Corona!
Skyline was not easy.
Black start need some work.
The amount of people at the final 1/3 of B* was unfathomable. My bell ringing finger got sore.
Made it to the truck before 1pm (12:45).

Overall this ride was hard for me.
My bike worked well. No mechanical issues. My mighty 140mm rear brake didn't let me down ;-)

Good ride. Nice group of guys.
I finally starting to feel like I'm putting in the prep work for the "big" rides I singed up for in the spring.

Nutrition:
1 banana and a 500 ml bottle of water on the way to the start.
The first 2 21Oz. bottles with 1.5 scoops of Tailwind lasted up to the middle of Skyline.
3rd bottle with 2 scoops in the final hr.
I ate one kids clip bar (found it in the kitchen this morning), and two jelly beans from Jeff.
 
i planned to ride up to four corners today as early as possible but didnt get on road till almost 7am... i came across you guys half way up Silverado canyon... i was in the silver jeep wrangler who was stalking you for awhile lol. i saw you guys again as i headed down from four corners... was hoping you all would reach your 11k ride but i knew from how hard wind was blowing at 4 corners that your goal would be a tall order.

dirt was in great shape with a few puddles. a lot of riders coming up as i rode back down. busy day on the trail. by the looks of blackstar im glad i didnt ride there today.

ill have to join you guys one of these days for a big boy ride. great day being out there!
 
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