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| California | 01/13/2018
Sat |  | | | | One of my favorite rides just before one of my favorite days! Fun and happy small group on another stunningly gorgeous day! Light traffic both ways - perfecto! Great Ride, indeed. | | |
| California | 01/12/2018
Fri | | | | | Oh man! That felt good! So nice to be back in the saddle again, and feeling mostly healthy. Whiting was no less sandy, but STT was sheer bliss. Not a speck of dust, not a speck of mud, the bike is ready for the next big adventure. No more of this weekend joy riding stuff, time to get down to full time riding again. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 01/07/2018
Sun | | | 1:48:49
1:48:49 | | Nice day for a pleasant ride. Babs' first time in the Arroyo. She loved it! Of course. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 01/06/2018
Sat | | | | | Aahhh... so nice to get back out on the bike and the trails. Super pleasant solo ride out to SP. Been sick for way too long! Lost 10lbs by starving the fever, and not drinking beer. Makes the climbs so much easier. In a rare twist I started feeling better and better as I climbed so I kept on going on out to SP, one of my favorite rides. Stupid stupid Garmin mysteriously stopped tracking my ascents/descents sometime around Beeks, did not notice until the descent back from SP. Had to power off/on to get the ascent tracking back, even though mileage and time, etc. was still tracking. Stupid Garmin. Truly, a Great Ride! Other Comments | | |
| California | 01/01/2018
Mon | | | 2:57:01
2:57:01 | | At least I was outside and enjoying the great outdoors, that is what motivated me. Been sick in bed with the creeping fever crud since Wed afternoon. Started feeling a bit better late Sun afternoon and I was hell-bent on making our annual New Years ride. Turns out it was just too much exertion and I was too weak to make it to the top. It got to the point I was basically turning the pedals by muscle memory and sheer tenacity, not with any level of power. It got worse as I weakened and could barely place the front wheel where I wanted it. Not good. As absolutely disappointing as it was, I had to turn around. I was feeling light-headed and wobbly. I slow-rolled the descent and caught up with the portion of our group who were hiking instead of riding. I hiked the bike with them rather than risk passing out and crashing. Rode the bottom section when our rider group caught us. Not exactly the ride experience I had hoped for, or planned, but still a Great Ride! Sigh... | | |
| California | 12/26/2017
Tue | | | | | Whew! Made my annual climbing goal. 100 miles straight up. Back on Dec 1st I was questioning if I could meet the goal. I was down by almost 60k feet. I'm kind of a tenacious person who is very much goal-oriented so I had to blitz for it. After today, it's all goal gravy. Past years it was easy to blow past the 100 miles straight up goal, but shifting priorities and a willingness to give up perfectly good riding days for other activities made this year a challenge. Nothing like a nice peaceful Blackstar ride to clear the mind and the soul. Great Ride!! | | |
| California | 12/25/2017
Mon | | | | | Great day for a peaceful ride, right? Sad to say I had a confrontation on STT near Old Camp. It's just not right that I had to backtrack to a spot where the 2 trucks could get past me. Their argument was that the trail is on their vehicle GPS/mapping system. I pointed out that same system shows a trail that goes straight up to Santiago Peak is that what they were looking for? Sigh... until CNF gets serious about blocking access there is no point in arguing with them. The trail to Old Camp is basically fire road now, some challenging spots, not many. Chatted with some friends for a bit after climbing past the Luge. Did Whiting on the rebound and was feeling the climbs in my legs. Lots of friendly hikers. Great day for a Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/24/2017
Sun | | | | | Pretty sweet solo afternoon ride. Saw a small cadre of brand new Santa Cruz bikes going up Mustard. Nice. Sadly, 1 eBike. Really beautiful day, hoping this weather hangs for the week. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/23/2017
Sat | | | | | Nice peaceful ride with Josh. Took a break at the guardrail and felt like my legs never got back in to the ride after that. Strange, really. Such a great day for climbing, too bad for the legs. A bit of traffic out on Maple Springs, and nothing out on Main Divide. Still not liking the shale on the upper section of Motorway and basically had a death grip on the brakes the whole way down. Not so great. Love the descent back to the truck, so smooth, no brakes. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/22/2017
Fri | | | | | Oh man! Killer Blackstar ride. Got out a little early so I could enjoy the sunset and a brew at the top. I knew it was a bit too early and I had to wait for it, but it came, right on time. A bit average, actually. It was cold and breezy to windy at the top, still I waited a bit for the orange glow, never happened. Off I went for the descent, all the while with a nagging feeling I should hang out longer at the top. Sigh... I should have. Back at the truck I witnessed the rocket launch with a great view and got some killer pics. I just can't stop imagining what that must have looked like from Beeks. Wow! Still, it was awesome to see. Just another one of countless Blackstar adventures. Yeah, it was a Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/21/2017
Thu | | | | | Yup! Sure do prefer those vacation days when I can start whenever I want. Instead, being the working stiffs that we are, it was a twilight ride. A cold and windy twilight ride at that. Sensational Orange hues and glows, accompanied with an in your face blast of headwind, followed by an extreme side wind. I won't be sorry to see the winds blow on through. On the Luge descent, I just had no flow and could not seem to focus far enough down the trail to get that flow back. Maybe my lights were on too bright, don't know. Nonetheless, a Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/18/2017
Mon | | | | | Superb way to utilize a vacation day. I've always enjoyed the climb up Silverado and on a day/time with little to no traffic was just perfect by me. Out on Maple Springs I only encountered a couple hikers just below 4 Corners. So nice to climb out on Maple Springs again, always a favorite. Can't wait until we get some wet weather and everything gets a thorough cleaning. I'm no fan of Motorway and was expecting the worst, and got the worst in the shale section. After that I was pleasantly surprised to find the trail in great condition. Nice descent back to the truck made for a ... Great Ride! Other Comments | | |
| California | 12/16/2017
Sat | | | 5:10:56
5:10:56 | | If the number of friends willing to do a big a$$ ride with you is a measure of success, J is a very successful guy. I think we were 14 strong for much of the ride. Others would come and go, just as J designed the route to be. Everybody appeared to be enjoying the day. Great Ride! Other Comments | | |
| California | 12/14/2017
Thu | | | | | A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a lot of wind. All the wind protected areas were most welcome. Nice to get out with J&S again. Josh joined us too. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/13/2017
Wed | | | | | Had to start work super early so left a bit early to go ride. Delighted to see the Peacocks are back, one may be juvenile. Another spectacular sunset into twilight into darkness ride out to Sierra Peak. Simply sensational. Unfortunately I was a bit rushed and had no time to hang around. Although breezy, temps on the ridge were easily 20 degrees warmer than the cold temps in HR, brrrr... Delicious sashimi dinner and watching the meteor shower out on the back patio. Hard to beat a So Cal Winter. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/12/2017
Tue | | | | | Well, post number 666 for this route did not make for an evil ride at all. In fact, it was really quite peaceful and beautiful the whole route. Funny, I saw Suzanne just as I was leaving, she had to bail out to tend to a work issue. I saw J on his descent just above Art's place. Did not see Hugh until we were back at the trucks. The Thursday crew goes solo on Tuesdays apparently. Terrific twilight ascent, with sensational colors and panoramas of the basin. Could see the plume of smoke from one of the fires, not sure which one really. Enjoyed a beer at the top and then dropped on down in to the dark abyss that is Blackstar. The Fiend felt fantastically stable, not sure why, maybe the tire pressure was just so, maybe I was extra relaxed. Made for a great descent on a ... Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/11/2017
Mon | | | 4:01:49
4:01:49 | | Spectacular way to spend the day, climbing mountains. Mid-AM start and it was still clear enough to easily see Downtown LA and all of the basin, but it was crystal clear in the IE all day. Added the Doppler Ball for a little elevation extra credit. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/09/2017
Sat | | | 4:21:13
4:21:13 | | Beautiful day for a ride! Forever views out over the LA Basin. Downtown LA was clearly visible, nice. So sad the Jeep damage to the trail to OC. I will never forgive CNF for its failure to protect the area. Not a big fan of the Luge anymore and I wanted more elevation so I opted to climb back out of STT. That Vulture Crags climb is a toughie. But nothing like climbing Mustard, then Concourse after 25 miles plus, and 4000 ft of climbing. ugh. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/08/2017
Fri | | | 3:42:40
3:42:40 | | Interesting ride in that Josh neglected to make the hard right on to Cattle Pond Loop (Extra Credit) and he continued all the way up to the Vista turnoff at the top. Tough climb for which he paid dearly. Out on STT only a small handful of riders. We ran out of daylight for making it to OC and back. But enough daylight to make the return a beautiful sunset out and back on STT. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/07/2017
Thu | | | | | Nice twilight ride through Whiting with J and Steve. Saw 2 Deer on Serrano, that always makes for a more enjoyable experience. Out on STT it took some getting used to lights and a singletrack, I'm used to a big wide Blackstar road. We did not experience any wind issues and temps were comfortable. I'm hoping the winds are done for the weekend, done for the year would be even better. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/04/2017
Mon | | | | | Enjoying the day off and the beautiful sights Whiting has to offer. Opted for another loop around. By the time I was climbing Concourse the winds were wicked and cold. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/04/2017
Mon | | | | | Winds dramatically changed my ride plans, specifically when I checked the Sierra Peak weather station and it was 45 degrees with the 25 mph sustained wind chill. Ummm... nice and warm here, not as windy, guess I'll stay low and off the ridges after all. And it was nice and warm in Whiting, and not as windy. Saw a family of Deer all bedded down and cozy waiting for the afternoon cool down. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/03/2017
Sun | | | 2:47:06
2:47:06 | | Well, that was a trip, er, adventure. Late start but was unconcerned and expecting a sensational solo sunset Sierra Peak sojourn with a super moon chaser on the rebound. What I got was cold, wet, fog at Beeks. I adapted and hoped to find better conditions on Skyline and it was better, but cold. I opted to turn around and enjoy the experience of blowing fog at Beeks. That is when I discovered my helmet light was left on in my jersey pocket and was virtually useless. Undaunted, I dropped in to the foggy abyss that was Blackstar. Hidden Ranch was cold for real, winter is here real. But, I was well-prepared and toasty. As I climbed out of HR, I also climbed in to clear skies, by the time I reached blacktop the super moon was rising and it did not matter I was crippled by one light. Lots of folks parked outside the gate enjoying the super moon rise. Gloriously moonlit return back to the truck. And so it was, yet another, BS adventure. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/02/2017
Sat | | | | | Fantastic weather for a long tough climb like this. Plenty hard. Somehow managed to break a seat rail on the descent. Great Ride! | | |
| California | 12/01/2017
Fri | | | | | Fantabulous! Superb twilight ride out to SP. KWH opted to join at the last minute, nice to have some company along. Initially the sunset looked to be a marine layer subdued dud, but as the sun fell further over the horizon suddenly downtown LA and other clusters of buildings glowed brightly from the reflected sunset. It only lasted about 2 min and then was gone, replaced by ever brighter twinkling lights all across the LA basin. I received an alert that the ISS was going to be visible at 5:32 so we hurried over to a good vantage point as it was going to be low on the horizon. Got there just in time, to watch the ISS seemingly going against the incoming jet traffic. I love riding up here, above the hustle and hassle below. Perfect weather, cold for real in HR and the lower canyon, beautiful up on Sierra Ridge. Great Ride! | | |
