I Rode My Bike Today...

herzalot said:
I rode my bike today... sort of.

Flat ride on Aliso dirt with family. We saw two rattlesnakes. The first one responded to my stomping my feet routine and he turned around and went into the grass. The second was on a narrower trail (the connector to the bottom of Meadows) and he was a juvenile snake. They are much less predictable, I started my stomping routine, but then my wife suggested maybe we just stay on the wider trails and go to Dripping Cave, since it was kind of snaky out today. Good idea.

After throughly enjoying dripping cave (the cave, not the trail) we start heading back down and my daughter starts imitating Claudio Caluori - so much so that she got distracted, out of control and nearly wadded up in grand fashion. She saved it, however. Phew! I'm not kidding. She said "I'm Claudio" and started making sounds and talking about how hard the trail is and "I'm getting a little out of control now..." and "YES - that was SCARY!"

Here are the bikes:

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And here is the family.
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I have no evidence of us actually riding the bikes, but I have a witness - well sort of. I saw some hotshot go by on a bright green Bronson. He stopped and turned around. "Are you Chris?" He asked - then added, "I'm Tim Ryan..." @StrandLeper . Neither of us were smart enough to take a photo of the two of us.

I said "sort of" because when he saw us, we were actually dismounted and walking the bikes for the moment since Ruby claimed tired legs We rode out on pavement after chatting with Strand. What a GREAT birthday present from my two girls, and a chance meeting with Strand was icing on the cake.

And now I have to get ready for dinner. My loving wife and her brother and sister are taking us to The Loft at The Montage.
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Woah, blast from the past thread roulette @herzalot family day and a first sighting of @StrandLeper! I know where Chris is, but where's Tim @StrandLeper?
 
herzalot said:
I think I saw @StrandLeper last Sunday on his green and blue Foes Mixer pedaling and tucking along Laguna Canyon rd when @Cougar and I were returning from our misadventure. I don't know why he has abandoned posting here.
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He's popped in a few times recently... Mostly to say that he's insanely busy and hasn't ridden much. I believe he's getting back out there some, though.
 
Up Lower Brown Mtn and then down El P. Short, but sweet. Purdy skies out today and quite humid. Only one other rider encountered. Oh, and the gnats are back! :mad:

8.04 miles
1227'
615 calories

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..on the trail @Makoto and I just worked on. It follows the protocol that dirt work ain't done til it's packed, and drops and jumps aren't done til you've ridden them. So late afternoon session up the STT, then dropping Vulture Crags and the Luge. I'd say it was my best day since getting back on the bike, and the Luge was really fun. Still loose, bumpy, dry-season frazzle but the lines are there if you look. I hit the drop I packed yesterday and the ramp and LZ were good. The 3 straightaway drops are back in business (move right for the first, then left, then..?) and the last little tables are wide open. Is it perfect? I'm not sure it should be. But the ride was, as I felt good on the climbs and the descents were a blast.
 
kioti said:
..on the trail @Makoto and I just worked on. It follows the protocol that dirt work ain't done til it's packed, and drops and jumps aren't done til you've ridden them. So late afternoon session up the STT, then dropping Vulture Crags and the Luge. I'd say it was my best day since getting back on the bike, and the Luge was really fun. Still loose, bumpy, dry-season frazzle but the lines are there if you look. I hit the drop I packed yesterday and the ramp and LZ were good. The 3 straightaway drops are back in business (move right for the first, then left, then..?) and the last little tables are wide open. Is it perfect? I'm not sure it should be. But the ride was, as I felt good on the climbs and the descents were a blast.
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I hear your stoke. I like! :thumbsup::)
 
herzalot said:
I hear your stoke. I like! :thumbsup::)
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I like, too! One of those days when everything comes together.. perfect temps, traveling light, pressures good, no glare, no dust, not one other rider out there, bike felt light on the climbs and solid on the descents.. first time it's felt easy in quite awhile.. rolled into a sprint onto Live Oak and held a tuck all the way past Cook's before shutting it down. Kinda like old times.. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
After 2 days of active recovery I was ready to jam this am. I headed to cooks corner at 7:00. Dawning my 2009 Troy Lee green camo Jersey I pedaled away with 2 bottles of tailwind on my osprey fanny bag(don’t buy one).

Halfway up modjeska I warmed up and clicked another gear. I was feeling full of a new found climbing ability that I am attributing to taking all of Nov-Dec off and doing some strength and stretching.

This feeling continued and I pushed through a PR on every single climb on STT to the flag. Or maybe I finnaly got the tailwind mix correct?

A big thanks to whom ever cleaned all the drains on STT. They are working.

I took a beating down the Luge. This confirms my suspension set up needs some adjustments. I am to firm and rebounds to slow for that trail.
 
dustyyoungblood said:
After 2 days of active recovery I was ready to jam this am. I headed to cooks corner at 7:00. Dawning my 2009 Troy Lee green camo Jersey I pedaled away with 2 bottles of tailwind on my osprey fanny bag(don’t buy one).

Halfway up modjeska I warmed up and clicked another gear. I was feeling full of a new found climbing ability that I am attributing to taking all of Nov-Dec off and doing some strength and stretching.

This feeling continued and I pushed through a PR on every single climb on STT to the flag. Or maybe I finnaly got the tailwind mix correct?

A big thanks to whom ever cleaned all the drains on STT. They are working.

I took a beating down the Luge. This confirms my suspension set up needs some adjustments. I am to firm and rebounds to slow for that trail.
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Jon Kearley and me, along with some of Jon's friends, for this season's drain work on the STT. And @herzalot or any of those fast linked guys for suspension help? :thumbsup:
 
dustyyoungblood said:
After 2 days of active recovery I was ready to jam this am. I headed to cooks corner at 7:00. Dawning my 2009 Troy Lee green camo Jersey I pedaled away with 2 bottles of tailwind on my osprey fanny bag(don’t buy one).

Halfway up modjeska I warmed up and clicked another gear. I was feeling full of a new found climbing ability that I am attributing to taking all of Nov-Dec off and doing some strength and stretching.

This feeling continued and I pushed through a PR on every single climb on STT to the flag. Or maybe I finnaly got the tailwind mix correct?

A big thanks to whom ever cleaned all the drains on STT. They are working.

I took a beating down the Luge. This confirms my suspension set up needs some adjustments. I am to firm and rebounds to slow for that trail.
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You ought to watch that suspension tuning video in another thread here. Then you too can have your suspension dialed in, and in only about 10 minutes!
 
mike said:
What did you think of the condition of LP compared to other times you've done it? It seemed a little easier a few weeks ago than I remember, but it'd been awhile. Cheers...
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@mike yeah I thought it was in good condition too. I think carl &crew have been doing some brushing but it was still overgrown lower down. That will require help from a bunch of people to get done. A few ruts have gotten much worse, but overall I thought the tread was decent. I cleaned almost everything, just got hung up in one deep rut somewhere mid trail. Great day out there!
 
evdog said:
@mike yeah I thought it was in good condition too. I think carl &crew have been doing some brushing but it was still overgrown lower down. That will require help from a bunch of people to get done. A few ruts have gotten much worse, but overall I thought the tread was decent. I cleaned almost everything, just got hung up in one deep rut somewhere mid trail. Great day out there!
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Thanks, man. Nice job on the terrain...that one short, deep rut doesn't count :cool::thumbsup:
 
Did the usual Whiting coffee ride this morning. Borrego is closed for a couple of weeks for trail maintenance so we rode up to the water tower through the neighborhood. Some trail work was done on Cactus. That trail has been pretty beat up so it was needed. I’m assuming it was done by the Non Dot folks for the race this weekend, so thank you to them! :thumbsup: Got to see the blood blue moon eclipse or whatever it was called.
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I did the El Prieto loop with George again. Today he brought a newbie to ride the BH demo bike he is pushing. This was the guys first time on a mtb. He is a strong road biker, but that means squat diddly when it comes to descending. When I heard this in the car it took everything I had in me to not discourage this being his first ride, and advising he just do an out and back on the Brown Mtn fire road. I didn't want to scare him off or intimidate him more. I know he was nervous because we had to stop when we got off the freeway so he could take his 3rd :poop: of the morning...

Long story short, he was the first one up the climb to the saddle. He had something to prove and he surely did. I felt he made his point best on the 5 times he hit the dirt on the descent. Proof mtb is superior to road is he was laughing with us each time he hit the ground, and was still all smiles when he got back to the car.
 
I rode my bike today. I actually rode it Monday as well, but I forgot my Garmin on the charger at home.... :mad:grrrrrr.
I have to admit it was kinda liberating not worrying about how fast I climb this or if I PR'ed that, but I got to tell you, the emancipation was not better than having stats I can put in my STRAVA Journal...:(
So I'm going to tell you what I think I did.
I rode probably around 10... ummmmm maybe fiffffteeeen ummmmm hundred miles...
Climbed around wonnnnnn no maybe eeeelleven, no ummm 12,000 feet, yeah that's the ticket.
And I had around ohhhhhhhhh, siiiiiiiiixxxxxxx teen hundred PR's!
So basically I'm done for the year! :whistling:

Actually around 10 miles with about 1200 feet of gain. :oops:

Here's today's ride!
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herzalot said:
Ooooh...cool jump! I bet I can clear those branches - hold my beer...:confused:
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I have to agree, someone put a lot of time carving Essess and those look like some pretty nice jumps with a nice landing zones. I would hit it and maybe crush some wood, just leap between the stones. Two turns down there is another without that litter on top. Hope all that wood does not end up on the trail tread. That would just ruin it for the peps that are not gravity challenged
Happy leapin trails in da big hills
 
Mikie said:
..... I forgot my Garmin on the charger at home.... :mad:grrrrrr.
I rode probably around 10... ummmmm maybe fiffffteeeen ummmmm hundred miles...
Climbed around wonnnnnn no maybe eeeelleven, no ummm 12,000 feet, yeah that's the ticket.
And I had around ohhhhhhhhh, siiiiiiiiixxxxxxx teen hundred PR's!:whistling:
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Now you're talking my language! No one can prove you wrong. And yes, it is liberating not trying to beat your own or someone else's stats every time you ride. :thumbsup: :) :cool:
 
I rode the Oaks this afternoon. Shakedown ride for the Chameleon. Didn't feel great, but still kept at it.

Climbs well, descends better. Fit is a bit different than the Highball. Way more low, long and slack than I am used to. Really fun going DH. Park was pretty empty. Suz was out walking the ponies...so I hung with her a little bit.

Good day on the bike.

21.3 / 3250'

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Faust29 said:
Ha! What are the odds? 100 miles from home and we run into a group of IMTBers! Perfect day, and some unexpected company... :thumbsup: It was nice to see the group, and put some more faces to screen names: @hill^billy , @NewEnglander , and @scan ! Great to meet you guys.

Enough words... Today was easy cruise day, with frequent stops to smell the roses. On last week's death march, I honestly didn't notice the colors like I did today. Crazy up there...

Wrightwood is a hidden gem with some of the best riding around. Great idea to head back up there, @mtnbikej!

Hillbilly, New Englander, Scan, Voodoo Tom, Jeremy, Horsebikerider, Mikie, and Mtnbikej
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Climbing Boy Scout...
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Picture Slot Machine strikes again. Oooooohhhh... Wrightwood. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. :inlove::inlove::inlove::inlove:
 
Had an opening for a quick early lunch ride today and took it! Since I just converted the Tranny back to a SS, I decided to take it out for a shakedown run at Oaks. It was a bit warmer than I thought it would be. Sure doesn't feel like February 1st. The bike worked flawlessly. Can't say the same for my SS legs. Didn't have much time so I just parked at Oaks and did 3 B's, down Yucca, up Bumblebee to Goat, up 3 B's again and down Peralta. 5 miles, 1,125 feet. Was able to clean all of the climbs on the SS, but did walk a section or two going down Peralta. It was a nice break from staring at the computer screen.

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