Chill in the Air

Wow had pretty cool temps today. Fit my comfort zone perfectly. Once again the Home trails was the call for today. Ended up with a good 5 hour ride linking trail after trail. Ran into Marlin & Dawne, really good seeing them....it's been a while.

View of Tahquitz from Sunset Trail.

Cloud level riding.

All in all a really good day on the bike.

pedal 1 long

Home Sweet Home

Been staying away from the local trails lately. Just a bit to muddy. All about keeping our trails primo.
Finally ventured out last monday. Seemed like a good time waiting for them to firm up a bit.

I'm so glad I was patient. Trails were as good as it gets.

Started @ Cowbell and linked every trail I know in the May Valley system.

It was one of those times that I truly feel fortunate I have access to this system of trails.Many thanks to the trailbuilder (you know who you are) and everyone else who puts there time into maintaining.

tOP OF sUNSET tRAIL

cOUPLE OF bEERS THAT WERE ENJOYED OVER xmas EVE dINner

pEdAL OnE LonG

PALM RUN

Palm Canyon was todays Flavor..
Tony B joined.
Good cool temps.
Broke a power link today for the first time.
Good fast pace run.
Local riders should be on this.

Up on the ridge looking at where we will be going.

Looking back at where we been.

Pedal 1 lONG

Pinyon Back to Back Days

Been ridin Pinyon the last couple of days. So many options can be put together riding in the high desert. A couple days of rain and snow opened up a trail usually to loose to ride.

Switchbacks dropping you into Olmstett Wash.

Started on the Pinyon trail and connected to Palm Canyon.

Roshon riding the slalom course with Cats Claws and cactus as the borders.

Signage for our cutoff and the start of Potrero Canyon. Found out this connector should only be done after a rain. If timed good you pedal the wash for about a mile and a half and then connect to the ol' 4X4 double/singletrack.

Ran into a Longhorn Bull on the Upper End.

View of the Old Grove after a stout climb.

Been kinda nice on the eyes. High desert really shows off after a lil bit o water.

Pedal 1 Long

All Day Fun

Started early sat morn out of Paradise Corners. Cold temps for SoCal prolly in the low 30's. Layering is always an issue low temps in the am may lead to high temps in the pm. My lightweight winter layering was solidified this season by the purchase of a Windwall Vest.

1st climb of the day.

Usually this climb is a good constant spin...areas you can attack and just a good fun climb. This ride was a different story. Crunchy soft top layer felt like pedalin sand.

Then there was snow in all the wrong places.

My steed playing camera whore on the Connector Trail.

First time conditions for me, normally I'm visiting at the other end of the spectrum.

Frank on his first snow ride.

The Jedi trail was just plain special. Snow was as deep as a couple of feet in many spots. It was just hold on and ride. Flew over the bars once to the delight of fresh deep snow. It's kinda goofy how a couple of grown men giggle like lil schoolgirls in conditions like this.

View of Potrero Canyon.

Found some trails in this area I will try to loop this coming weekend.

Looked kinda ZEN to me.

So this ride had some objectives to it. One hearing from a local Pinyon Cowgirl/MTBer was that there was Butta near.........We didn't find it but enjoyed the hiking we did in a few canyons.

Second was finding tha Ol' Live Oaks trail to Palm Canyon trail. Had a failed attempt in the fall of 2006 with the Raptorman. That trip is named "carry your bike up and down canyons and bumming a couple of Budweisers from some hunters" ride/adventure. This trip was a failed attempt too. This time it was a hike down a water drainage gap in the side of the canyon.

Hiking the bikes down Boulders.

Stepping our way down.

Scaling our way down.

Finally after a couple of hours of scaling we hit the bottom wash. Hooked in to Palm Canyon about a mile north of the Bottom Canyon trail. Running Palm in this direction is just plain fun.

Climbing is a lil more but this trail is good in both directions. Day was running out on us but we had 2 hours b4 sunset. So we decided to ride as much or did I decide that we would ride as much as we could b4 sunset knowing that we could get something warm to eat and a fresh pint of Guiness at Sugarloaf Cafe. So when we hit Palm Canyon drive we hooked into a couple of techy horse trails looping in and around Pinyon Flats. Finished these off just as we ran out of light and pedalled over to the CLOSED SUGARLOAF CAFE. So as we froze our ASSES offwaiting for Yumi to save our frozen ASSES and all we could talk about is what we could of had. What we did have was an experience on and off the bike we won't forget for a long time. This will be a Great story to tell the Grandkids.

Pedal 1 Long

Explorin' Pinyon

It is that time of year I do some Pinyon expeditions. Been looking for a good loop and have a few options out there.

Pinyon trail.......Palm Canyon Trail.......Indian Potrero...........Dry Wash thru Rock Canyon.........
Heinous climb from Hell..........Palm Canyon rd.

Pinyon Trail

Dutch Charlie..........Have a loop on the hit list.

Dry Wash 3 miles of fun.

Out of the Wash

Turned out to be a beautiful gruelling ride.

Mileage not so much.

Climbing was plentiful.

Vistas put me in awe.

Pinyon options.........Potrero Canyon,Dutch Charlie and Live Oaks are on the hit list.

Pedal 1 Long

Sunday at Home

Finally got some rain the last couple of days. Even got a dusting of snow on sat. Driving myself crazy by not getting out in it but twas feeling it would be super mushy. Waited till sun and it was just some damn good fun. Clear skies and a good 6 hour ride in the backyard.




Pedal One Looooooooong