iRide

On Sunday afternoon, Ben, Mark, Francesca,  Dylan (“the Ripper” as named by Ben) and myself all a late afternoon ride at Los Penasquitos. It is a fairly easy trail, but fun nonetheless. We hit up the Bush trail, Cobbles and Bridges as well as some spectacular HUCKAGE!!!!

Mark hucks the stairs

Dylan getting some air time

Token handlebar shot

Ben arriving 15 minutes late (if you look closely, you will see him flipping me the one finger salute)

Orange bikes are ghey

Francesca with Mark not far behind

That’s right, Dylan’s gonna huck it

A quick detour to Hooterville

We tried our best to not run over any goat heads

Mountain Lions were the least of our worries!!

No one had the guts to ride the North Shore stunts (I also think the goats would’ve gotten pissed)

We looked for something in a 26″, but came up empty handed

Good trail and good friends, it just doesn’t get any better than that!! We all had a blast. Makes me want to go back soon. Until then, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

I was able to get out and ride SART again on Saturday with 2 friends of mine-Justin and Allison. It was a really cool ride. With just the 3 of us, we got to go at a comfortable yet quick pace as well as rest when we needed. It was one of those rides I’ll remember for quite awhile. We somehow managed to get 4 flats between the 3 of us .

Justin got the first flat, right up the fire road from the post office at the beginning of the ride. We think he hit a stick because his valve stem got sheared off.

The second flat-mine, on the long, gradual climb after the first descending

The third flat–Allison’s, coming back from the campground

Fourth flat… justin fought his rear 28″ tube (yup, conti) for a good long while at Glass Rd all the way almost to the fire road out, but finally put in the only tube we had left (26″)

Early in the ride. I like the way the light and shadows blended here

Allison enjoying the descent with me not far behind

As you can see, most of the trail is a wee-bit exposed

Allison at a creek crossing

 

Then I gave it a go

 

A fun downhill section

 

More exposure

Near the end of the ride Justin was playing with a snake. BOY did that thing smell.

 

We ended the day with an awesome dinner at Cuca’s Mexican Restaurant. Thanks to Justin and Allison for letting me tag along. Extra thanks to Justin for playing Trail Paparazzi most of the day!! SART never disappoints, I can’t wait to go back. Until then, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

Wow, what a weekend. I got to ride some cool trails and meet some new people and ride with some that I haven’t in awhile.

On Saturday, J and I met up with Ben, Maurice, Brendan and Danny for a fun filled day on some cool DH type trails in Poway. It’s not all DH fun though. You have to climb to the top after every run and “earn” the next DH. No shuttling here. So we still got in some pretty decent climbing.

As per usual, I didn’t take very many pics and what I did take was limited to the group messing around on a small jump. It was a fun day though and I got to really put the new All Mountain SL1 fork on the Reign through a hard thrashing. The verdict: Money well spent!! What a sweet fork. It soaks up the gnarly suff like it’s not even there. I am definitley excited about taking it to Noble Canyon next month. Final tally for Saturday: 7.68 miles with 1,599′ of climbing.

And now for a few pics:

PacMan fly by

 

J getting some air

 

BJammin

 

Maurice showing us how it’s done

 

Today, dad and I met up with Brendan and Francesca for a ride at Lake Hodges. We rode the usual loop on the north side and it was a really fun time. Riding with good people can make all the difference and that was the case today. Francesca and Brendan are real nice people and we had a great ride with some great times.

After we were done wth that, Francesca and Brendan had to leave and dad and I met up with Ben for a tour of the south side of Hodges. Neither dad or I have ever ridden over there, so we were excited to see what it was like. We were pretty fried after the north side, so we didn’t enjoy it as much as we would’ve if we were fresh, but it was still fun. There is some good stuff on the south side and I will have to re-ride it soon so I can explore more and take pics. Final tally for today was 21.86 miles with 1,569′ of verticle gain–all on my Singlespeed!!!!!!

As I sit here and type this, thinking about the awesome weekend I had, I am reminded of a short piece from BIKE magazine’s recent photo issue written by Jo Burt titled “Done”:

Lying in bed, face up, shoulder blades and butt cheeks touching the sheets, cool void in between. Legs dense and sinking deep into the mattress like it’s just thick water, hams tangibly aware, quads slowly pulsing to a whale’s heartbeat.

The usual knotted left calf, skin from short to sock line taught like pork crackling from the day’s sun. White feet and upper leg feel new and cool in comparison. Ride-exposed flesh is punctuated and tingling from every thorn, thick grass blade and vicious thing brushed past, with more concentrated pain pulsing from the stumbled pedal-kiss on the shin.

The boys done good. Sleep comes like a light switch.

 

Until then, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

 

 

I finally finished my Reign–Noble Canyon here I come!! The new additions were the ‘07 Marz All Mountain SL1, Race Face Diabolous cranks (purchased new in box at Performance’s parking lot sale for $93), Thomson post and 2.35 Kenda Nevegal’s front and rear (not pictured, I forgot to put them on before I took the pics).