I Rode My Bike Today...

Sunset Ridge loop early this morning with @Derkderkall. Parked at the bottom of Chaney Trail, on Loma Alta. Pedaled up to LSM for a nice warm up. Grinded up LSM and checked out the railway ruins, then made our way up Echo Mtn Trail to access Sunset Ridge. Blasted down that then jumped onto Horse Trail to finish up. LSM had it's usual weekend crowd. Sunset Ridge had the odd hiker on it. Sadly, we happened upon a freshly killed juvenile bobcat in the street this morning. The loop was good for about 8 miles and about 2K' gain. Good times! :cool:

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My bike rode me yesterday…
Met the boys up at Mt. Pinos to ride McGill. The lower parking lot had at least 40 cars with no telling how many were shuttling to the top. :mad:
So instead of being dicks and climbing the trail and getting in the way of bombers on bikes, we climbed the pavement. I sucked.

I brought the Hightower as I wanted to descend on a fluffy suspension, but it is not a great climbing bike, especially when you are riding once a week like myself.
So… I was the boat anchor.:oops:
@SS Barby was on his Ripley and @Voodoo Tom was once again on his Singlespeed.
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When we got to the upper parking lot I was actually a little loopy. When we started the drop the trail was packed with hikers and campers walking to an upper campground.

It took me a while to get my descending frame of mind together. On section 2 we came across some familiar guys, Tom Lathrop, The Possum, and some dude on his lame azz eBike pulled to the side with a flat tire. Tom Lathrop smacked a rock with his rear wheel and blew his STANS out and could not get the tubeless valve stem to shake loose from the rim to swap in a tube and @SS Barby had enough toolage to assist.

Fixing that… we continued to the bottom.

When riding McGill, one must stop at Mike’s Pizza. The huge mugs of very cold beer hit the spot. Well… actually several of them did.

But that’s a WHOLE OTHER ADVENTURE TO DISCUSS….:geek:
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There “may” or may not be other pics others could contribute…:whistling:
 
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Mikie said:
My bike rode me yesterday…
Met the boys up at Mt. Pinos to ride McGill. The lower parking lot had at least 40 cars with no telling how many were shuttling to the top. :mad:
So instead of being dicks and climbing the trail and getting in the way of bombers on bikes, we climbed the pavement. I sucked.

I brought the Hightower as I wanted to descend on a fluffy suspension, but it is not a great climbing bike, especially when you are riding once a week like myself.
So… I was the boat anchor.:oops:
@SS Barby was on his Ripley and @Voodoo Tom was once again on his Singlespeed.
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When we got to the upper parking lot I was actually a little loopy. When we started the drop the trail was packed with hikers and campers walking to an upper campground.

It took me a while to get my descending frame of mind together. On section 2 we came across some familiar guys, Tom Lathrop, The Possum, and some dude on his lame azz eBike pulled to the side with a flat tire. Tom Lathrop smacked a rock with his rear wheel and blew his STANS out and could not get the tubeless valve stem to shake loose from the rim to swap in a tube and @SS Barby had enough toolage to assist.

Fixing that… we continued to the bottom.

When riding McGill, one must stop at Mike’s Pizza. The huge mugs of very cold beer hit the spot. Well… actually several of them did.

But that’s a WHOLE OTHER ADVENTURE TO DISCUSS….:geek:
View attachment 77148
There “may” or may not be other pics others could contribute…:whistling:
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Yeah she didn’t buy my “two beers” story for a second when I got home :Roflmao:rolleyes::confused:.
 
mike said:
We ran a shuttle on Big Chief. Due to air quality the light was weird up high – as you can see in the vid...

Highlights from today with a homegrown soundtrack.

Trying to have some good times in a bad situation. Home by 10am; one other rider seen coming up the trail.
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Nice! Beautiful forest! Awesome riding you two! Keep up the positive vibes. Something cool will happen.
 
Not really sure why, but I've never tackled anything higher than El P. Ok, that's a lie. It's a mental game hearing of death defying descents and exposure and tech and chunk and what not. Finally figured it was time to see what it was all about, and met up with @SnakeCharmer on the streets of Altadena at sunrise. We spun over to Lower Sam Merrill and began the slow grind up. Spin a little, hike a little, lots of rests to catch my breath in the form of courtesy to hikers passing by. It finally ended and we took a detour to hang out at the Echo ruins for a break, before heading the opposite direction on Lowe Railway.

Finally, there it was, the crown jewel Sunset Ridge. I've seen youtube videos, read descriptions... but was still unsure of what to expect. Slow through a few chunky spots, but am confident I could cruise through them next time no problem. The switchbacks, well....I'm not on the best of terms with them or there brethren. Exposure... didn't really notice it. Fun - had it.

From there, back over to horse trail down Chaney and that was it.

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Woo hoo! Rode the floop.. down n up.. held on for dear life! Hot n fun.. good to ride again..
1st week of June doc said..maybe u can ride after one year... I could not wait.. been testing it around the flats and street.. today did full floop.. I can lift the front tire an inch... Still hard to use dropper and front break but at least I can hang on...

Boys it sucks to be off the bike... Today hot floop was like riding moab or Santa Cruz.. I loved it. I missed it...
The best trail in southern California!!!!
 
Quick lap of the Cheese before work this morning, just to the lookout and back. Even by my mediocre riding standards my riding felt mediocre for most of the ride, but it was still a wonderful morning to be in the canyon, and fitness is feeling on the up. As I was about to descend Gas Pipe there was a gaggle of riders staging for the final descent that I didn't want to contend with. I slid around them, and the motivation keep them off my tail combined with home court advantage made for a strong and fun romp down for a great finish to the ride. 13/1566. Bikes are fun.
 
konakc said:
Woo hoo! Rode the floop.. down n up.. held on for dear life! Hot n fun.. good to ride again..
1st week of June doc said..maybe u can ride after one year... I could not wait.. been testing it around the flats and street.. today did full floop.. I can lift the front tire an inch... Still hard to use dropper and front break but at least I can hang on...

Boys it sucks to be off the bike... Today hot floop was like riding moab or Santa Cruz.. I loved it. I missed it...
The best trail in southern California!!!!
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I have heard that about the Floop before
 
buggravy said:
Quick lap of the Cheese before work this morning, just to the lookout and back. Even by my mediocre riding standards my riding felt mediocre for most of the ride, but it was still a wonderful morning to be in the canyon, and fitness is feeling on the up. As I was about to descend Gas Pipe there was a gaggle of riders staging for the final descent that I didn't want to contend with. I slid around them, and the motivation keep them off my tail combined with home court advantage made for a strong and fun romp down for a great finish to the ride. 13/1566. Bikes are fun.
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what is the Final Descent? from the joggle with the power line road?
 
I've been off the bike for a week... I debated taking a bike with me for the road trip, but then decided against it. So today I "eased" back into it with a single speed jaunt to Henninger Flats. I almost died, and I don't think it was the week off the bike... :Roflmao

The main climbing segment is something like 2.2 miles with about 1300 feet of gain. :Roflmao The only thing I can think to compare it to is the Acorn Drive/Trail climb out of Wrightwood at the beginning of the Wrightwood 50... :gag:

On the way back down I took a detour onto the Eaton Canyon Trail which drops into the canyon. Although it was non-technical doubletrack, it was steep. After the fourth switchback, I lowered the seat... Lots of firemen "running" up the trail, so I took it easy.

9/1700

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I can remember when a 67 degree head angle felt really slack... :p
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We drove down from Ely, NV to the Brian Head, UT area this morning and stopped in Cedar City to ride. We rode the Iron Hills system which includes the Lichen climbing trail (one of the best designed I've ever ridden) up to Lava Flow which is exactly what it sounds like. A flow type trail with lava chunk. The builders did a great job of building in optional lines, rollers & drops off to the side to keep things spicy. We ended up climbing back up another route to get a longer downhill....and an extra 1000' of climbing which burned a couple of guys but the DH made up for it.

Now you know where the Lichen name comes from....
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This rock rode like a mini wall-ride/drop combo that we sessioned a couple times. As is standard, photos don't do it justice but it was FUN!!
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