I Rode My Bike Today...

First ride back since the collarbone ride on April 15 and family health issues.
Short ride but didn’t die even though I’m in terrible shape.
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(yesterday)

We didn't have much of a plan, so I suggested we take the Toll Rd. up to Mt. Wilson (you know, the "easy" way up! ;) ), and decide from there. @Faust29 was having an off-day, and was suffering much more than usual on the way up. We made it though, had a snack at the Cafe, and decided to roll down the front side. We both hit Upper Merrill, then split and I rolled Middle Merrill while Steve took Mt. Lowe Railroad. We then both took Sunset, and finished with Horse Trail.

Too much foot traffic on a Saturday to be bombing these trails downhill, so it was slow going and riding the brakes most of the way. Still enjoyed it, but it's interesting how going slower on dh trails is actually harder and requires much more energy.

Good weather, a little warm even in the morning, as evidenced by both of us consuming much more water than normal for the climb. Not uncomfortable though (@Faust29 might argue otherwise). Later in the ride down low - especially on the Echo Mountain transition trail over to Sunset - it did feel hot, but again not to the point of feeling miserable.

Strava: apparently I have the occasional tendency to unintentionally pause the recording when I take my phone out to check something, and to not resume the recording. :bang: I lost a few miles and about 800' of data on the Toll Rd. climb, but what ya gonna do?

Killer Day!
~24 / 5000'

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Yeah... It's been a rough few months. The original plan for Saturday was an adventure ride on new dirt. Unfortunately the Snake King couldn't make it, so that left the two of us. Adventure ride postponed. So I was thinking a climb to Inspiration Point, with the option of going higher. I felt pretty good on Lower Sam Friday, so Inspiration wouldn't have been much farther. Once you hit the top of Lower Sam, it becomes a "normal" climb. Then Pat rolled in, and suggested the Toll Road. Both climbs are doable from the garage, so no change in logistics. Hmmmm... It sounded like a good idea.

Yeah... No. :laugh: High heart rate, 50% speed, sweating uncontrollably, 3 times the water consumption, leg cramps, and I think I heard voices. :laugh: Eventually we made the cafe. Food, drink, and some salt capsules brought me (sort of) back to life. We took our time, and hung out...

Then it was the screaming fast pavement descent to Eaton Saddle, and the short climb through the tunnel and up to Markham Saddle. The Eaton parking lot was packed, and the hikers were out in droves. I have especially fond feelings for the 50 or so hikers who completely blocked the road at Markham Saddle while taking a break. o_O

I was waffling on whether or not to do Upper Merrill. It is, without a doubt, my favorite front range trail. It has some techy climbing at the beginning, though, and I was still thinking about the leg cramps before the cafe. Also- Doc says "no hardtails and no black diamond trails." Ummmm... I know the trail pretty well, and figured I could ride it smoothly, so we went for it. Pat out front, and me bringing up a cautious rear- doing my own thing in the back. Glorious!

Techy Climbing at the start of Upper Merrill:

My Favorite Section:

Middle Merrill, on the other hand, is not a trail I can ride "smoothly"... There are sections that just beat the hell out of me even if I hit everything right. So I passed, and agreed to meet Pat near the entrance to Sunset... I actually rolled partway down the Mt. Lowe Trail and hung out while he made his way down MM and over from the ruins. The trail looks a lot wider going downhill... :laugh:

Wrong Way...

Sunset isn't my favorite trail, but it's the one I've ridden the most... It's definitely "black", but it can be smoothed out... I must have it dialed, because my moving time was the exact same as the day before. :laugh:

Horsey Trail finish, and a mad dash to the tacos...

Bikes are fun. 25/5000
 
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Yah that toll road is a grunt!

redwoods said:
(yesterday)

We didn't have much of a plan, so I suggested we take the Toll Rd. up to Mt. Wilson (you know, the "easy" way up! ;) ), and decide from there. @Faust29 was having an off-day, and was suffering much more than usual on the way up. We made it though, had a snack at the Cafe, and decided to roll down the front side. We both hit Upper Merrill, then split and I rolled Middle Merrill while Steve took Mt. Lowe Railroad. We then both took Sunset, and finished with Horse Trail.

Too much foot traffic on a Saturday to be bombing these trails downhill, so it was slow going and riding the brakes most of the way. Still enjoyed it, but it's interesting how going slower on dh trails is actually harder and requires much more energy.

Good weather, a little warm even in the morning, as evidenced by both of us consuming much more water than normal for the climb. Not uncomfortable though (@Faust29 might argue otherwise). Later in the ride down low - especially on the Echo Mountain transition trail over to Sunset - it did feel hot, but again not to the point of feeling miserable.

Strava: apparently I have the occasional tendency to unintentionally pause the recording when I take my phone out to check something, and to not resume the recording. :bang: I lost a few miles and about 800' of data on the Toll Rd. climb, but what ya gonna do?

Killer Day!
~24 / 5000'

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Faust29 said:
Yeah... It's been a rough few months. The original plan for Saturday was an adventure ride on new dirt. Unfortunately the Snake King couldn't make it, so that left the two of us. I was thinking a climb to Inspiration Point, with the option of going higher. I felt pretty good on Lower Sam Friday, so Inspiration wouldn't have been much farther. Once you hit the top of Lower Sam, it becomes a "normal" climb. Then Pat rolled in, and suggested the Toll Road. Both climbs are doable from the garage, so no change in logistics. Hmmmm... It sounded like a good idea.

Yeah... No. :laugh: High heart rate, 50% speed, sweating uncontrollably, 3 times the water consumption, leg cramps, and I think I heard voices. :laugh: Eventually we made the cafe. Food, drink, and some salt capsules brought me (sort of) back to life. We took our time, and hung out...

Then it was the screaming fast pavement descent to Eaton Saddle, and the short climb through the tunnel and up to Markham Saddle. The Eaton parking lot was packed, and the hikers were out in droves. I have especially fond feelings for the 50 or so hikers who completely blocked the road at Markham Saddle while taking a break. o_O

I was waffling on whether or not to do Upper Merrill. It is, without a doubt, my favorite front range trail. It has some techy climbing at the beginning, though, and I was still thinking about the leg cramps before the cafe. Also- Doc says "no hardtails and no black diamond trails." Ummmm... I know the trail pretty well, and figured I could ride it smoothly, so we went for it. Pat out front, and me bringing up a cautious rear- doing my own thing in the back. Glorious!

Techy Climbing at the start of Upper Merrill:

My Favorite Section:

Middle Merrill, on the other hand, is not a trail I can ride "smoothly"... There are sections that just beat the hell out of me even if I hit everything right. So I passed, and agreed to meet Pat near the entrance to Sunset... I actually rolled partway down the Mt. Lowe Trail and hung out while he made his way down MM and over from the ruins. The trail looks a lot wider going downhill... :laugh:

Wrong Way... (Still Processing)

Sunset isn't my favorite trail, but it's the one I've ridden the most... It's definitely "black", but it can be smoothed out...

Horsey Trail finish, and a mad dash to the tacos...

Bikes are fun. 25/5000
Click to expand...
S K E T C H Y !!!
 
Rode the last 2 weeks in Boulder, Colorado. Some fun trails and wild weather--rain, hail, sun, lightning--sometimes all in the same day. Got to demo the new SC Hightower and the Ripmo. Was hoping to ride the new Yei SB140, but too much rain on the last day. Always wondered what would happen if I encountered a mountain lion. Never thought about what I would do if surrounded by cows--I'm talking hundreds of cows and calfs. Frickin'everywhere and no way to back my way out of the trail. One huge cow blocked the trail and just stared at me. I just kept softly saying that I am a vegetarian and moved slowly. Very slowly.
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It was a road that passed two small springs a mile up from here.

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I made it through a couple of months ago – before the overgrowth. We gave up yesterday.

My alternate locale fared better.

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Wind gusts to 40 mph with temps down to 45 @8900’, but I made a day of it. 40/5700/8:00
 
mike said:
It was a road that passed two small springs a mile up from here.

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I made it through a couple of months ago – before the overgrowth. We gave up yesterday.

My alternate locale fared better.

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Wind gusts to 40 mph with temps down to 45 @8900’, but I made a day of it. 40/5700/8:00
Click to expand...
Range cattle follow anything bright and moving. It happened to me many times in the Sierra, when you get to a meadow and the cattle are there. As you move past an army of moo's follow until the end of the meadow.
 
Riding up there in the dry summer is a bit puckery! Good riding Fausty!:)

Faust29 said:
Yeah... It's been a rough few months. The original plan for Saturday was an adventure ride on new dirt. Unfortunately the Snake King couldn't make it, so that left the two of us. Adventure ride postponed. So I was thinking a climb to Inspiration Point, with the option of going higher. I felt pretty good on Lower Sam Friday, so Inspiration wouldn't have been much farther. Once you hit the top of Lower Sam, it becomes a "normal" climb. Then Pat rolled in, and suggested the Toll Road. Both climbs are doable from the garage, so no change in logistics. Hmmmm... It sounded like a good idea.

Yeah... No. :laugh: High heart rate, 50% speed, sweating uncontrollably, 3 times the water consumption, leg cramps, and I think I heard voices. :laugh: Eventually we made the cafe. Food, drink, and some salt capsules brought me (sort of) back to life. We took our time, and hung out...

Then it was the screaming fast pavement descent to Eaton Saddle, and the short climb through the tunnel and up to Markham Saddle. The Eaton parking lot was packed, and the hikers were out in droves. I have especially fond feelings for the 50 or so hikers who completely blocked the road at Markham Saddle while taking a break. o_O

I was waffling on whether or not to do Upper Merrill. It is, without a doubt, my favorite front range trail. It has some techy climbing at the beginning, though, and I was still thinking about the leg cramps before the cafe. Also- Doc says "no hardtails and no black diamond trails." Ummmm... I know the trail pretty well, and figured I could ride it smoothly, so we went for it. Pat out front, and me bringing up a cautious rear- doing my own thing in the back. Glorious!

Techy Climbing at the start of Upper Merrill:

My Favorite Section:

Middle Merrill, on the other hand, is not a trail I can ride "smoothly"... There are sections that just beat the hell out of me even if I hit everything right. So I passed, and agreed to meet Pat near the entrance to Sunset... I actually rolled partway down the Mt. Lowe Trail and hung out while he made his way down MM and over from the ruins. The trail looks a lot wider going downhill... :laugh:

Wrong Way...

Sunset isn't my favorite trail, but it's the one I've ridden the most... It's definitely "black", but it can be smoothed out... I must have it dialed, because my moving time was the exact same as the day before. :laugh:

Horsey Trail finish, and a mad dash to the tacos...

Bikes are fun. 25/5000
Click to expand...
 
I went on a mini-adventure ride today, Han Solo style, to scratch a trail that I've always wanted to ride off my list.

The ride started at the base of Lower Sam Merrill, a real slap in the face for many. But I love the pain and agony this trail dishes out. So I made my way up, up, and more up. Not too many other users on the climb, the usual scattered weekday crowd and some of those, I recognize from so many times before. Nice to see that others consider the hell grind that this trail is, a regular stop. When I reached the top of the trail, I continued onward upon Echo Mountain Trail. I left early enough to beat much of the sun for the climb. The temps were wonderfully cool which kept me from overheating and therefore, kept my energy level up. I made my way around the mountain side on EMT then turned onto Mt Lowe FR. Took a quick breather at the Cape of Good Hope. Then, it was time to continue the climb so off I went. Nice steady pace, fairly good dirt conditions, still some moisture in it to keep the dust down. Made my way to and past the old tavern site. I would roll through the site on the way back down. Reached the junction where Middle Merrill can be accessed. Continued on to relax at Inspiration Point. I hadn't seen a single other bike at this point and I never would for the duration of the ride today. There was a foreign hiker there taking it in too. We chatted briefly. From his accent, I could tell that he was from across "The Pond". Set off again to continue the climb up Mt Lowe FR. When I reached the trailhead for Tom Sloan trail, I dropped in.

We see this trail across the canyon every time we climb Mt Lowe FR. I've had interest in riding it for some time and today I would get a taste. It starts out wonderfully, with a mostly mild DH grade under mostly shade canopy. The trail is wide and well maintained. There is the odd rock step or staircase, or techy feature to tackle. It stays this way for most of a mile and then things change rapidly. Here is where the trail becomes extremely exposed with narrow sharp/blind turns on loose DG. Sections roll along vertical granite walls with the DH side a really bad place to be. High pucker factor. Reminds me of the scary stuff on Condor Peak but this could be worse. I walked considerable sections. There was two major exposed sections and then for the final stretch, the trail returns to a tame gentle, wide path, mostly out in the sun. At about two miles, I arrived at the 5 way junction. So many options!

Here, at Tom Sloan Saddle, you can take any of the following trail options:
*Dawn Mine
*Bear Canyon
*Brown Mountain
*a steep uphill return to Mt Lowe FR
*or, you can backtrack from where you came

I started getting bit up by flies at the junction. Darn things were annoying and biting me through my jersey. I decided to try the uphill return to Mt Lowe FR. It's brutally steep with only some sections ridable. But the flies were chomping away on me because I wasn't moving fast enough to keep them at bay. So, I dropped down the 1/4 mile or so that I climbed, and turned back onto Tom Sloan trail. I actually enjoyed climbing it more. I still walked all of the nasty/narrow exposure sections. Made it back to the canopy area and decided to drop in on a junction that leads to the old tavern site. BIG MISTAKE! :eek: This area of the mountain is no place to have a trail. Not good at all for bikes and even a major challenge for hikers, IMO. But I eventually got down into the tavern site where I saw a couple of guys chillin' at a bench. I blew through and got back onto Mt Lowe FR. Cruised DH at a good pace and made it back to EMT. I decided to backtrack my way down the mountain instead of taking Sunset Ridge/Horsey Trail. This meant that my last dirt drop of the day would be on Lower Sam Merrill. Dropping this trail is considered a sin in the mtn bike community. :laugh: Forgive Father, for I have sinned. But it sure is fun being a bad boy and going DH on this trail. I took it fairly easy since I knew that I would encounter hikers and also because I was off my techy riding game today, since the exposure on Tom Sloan spooked me. Got back to the car, tried to talk @Faust29 into meeting me for a taco but he had just eaten. So I had the place to myself. :inlove:

I probably won't do this trail again. I enjoyed it enough but it ends literally in the middle of nowhere. :cool:

19 miles
3900' gain

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Black Star today. It's been a while since I rode to the Doppler. It used to be a regular ride for me but today was more work. Plenty of resting in the last couple of miles. Beeks Place has a BBQ out now and a hammock neatly displayed right next to where you ride by ready to be used nice and shady too! Kinda' like that blonde chick washing the car in Cool Hand Luke. It was a quite an inviting hammock! Not mine so I peddled on. I visited with a trail runner for a spell at the Doppler. The road down is thin loose dirt over hardpack having been recently graded. I had a hard time making one of the righthand turns at speed ( I can turn right BTW. I'm all thumbs when it comes to turning left ) and nearly ended up over the side. :whistling: I should've dropped the tire air pressure for the ride down on my Maxxis Ardent rear. ( Maybe some speed control too? ) I'm a sucker for punishment and went down Boobytrap even though the voice in my head said not to. I rode down it nice and easy. Boobytrap as short as it is is fast flowing right now. I brought 2 bottles of water and consumed both on the ride. 18 mi./ 2,500 climbing.

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Stkx66 said:
Black Star today. It's been a while since I rode to the Doppler. It used to be a regular ride for me but today was more work. Plenty of resting in the last couple of miles. Beeks Place has a BBQ out now and a hammock neatly displayed right next to where you ride by ready to be used nice and shady too! Kinda' like that blonde chick washing the car in Cool Hand Luke. It was a quite an inviting hammock! Not mine so I peddled on. I visited with a trail runner for a spell at the Doppler. The road down is thin loose dirt over hardpack having been recently graded. I had a hard time making one of the righthand turns at speed ( I can turn right BTW. I'm all thumbs when it comes to turning left ) and nearly ended up over the side. :whistling: I should've dropped the tire air pressure for the ride down on my Maxxis Ardent rear. ( Maybe some speed control too? ) I'm a sucker for punishment and went down Boobytrap even though the voice in my head said not to. I rode down it nice and easy. Boobytrap as short as it is is fast flowing right now. I brought 2 bottles of water and consumed both on the ride. 18 mi./ 2,500 climbing.

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One of the places where I park for the Front Range rides is loaded with peacocks. Today, I saw them when I parked and then again when I returned to my car. A flock that was feeding next to me as though they were expecting me to feed them by hand. Damned street chickens! :facepalm:
 
SnakeCharmer said:
One of the places where I park for the Front Range rides is loaded with peacocks. Today, I saw them when I parked and then again when I returned to my car. A flock that was feeding next to me as though they were expecting me to feed them by hand. Damned street chickens! :facepalm:
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Street chickens? No. He was super friendly and I damned near took a pic of him next to my bike to see who wore blue better. Him or my wheel hubs? Haha They are a pair male and female only I haven’t seen the female in a couple of years now. :oops:
 
Sunset over the Santa Ynez Mountains. sun shines through a tunnel in the ridge rocks. Only occurs today, maybe tomorrow. Gone in about 10 seconds. But sunsets are an integral part of my ride so all is well. Nobody out this evening Nice ride on the ridge, and watching the solstice sunset too.
happy sunset trails
 
da big hills said:
Sunset over the Santa Ynez Mountains. sun shines through a tunnel in the ridge rocks. Only occurs today, maybe tomorrow. Gone in about 10 seconds. But sunsets are an integral part of my ride so all is well. Nobody out this evening Nice ride on the ridge, and watching the solstice sunset too.
happy sunset trails
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maybe around Lizards Mouth Rock or San Marcos Pass
 
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