I Rode My Bike Today...

Nice view

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Feeling blah with a cold since Friday morning, not to mention dst...
But rather than sit on my ass all weekend, went for a ride with the toddler. San Gabriel River trail from Encanto park, North to the end, and down along the old San gab road in the Azusa River wilderness park.

About 9 miles total, and only a few h hundred feet of climbing, but good use of family time.

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Derkderkall said:
Feeling blah with a cold since Friday morning, not to mention dst...
But rather than sit on my ass all weekend, went for a ride with the toddler. San Gabriel River trail from Encanto park, North to the end, and down along the old San gab road in the Azusa River wilderness park.

About 9 miles total, and only a few h hundred feet of climbing, but good use of family time.

View attachment 62559
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Good use of sick time :thumbsup:
 
mountaingirl sara said:
Ya Derreck, he works for Mtb and Road bike magazine. I’m not surprised, did you guys ride up here? He kinda knows these mtns from riding moto.
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Yeah we rode the hills around Frazier park and every inch of hungry valley. We have a couple mutual friends that he grew up with. One of them took the path of beer, booze and painkillers and needless to say isn’t doing well and looks like he’s 100 years old. Derreck looks just like he did 30 years ago. Funny what happens when you take care of yourself.
 
suspension tuning laps at Oaks today. Just realized that I was kind of over running so much sag. That plus speeding up the rebound one click really helped the bike hook up climbing, though I have to use the compression damping switch to settle it down. Descending, it seems like a tradeoff, a slightly harsher ride but better traction.

It’s nice when the bike rewards a hard push by hooking up and moving forward...

1.6x10^11 microns traveled and 1.4x10^-14 parsecs of climbing, mas o menos.
 
Voodoo Tom said:
Yeah we rode the hills around Frazier park and every inch of hungry valley. We have a couple mutual friends that he grew up with. One of them took the path of beer, booze and painkillers and needless to say isn’t doing well and looks like he’s 100 years old. Derreck looks just like he did 30 years ago. Funny what happens when you take care of yourself.
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Too bad about the mutual friend..life is harder on some than others.
Next time we hit the trails I’ll get you into the loop!
 
So I've been looking for a new ride for my wife no rush no hurry but then @SnakeCharmer put the Jabberwocky ghost on the market and I pretty much knew immediately that was it. Told my wife about it she was moderately enthused she's that way until it's tactile.

https://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/threads/2017-vassago-jabberwocky-for-sale.9178/#post-211338

Funny thing as soon as I got there in person I was trying to figure out how it might become my bike.

"Does it fit me.. can I make it fit me ..wow this is beautiful bike"

Long story short it's an amazing bike I'm lucky to have it in my stable.

My old original Spot steel frame was probably the nicest frame by feel I ever owned and immediately I could feel same quality in the Vassago.

I took it out and jammed all around Aliso (Rock-it, Mathis, Meadows) I forgot how nice a steel hardtail can feel / ride especially with 29 wheels. I had a blast. The component package is awesome.

But alas it's just that titch too small for me...

And when I got home the Mrs said "Oh is that the bike ... Its pretty....that's my new bike right" not to mention she's never felt great hydraulic brakes before... done. She will put it to good use

Now we all know whose bike it is... Not to say I might not sneak a ride here and there.

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I got out for a ride this morning. @horsebikerider and I joined @h20Chick and @cajun for a social pedal up to Old Camp.

As i mentioned in the other thread, when we rolled into Cooks, the back lot was packed....with hordes of ebikes. :facepalm: We geared up and headed out.

Cool temps were comfortable for most of the ride. We made pretty short work of the climb up to the Luge. Fun run down to the Luge. Just as we started to continue up to Old Camp the "battery bitches" went by....and they went by quick. I watched them head up Goat Hill....they sure as hell were not in Eco mode. o_O Yes, we exchanged "pleasantries" :rolleyes: when we passed them on our way up.

We made it to the top in short order. Didn't feel like we were pushing the pace, but we came around the corner at the top and was like wow, we're here.

Pushed a solid pace back down to the Luge.....Greg or Suz on my back wheel at different times.

Got to back to the Luge and what do we see.....another ebike, making the climb up to the flag on the short side....he thought he was a stud since his buddy on the regular bike didn't make it....I let him know I always clean it on the SS without a motor. :whistling:

We rolled straight into the Luge....no stopping at the flag to mess up the Strava run. I pushed it. Felt good. Hit my spots. There are a few more new jumps that were not there last weekend. I find myself checking up before the big table tops at the bottom.....definitely slows me down. 3:32.....should've been faster. G-Reg finally got under 4:00, and by a good amount.

Good lunch afterward.

Good ride this morning.
 
tick said:
suspension tuning laps at Oaks today. Just realized that I was kind of over running so much sag. That plus speeding up the rebound one click really helped the bike hook up climbing, though I have to use the compression damping switch to settle it down. Descending, it seems like a tradeoff, a slightly harsher ride but better traction.

It’s nice when the bike rewards a hard push by hooking up and moving forward...

1.6x10^11 microns traveled and 1.4x10^-14 parsecs of climbing, mas o menos.
Click to expand...

More bounce = faster and more fun. Trust me. Well, more fun anyway. :cautious::cautious:
 
@redwoods reached out for a ride in the afternoon today so answered the request and we met up at JPL to do a Brown Mtn/El P fun session. We climbed to the first saddle and took a breather. It remained cool for most of the ride which is great for San Gabes climbs (or anywhere else). Pat hadn't been up to the Ken Burton trail head before so we did that climb and then we did an about face and proceeded to blast back down the mountain to the lower saddle, smiles securely plastered on our faces. From there we dropped in again for the DH to the El Prieto trailhead. More fast fun. Then it was time for a pass through a local favorite, the one and only, El Prieto. I tried to keep up with Pat the best I could, lol.

13.83 miles
1998' gain
1025 calories

Here's a sampling from the top of El P:

 
Testing the ankle for True Grit... It's still tender, but felt worlds better than on Friday. A couple days off the bike was the right call.

So... Just an easy out and back to Sierra Peak on the single speed. The Black Star climb seemed pretty easy today, and I didn't feel like I was pushing. The time to Main Divide was still decent, though, especially for dogging the flat sections. True Grit may not kill me on Saturday... Only saw a couple guys working on the towers, and one other rider on my way back down Sierra Ridge. Black Star was empty on the way down, except for several bird watchers. One was in camouflage, and had a chair and binoculars set up at the bottom of Booby Trap. Three more by the entrance to the single track where the helicopter broke down not long ago. Pretty cool to see, but I don't think they appreciated my hubs.:oops:

Lots of hikers on the lower section... Along with some ranch hands trimming brush near Art's place. I was in cruise mode 200 yards from the gate and thinking to myself that I made it without seeing any non-motorized vehicles. Then I heard the motor... A full blown KTM with storm trooper rider- through the gate and headed into the hikers. :facepalm:

24/3500
 
Faust29 said:
Testing the ankle for True Grit... It's still tender, but felt worlds better than on Friday. A couple days off the bike was the right call.

So... Just an easy out and back to Sierra Peak on the single speed. The Black Star climb seemed pretty easy today, and I didn't feel like I was pushing. The time to Main Divide was still decent, though, especially for dogging the flat sections. True Grit may not kill me on Saturday... Only saw a couple guys working on the towers, and one other rider on my way back down Sierra Ridge. Black Star was empty on the way down, except for several bird watchers. One was in camouflage, and had a chair and binoculars set up at the bottom of Booby Trap. Three more by the entrance to the single track where the helicopter broke down not long ago. Pretty cool to see, but I don't think they appreciated my hubs.:oops:

Lots of hikers on the lower section... Along with some ranch hands trimming brush near Art's place. I was in cruise mode 200 yards from the gate and thinking to myself that I made it without seeing any non-motorized vehicles. Then I heard the motor... A full blown KTM with storm trooper rider- through the gate and headed into the hikers. :facepalm:

24/3500
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Glad you got out but didn't you recently say that you would be riding very little for a while?
 
I figured that the best thing I could do today was ride my bike, so I did. Went to Maple Springs, certain that the gate would be closed. Got rained on a lot going up. Good thing I was covered in Gore-Tex . When I arrived at 4 Corners it was cold, windy and still raining. That was enough. Put on a couple extra layers of insulation and a third pair of gloves. Shortly after starting to head back, it stopped raining and patches of blue sky appeared. The dirt was in primo condition and the ride back down was about as good as it gets on Maple Springs. Started raining again on last 1.25 miles. :thumbsup: :)

4 Corners
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Parking is available at the lower lot
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