I Rode My Bike Today...

We rode off Top of the World in Whistler today and veered off into the backcountry on the Khyber Pass, Middle of Nowhere, Kashmir route. It's my favorite ride in Whistler. Unfortunately, I lost my phone on the last lift of the day (long story) so no photos or videos. Here is someone else's video of the route.
 
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Crazy stuff technology is...I lost my phone on the mountain on Monday but all the photos I took are loaded on my laptop. This was Top of the World at Whistler.
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CBone said:
Lol at the “Una Moss” trail name on the sign.
Looks like an awesome trip.
Losing the phone sucks though.
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100% on me....I'm a fool for setting the phone under my leg on the chair. I then got up and rode away. My phone made it 3/4 of the way down on the chair before rattling off. I went up the next day using the Find My Phone app but despite the sensor saying I was "0 feet away" we couldn't find it in the dense brush/vegetation. Then what I thought were my photos when I posted actually were sent to me by a fellow rider. :facepalm:
 
mtbMike said:
100% on me....I'm a fool for setting the phone under my leg on the chair. I then got up and rode away. My phone made it 3/4 of the way down on the chair before rattling off. I went up the next day using the Find My Phone app but despite the sensor saying I was "0 feet away" we couldn't find it in the dense brush/vegetation. Then what I thought were my photos when I posted actually were sent to me by a fellow rider. :facepalm:
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I was on space mountain and my bosses phone popped out of my camel pack. Went home and grabbed the wifes phone and rode Space again. I would call every 100 yards or so. Her batteries were about dead and I was 3/4 up Space. I called and lucky me the phone was way off the trail but it landed butter side up and I could see the light in the total darkness of Space. This was before we had lost my Iphone.
I got to get out and ride Space at night. Its the bomb
 
Santiago Oaks this afternoon. Super hot as expected. I only saw a few hikers and bikers, because who is dumb enough to ride out there in the middle of the day? :whistling:

They have completely ruined Barham Ridge, plowed dirt over all the chunk & the drop, and filled in every berm on the sides. Not sure why they would even do that. It can't be to slow bikes, because now it is just a fire road (and a super wide one at that). The only reason it is slow now is because there is a lot of sand and loose dirt. As soon as it packs and/or rains once or twice it will be a speedway.

They also plowed away the jump spot behind the flag. I guess someone had the bright idea to ruin other people fun for some reason. I am sure that will get built back soon enough though.

First drop I did at the flag today, I rubbed my ass on the rear tire. LOL. New 29er fear unlocked. I am super hesitant everywhere on this bike, gonna take some time to figure it out. I almost crashed on Chutes because I was going too slow, which is crazy since I have ridden that trail 1,998 times. Allegedly.

I plan to take this thing to Summit on Monday, so maybe I will get comfortable with it out there. Or maybe I will get worked. We shall see. :eek:

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Headed over to Hawes this morning. Cousin had some tire issues and a few flats before we decided to tube it. Sealant dries really fast this time of year. After about 12 miles I set off to do some extra miles. Climbing up Alpe I turned around at the 1/2 point. Usually I do fine in the heat but the heat and 35% humidity kicked my butt. Only 15 miles and 2000 feet. Lower Gidro is getting chunky from the rain washing the dirt away. Big sister is as fun as always.

If anyone is visiting the Phoenix area Hawes needs to be on your list.
 
Santiago Oaks again this morning. Started right about 8 to beat the heat, but there was no beating the humidity. Another ride where I was thoroughly soaked. Oaks was about as empty as I have ever seen it on a Saturday morning though.

Yucca, Peralta, the sketchy trail by the flag, Chutes Ridgeline, & Fenceline for the fun stuff. Plus some drops at the flag of course. I rode all the way over to Puma, only to find out the trail was closed. Oh well.

Bike felt great today. Maybe my issue is not riding it enough. :whistling: :cool: All I changed from Thursday was adjusting the cockpit a bit and opening the bleed screws in the fork. Some air came out of the left stanchion, but not the right. Interesting.

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Once again I find myself with my first ride after a recovery. Let's see - shoulder in 2020, back surgery in 2022, hip replacement in 2024, eye surgery in 2024. Wheeeeee!

I am supposed to come back cautiously - so I decided to do only Whiting. I haven't ridden since June 19 - nearly two months.

I arrived at the Wahoos lot at 8:25 to find about 25-30 cars with bikes or bike racks already there. A large group of about 25 was prepping to head out, so I scampered to get ahead of them. This timing would turn out to be crucial.

Cruising over to the park entrance on Portola, crossing Bake, I thought I heard someone call my name. Suddenly an image appeared in my right peripheral vision, along with the tell-tale sounds of a ratcheting bicycle hub. The only one I know who rides on the sidewalks on that stretch is..could it be?... YES IT IS @Danimal. He caught a glimpse of me going by while he was riding up Bake, and turned to catch me. I am so glad he did. We had a delightful ride together - much better than going solo.

We stayed ahead of the large group through Borrego, but after a short stop for Dan to adjust some levers, they started to catch us. We went up and around Cattle Pond and most of them didn't. So we leap frogged up Mustard. No big deal. Several were on e-mtbs but they were just mellowing it to keep pace with their non motorized friends. I heard one girl on an ebike complaining that she's going to cut the intended ride short so she can sit in her condo with the AC on. She must have really been working hard on her moped!

At the top of Mustard, we turned right and headed to the former location of Mark's Bench. We then came back down there, went up and over to Santiago Canyon road, then turned around and climbed back up to 4 corners. Then the fun stuff - Cactus, Sage Scrub, Serrano Cow, Live Oak, etc. It was hard for me to roll off the throttle to minimize the potential of eye rattling, but I did - except for one short DH section (Sage Scrub) where I thought I was being chased. Turns out the guy behind me was quite slow on the descent, so nothing to worry about.

Around 9 miles and 1100' for me. Dan rode from his home, so he probably landed around 13m and 1500'. Great to be back out on a bike again, and I am so happy the universe conspired to throw Dan and I together for the ride. :thumbsup:

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scan said:
Yay @herzalot !
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Indeed!!!

I haven't been riding much/at all, but wanted to ride somewhere cool today. Roped Firstborn into this. But couldn't get out early enough to ride Seven Oaks/SART (road climb would suck in the heat) so decided to head up to big bear. My preferred route is parking at the top of Radford. But gate was closed lower on Club View. Luckily a parking spot at the trailhead there. So up we went to where it drops down by 2N10. At which point I saw the sign saying trail & road closure through 12-24. Damn. I was struggling to just get that far without a motor, so we just turned around and rode back to the car. I packed up, while Jake rode down to the bottom of Fern at Pineknot. Pretty uneventful, but a nice drive up and back and good to get out and ride. I forget how much I absolutely love riding on an actual mountain trail in the trees!

3.3/375/1

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herzalot said:
Once again I find myself with my first ride after a recovery. Let's see - shoulder in 2020, back surgery in 2022, hip replacement in 2024, eye surgery in 2024. Wheeeeee!

I am supposed to come back cautiously - so I decided to do only Whiting. I haven't ridden since June 19 - nearly two months.

I arrived at the Wahoos lot at 8:25 to find about 25-30 cars with bikes or bike racks already there. A large group of about 25 was prepping to head out, so I scampered to get ahead of them. This timing would turn out to be crucial.

Cruising over to the park entrance on Portola, crossing Bake, I thought I heard someone call my name. Suddenly an image appeared in my right peripheral vision, along with the tell-tale sounds of a ratcheting bicycle hub. The only one I know who rides on the sidewalks on that stretch is..could it be?... YES IT IS @Danimal. He caught a glimpse of me going by while he was riding up Bake, and turned to catch me. I am so glad he did. We had a delightful ride together - much better than going solo.

We stayed ahead of the large group through Borrego, but after a short stop for Dan to adjust some levers, they started to catch us. We went up and around Cattle Pond and most of them didn't. So we leap frogged up Mustard. No big deal. Several were on e-mtbs but they were just mellowing it to keep pace with their non motorized friends. I heard one girl on an ebike complaining that she's going to cut the intended ride short so she can sit in her condo with the AC on. She must have really been working hard on her moped!

At the top of Mustard, we turned right and headed to the former location of Mark's Bench. We then came back down there, went up and over to Santiago Canyon road, then turned around and climbed back up to 4 corners. Then the fun stuff - Cactus, Sage Scrub, Serrano Cow, Live Oak, etc. It was hard for me to roll off the throttle to minimize the potential of eye rattling, but I did - except for one short DH section (Sage Scrub) where I thought I was being chased. Turns out the guy behind me was quite slow on the descent, so nothing to worry about.

Around 9 miles and 1100' for me. Dan rode from his home, so he probably landed around 13m and 1500'. Great to be back out on a bike again, and I am so happy the universe conspired to throw Dan and I together for the ride. :thumbsup:

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This is awesome.
 
Im finally back into a rhythm of regular riding. 4 rides this week topped off by an epic at Capitol Forest. I last did this ride 5 years again when I was in tip top shape so I had some anxiety when I committed to the ride. Welp, I pulled it off!! If anyone is ever in the Washington area and wants to do an XC ride all on single track, I’d highly recommend Capitol Forest. Single track for days. Nothing gnarly just nicely groomed and flow trails. I did it on my Kona Honzo hard tail.
 

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I rode up Black Star yesterday at around 9:30 am. It was way to hot for me but I kept going anyway. I rolled with my Camelbak so I had enough water with me. I walked the last stretch before Boobytrap trail. At the top of Boobytrap my iPhone overheated. I had installed a DHF front on my Ripley which hooked up quite well for the return to the truck. 15.6 mi/ 1,926 climbing.

The American Classic Gravel tires showed up and I installed them this morning and went for a spin. The tires were really quiet which is what I wanted. I put in 32 PSI front and 35 PSI rear in the 700 x 50 tires. During the ride it appears my rear valve stem began leaking and my own "home-brew" tire sealant slowed but did not stop the leak. When I checked the tire when I got back it had around 25 lbs. in it. 11.9 miles/
 

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SnakeCharmer said:
The Cheese this morning with Pat. The sulfur spring continues to flow well. Saw many snake tracks but had only one encounter, a Gopher snake. It got hot rapidly which caused me to bonk near the high point of the ride. 14, 1600.
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Meanwhile @redwoods dons his long-sleeve top with hoodie and pants to protect his skin from the scorching sun...
 
I headed up to Big Bear this morning to ride Snow Summit, but today was the first day of a planned road closure of the 18 from about 2 miles from the Exploration trailhead all the way to the dam. OK, that sucked. Ate a quick lunch and then rode Exploration instead.

I made the mistake of parking at the top, so only did one lap. Lots of driving today for a short ride. Oh well, Exploration was really fun. I will treat today as a recon ride. I have the next three Friday's off, so will get up to Snow Valley and Snow Summit soon enough. I figure I will start each with a lap of Exploration first.

Exploration has some tricky uphill bits I need to figure out. I had to hop of the bike about 5 times. Mostly because I don't know where they are yet and a lack of momentum/wrong gear got me, but I think I can clean most of them if I know they are coming. The downhill parts are a blast.

Road closure is M-Th from 8 AM to 3 PM until the 29th for anyone planning on going to Big Bear.
 
I met Steve and Matt this morning for a stroll through da Cheese. I knew it would become too warm for me so I elected to do the classic route while the boyz opted to head up to China Flats to access some Suicide Trail. Nothing to really report on the way up to the lookout (where we parted ways) other than that I finally cleaned the upper section of The Wall (it's been a long while). Today we had a sea breeze which made things nicer out there. I had one snake encounter (first video) and finished the ride with 14, 1600.

 
SnakeCharmer said:
I met Steve and Matt this morning for a stroll through da Cheese. I knew it would become too warm for me so I elected to do the classic route while the boyz opted to head up to China Flats to access some Suicide Trail. Nothing to really report on the way up to the lookout (where we parted ways) other than that I finally cleaned the upper section of The Wall (it's been a long while). Today we had a sea breeze which made things nicer out there. I had one snake encounter (first video) and finished the ride with 14, 1600.

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Good ride today. Both of the downhills are in great shape right now. I rode Suicide like a total goon, and it was hot as balls climbing up Palo Comado, but Sheep Corral was a blast. Despite the heat and spastic run down Suicide I had a lot of fun out there. Further proof that bikes are fun. 21/2979
 
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