The Santa Ana Winds can be cruel, which is why they
are nicknamed The Devil Winds. Sometimes they can be
kind as well. Saturday morning, I decided they were
kind. The view at the Dana Point curve on I-5
garnered a nice view of Catalina and San Clemente
Islands, sitting on top of calm deep azure waters. It
was a classic Southern California Fall day.
The air piney and warm when I arrived at the meeting
place and jumped out of my truck to get a couple of
power bars from the store. A few minutes later Bill,
Chip, John, Bear and Simon pulled up, ready to hit the
dusty trail. It was decided that a point to point
shuttle was in order that deleted a good chunk of road
climbing, but what the heck, what we were planning was
28 miles and had a pretty good bit of climbing anyways.
It was a bit cooler and more piney at the top.
Everyone did a little bit of a last minute check on
their gear and a quick pedal up the road later dropped
us onto an old road. The grade was pretty easy and
the ancient macadam was smooth enough to relax a bit
before hitting the dirt. After a short period, a singletrack
appeared on the right and one by one, we disappeared
up it.
The winds had played a bit of a cruel trick in this
particular section of trail. There was a small rut in
the middle of the tread that varied in size and depth
which had been filled in places with freshly blown
pinecones. Now if this had been on a downhill, it
would have been easy to "float" right down the trail,
however it was a climb and there wasn't much floating
going on. That's ok because at least you can see pine
cones. Acorns are a different story.
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The first place we stopped gave way to a really nice
view to the east. The skies were blue for as far as
we could see and that was very far by SoCal standards.
The stop was a quick regroup and then the route took
us up a faded doubletrack to a bit of singletrack. I
don't remember who I was following at this point, but
do remember giving them a wide berth as soon as it got
a little rocky. It's never good to crowd a rider you
don't know. After a nice drop in elevation with a few
alternative moves, we all regrouped again at a trail
intersection. This was the decision point for doing a
little extra climbing and descending.
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The first bit of this extra mileage was a climb with a
few mild switchbacks, though I managed to goof a
right-hander in the mix. The top opened up and gave
us all a nice view to the South and a smoke plume
from a pretty good sized forest fire in Mexico. There
was a nice rock garden at the top that started with a
nice granite slab move up and immediately dropped over
and into a varied angle rock garden that required some
picking to get through. I had one dab and didn't even
claim that the Sun was in my eyes to cause it.
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The drop off of the top yielded some pretty fast stuff
that had me wishing for a dropped saddle, but not too
badly, especially when it circled us back onto that
first rocky drop in. Being in familiar terrain for
the first time today, I let the Chamuco do what it was
designed to do. After the first few tight turns, I
hit the inside of a ledge into switchback move with a
wheelie drop into a trackstand, turned the bars, and
pedaled out of it into the meat of the descent. It
didn't last nearly as long as the first trip down.
The intersection gave the option of two descents to
the next rally point and I chose the one that wasn't
fall-line. I think it was Bear who was behind me and
got a bird's eye view of what happens when you have
too much front brake in a pile of acorns on a descent.
The leaves had done a good job of camoflauging those
little buggers because all I remember is hitting the
dirt and rolling. No slo-mo biff there. The worst I
got was a little dust on me.
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The next bit was really cool. Upper Transitional Zone
high speed cruising on singletrack is always fun.
Chip, Bill and I leapfrogged once each to take some
photos. It was almost a shame to interrupt this
section, but it would have been even more of a shame
to not capture this section with a photo as well.
After a mile or so of downhill, the route went through
a fence where we caught up with some other riders.
The usual "how ya doin's" were exchanged and we hit
the trail to finish this section with a little
undulating singletrack that skirted some huge meadows.
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At the next crossroads of trails, Chip announced he
was going to catch a catnap, knowing the rest of the
bunch would be riding extra credit section number two.
The climb started on singletrack and eventually gave
way to another old paved road, where it gained a
couple hundred feet. Bill went ahead on the
singletrack descent to set up for some photos and
asked that we stagger our file on the trail. I
dropped in next to last in front of John and wound my
way down the narrow track. It was very smooth at
first, but as it started to head down the middle of
the ravine it was in, the rocks increased. I'm just
starting to get used to what this bike can do, so I
let go of the brakes a little more than instinct tells
me to and rip right down the ever increasing
babyheads. I see Bill on the left side near what
looks like a turn that is worn to the outside, but as
I get closer I see what looks like the original line
on the inside with a ledge. So, instead of cheating
around on what the line has become, I lean the bike a
little more, let go of the brakes and launch. I can
hear Bill make some kind of exclamation to the effect
of "what the...was that???". It was fun, is what I
told him after snapping a shot of him from down the
trail.
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Chip was already awake and ready to roll. I lagged
just a bit to put some extra air in my rear tire and
we all rolled down the trail to a little more
downhillish riding. It didn't last as long as the
upper section, but did drop us out on the road again
and even a tap for reloading our water. This was a
munchie break and when I realized that I had forgotten
to put those power bars into my pack. Bill let me bum
a granola bar off of him, saying he had plenty. It
definitely hit the spot, especially knowing we had
another small climb coming up.
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John led out here and I decided to drop in behind him
as we headed up the trail. It was kind of slow going,
but was pretty smooth and thus easier to climb than
if it had been say...full of pine cones or covered in
acorns? John faltered in a tight turn and I kept
going with the hope that there wasn't a hidden
intersection I needed to be looking for. This mild
paranoia increased as the trail turned down and began
twisting between chunks of granite with an exponential
speed and fun increase. I rolled down a large boulder
face and decided it was a good place for a photo op.
I had the camera out but not turned on when John
rolled up. He first thought I had crashed because my
bike was moved out of the trail, but I reassured him
and he pressed on. I had one other rider in our group
ride the boulder and instead of snapping the photo
that I had set up, shot a short video of him rolling
the boulder. Now I need to figure out how to create a
vidcap.
The rest of this particular section went pretty
quickly and sent us across a flat and road
intersection. At the intersection, I paused to say
hey to three riders, one being a character I had
ridden with before. They pointed me the right way,
which was towards a small climb over a knob that led
to the meat of the downhill of the day. Before it got
really into the downhill, it gave a little warmup with
a few turns and babyhead steeps before dropping back
onto the road the route had crossed minutes before.
Everyone was here except for Chip, who had stopped to
take a few photos, so I took the opportunity to drop
my saddle and offer the allen wrench to anyone else
who wanted to do the same. I think Bear was the only
one who did. Right after Chip zoomed up a minute
later, the consensus told me I was going first. What
pressure for the newb who had never ridden this trail!
Ok, cruise a bit at first to get a feel and then
increase as needed and allowed. Bear dropped in
behind me and did a good job of riding my wheel right
off the bat. I'm not sure if he was following my
chosen line, but could hear him right there. The
swoopy turns and short straightaways made for a great
exercise in brake control and I heard no skidding from
either bike. After a couple of sudden switchbacks,
the trail opened up quite a bit and I chose a few
lines that appeared to be lightly used, especially
this one large block rock in the middle of the trail
that I flew off of. Bear later said he saw my head
pop up as I hit that sucker. This portion ended with
one of the more technical sections that started out a
little bumpy with half-buried rocks that eventually
increased in size and ended in a ledgy steep that
crossed a stream at the bottom. The Chamuco gobbled
up those rocks and the Inner Peace tires grabbed the
last bit of solid rock like velcro. Bear followed up
with a nice clean roll down it as well, looking smooth
all of the way. The rest rolled up and made their way
down the rocks and when Bill asked me to ride it again
so he could shoot me, I saw a flat tire in the
front. That's the first time I ever pinch flatted an Inner
Peace Motoraptor.
I had a spare tube out and in when Chip rolled up and
offered to give my tire a Co2 shot to get us going
faster. It worked well in one shot, so then I fumbled
with the QR20 a bit again (first flat with a QR20 up
front) and got the front end back together. the
babyheads that followed reminded me why I didn't mind
fumbling with the QR20. It was loose and rocky with
ledges, making the multi-line choice a bit tricky at
times. I had to slow way down in the middle of it
because there was a rider in front of me, some
60something dude on an old cannondale with a headshock
in way over his head. He was off the bike and saw me
approaching and in his haste to yield the trail, slid
and fell on his butt. It wasn't a hard biff, but
appeared to be at least demoralizing. I gave plenty
of berth in passing, hugging the outside of the trail
and asking if he was ok while slow rolling a couple of
ledges. He was ok.
Things leveled out a bit again and began to undulate
down-canyon, getting into more solid rock trailbead in
places. It was kind of fun having to stand to hit the
trickier sections out of the saddle because it was
still lowered. I think having the saddle a little
more out of the way actually helps in standing
technical climbing. Bill, Simon and John were waiting
in the shade before a little climb out, so I stopped
to survey a move in the climb and check vantage spots
for a photo across the ravine. The move was doable
with sticky tires and the shot seemed obvious. I got
both after two attempts. Bear didn't take any photos,
but rode the move.
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The top out revealed another traverse that became
increasingly rocky and steep. I kind of figured this
was close to the steps everyone else had been ranting
about. John had missed a move and was off the bike
ahead of me yielding the trail. He confirmed my
belief as I rolled by and into the top of a steep
left-hand switchback. A slow roll look over the top
had me make a move to the inside of the switcher
because of the available traction on the rock, sling
my butt way over the back wheel, and grab as much
front and rear brake as possible and still keep
traction on the rock until hitting the transition at
the bottom. As soon as my front wheel hit dirt, I
feathered the brake until the rear wheel hit and then
simultaneously grabbed a handful of front brake and
cocked the wheel to the left. The trackstand was spot
on and pedaling out of it and into the stair section
was automatic, yet deliberate because of what
followed. The steps were fun, but were definitely apexed
by that switchback. It's really nice to have a bike
that you can fully trust on stuff like that.
It wasn't over there. One last rip down to the canyon
bottom that is pretty fast and furious sans big rocks
was a fitting end to a very cool and varied downhill.
The intersection at the bottom was where three peeled
off to road climb out and John, Bill and I decided to
ride the dirt up and out. I had been given the
impression that this climb was sandy, but all I could
think was whomever said that has not been to Moab. I
had a bit of a shifting issue (which turned out to be
a bent adjuster screw) and fixed it enough to finish.
I encountered a couple of women on horses who seemed
cordial enough, though I could hear them galloping up
as I caught up to John and Bill at the top. The last
bit was a pedal out on some back streets of the town
we met in and coast down to the parking lot where our
compatriots were waiting.
We all headed down to the local burger joint and
loaded up of burgers and fries after picking up the
vehicles at the top. It was a good day to ride,
perfect remperatures, no hard crashes, one mechanical
and a lot of fun on two wheels with some cool people.
On my way back up to OC I was given the opportunity to
sit in some of the North San Diego County traffic on
I-5, which is alwawys a treat. It was extra bonus
though because some soccer mom in a minivan had the
kids watching a DVD in the back. What were they
watching? Some old school Bugs Bunny from way back
when Elmer Fudd was really big. It was kind of fun to
watch 'ol Bugs harsh on Elmer again and also restored
my faith in parents today because they weren't
watching any of what passes for cartoons nowdays.
Long live Bugs Bunny, that antagonistic creep.
JD
The whole idea of music from the beginning of time was for people to be
happy - Robert Plant 1970