iRide

“Man it’s hot. Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot. I don’t think I can stay here if it’s gonna be this hot!” Eugene Jerome (Mathew Broderick), Biloxi Blues.

I really wanted to get a ride in this weekend, despite the current heat wave that is frying SoCal like the proverbial egg. It’s been getting progressively hotter all week, with today’s high being in the neighborhood of 105!!

We had Taekwondo this morning, an early dinner with Tonya’s parents at 4pm in Ramona and a get-together at Tom’s house this evening to watch the UFC fight. All that meant that if I wanted to ride today, it would need to be in between TKD and dinner–during the hottest part of the day.

J and I had been planning on riding for the last week. We were a bit concerned about the heat–as were our spouses and families. But we new we could do it if we made sure to carry a lot of liquids, take lots of rest breaks in the shade and basically just ride smart.

When we set off, the temps outside were sitting at around 100 degrees. I brought my Niner because I wanted to make sure I had a light-weight and efficient bike under me. I figured the less I work I had to do to power the bike, the better off I would be in the heat. I also wanted to take it because I wanted to see how a Hard Tail 29er would do in the super rocky conditions that are the Sycamore Canyon trail. I’ve always ridden it on a full suspension bike in the past and was very curious to see how the Niner would do–more on that later.

When we pulled up, the trailhead parking lot was strangely empty (insert sarcasm here). Could it be that everyone else was smarter than us by deciding to stay home? Only time would tell.

J’s car is the lone car in at the trailhead:

We set out up and over the Martha’s Grove climb and subsequent downhill. It has some pretty sketchy sections and I was curious to see how the Niner would do–given it’s lack of rear suspension.

It handled all the sketch well–so well I was a little surprised. I had my camera and in hindsight wish I had J take a few pics. It would’ve been cool to see the Niner in action like that. It was really warm out though and at the time we were still in the process of figuring out if we were brave or stupid for riding in the heat.

We plodded on and I was feeling really good, despite the heat. J was feeling OK too, but I was absolutely flying aboard the Niner. Whenever I got ahead, I stopped and took some pics. Here’s a couple of J 0n the singletrack:

We were holding up well, despite the fact that the temp was pushing 100. There was actually a nice breeze that helped a lot. We were hydrating a lot and more importantly–finding nice, shady spots to chill for a few:

We were both sweating A LOT!! I have never had to stop and squeeze the sweat out of my helmet so often. J actually caught a gross, yet funny action shot. The sweat torrent:

The after math on the ground:

We decided to play it smart and only do about half of our usual 16 mile route. At the turn-around, I took a pic of the Niner near some interesting trail art:

The heat was beginning to take a toll on J a bit. He was still riding OK, but had to push a few of the climbs on the way back:

I was still feeling really good and was glad I had decided to bring the Niner. It was tracking well through all the rocks and was still making the climbs easy and the trail fun. The decision to replace the 11-32 cassette with an 11-34 is paying off in leaps and bounds!! I really enjoyed the Niner today. Is it wrong to love a bike? If it is, I don’t wanna be right!!!

While I waited for J, I decided to snap the cliched “handlebar shot”. I rarely snap this pic but figured why not:

We made it back to the trailhead and J’s car before too long. We were glad to be done and get some respite from the furnace that is San Diego right now. However, we were also glad we decided to get a ride in. We rode smart by not trying to overdo it. We hydrated constantly, took breaks in the shade and made sure we didn’t try to knock out too many miles–only 8–and ended up having a somewhat surprisingly pleasant ride.

Now–back to the Niner. I am SO glad I have this bike in my stable. It is lightweight at 25 lbs. It is super efficient because it’s a hard tail. And it rolls over just about everything because it’s a 29er.

I read somewhere recently that hard tail 29ers are just as good as full suspension 4″ travel 26ers. The bigger wheels eat up so much of the rough stuff you are oft times amazed you are on a bike with no rear suspension. I’ve been thinking about it since I read it and today’s ride cemented it for me: a hard tail 29er is just as good, if not better, than a 4′ travel full suspension bike. The Niner railed through all the rocks and chunk today just as good as any other bike I’ve ridden at Sycamore. I’m blessed to own it!!

All in all it was a great day and a great ride. I’m not sure what the week will hold for rides, but here’s hoping I get in a couple. Until next time, seek your bliss and plant new seeds.

Ride lots…