| Route Comments |  | MTB Fiend | 01/13/18 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. | |  | MTB Fiend | 03/05/17 Late start, watched the weather and could see the rain was going to blow right on by this area, so off we went. Josh's first time on these trails. Enjoyed literally riding upstream in Sullivan Cyn. Sun came out as we climbed up to Sullivan Ridge and it turned in to a damned fine day. Backbone is still in good shape but beginning to get overgrown and some rut damage, but still a fast, fun, flowy singletrack. J-Drop is still in bad shape, although Josh was able to ride 90% of it. Not me. Great day for a Great Ride! | |  | MTB Fiend | 01/29/17 Like I said, forever views! What a fantastic day in the Santa Monica's. Sullivan Cyn was a raging torrent of a babbling brook. Riding in the creek much of the time, but no mud. So peaceful down there. Farmers has seen some perfect trail work, just enough to keep it terraced but not to dumb it down. Backbone is in great shape, except where it is rutted, mostly near the bottom. The views are just so incredible out there. J-Drop is just a ridiculous deep rut filled with baby-heads and debris, about as bad as I have ever seen it. Walked most of it. Down at Murphy Ranch the light was perfect for some good pics , the place is slowly disappearing, the beautiful ornate gate is gone. 75mph both ways, timed oh so perfectly. I've said it before and I'll say it again --- these are the days! Great Ride! | |  | MTB Fiend | 06/05/16 Driving back from a fantastic campout at Mt Pinos, it looked like it was going to be perfect conditions for a Santa Monica's ride, and it was! At first, I figured an out-n-back on Sullivan, so I parked off of Bayliss. Sullivan never disappoints except at 4.5 miles up, it felt a bit short, so I kept lengthening the ride until I reached the point of no return and committed to the whole loop. And it was well worth it. Nice lazy afternoon ride, almost nobody out and about, except for 1 guy who totally cleaned J-drop at the gnarliest switchback with me in the way. Impressive, considering J-Drop is about as bad as I have ever seen it. By the time I got to the bottom I was pretty fried and slow-rolled it back to Squirrel Cage where it was about as loose as could be too, but I can clean it. Toughed it out up the hill back to the truck. Big day of riding. Great Ride! | |  | MTB Fiend | 08/24/15 Got up surprisingly early and was just not in to an early local ride so I opted to drive out to my favorite Santa Monicas loop. Fog was still hovering over the city and the beach so temps up here were real nice and cool. Fast commute both directions. Great Ride! | |  | MTB Fiend | 08/09/15 Fabulous day for a solo road trip to 2 of my most favorite trails, Sullivan Cyn and Backbone. Right from the start there was a problem; I forgot water. No water. I did this ride on 20oz of Gatorade. Luckily, despite my Garmin claiming 95 degrees, the temps were absolutely delightful with a cool ocean breeze the whole ride. Sullivan Cyn is starting to regain some of its character. Backbone is sheer bliss! (Just be mindful of some of the hidden Poison Oak in the tunnels). J-Drop has returned to its old sinister self, loose, rutty and drops, to technical for me. All this and only a handful of folks on the trails. Wow! Great way to enjoy a gorgeous Sunday. Great Ride indeed! | |  | MTB Fiend | 01/26/14 Was planning to go to Thousand Oaks and explore the Los Robles/Triunfo/Space Mtn area, but as I approached Sunset Blvd. the itch for Sullivan/Backbone had to be scratched. It's that great a ride! Surprisingly uncrowded out there, even more so on Sullivan which was, actually, closed. Everyone else was going around the signs, so I did too. (But when everyone else jumped off a cliff, I went my own way). Even got some rain along the way. Not enough to get the ground wet, but enough to get me wet. Me and J-drop are getting along just fine now. 75mph both ways made for a great commute. And so it was, a Great Ride and Happy Trails! | |  | MTB Fiend | 09/15/13 One of the best loops in the Santa Monica's. | |  | MTB Fiend | 09/15/13 Splendid solo Santa Monicas singletrack satisfies senses superbly. I had an itchin' for some bitchin' Santa Monicas singletrack, so off I went. Great temps whenever the ocean was visible, but on the valley side it was plenty hot. Saw only a small handful of anyone, surprising. Since Reseda was forecasted for 100+ temps, and Brentwood forecasted for low 80's it was a no-brainer for skipping Caballero and starting in Brentwood. I had never started at the Rustic Cyn entrance so it was neat to try something kind of new. Squirrel Cage is in excellent shape and I easily cleaned the whole thing - impressing only myself. (Saw a woman in Sullivan Cyn who may have have been Sandra Bullock, or a look-alike). Hot, and hotter climbing the end of Sullivan. Cool breezes on Backbone, which is in insanely great shape. Almost cleaned all of J-Drop, except that rooted section again. Lovin' the sanitized J-Drop. No traffic issues either direction. Truly, a Great Ride! | |
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