RR: Slippin' Into Darkness

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

Nice RR, JD. Glad to hear you and GT had a good time.

John Spann

John said:

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

Nice RR, JD. Glad to hear you and GT had a good time.

John Spann

Juan Spanos! Have you been getting any miles in? I may be headed to
AZ this Winter a couple of times. Stay tuned, ok?

JD

"JD" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

Another nice one JD. Hey btw, I may be getting out to Pendleton this spring
to visit
1st Marines. Maybe..............

Marty

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

"Greg took a look up to see where the Sun was and
then suggested that we might do better to turn around."

D'oh! Done my share of those.

Great RR & pics.

gabrielle

"JD" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

That sums it up very well. You definitely have a better memory for the
details than I, especially between New Tom Lucas Trail Camp and sunset.
Except for being scared [censored] on the sections where the cliffside trail
had eroded away into nothing I felt pretty good after it got dark. That is,
until we got to the road. I think the burst of adrenaline I got when the
trail turned back uphill pretty much wiped out the last of my reserves. Or
maybe it was just the caffeine in the chocolate GU.

Anyway, here's my take:

The day dawned radiant and beautiful. I just wanted to sit on the patio,
read the paper, and drink coffee in the morning and beer in the afternoon.
Plus I had a raging, mind slamming headache that morning. But, I know that
I have a lot of riding to do to get back into good enough shape to do the
epic rides I used to do. So when JD brought up the idea of checking out the
Trail Cyn and Condor Peak trails I was happy to oblige. I've had them on my
to-do list for at least 16 years.

Unfortunately, since everything was so comfortable at home I didn't get off
my ass when JD arrived, instead him, me, and Kimberly sat around discussing
the state of the universe over coffee for another hour or so. Knowing that
the trailhead is less than 20 minutes away sure didn't help spur me into
hurriedly loading up the Jeep. We eventually got rolling, the Jeep was on
empty so I had to stop and get gas, and JD realized that he didn't have his
shoes, but thankfully we weren't far from home. So a number of minor things
added up to a major late start time.

We blew by the starting point because the locals appear to have removed the
road sign for people coming up from the valley. I noticed our error when we
got to the trailhead for the end of the singletrack further up the road. It
was actually a good thing because we at least could see the trail conditions
at the end of the ride along with getting a feel for the road transfer
between the end of the singletrack and our parked car. On the way back down
the canyon the sign for people coming out of the mountains was still there
and unmolested.

It was a little warm by then but I was well hydrated. I was already getting
a little hungry by then since breakfast had been hours earlier but I had
quite a bit of food with me. We quickly got headed up the short climb away
from the highway and dropped into the actual parking lot at the trailhead.
There are a couple of nice old forest service cabins where Trail Cyn hits
Big Tujunga Rd, I think Kimberly and I will check them out on a hike to the
falls sometime this weekend. It was nice to see a very obese couple out for
a hike, they started just a minute or two ahead of us and had a nice trail
doggie along with them, and there were a few other groups of people within
the first half mile.

Soon enough we were on our own. The trail had moments of brilliance but
mostly was boulder hopping in the lower reaches. The soles of my shoes are
getting a little worn so I was doing the SPD slip and slide on many of the
creek crossings. We finally got to a point where the trail popped up onto
the side of the canyon which was nice to see since we'd have a little relief
from the boulder hopping and we might even have a chance to ride a little.
It was here that we encountered a group of kids and adults out practicing a
little orienteering. They were a little amazed that we'd bothered getting
that far up the canyon with our bikes and one of the adults said "It gets a
little more rocky up ahead". I thought to myself, "Damn, how could it get
any rockier?". Anyway, we ascended a bit, waited for the last person (and
two dogs) we would see that day to pass by, and then rounded a corner of the
canyon to come upon our first view of the split falls. We knew we had a lot
ahead of us so we didn't hangout long, I just scoped out the path from the
trail down to the base of the falls for a future visit. After dropping down
to the bottom of the canyon above the falls we got to the rocky section that
the orienteering group had mentioned earlier. Clearly they hadn't hiked
very far past it because from there to the top of the climb the trail was
just overgrown and steep, most of the boulders were behind us.

It was still pretty slow going due to overgrowth, I had thick vines and
small branches wrap themselves around my cassette on more than one occasion,
but there was a trail, and there wasn't too much yucca. I got my rear flat
and continued pushing my bike until I got to a spot with enough clearance to
work on it. I was still feeling good here but we had been out awhile and we
were still in the bottom of a steep canyon where I was starting to feel
claustrophobic. We kept forging on and with every break in the canopy I
hoped to see the rim of the canyon. The view was a long time in coming.
Finally we got out of the trees and we were in very high chapparal where we
still couldn't see our goal of the top but we could tell we were on our
final ascent. Unfortunately this is where I felt the worst of the whole
ride. Thankfully after an hour of this with JD far ahead I noticed that he
had stopped. I pretty much hope that that meant he was at or close to the
top and that thought gave me a second wind. Sure enough when I got up to
him he was at the intersection with the trail up to Iron Mtn or down to
Condor Peak. Thinking back on those last 4 miles I am sure that they are
going to be a blast descending, fast sections, cobblestone sections, vege
tunnel sections, whenever we get back up there.

At that point if I had still had my topo with me I would have chosen the
route up to Iron Mtn because that route would have been a short uphill to a
long, and reasonably safe descent back to the car. Instead, the route to
Condor Peak and past to Fox Mountain was ridgetop trail with lots of
elevation gain and loss. But those downhills were a blast, as mentioned
before, there's not a lot of steep, sandy trails in the Angeles NF, the
trails mostly contour along the very steep mountains of the San Gabriels.

After boiling my rear brakes on one descent we arrived on the flanks of Fox
Mtn for sunset. We snapped our pictures and moved on into the darkness and
the hopes that trail would be somewhat rideable. The beginning sure looked
promising as seen in JD's sunset picture of me. Unfortunately 25 yards
later the trail eroded into nothing. Thankfully we still had some light for
the worst landslide of the descent. As things got darker I got slower and
where there was exposure I got off the bike entirely. The first 2 miles of
the descent were pretty hairy, we were up high and the drops to the side of
the trail looked endless. JD clearly has better night vision than I as I
had to come to a complete stop in a couple of places just to try to figure
out where the trail went. There wasn't much choice because we were on the
side of the mountain but I just couldn't tell if the trail rose, dropped,
or did a switchback. I was also starting to suffer some severe cramps in my
quads, and in my left elbow and shoulder from having carried my bike so much
earlier in the ride. But, the trail was still headed downhill and except
for falling over too many times I wasn't expending too much energy.

Thankfully, I worked my cramps out and when we started seeing signs of
civilization the trail was actually getting to be fun. The dirt was light
colored, there were bushes and trees on the edge of the trail to hide the
exposure from me, and I was actually riding alot. It felt like the mid- and
lower-section of San Juan Trail at this point. High speed, sidehill,
well-maintained singletrack with some switchbacks every once in awhile.
Very fun. Until...

....the damned trail did an about face and started heading back uphill away
from the road. It was very demoralizing but I got my third wind, put my
head down, and just started pushing. I was getting to the point of doubting
myself, thinking that we had gotten on some new trail that wasn't on the
maps yet, and that we were headed back up into the mountains. I was also
flirting with the idea that we had died, and gone to hell, or had the curse
of Sisyphus placed on us having to push my bike up a hill forever into
eternity. Thankfully, neither of us paniced, I realized that we had just
missed the shortcut on the old trail alignment and we forged on on the new,
much longer alignment. There weren't many cars out at this point so it was
really hard to tell where the road was, and the few houses in Big T were
long out of sight, but finally I started to see a big white patch below us
that just had to be a turnout. Sure enough, in short order, we were on what
had to be the final downhill pitch to the road. There were two good
switchbacks, I was happy to make the first, and JD was happy to get
redemption on the second, and we were on the highway. And I felt like
death.

I told JD I was going to stick my thumb out for the first car that passed
going our direction but he convinced me that the uphill in front of us was
quite minor and we would have a nice coast to the car after we tackled it.
We ate the last of my pretzels, I offered JD some water which he declined, I
finished my Camelbak, and we were on our way wobbling back and forth across
both lanes of the road. The descent on the other side was fast enough that
I was touching my brakes but JD went brakeless and he shot out into the
darkness. At the next rise in the road JD was waiting for me and with my
4th wind we were over it and on the final coast to the car.

I'm grateful that we had no mechanicals on the descent, I'm grateful that
the weather couldn't have been better, it was warm enough enough during the
day to not get too cold at night, but it wasn't too warm that we were
dehydrated, I'm grateful that I didn't have a cell phone otherwise I
probably would have called for a helicopter ride, I'm grateful that neither
of us fell off of a cliff or got eaten by a mountain lion or hit by a car on
Big T (now that would have been ironic), I'm glad the Jeep started up, and
I'm grateful for all the things that didn't happen that could have made the
situation much worse.

Next time I won't lounge around the house wasting time before a big ride.

Greg

I believe your version better Greg. I know that where ever JD was,
usually ahead, he was sporting that grin that says "give me more,
punish me, I love to grind trails". That crazy Jerry has never ending
"go" power.

More rides! Johnson Ridge to Sespe is still calling me.........

Chip

CB said:

I believe your version better Greg. I know that where ever JD was,
usually ahead, he was sporting that grin that says "give me more,
punish me, I love to grind trails". That crazy Jerry has never ending
"go" power.

Yeah, so far that's been the case for everyone of our rides this year.
Jerry always looking like he could ride non-stop for a couple of days
straight. This time towards the end he was looking almost as haggard as
I was, I think that was due to my having had a bit more food them him.

Quoted message said:

More rides! Johnson Ridge to Sespe is still calling me.........

Hahaha, I think about it often and have mentioned it to JD.

Greg

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

That was awesome Jer...
I like Greg's counter RR... I also don't love big exposure...

Very nice

Thank you!

Jimbo(san)

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

nice,

nice WAR reference also!

peace,
bill

The First law, Inertia: Unless acted upon by an outside force,
a body at rest tends to stay at rest,
and a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
Sir Isaac Newton

Bill Wheeler said:

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

nice,

nice WAR reference also!

peace,
bill

One of their best tunes, for sure.

JD aka Cisco Kid

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

Nice RR. Long Live The Death March! (And the riders who trudge on
them) I really liked the sunset shots. I have a few of the same
genre from St George in spring ;->

-Bill

MTBBill said:

JD said:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2359

It just looks better on there instead of clicking back and forth on the
pics.

JD

Nice RR. Long Live The Death March! (And the riders who trudge on
them) I really liked the sunset shots. I have a few of the same
genre from St George in spring ;->

-Bill

San Jorge was not *that* much of a death march, though we didn't get
back to town until much later.

JD