I knew where we were heading for the day, had ridden there before, and
knew a light bike works very well there. However, word had gotten to
me the night before that Miles would be attending on a 6" travel bike
and I wanted to handicap him. Well, Miles didn't show because of a
bug that settled in overnight and there I was, on the only heavy bike
of the group in a land suited for light bikes. Not all of the trails
were truly "light", due to some brilliant trail design around some
large boulders that yielded excellent extracurricular lines to choose
from. Those lines made it all worth it.
It was nice to meet up with Bill and Co. at 8 AM instead of the usual
earlier ride times. I arrived a few minutes early and Bill, Stan and
Kim rolled up a few minutes later. After hitting the cool mountain air
for introductions and initial BSing, I decided that the long sleeve
shirt would have to pull duty for at least the first part of the ride.
It seemed like a wise decision, especially as the group pedaled of into
the crisp air.
The short initial climb had somehow been magically filled with large
wood chippings since my last visit and assisted in me spinning out and
hoofing a couple of pitches. At the top, there was the perfunctory
pause for the view and a couple of snapshots and then we railed down
the trail. The conditions were a little loose, but it seemed normal
for this time of year and no monsoons for a month or so. Another pause
at a nice rock overview on a side trail was required as well before
looping back around to the parking lot and beyond.
The next trail brought us to a nice topo line traversing trail before
crossing a fire road and then the dropping began. Sure it wasn't all
descending, as this area has trails that don't drop or climb too
drastically. The trail initially ascended a small knoll, with a couple
of rock moves up, including a nice squeeze. We dropped down off of the
knoll and twisted out way up, down and around through the track. There
was one pause at a multiple line boulder move, ridden both up and down.
It was all good, but the bigger moves were much more fun on a 6"
travel bike, especially since I had only ridden this area on a rigid
singlespeed before. The handling in the twisties still seemed pretty
sluggish to me, but there was all day and I was in no hurry.
We exited the singletrack onto a fire road and then began what was
going to be the biggest climb of the day. Bill jetted right off, later
admitting that his mileage has been up and it certainly showed. Stan
and Kim paced themselves and I kind of rode in-between, trying to keep
an even spin to haul the pig up the hill more easily. Bill was being
kind and hung back enough to give me a dose of my own medicine,
conversing with someone who was having trouble catching their breath.
It was funny because I haven't gotten that treatment in a while and I
had to grin while thinking about it while peeling off my long sleeve
shirt about halfway up. Bill had already crested and was scooping the
view when I pulled up. Being able to see a panorama like that in SoCal
doesn't happen that often.
Stan and Kim pulled up in a few and then we discussed the trail we were
going to traverse back towards the parking lot. It's the classic
undulating singletrack, with a few do-dads throw in here and there,
like log drops, a tree limbo, sandy spots and some dreaded Live Oak
acorns. The fixed obstacles were expected, but the acorns were more
hazardous than one might expect. In some places there were so many
acorns on the trail it was like riding on marbles. Other places, a few
might be in the apex of a turn and while railing through, caused the
bike to skip a few inches to the side. You couldn't see most of
those little buggers because they were in heavily shaded areas and were
scattered in the duff of oak leaves and other natural trail detritus.
Still, it was a ripping run across, eventually dropping us off onto a
fire road.
A quick consensus steered us back onto the singletrack that initially
climbed and dropped off of the road we were back on. This time I was a
lot more ready for what was to come, and hit all of the right gears at
the right times. The big bike also seemed to be handling more easily,
probably due to my getting used to it again and riding it as it was
intended to be ridden. Everyone else seemed to be in a groove, as the
group remained relatively tight and all exited onto the lower fire road
within about a minute of each other. The aforementioned consensus
headed us back towards the car for a food break.
Round two saw Stan and Kim sitting it out. Kim had had enough and made
no excuses or bones about it. Stan had taken a trip over the bars in
the acorn infestation and had injured his wrist, so he was reluctantly
going to hang with Kim. Bill and I rolled off on a singletrack that
exited right from the parking area and has the best higher speed flow
in the whole area. The brief rest and food had rejuvenated me some,
but getting a good flow on the first trail out after seemed to have
finished the restoration of my being able to handle the heavy bike, at
least on the descents and short climbs.
Good things don't ever last too long and the next move was to
traverse over to another track I had yet to ride all of and Bill knew
where the upper entrance was. We used a few of the tracks we had
already been on and were able to eke even more speed out of our bikes
than previously. One such place was a manmade double bridge/stunt over
two huge fallen trees that I had ridden over a little tentatively
earlier and Bill had skipped completely. Round two on that section
found me flowing right through and Bill riding the first half without
even thinking about it. Exiting onto the fire road that was the big
climb earlier, it was time to climb half of it again.
Bill was again, kind in hanging back a bit as I had to fight to get
that bike up the hill again. He was paused at the entrance and I too
the opportunity to drop the saddle for the first time of the day,
knowing at least the part of the trail I had been on before it would be
beneficial. Of course it had to start with a little climb, but soon
there were plentiful fun boulder moves as described by Bill. I led and
flowed over most of them, stopping a couple of times to reorient to the
trail and check the boulders for line probabilities. One such boulder
looked to have an impossible deep V that most assuredly would be a
pedal clipper, but closer inspection revealed that the left side
boulder of the move was rollable right off of the top. I had to give
it a couple of goes, both being an easy task with the big bike. It's
definitely way fun stuff and hats off to the trailbuilders for this gem
of the area.
After a short section past the V boulder, we were back on familiar turf
to me and I knew the trail opened up in a few places before crossing
another fire road. The pig handles so well at speed, regaining control
in a left-hand sweeping turn after caroming down a 50 yard rut was less
of a fight than turning in the tight twisties. After the next fire
road, the descent was more of a traverse and in places reminds me a lot
of Fruita's famous Kessel Run. I swear that whoever built this
section of trail had to have ridden Fruita before this trail was built.
While exiting the trail, Bill mentioned that when ridden at the proper
speed, this was his favorite section in the area. I can't say I
blame him because on a snappier handling bike, it's mine too.
The ride out was all fire road climb, and again Bill was kind enough to
hang back. We BSed a bit about rides yet to come and an impending trip
he was going to be taking. It was a mutual agreement that it's going
to be a great Fall in the local mountains and maybe an even better
Winter in the high desert. I just may learn to love California again.
JD