I Rode My Bike Today...

Today, somewhere in the American west...

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Picture slot machine...

I laughed, but I wonder now that it's been a few years on the Hightower, do you still feel this way? Definitely a lot more switches and doo-dads to pay attention to on a full sus with dropper post than a singlespeed. Gears, dropper post, climb switches and brakes - it can feel like those photos at times. Hit the bottom of the Luge at mach chicken then straight into a stout climb - raise seat, downshift furiously and maybe stiffen the rear suspension...

Yep, that’s just way to much work!
 
Picture slot machine...

I laughed, but I wonder now that it's been a few years on the Hightower, do you still feel this way? Definitely a lot more switches and doo-dads to pay attention to on a full sus with dropper post than a singlespeed. Gears, dropper post, climb switches and brakes - it can feel like those photos at times. Hit the bottom of the Luge at mach chicken then straight into a stout climb - raise seat, downshift furiously and maybe stiffen the rear suspension...


I still love my SS for the majority of rides that I do. I like the challenge, the feel, the simplicity.

If I could only have 1 bike in the garage, it would be the SS.

With that said, the Hightower is a lot of fun. I do enjoy riding it. And yes, I do ride it much more than I anticipated when I bought it.
 
Well... For the last couple weeks I've been planning to do the Hell Ride route. Today was the day! My wife had to be in Big Bear for Super Secret Squirrel Stuff, and she graciously volunteered to be my shuttle to Southfork. The Professor was also on board. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is a raving bitch at times and threw a wrench in our plans. :cautious: The Professor and I pulled the plug early this morning. :thumbsdown: My wife headed out solo in the German tank.

So... The Professor and I took inventory of what's rideable in the rain locally, and settled on San Juan. It rained the entire time on the climb to Cocktail Rock, and the temps hovered in the low 40s. If we saw 30s, it was only for a minute. What we did see, though, was a lot of precipitation. It was coming down pretty hard, but the decomposed granite handled it well. There were a couple other riders on the trail, which is more than we usually see at night...

The recent 100 mile trail run left behind lots of souvenirs. Yellow tape and little blinking lights tied to bushes with ribbon. I picked up a few that had fallen in the trail, but there were probably 50 from bottom to top. Aren't they supposed to pick up after themselves?:mad:

Fun run down... :D

It wasn't Hell Ride, but at least we got out onto the mountain... Fun day. :thumbsup:

Professor Surveying the Landscape...
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Edit: I picked up one of the lights, so I can include a pic in my e-mail to the forest service. Hopefully they give the organizer of the trail run some grief.

Yeah! You ran 100 miles. Now pick up your Sh!t.
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Well... For the last couple weeks I've been planning to do the Hell Ride route. Today was the day! My wife had to be in Big Bear for Super Secret Squirrel Stuff, and she graciously volunteered to be my shuttle to Southfork. The Professor was also on board. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is a raving bitch at times and threw a wrench in our plans. :cautious: The Professor and I pulled the plug early this morning. :thumbsdown: My wife headed out solo in the German tank.

So... The Professor and I took inventory of what's rideable in the rain locally, and settled on San Juan. It rained the entire time on the climb to Cocktail Rock, and the temps hovered in the low 40s. If we saw 30s, it was only for a minute. What we did see, though, was a lot of precipitation. It was coming down pretty hard, but the decomposed granite handled it well. There were a couple other riders on the trail, which is more than we usually see at night...

The recent 100 mile trail run left behind lots of souvenirs. Yellow tape and little blinking lights tied to bushes with ribbon. I picked up a few that had fallen in the trail, but there were probably 50 from bottom to top. Aren't they supposed to pick up after themselves?:mad:

Fun run down... :D

It wasn't Hell Ride, but at least we got out onto the mountain... Fun day. :thumbsup:

Professor Surveying the Landscape...
View attachment 59661


Edit: I picked up one of the lights, so I can include a pic in my e-mail to the forest service. Hopefully they give the organizer of the trail run some grief.

Yeah! You ran 100 miles. Now pick up your Sh!t.
View attachment 59662
Welp, at least you got to ride in this cool weather!
And the race director should absolutely be all over that trail clean up...not cool at all! The sweep runner should have nabbed all of that sh!t! That pisses me off because they've done similar on MY trails too
 
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Isn't there a way to add San Juan to one of your big rides?

There was... Until the Holy Fire. Where we dropped into Trabuco Trail on your death march we were only 3 downhill fire road miles from Bluejay Campground, which is the top of San Juan Trail.

You could get there another way, but it’s a lot less fun. Brutal in spots... If I can get a taker, I may try it this winter.
 
There was... Until the Holy Fire. Where we dropped into Trabuco Trail on your death march we were only 3 downhill fire road miles from Bluejay Campground, which is the top of San Juan Trail.

You could get there another way, but it’s a lot less fun. Brutal in spots... If I can get a taker, I may try it this winter.
So is that connector gone as in destroyed, or is it just closed for now?
 
Nice @Faust29 ! Sooo jealous! I may be hitting that this weekend.

We've been hitting it a lot lately with all of the other stuff closed... Go get some! And I recommend going for the whole enchilada and going to Blue Jay. We did that section a couple weeks ago, and I had forgotten how much fun that is. A lot chunkier than the lower section. Just watch out for the shuttle monkeys and e-bikes!
 
We've been hitting it a lot lately with all of the other stuff closed... Go get some! And I recommend going for the whole enchilada and going to Blue Jay. We did that section a couple weeks ago, and I had forgotten how much fun that is. A lot chunkier than the lower section. Just watch out for the shuttle monkeys and e-bikes!

So true. Upper San Juan past chiquito turn off is so raw. IMO that’s the gnarliest part of the trail. Lots of exposed rock hidden beneath the slight overgrowth that it normally has.
 
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