Holy Jim to Trabuco

Six of us had been planning a post-Thanksgiving ride, up Holy Jim and down Trabuco. A Twenty-six mile course, if you ride the road in, that carves a nice swath across the southern section of the Santa Anas. When Saturday, ride day, rolled around, weather was passing over SoCal. Ron called me to tell me it was raining in Dana Point. We quickly reconsidered the ride and decided instead on the San Juan trail - decomposed granite holds up in wet conditions. But a little later I had a change of heart. I really wanted to ride Trabuco. It's such a great trail. So I convinced Ron and the others to go for it. It seemed a bit risky, Main Divide always seems to show the brunt of any weather system. I've ridden through crap loads of snow, been pelted in a hail storm and have been battered in mud. However, we figured, that if the conditions were poor, we could just return down Holy Jim. Well, we lucked out, the conditions were magnificent, perhaps a bit cool, but not wet and certainly not windy. I couldn't believe it. Both the Holy Jim and the Trabuco trails benefited nicely from a light dusting of rain. My mantra for the day - "The trails are in great shape, too bad I'm not." Unfortunately, my bike was slightly less than perfect as well. Actually, only the rear wheel. I busted a spoke one mile in to the ride (with twenty-five more to go). Without a spare spoke, I kept going and managed to make it about half way before busting a second spoke on Main Divide. I continued and somehow managed to ride the entire descent on Trabuco without further issues. The descent was perfect. With the absence of dust, we rode in a tight group, smiling and hooting through one beautiful section after another. I think that smile lasted for about 12 hours.

Thanks to Ron Leland for the photos. Not only did the weather cooperate, but so did the light. A beautiful day.

San Juan Trail

Last week I rode the San Juan trail, from the bottom to up to Cocktail Rock and back. Not the whole trail, but enough of a sampling to fill a morning and sate my desire for single track. I hadn't ridden the trail for 11 months, which is a long time. Recently I have been going back to Los Pinos, Holy Jim and Trabuco. That's unfortunate, because the San Juan may be the best trail in OC. Of course I always waver on this point. The downside of the San Juan is that it gets a tremendous amount of use. Weekends are crowded for downhill shuttlers. Nothing wrong with that, I've done it many times myself, but riding uphill against traffic can get tiresome. Last week, on a cool Thursday morning, we had the trail all to ourselves. The trail itself seems in fairly good shape. Some of the switchbacks are a bit rough and I crashed on one rocky step down (unable to see the line on approach), but overall the trail is quite fast. The top section is full of luge-like ruts-cum-concavities that seem to give riders a false sense of confidence. It works though, we ran this section downhill faster than any of the others. There are a few loose and sandy sections that will send your rear wheel sliding toward the cliff's edge, so don't get too overconfident. Falling off the trail is never a good idea. I alway make my San Juan mantra - stay on the trail, stay on the trail. For this reason I love the turns that berm into the cliff. These are my points of confidence, I love rolling hard through those...then I just hope for the best on the outside, cliffside turns. Last there are the switchbacks - carry speed, keep that back wheel going around - they are fun, challenging and plentiful. Resolved: I have to do this trail more often.

Quail Hill

I don't know the ladies in the above photo. I just needed a stock photo of Quail Hill and mountain bikes. Here's why: the Stagecoach trail is now open all the way out Laguna Canyon. This isn't exactly new news but it is good news. The additional trail section makes it possible to ride off-road (legally) from the coast in Laguna to Quail Hill in Irvine. On Sunday I rode out the canyon road (just a bit of pavement), to the Stagecoach trail and took the trail (single-track to the Nix center and fire road the rest of the way) out to where it connects with Serrano Ridge. This point is just about a mile from the Quail Hill market place. From there I followed a route back home on Serrano ridge. Unfortunately the super-fun trails which connect Serrano Ridge to Bommer Canyon are still off limits to all park users. One may legally ride these trails during docent rides and open access days (consult the Irvine Land Reserve website for this info). More disappointing, however, is that the Little Sycamore Canyon Trail (used to be known as Shangri-la) is only open to hikers. Unfortunate because this trail was created and maintained by bikers. This wouldn't have been part of my Sunday ride, but still, having the trail open to all users would allow riders to complete the most obvious loop route from the Nix Center. For my ride, I continued on Serrano under the tollroad and then cruised down Upper Laurel Canyon. Eventually I reached the Lizard Trail, my last ascent of the ride, and followed it up to Bommer Ridge. From Bommer, I crossed into El Morro and rode the Fenceline trails - Okay, a little more climbing, but once you reach the top it's all downhill. The final part of the ride was the flowy drop down BVD and the fun cruise out Emerald Canyon. A perfect Sunday ride, plenty of miles - probably over twenty, but I didn't bring my GPS - lots of nice scenery, no intense climbs (not after Saturday night) and a few fun trail sections.

Reason to be.

I love this photo. As my young friend, Luis Tonkovich, bounds up a trail on Santa Barbara Island, he looks undeniably happy. His course, although on a trail, seems only defined by pure joy. He's not running to anything except blue sky, the ocean and a better vista. Although this photo lacks any evidence of mountain bike activity, it seems to define the central theme of my blog and my core reason for writing about my outdoor experiences. Like Luis, I relish moments of pure joy when the wind is my face, the trail lies ahead and my only motivation is to keep moving. These are the moments when the weight of the world and thoughts of my own mortality seem to disappear into the ether. Perhaps they are the only moments worth living for.

Santa Barbara Island

Over the weekend I cruised out to, and camped on, Santa Barbara Island. We went out with Island Packers, a charter company which carries campers, hikers, whale watchers and divers out to all the landings in the Channel Islands National Park. Santa Barbara Island is not only remote, it is also the smallest of the Channel Islands -one square mile of cliffs and hillsides rising from the Pacific about 50 miles offshore of Santa Monica. There are few amenities at the campground, but the island itself is quite beautiful, easy to circumnavigate - either on foot or by boat - and a haven for sea life and marine mammals. I spent a great part of every day in the water. The diving was magnificent. Curious sea lions seemed to follow my every move as I swam through forests of kelp and along craggy shoreline reefs. Along the sandy bottom there were squadrons of large bat rays and amongst the rocks I spotted Calico Bass, Sheepshead, Perch and a an abundance of Opal Eye. I also came across some of the largest lobster shells I had ever seen. The lobsters are molting and they are ripe for the picking. I really need to come back to this island during lobster season. This time I was, frustratingly, one week early.

Santa Ana River Trail

I stayed up near Angelus Oaks over Labor Day weekend. This can only mean one thing, another opportunity to ride the Santa Ana River Trail. Since I started in the middle of the day, I decided to peddle up Glass Road and Seven Oaks Road to the trailhead near Hwy 38. From there it's 11 miles of rolling single track down to the elegantly named Middle Control Road. The trail continues another two miles out to Angelus Oaks and descends to Mentone. I'll save those sections for when I have the opportunity to ride with friends (who can provide a shuttle car amongst other things). The 11 miles I did ride was fantastic. This is fast, flowy single track with tight turns,berms and a smattering of stream crossings.. Much of the upper trail cascades along a steep hillside; there are plenty of narrow sections with sufficient drop offs to keep one from day dreaming. Almost the entire trail is completely canopied. A few open sections allow for fantastic views of the valley below.

I can't recommend this trail enough. I rode mid-day and didn't see one other rider...for 11 miles! The only people I passed was a family of hikers. Where was everyone? It was Labor Day weekend, Los Angeles was on fire, the entire SoCal basin was blazing with heat and it was perfect in the mountains. It makes one wonder.

Hot Hot Hotter

We rode the Los Pinos trail Saturday. Actually we survived the Los Pinos trail. Don't be fooled by the smiling faces, it was hot. Unfortunately we planned the ride a couple weeks in advance and didn't account for mega-hot weather. Hitting the trail at 7 am was not early enough. Los Pinos has minimal shade and plenty of warm, reflective rocks. I found myself waiting under the sparse shade of manzanita bushes - hardly an elm tree - trying to ration my water till we made it to the safety of the car.

As you might guess, we had the entire trail to ourselves, all eight miles of ruts, rocks and spiny bushes. It wasn't until we reached the final steps, near the seemingly idyllic church camp, that I saw other people. They were young kids in their church best. They blessed me as a rattled by and I nearly warned them of the demons that lie ahead.

I get thirsty just thinking about this one.

Check out my May 4th posting for additional, and greener, photos of Los Pinos.