I Rode My Bike Today...

blixet said:
Rode with @Y-not Steve this morning from home to Cow Trail and back. It was quite the grind and we were both pretty beaten up by the end. My gloves were soaked as if dropped in a bucket of water when I took them off. That Workman Ridge trail into the sun is relentless.
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@blixet That is a rough climb to Workman Ridge trail starting from the Philadelphia gate. I usually only exit that way.
 
DangerDirtyD said:
Workman Ridge at Whittier is rough?
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Not rough but tough after being off the bike since 9/13, not nutritionally prepping, and bringing the Beast to ride, it was not fun.
The climb on the fireroad did me in.
Give me a month to get back into riding shape and I shall return with a positive ride report.
Good ride or bad ride, it all on me if I have preped properly or not.
p.s.
@Tom the Bomb gave me some great advice on what to do to get my body ready for a great riding season. If you have issues with stamina, strength, and post ride recovery.......he's a great source of information. Thanks TOB
 
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Y-not said:
Not rough but tough after being off the bike since 9/13, not nutritionally prepping, and bringing the Beast to ride, it was not fun.
The climb on the fireroad did me in.
Give me a month to get back into riding shape and I shall return with a positive ride report.
Good ride or bad ride, it all on me if I have preped properly or not.
p.s.
@Tom the Bomb gave me some great advice on what to do to get my body ready for a great riding season. If you have issues with stamina, strength, and post ride recovery.......he's a great source of information. Thanks TOB
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Oh no! He didn’t tell you to plug it in, did he?
 
Big Laguna route today. Love this route. Los Gatos, the luge and Chico ravine! Interesting thing happened to me. As I was sitting on a log facing the trail and my bike I heard a noise behind me. The wind was blowing through the trees so it was a bit noisy. I heard crunching of ground cover turned and looked to see a couple huge black cows that were no more than 20 ft from me. These things were huge! They stopped and were eyeing me then the rest of the heard began to stroll in and they were close. Now generally a cow does not worry me because they are usually behind a barbed fence or many clicks away. These were 20 feet from me like 10 of them. Then I heard another sound coming from the trail in front of me where I sat. I looked to the left and another huge cow along with 4 others had come down the trail and was 3 feet from me! Freiken huge ass cow cautiously walked up to my bike , sniffed the rear tire snorted snot , looked right at me and made an effort to back up. In my frozen stupor I whispered “it’s ok”. I did not see any calfs so I figure if I did not make any sudden movements I would not get trampled. I slowly walked across the trail and up the side of the hill about 40 ft and they stroked by and then ran away. I have never been that close to an animal that big out in the sticks where I felt a bit helpless and vulnerable. A bit unnerving. I thought about yelling and spooking them to run away but then realized I just might get run over. Turns out there were about 30 of them that came through headed to the pond below. I won’t forget this one for a while.
Good temps and good conditions out there.
The temps are brakin. Do it baby!

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Tom the Bomb said:
Big Laguna route today. Love this route. Los Gatos, the luge and Chico ravine! Interesting thing happened to me. As I was sitting on a log facing the trail and my bike I heard a noise behind me. The wind was blowing through the trees so it was a bit noisy. I heard crunching of ground cover turned and looked to see a couple huge black cows that were no more than 20 ft from me. These things were huge! They stopped and were eyeing me then the rest of the heard began to stroll in and they were close. Now generally a cow does not worry me because they are usually behind a barbed fence or many clicks away. These were 20 feet from me like 10 of them. Then I heard another sound coming from the trail in front of me where I sat. I looked to the left and another huge cow along with 4 others had come down the trail and was 3 feet from me! Freiken huge ass cow cautiously walked up to my bike , sniffed the rear tire snorted snot , looked right at me and made an effort to back up. In my frozen stupor I whispered “it’s ok”. I did not see any calfs so I figure if I did not make any sudden movements I would not get trampled. I slowly walked across the trail and up the side of the hill about 40 ft and they stroked by and then ran away. I have never been that close to an animal that big out in the sticks where I felt a bit helpless and vulnerable. A bit unnerving. I thought about yelling and spooking them to run away but then realized I just might get run over. Turns out there were about 30 of them that came through headed to the pond below. I won’t forget this one for a while.
Good temps and good conditions out there.
The temps are brakin. Do it baby!

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Sweet, Tom -or should I say, Farmer Tom! Let's ride together soon!
 
Awesome day in the Cheese today. Been doing a slightly different loop lately, though with the same Sheep Corral DH finish, and have really been enjoying it. The place was teeming with wildlife today (deer, multiple baby gopher snakes, tarantula, tons of birds), and just felt really alive. Only 1 other trail user spotted on the entire loop. Sheep Corral is in pretty epic shape right now. Potentially PR shape on the big bike. Need to take a crack soon. Bikes are a lot of fun lately. 13.3/2076
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Fun ride this morning with @Bill for the Bommer Canyon Exploration day. It started out crazy foggy at 8 AM, but cleared up nicely and was even getting warm by the end.

Cattle Crest, Rabbit Run, Shady Oaks singletrack, East Fork and Ridgeline for the fun stuff. No PR's, but I managed a couple of 2nd and 3rds so good enough. I cleaned everything on Rabbit Run, so I think I am officially used to the the 29er now. :sneaky:

Lots of climbing as usual at Bommer. Bill was on a 180/170 travel :eek: S-Works and crushed the climbs. I was very much over the climbing by the end, and it felt like about 3,000 feet ... so I was happy to see Strava agreed.

Best part of the day was that we only encountered about 10 other riders/hikers in all of Bommer. Sooo much nicer than Saturday open access days.

Not that we were going to go back through it, but they closed the gate on Hogback at 11ish for some reason. That would have sucked had we gotten there late. I will have to message them about that.

Good fun and worth taking a day off work for.

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Tom the Bomb said:
Big Laguna route today. Love this route. Los Gatos, the luge and Chico ravine! Interesting thing happened to me. As I was sitting on a log facing the trail and my bike I heard a noise behind me. The wind was blowing through the trees so it was a bit noisy. I heard crunching of ground cover turned and looked to see a couple huge black cows that were no more than 20 ft from me. These things were huge! They stopped and were eyeing me then the rest of the heard began to stroll in and they were close. Now generally a cow does not worry me because they are usually behind a barbed fence or many clicks away. These were 20 feet from me like 10 of them. Then I heard another sound coming from the trail in front of me where I sat. I looked to the left and another huge cow along with 4 others had come down the trail and was 3 feet from me! Freiken huge ass cow cautiously walked up to my bike , sniffed the rear tire snorted snot , looked right at me and made an effort to back up. In my frozen stupor I whispered “it’s ok”. I did not see any calfs so I figure if I did not make any sudden movements I would not get trampled. I slowly walked across the trail and up the side of the hill about 40 ft and they stroked by and then ran away. I have never been that close to an animal that big out in the sticks where I felt a bit helpless and vulnerable. A bit unnerving. I thought about yelling and spooking them to run away but then realized I just might get run over. Turns out there were about 30 of them that came through headed to the pond below. I won’t forget this one for a while.
Good temps and good conditions out there.
The temps are brakin. Do it baby!

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We need more range cattle. They normally want to follow you and then get distracted when you get out in front. I never see them behind fences. It is cute having a group of bovines strung along behind you. BTW those are steers, very docile. They look to be Black Angus but I am not an expert
Happy trails in the high country
 
Another tour through Whiting late this morning. As I was manhandling one of the brutal climbs on Borrego, some wanker with his family shouts out "look kids, on old man on a Yiti!! Well, I'm used to hearing various accents and languages among the throngs of hikers on Borrego, but this hiker-dad had a crazy mixed up English / Kiwi accent! Yup @Lost Kiwi givin' me Sh!t! Good to see ya bru and Go Den 623!!!!

I could tell from the start that I was feeling better than my last outing. Maybe it was the Skratch-n-sniff (Sudafed) prep that I did, or maybe it was Simon's words of encouragement. Regardless I did feel stronger than last week. Today was Borrego, Cattle Pond, Mustard up and over to Santiago Canyon Road, then back up, down Cactus (catching a slow rider towards the end), Sage Scrub/Sleepy Hollow, then back up Whiting Rd, up and over the back to Santiago Cyn Rd again, back up, down Cactus, Sage Scrub/Sleepy Hollow, Serrano Cow and Live Oak.

10.37 m; 1456' Bikes is fun! :cool:

PS: I saw several e-bikes returning from their rides. I am guessing they did not restrict themselves to just Whiting. Since rules are for other people, I am certain they did a Luge run..
 
herzalot said:
Another tour through Whiting late this morning. As I was manhandling one of the brutal climbs on Borrego, some wanker with his family shouts out "look kids, on old man on a Yiti!! Well, I'm used to hearing various accents and languages among the throngs of hikers on Borrego, but this hiker-dad had a crazy mixed up English / Kiwi accent! Yup @Lost Kiwi givin' me Sh!t! Good to see ya bru and Go Den 623!!!!
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Good to see you out there fella! No way I could let you ride past without saying something :laugh:
Sounds like the rest of our group kept going out to Red Rock Canyon so they should have been well out of your way.

All those issues don't seem to have affected you to much. You didn't look any slower than usual as far as I could tell ;)
 
I took the mint chip Revel out for a spin in Aliso this morning. This is the first time I've ridden back to back days in, I dunno, 4 months? (EDIT: I looked it up - January 27, 28 2024). Saturday and Monday over Memorial Day weekend 2024 - that almost counts.)

Yesterday I did what I could to add climbing to my Whiting route and ended up with just under 1500'. Today, was even more gooder - 15m and 2275'. This is the first time I've ridden my two bikes back to back. Here are some random thoughts and observations:

The Revel is a wee bit harder to climb than the Yeti. Slightly taller gearing. 32t on 175 cranks and 27.5 wheel compared to 28t, 170 and 29. Should be about the same, but the Revel feels a bit harder when it gets steep.

Aliso climbing can be pretty steep. I avoided Cholla today, as I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Maybe soon, now that I'm getting some mileage under my belt.

The Mullet-ness of the Revel stands out more when riding the bikes back to back. The front of the Revel wants to lift a bit more while climbing and it does feel a little less planted while descending.

My hands were definitely feeling more chop today than yesterday. Could be the Luftkappe in the Fox on the Yeti, could be I had too much air in the Lyrik on the Revel.

The last two holes on the Rock-It rock garden are deep.

I think that the Revel's rear suspension is more versatile than the Yeti. I think the Revel will claw over chunk while climbing better that the Yeti will.

Bikes are fun! Both of mine are awesome - an embarrassment of riches!
 
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herzalot said:
I took the mint chip Revel out for a spin in Aliso this morning. This is the first time I've ridden back to back days in, I dunno, 4 months?

Yesterday I did what I could to add climbing to my Whiting route and ended up with just under 1500'. Today, was even more gooder - 15m and 2275'. This is the first time I've ridden my two bikes back to back. Here are some random thoughts and observations:

The Revel is a wee bit harder to climb than the Yeti. Slightly taller gearing. 32t on 175 cranks and 27.5 wheel compared to 28t, 170 and 29. Should be about the same, but the Revel feels a bit harder when it gets steep.

Aliso climbing can be pretty steep. I avoided Cholla today, as I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Maybe soon, now that I'm getting some mileage under my belt.

The Mullet-ness of the Revel stands out more when riding the bikes back to back. The front of the Revel wants to lift a bit more while climbing and it does feel a little less planted whiole descending.

My hands were definitely feeling more chop today than yesterday. Could be the Luftkappe in the Fox on the Yeti, could be I had too much air in the Lyrik on the Revel.

The last two holes on the Rock-It rock garden are deep.

More later. Bikes are fun!
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Hows the eye recovery going Herz?
 
IRC group ride at Limestone Canyon and Red Rock Canyon. First time riding Red Rock. Started super foggy, then got sunny, then got foggy ... eventually ended up sunny. :laugh:

Big group, 24 including the docents. There was a group of about 10 climby people on hardtails and single speeds with barely any tire tread that I had no interest in messing with on the climbs, but also about 10 people behind me, so at least I was not the drag ass. I only went for the downhills anyway. :cool:

I got stuck behind a slow docent down Dripping Springs, so that was a leisurely descent. :( However .... once we got to Limestone Ridge, the other docents started talking about a fast docent, and sure enough, there was one. I chased him on Limestone Ridge, which was good enough for a PR on the first half and just 6 seconds off my PR for the entire trail. I just ran out of gas towards the end. Pushing it for 12 minutes is tough at 54. :whistling:

I am glad there is actually a fast docent though. He also grabbed the KOM on one of the Red Rock singletracks and I settled for a 2nd place cuppie. I might have to do the open access on Saturday to see if I can do anything about that, but that might be counterproductive with hikers in the way.

Definitely some fun trails in Red Rock Canyon. Some pretty grueling climbs too. I look forward to checking it out on my own.

The ride was supposed to be 24 miles and 2,500 elevation, but ended up 5 miles short for the same gain ... meaning all that elevation was compressed and somewhat hard on me, LOL.

5,500 total elevation for my Friday/Sunday is pretty good for me. Now I just need to make an effort to ride twice a week and I might get back into some kind of riding shape. :sneaky:

Good times.

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herzalot said:
I took the mint chip Revel out for a spin in Aliso this morning. This is the first time I've ridden back to back days in, I dunno, 4 months?

Yesterday I did what I could to add climbing to my Whiting route and ended up with just under 1500'. Today, was even more gooder - 15m and 2275'. This is the first time I've ridden my two bikes back to back. Here are some random thoughts and observations:

The Revel is a wee bit harder to climb than the Yeti. Slightly taller gearing. 32t on 175 cranks and 27.5 wheel compared to 28t, 170 and 29. Should be about the same, but the Revel feels a bit harder when it gets steep.

Aliso climbing can be pretty steep. I avoided Cholla today, as I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Maybe soon, now that I'm getting some mileage under my belt.

The Mullet-ness of the Revel stands out more when riding the bikes back to back. The front of the Revel wants to lift a bit more while climbing and it does feel a little less planted whiole descending.

My hands were definitely feeling more chop today than yesterday. Could be the Luftkappe in the Fox on the Yeti, could be I had too much air in the Lyrik on the Revel.

The last two holes on the Rock-It rock garden are deep.

More later. Bikes are fun!
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Did you and Mint Chip have a good conversation ?
 
Obsidian said:
IRC group ride at Limestone Canyon and Red Rock Canyon. First time riding Red Rock. Started super foggy, then got sunny, then got foggy ... eventually ended up sunny. :laugh:

Big group, 24 including the docents. There was a group of about 10 climby people on hardtails and single speeds with barely any tire tread that I had no interest in messing with on the climbs, but also about 10 people behind me, so at least I was not the drag ass. I only went for the downhills anyway. :cool:

I got stuck behind a slow docent down Dripping Springs, so that was a leisurely descent. :( However .... once we got to Limestone Ridge, the other docents started talking about a fast docent, and sure enough, there was one. I chased him on Limestone Ridge, which was good enough for a PR on the first half and just 6 seconds off my PR for the entire trail. I just ran out of gas towards the end. Pushing it for 12 minutes is tough at 54. :whistling:

I am glad there is actually a fast docent though. He also grabbed the KOM on one of the Red Rock singletracks and I settled for a 2nd place cuppie. I might have to do the open access on Saturday to see if I can do anything about that, but that might be counterproductive with hikers in the way.

Definitely some fun trails in Red Rock Canyon. Some pretty grueling climbs too. I look forward to checking it out on my own.

The ride was supposed to be 24 miles and 2,500 elevation, but ended up 5 miles short for the same gain ... meaning all that elevation was compressed and somewhat hard on me, LOL.

5,500 total elevation for my Friday/Sunday is pretty good for me. Now I just need to make an effort to ride twice a week and I might get back into some kind of riding shape. :sneaky:

Good times.

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Can you access Limestone Cyn @night?
 
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