I Rode My Bike Today...

Great ride today with a Laguna local (Dave) with whom I've never ridden, and @Cougar, with whom I've ridden once or twice. :whistling:

We parked in Laguna Canyon around 9:30, and headed up Stair Steps to access Aliso. I think we set PRs pushing up Stair Steps because we are usually doing that slog after about 16 miles and 3000' of climbing on the legs. Today, it was the first thing we did. I knew Dave was strong when he jetted up Philips Rd. and was well on his way up Stairs before I even had the chance to look up! Brand new Intense Carbine, Super Bling edition. That bike is a beast. 29er, 6" travel. Slack-ish.

Car Wreck was first on the DH agenda. I wisely decided to let Dave lead. I stayed on him pretty well, but I had to push it to do so, and he was definitely faster. We did encounter a couple of groups of hikers - one on the first rock garden and a second on the most difficult section. They were accommodating. Yay awareness bell! I just kept saying "Thank you, you're good, perfect, thank you, have a nice day..." Solid run.

Then it was back through the park and up Cholla for our run down Stairs. Again I let Dave lead, again I'm glad I did. Fastest guy I've followed on that run. I had fun trying to match the pace. Craig chose to be a bit conservative on the downs today, since he hasn't ridden since his intimate cactus encounter. I still saw him smile!

At the bottom, my companions were doubting the idea of two more climbs. "I only have one more climb in me," says Craig, and "I could call it good right now," added Dave. I twisted their arms to go up Willow and do a run on T and A. Up we went - Dave on his e-bike (or so it appeared) and Craig and I following somewhere behind.

At the top of the park, who should arrive on the scene but my old young friend Mo, and his hair. Always fun to trade jabs with Mo - he pulls no punches when it comes to the old man jokes. He also knew Dave. Mo is on his his 473rd bike since I met him in 2010. A Yeti SB5.5.

Nice quick run down T and A, except for a group of hikers scrambling at one of the steepest points on the trail. We were patiently track-standing on the incline as they searched for footing. No traffic the rest of the way, as we got to the techy good stuff. Just smiles.

Great to end with a DH instead of pushing/riding back up to the cars. I can see myself starting in the Canyon more often.
La Sirena for eats afterward - yum! :inlove:

13 miles, 2400'. Unbelievably perfect weather. Great riding companions.

Bikes are fun. Three perfectly functioning bikes with no squeaks, rattles, creaks or mechanical issues is even better!

(save for my chirping Cane Creek)
 
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Strawberry ear...
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6:30 start from taco plaza... Through O'Neill and over to Harding for a climb into the clouds. I purposely took the heavier jacket out of the pack, because the temps weren't supposed to be too cold today. :bang: We were both soaked and frozen by the 7 mile point of no return, so we bailed and headed back down. There were quite a few riders and hikers headed up at this point, including @MattB. :thumbsup:

We decided to head over to STT for a consolation Luge run... At the gate before Little Mustard (or F-U Hill...) we were passed by an electric motorcycle. We let it go. As we were standing around talking instead of riding, a lycra clad rider also passed us. I made the comment that if I chased the rabbit, I might clean the climb... The legs were feeling pretty weak at this point. My March miles are way down... :unsure: Off we went... Just in time to see the lycra guy go over the side at the little hump before the left hand turn leading into the main climb. :eek: I found some reserves in the legs, and sprinted the 100 yards to him. Climbed down, took the bike, and he made it back up unscathed. He was pretty lucky to miss the metal posts in the ground...

Down the luge and back out to the road for a quick pavement downhill back to O'Neill.

I ride around there enough to know the elevation back to taco plaza and I knew we were going to fall just short of 6,000 feet. With a little arm twisting, I talked @mtnbikej into a short single track extra credit that would put us over 6000.

Tacos to go!

37 miles and 6100 feet...
 
Alright brothers, pour up a beer and settle in I got a good one from today...

I had only half hearted planned on riding today, something low key just to stretch the legs in the afternoon I was thinking yesterday. This morning I was still in the bed watching Crankworks slopestyle on RedbullTV. Not hungover, but feeling sluggish from variety of alcohols I consumed last night at the open bar of an Alzheimer's Charity show. 8:45 my phone rings and its @George he has a couple of crazy buddies from back in the day shuttling the front side of Mt. Wilson. Only catch is we have to be on the shuttle at 10am, mind you we live in Inglewood. I get ready at the moments notice and before you know it we are breaking all kinds of traffic laws at 9:40 to get to JPL in 20min. As we approach the Windsor exit we pass the SOCA shuttle so we know we just barely made it under the wire.
shuttle_zps72dmllii.jpg


George's 2 friends we rode with are Mark and Jorge. Both are strong experienced riders. As we gear up Jorge gives the group his back story. A few years back he was descending Mt. Wilson at night. He took a bad fall and his goggles were pushed into his face and cut his eye. That relentless son of a bitch got himself home bloody with 1 eye that night. After 3 surgeries he only has 30% vision in that one eye, thus has little to no depth perception. Jorge has a burly long travel Trek Session so he can point that bad boy and just flatten any obstacle for the most part. And Jorge has big balls, he absolutely does not let his disability hold him back.

There were a lot of omens today... First, Jorge doesn't fair well riding up the mountain in the shuttle van. When we got out he was motion sick, and had to relieve some queasiness from his stomach before we took off. Second, after the short initial climb as we started descending first pedal stroke Jorge breaks his chain. No problem I keep a bag of quick links, so we get the mechanical failure out the way and keep on. Just above inspiration point there are 3 chutes that are serious. Difficult, and in terrible shape, 3ft rain ruts. Plan from the gate was to bypass all 3. Well, when we were at the top of the 2nd one Jorge changed his mind. He drops it, cleans it and feels good about it. So he wants to hit the final one. We go below so we can watch him come down. There is a 3' drop that you have to send if you want to clear it. Jorge didnt have the speed neded to drop it, and the landing was not in shape to do it either. Jorge went OTB nasty. We could hardly even hike up this trail to help out. But we scramble to him. Jorge is in great spirits, and a lot of pain.
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Jorge fell on his wrist, and broke it. Couldn't close his hand, or articulate his wrist. With bush-fixed him a splint from his knee/shin pad. Thanks to Mark being extra prepared with an ace bandage and tylenol it was a solid temp fix to get him to the car.
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Luckily from where we were it was a short ride to get Jorge back to asphalt where he could take the easy way back to the car. He refused to let us change our ride plan and that tenacious mofo rolled back to his car without us after a significant amount of arguing with him. He made it home safely, will heal up, and I promise you will be riding again by Summer.

I'm not going to lie. I couldn't shake the thoughts of injury after that. So, I was dragging my brakes a lot today, I walked sections I knew I could have rode, but I was just spooked and wanted to get off the ride in one piece. The rest of the ride was slow, but still fun. I was tense, because I am extra sore from all the arm pump. Feeling it in my chest and back even.

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Grego said:
Rode Bonelli today with a gaggle of friends celebrating @ricke24 's B-day. 14 in the group for starters including Dorris M., the HAB crew, JSD, Vince , Ryan and some new faces. Dirt was a little too tacky in some spots but good mostly throughout the day. Social cruise around the park. Vince and Ryan showed off on the rocks as usual. Good times had by all. Only pic I took, my bike of course...:rolleyes:. It's funny how I don't think my suspension is plush enough until I ride my Ti HT or Cruiser for some time and then get back on the squish. The WFO just felt like it was floating today. :thumbsup: HBD Ricky!
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I’ve always been scared to get close to those things for fear of radiation! Bunch of Nuclear radiation warning signs posted up as you approach. I would ride as fast as I could by that section LOL!
 
MrGreedom said:
Alright brothers, pour up a beer and settle in I got a good one from today...

I had only half hearted planned on riding today, something low key just to stretch the legs in the afternoon I was thinking yesterday. This morning I was still in the bed watching Crankworks slopestyle on RedbullTV. Not hungover, but feeling sluggish from variety of alcohols I consumed last night at the open bar of an Alzheimer's Charity show. 8:45 my phone rings and its @George he has a couple of crazy buddies from back in the day shuttling the front side of Mt. Wilson. Only catch is we have to be on the shuttle at 10am, mind you we live in Inglewood. I get ready at the moments notice and before you know it we are breaking all kinds of traffic laws at 9:40 to get to JPL in 20min. As we approach the Windsor exit we pass the SOCA shuttle so we know we just barely made it under the wire.
View attachment 37714

George's 2 friends we rode with are Mark and Jeorge. Both are strong experienced riders. As we gear up Jeorge gives the group his back story. A few years back he was descending Mt. Wilson at night. He took a bad fall and his goggles were pushed into his face and cut his eye. That relentless son of a bitch got himself home bloody with 1 eye that night. After 3 surgeries he only has 30% vision in that one eye, thus has little to no depth perception. Jeorge has a burly long travel Trek Session so he can point that bad boy and just flatten any obstacle for the most part. And Jeorge has big balls, he absolutely does not let his disability hold him back.

There were a lot of omens today... First, Jeorge doesn't fair well riding up the mountain in the shuttle van. When we got out he was motion sick, and had to relieve some queasiness from his stomach before we took off. Second, after the short initial climb as we started descending first pedal stroke Jeorge breaks his chain. No problem I keep a bag of quick links, so we get the mechanical failure out the way and keep on. Just above inspiration point there are 3 chutes that are serious. Difficult, and in terrible shape, 3ft rain ruts. Plan from the gate was to bypass all 3. Well, when we were at the top of the 2nd one Jeorge changed his mind. He drops it, cleans it and feels good about it. So he wants to hit the final one. We go below so we can watch him come down. There is a 3' drop that you have to send if you want to clear it. Jeorge didnt have the speed neded to drop it, and the lining was not in shape to do it either. Jeorge went OTB nasty. We could hardly even hike up this trail to help out. But we cramble to him. Jeorge is in great spirits, and a lot of pain.
View attachment 37711

Jeorge fell on his wrist, and broke it. Couldn't close his hand, or articulate his wrist. With bush-fixed him a splint from his knee/shin pad. Thanks to Mark being extra prepared with an ace bandage and tylenol it was a solid temp fix to get him to the car.
View attachment 37712
View attachment 37713

Luckily from where we were it was a short ride to get Jorge back to asphalt where he could take the easy way back to the car. He refused to let us change our ride plan and that tenacious mofo rolled back to his car without us after a significant amount of arguing with him. He made it home safely, will heal up, and I promise you will be riding again by Summer.

I'm not going to lie. I couldn't shake the thoughts of injury after that. So, I was dragging my brakes a lot today, I walked sections I knew I could have rode, but I was just spooked and wanted to get off the ride in one piece. The rest of the ride was slow, but still fun. I was tense, because I am extra sore from all the arm pump. Feeling it in my chest and back even.

View attachment 37710
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Man... I saw the Strava photo, and was hoping it wasn't too bad. That sucks... But it sounds like he'll heal up ok and get back out there.
 
Rode Oaks with a few friends. One of which needed a bike so I loaned him my WFO. That means I would ride my 26" Trance X. Nice to get the dust off it once in a while. Up to Robbers Peak from the school to play around. One in our group had a bad crash on my avatar jump. He got a little banged up but nothing serious. Over to the drops I hear a "Grego sucks"! Good to see Gabe Zink again. You've got to hear his burrito story... Down Barham a short distance and found Coachwhip was open finally. We chose to go down the flowy bermy goodness that Coachwhip is. Up Bumblebee and had a good run down Hawk. Up Goat. Found Indy of SOCMTB(?) and friends. Good to see him again as well. PR'd Chutes DH on the 26r. o_O Back up top and feeling good decided for the Waterfall DH. Cleaned all the techy stuff up top but had to dab from out of control speed somewhere towards the bottom. Up 3 B's. I don't have sufficient climbing gears so put it in a SS ratio and mashed. The Maestro suspension gives very little bob. Dropped the rocks at the kiosk playground. Wait, where did the kiosk go? Good bikes, great friends. I was blown away at how well the outdated bike still performed. 26 aint dead! That reminds me I Pr'd B* DH on a beach cruiser the other night too.

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MrGreedom said:
Alright brothers, pour up a beer and settle in I got a good one from today...

I had only half hearted planned on riding today, something low key just to stretch the legs in the afternoon I was thinking yesterday. This morning I was still in the bed watching Crankworks slopestyle on RedbullTV. Not hungover, but feeling sluggish from variety of alcohols I consumed last night at the open bar of an Alzheimer's Charity show. 8:45 my phone rings and its @George he has a couple of crazy buddies from back in the day shuttling the front side of Mt. Wilson. Only catch is we have to be on the shuttle at 10am, mind you we live in Inglewood. I get ready at the moments notice and before you know it we are breaking all kinds of traffic laws at 9:40 to get to JPL in 20min. As we approach the Windsor exit we pass the SOCA shuttle so we know we just barely made it under the wire.
View attachment 37714

George's 2 friends we rode with are Mark and Jorge. Both are strong experienced riders. As we gear up Jorge gives the group his back story. A few years back he was descending Mt. Wilson at night. He took a bad fall and his goggles were pushed into his face and cut his eye. That relentless son of a bitch got himself home bloody with 1 eye that night. After 3 surgeries he only has 30% vision in that one eye, thus has little to no depth perception. Jorge has a burly long travel Trek Session so he can point that bad boy and just flatten any obstacle for the most part. And Jorge has big balls, he absolutely does not let his disability hold him back.

There were a lot of omens today... First, Jorge doesn't fair well riding up the mountain in the shuttle van. When we got out he was motion sick, and had to relieve some queasiness from his stomach before we took off. Second, after the short initial climb as we started descending first pedal stroke Jorge breaks his chain. No problem I keep a bag of quick links, so we get the mechanical failure out the way and keep on. Just above inspiration point there are 3 chutes that are serious. Difficult, and in terrible shape, 3ft rain ruts. Plan from the gate was to bypass all 3. Well, when we were at the top of the 2nd one Jorge changed his mind. He drops it, cleans it and feels good about it. So he wants to hit the final one. We go below so we can watch him come down. There is a 3' drop that you have to send if you want to clear it. Jorge didnt have the speed neded to drop it, and the landing was not in shape to do it either. Jorge went OTB nasty. We could hardly even hike up this trail to help out. But we scramble to him. Jorge is in great spirits, and a lot of pain.
View attachment 37711

Jorge fell on his wrist, and broke it. Couldn't close his hand, or articulate his wrist. With bush-fixed him a splint from his knee/shin pad. Thanks to Mark being extra prepared with an ace bandage and tylenol it was a solid temp fix to get him to the car.
View attachment 37712
View attachment 37713

Luckily from where we were it was a short ride to get Jorge back to asphalt where he could take the easy way back to the car. He refused to let us change our ride plan and that tenacious mofo rolled back to his car without us after a significant amount of arguing with him. He made it home safely, will heal up, and I promise you will be riding again by Summer.

I'm not going to lie. I couldn't shake the thoughts of injury after that. So, I was dragging my brakes a lot today, I walked sections I knew I could have rode, but I was just spooked and wanted to get off the ride in one piece. The rest of the ride was slow, but still fun. I was tense, because I am extra sore from all the arm pump. Feeling it in my chest and back even.

View attachment 37710
Click to expand...

Great rally and write-up, @MrGreedom. Healing vibes to Jorge. Very cool of him to insist on you all continuing your ride, and nice work on the chain fix and field splint. :thumbsup:
 
Planned Mini Death March this morning with @Faust29 .

We rolled from Taco Plaza and it was on the cool side. I was tired....really sleepy tired. Felt like I hadn't slept all weekend.

Through O'Neil Park then over Modjeska Grade. Started the climb up Harding. Legs were tired from the get go. As we ascended up Harding, neither of us we feeling very spunky. We weren't fast, but we weren't dragging either. The temps began to drop as we went up. I was soaked from the humidity in the air. About 5 mile turn we got into the clouds. The breeze picked up and the temps really dropped. About mile 6 we had pretty much decided that we weren't going to go up and over the Peak. Made the call at 7 mile Point of No Return. Threw on my Jacket, warm gloves and arm warmers. Heading down I was frozen.

Passed a bunch of riders heading up....many looked unprepared for the cold temps above.

My toes were frozen when we reached the bottom. For once I was hoping that it was going to be warm going back up to Modjeska Grade....it was warmer. The decision was to do a concellation STT/Luge loop. My toes finally thawed out about 1/2 to the Luge. Everything was hurting/sore by now. We continued up STT....again, not fast, but not slow.

Dropped down to the Luge. Short break while we waited for a couple of riders head down. I was just gonna cruise down....and that lasted til the first left hand berm. Then I just let it go.

Down Live Oak and back through O'Neil Park.

I was glad to be done. Not one of my better days. Came home and took a nice long nap.
 
MrGreedom said:
Alright brothers, pour up a beer and settle in I got a good one from today...

I had only half hearted planned on riding today, something low key just to stretch the legs in the afternoon I was thinking yesterday. This morning I was still in the bed watching Crankworks slopestyle on RedbullTV. Not hungover, but feeling sluggish from variety of alcohols I consumed last night at the open bar of an Alzheimer's Charity show. 8:45 my phone rings and its @George he has a couple of crazy buddies from back in the day shuttling the front side of Mt. Wilson. Only catch is we have to be on the shuttle at 10am, mind you we live in Inglewood. I get ready at the moments notice and before you know it we are breaking all kinds of traffic laws at 9:40 to get to JPL in 20min. As we approach the Windsor exit we pass the SOCA shuttle so we know we just barely made it under the wire.
View attachment 37714

George's 2 friends we rode with are Mark and Jorge. Both are strong experienced riders. As we gear up Jorge gives the group his back story. A few years back he was descending Mt. Wilson at night. He took a bad fall and his goggles were pushed into his face and cut his eye. That relentless son of a bitch got himself home bloody with 1 eye that night. After 3 surgeries he only has 30% vision in that one eye, thus has little to no depth perception. Jorge has a burly long travel Trek Session so he can point that bad boy and just flatten any obstacle for the most part. And Jorge has big balls, he absolutely does not let his disability hold him back.

There were a lot of omens today... First, Jorge doesn't fair well riding up the mountain in the shuttle van. When we got out he was motion sick, and had to relieve some queasiness from his stomach before we took off. Second, after the short initial climb as we started descending first pedal stroke Jorge breaks his chain. No problem I keep a bag of quick links, so we get the mechanical failure out the way and keep on. Just above inspiration point there are 3 chutes that are serious. Difficult, and in terrible shape, 3ft rain ruts. Plan from the gate was to bypass all 3. Well, when we were at the top of the 2nd one Jorge changed his mind. He drops it, cleans it and feels good about it. So he wants to hit the final one. We go below so we can watch him come down. There is a 3' drop that you have to send if you want to clear it. Jorge didnt have the speed neded to drop it, and the landing was not in shape to do it either. Jorge went OTB nasty. We could hardly even hike up this trail to help out. But we scramble to him. Jorge is in great spirits, and a lot of pain.
View attachment 37711

Jorge fell on his wrist, and broke it. Couldn't close his hand, or articulate his wrist. With bush-fixed him a splint from his knee/shin pad. Thanks to Mark being extra prepared with an ace bandage and tylenol it was a solid temp fix to get him to the car.
View attachment 37712
View attachment 37713

Luckily from where we were it was a short ride to get Jorge back to asphalt where he could take the easy way back to the car. He refused to let us change our ride plan and that tenacious mofo rolled back to his car without us after a significant amount of arguing with him. He made it home safely, will heal up, and I promise you will be riding again by Summer.

I'm not going to lie. I couldn't shake the thoughts of injury after that. So, I was dragging my brakes a lot today, I walked sections I knew I could have rode, but I was just spooked and wanted to get off the ride in one piece. The rest of the ride was slow, but still fun. I was tense, because I am extra sore from all the arm pump. Feeling it in my chest and back even.

View attachment 37710
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about Jorge. Sounds like a tough dude. And I get it that you backed off the throttle after seeing the injury. Walk today, ride tomorrow. Tell Jorge to heal up quick, and give it time to heal.

Great write up and documentation. TFPU.
 
Rode in Aliso this morning around 730. Up Canyon Acres to Car Wreck. Fun run down but definitely not my cleanest or fastest. On Coyote Runwe decided to climb rockit. Climbing rockit was actually really enjoyable, definitely better than Cholla.

At the top right before we were going to turn around and go back down, my buddy popped what he thought was his chain. Turns out his brand new Stans neo hub blew up. After trying to fix it for a bit we gave up and he jogged his bike back to Top of the World. We rode some single tracks back to down to Canyon Acres and he coasted back home.

Beauftul morning for riding!
 
Was asked today to do a tour of LCWP / El Moro for a friend of a friend. I quite like touring around. Aim was to do 15 miles or so.
Top of Ridge Park. Even at mid day a lot of cars parked out there. The parks are popular for sure.
Quick run down Lizards. Think that was 4 times in one week compared with less than 4 rides in the 6 weeks before ... Upper Laurel, then bumped into another friend. We decided to continue the tour down OE, then go left all the way to the bottom of Emerald Canyon. That ST rocks. They have cleared so much bush . Back up to the ridge, showed him the fun of Fenceline (the rain has been good for that trail). Then Deer Canyon downhill, Ticketron, back to Ridge Park (“No Name Trail” has some nasty climbs...i guess it is also because i always do that one at the end...). Tour complete, he loved it.
 
SingleTrackJB said:
Was asked today to do a tour of LCWP / El Moro for a friend of a friend. I quite like touring around. Aim was to do 15 miles or so.
Top of Ridge Park. Even at mid day a lot of cars parked out there. The parks are popular for sure.
Quick run down Lizards. Think that was 4 times in one week compared with less than 4 rides in the 6 weeks before ... Upper Laurel, then bumped into another friend. We decided to continue the tour down OE, then go left all the way to the bottom of Emerald Canyon. That ST rocks. They have cleared so much bush . Back up to the ridge, showed him the fun of Fenceline (the rain has been good for that trail). Then Deer Canyon downhill, Ticketron, back to Ridge Park (“No Name Trail” has some nasty climbs...i guess it is also because i always do that one at the end...). Tour complete, he loved it.
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You forgot Rattlesnake...;)

Nice ride. :thumbsup:
 
A friend of mine has been wanting to get up to the top of Santiago Peak for a long time, and decided this would be the weekend he would go for it. I gave him a few options, including leaving a car at Cook's and driving to Maple Springs to make it a little easier, but he decided to try the full loop from Cook's, going up Harding to the Peak, and down Joplin, Old Camp, and Luge.

We rolled out of Cook's a little after 8:30, and made it a slow, social pace to conserve legs knowing that it would be his biggest climbing day, and I wanted both of us to have some legs left for the Joplin descent. It was great getting up into the Santa Ana's and really feeling like we were getting away from crowds and up into the mountains. We only saw 6 other riders on Harding, and two of them were @Faust29 and @mtnbikej on their way back down. We started getting into the clouds before we got to 4 corners. It was pretty chilly, but plugging away on the climb, and the occasional sun kept us warm enough all the way to the peak. Unfortunately, the clouds were so thick at the peak that you couldn't see anything, so he's going to have to go back up some other time to check out the views from the top. We were both stoked to make it to the top!

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It was around 35 degrees up there, so we didn't stick around for too long. Took a few pics, put on jackets and pads and got ready to hit Joplin. We started with Upper Joplin, which was just a bit more overgrown than the last time I rode it.:rolleyes: It was pretty cool as we hit the brief smooth part that was like a high speed tunnel through the brush ... then the ceiling of the tunnel started closing in and I started ducking lower ... and lower ... then it was a lost cause and I started lowering my helmet like a battering ram every few seconds to keep the brush from hitting me across the face. By the end, my friend was asking if it was really a trail.:whistling: Next up was Joplin. It was in much better shape than the last time I rode it, about a year ago. Most of it wasn't too overgrown, but there were more than a few sections where getting hit across the face seemed pretty much unavoidable. I was having fun with it, and my friend was doing pretty well for his first time on the trail. We were almost to the end of Joplin, and both of us were feeling the fatigue when I heard my back tire slash open on a rock! Somehow this is the first sidewall tear I've had. RIP - Minion SS:( It had about a 1 inch long cut in the sidewall, so I got to try the old energy bar wrapper as a tire boot fix for the first time. Popped in a spare tube, ate a cliff bar, and lined the inside of the tire with the wrapper. It worked! It definitely bulged a little at the tear, and I did my best to take it easy after that, but it held all the way back to the car. Luge was in great shape. It would have been great to hit it with fresh legs and a healthy rear tire!

All in all, a great ride! 28 miles, 5,860' of climbing, and I was toast for the rest of the day. My friend loved the ride ... except for Joplin. I asked if it was the overgrowth, the rocks, or the tired legs. He said "All of that ... and the poison oak." Oh yeah, that too. I told him to give it some time, it might grow on him.
 
I rode Oaks again today. I was aware in advance that some of the local, massive group rides were going to be there, and they were ... it was as crowded as I have seen it in a long time. I did my best to avoid them, and I changed my planned course numerous times. As much as I disagree with the large group rides, that feeling would be somewhat mitigated if they actually rode instead of stopping every 10 minutes to chat, take pics, etc. F'ing just go already.

I ended up doing four runs down Yucca (no complaints, that trail is a high speed blast), and one each down Peralta, Barham, and Grasshopper. The queue at the top of Ridgeline was stupid, so I think today was the first time I have ever ridden Oaks and not gone down Ridgeline ... but it is what it is. Not a single downhill run without encountering hikers or bikers (or trail maintenance guy, LOL), but it is what it is. I may have to sneak out of work Tues or Wed to do it again and to get some alone time. At the end of the day, I had a blast, so that's all that really matters.
 
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