Above The Clouds

A group of us - okay, five burly guys and one wiry Italian - rode up Saddleback last Saturday. We started in Silverado Canyon, spun up Maple Springs to Main Divide Road, hiked over the saddle, descended the Upper and Lower Holy Jim trails and finally rode out Trabuco Canyon Road. If you know this ride, then you know just how great it is. For the uninitiated, well, read on. The ride up Maple Springs is probably the easiest route to Main Divide, but it's still a seven mile grind...albeit a scenic seven mile grind. We began Saturday in the dense clouds which blanketed all of SoCal. I was hoping for sunshine at higher elevations, but I was somewhat skeptical until we neared Main Divide and spotted patches of blue sky. About this time a couple riders blew by our group. Our egos deflation subsided when Tom recognized one of the speedsters as Thomas Frischknecht. Frischi (got that one from Wikipedia) is a Swiss pro rider with a long storied career. I'm pretty sure he's retired now, but he was still pushing a big gear up Maple Springs on Saturday.

When we reached Main Divide, we followed the gravelly dirt road around Modjeska Peak (the lesser of the twin peaks). We had lunch near the radio towers and took in the incredible views. Check out the photos above. In person the clouds below us resembled enormous pillows, lazily stretching to the horizon. Above us was only blue sky and mountain peaks. The top photo shows a not too distance Santiago and in the bottom photo, San Gorgonio is in the hazy distance. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I believe these are all from Ron's iPhone. Not bad though.

After a short, somewhat stickery, hike-a-bike over the divide, we began our descent. Upper Holy Jim is a hoot: steep, scenic, switchbacky and lightly traveled. This is definitely the more technical of the Holy Jims. Upper Holy Jim is a bit reminiscent of the San Juan Trail. It's cut into a hillside of decomposed granite; small rock gardens are interspersed between tight switchbacks. In comparison, Lower Holy Jim runs smooth and fast. Not too fast though, since there are plenty of hikers heading up the trail on an early summer Saturday morning. It's hard not to have a smile on this trail. The scenery is, again, magnificent. Every time we popped out of the canopy of manzanita we were greeted with blue skies above and views of lush Trabuco Canyon below. After the generous downhill we arrived at the Holy Jim fire station. Crowds of hikers and Jeepsters filled up the parking lot. This is definitely one of the nicest places in Orange County. The only downside is that the long drive in on the dirt road is a drag - all bumps and dust. On a bike though the ride out is fairly easy, we pass the cars, hold our breath through the dust and glide across the stream crossings. It's all good...can't wait to do it again.

Anticipation

My new bike is coming - in a box, in a truck, in a plane, in a train (not sure) - making its way to Laguna Beach. I can't wait. Hopefully, if all goes well, and the gods of shipping and bike mechanics cooperate, I will be riding this beast next week. Certainly this will provide material for many more blog posts. Keep your ears open gentle readers (or rough riding trail lovers as the case may be). My gang of riders - be they fat, old and mangy - has a few big rides in the pipeline. I'll be sure to provide pictures. Yes, the others will be lagging behind. No way they'll be able to keep up with me on my new bike. Not a chance.

Until then...

Jalama

I camped at Jalama last week in north Santa Barbara county. The campground abuts a vast wide-open beachfront just north of Point Conception. It's a beautiful spot that often fills up, except in the springtime when the northwest wind sweeps through the campground like the devil turned sirocco. Which is exactly why I was there.

Jalama beach is a classic California wavesailing spot. For twenty-plus years it has been on the radar of most central and southern California windsurfers. The spot is not for the meek. Not by any stretch of the imagination - the surf can be large, unrelenting and powerful, and the wind can range from fluky to extreme. (I was once told that Jalama means changing winds in some native language. I can't verify it though.) Last week the surf was fairly small, but the wind was fierce, gusting to nearly 50 mph in the late afternoon. Getting out on the water early was the best choice, by 4 p.m our whole group of windsurfers was mostly blown off the water.

The same sundowner winds which created havoc in the Santa Barbara fire of late hit Jalama with full intensity. For four consecutive days last week the wind came up in the early afternoon and just kept building. The northerly cant of the wind made for great side-off wave sailing, but the gusts were unrelenting. At 230 lbs there aren't too many days when I can't hold on to my smallest sail (a 4.2m) - but there I was, having the sail ripped out of my hands, then fin walking across the water and doing everything possible not to catapult out of the footstraps. Whew. What a rush. Before the total chaos there was also some fun sailing sessions - nicely powered and on waist to chest high surf. And the wind was warm!

The top photo was taken at 8 a.m. last Thursday. Already a couple of kiters are out riding small surf drained out by the super low tide. The next two photos are, obviously, from late in the day. I'm not sure if the middle photo captures just how windy it was. There was so much sand blowing that the lens on my digital camera repeatedly seized up...Can't wait to go back.

What Not To Do

Poison oak contains urushiol oil—the sticky, resin-like substance found inside the plant that causes the rash, blisters and itch that make it so well known. More than half the population is allergic to urushiol oil. Found in poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac, it is said to be the cause of more than 50 million cases of dermatitis in the United States every year.

Urushiol is present throughout the entire plant, including leaves, stems and roots, even after the plant has died. It can also stay active on any surface for up to five years–including on dead plants, yard tools, garden gloves and even animal fur.

The leg is not mine, but I feel a bit responsible. Ron ran into a bad patch on West Horsethief and had a fairly major reaction. I had intended to bring alcohol and alcohol wipes along for the ride - always a good idea when venturing into unknown foliage - but I was remiss. Alcohol works well to remove the oil. Apply ASAP. Poison Oak is like cancer, the quicker you treat it the better. If you can't cleanse with alcohol during your ride, immediately wash with soap and rinse with alcohol when you are finished. If you start to break out, then you might try bleach on the rash. Bleach kills the oil. There are also over the counter products to combat poison oak exposure. I'm not sure if they work better than Alcohol and Bleach ( I believe Technu is alcohol based). You may also want to consider long sleeves and pant legs if you have repeated problems...an obvious solution, but you still have to be careful of your tainted clothing. Be careful, this is nasty stuff, some people are more susceptible than others. If you are sensitive to poison oak, don't always believe your friends when they tell you that the trail is oak free. They may not know and poison oak is often difficult to spot. Avoid the three-leafed plants as a rule. If you do step in it, try not to touch your the area of contact. If you do touch the area of contact, try especially hard not to touch your nether regions. Don't be the poster child for Regret.

If your breakout gets as bad as Ron's, then hopefully there is a walk-in clinic near you.

Los Pinos

This ride began with a crazy notion. While descending Holy Jim two weeks earlier, My buddy Ron and I discussed venturing out on Los Pinos. We had never ridden the trail before, easily the remotest and probably one of the most challenging single-tracks in Orange County. I suggested that we start at Blue Jay campground, ride up South Main Divide and then descend the Trabuco Trail and climb West Horsethief before making the long trip out on Los Pinos...as if Los Pinos wasn't enough.

And that's what we did. Surely, there are more difficult rides. Some riders climb the San Juan Trail to Main Divide and then descend Los Pinos. That's a big loop, with a lot of climbing. I don't know exactly how many riders complete this, but I'm sure they must be a lot younger than I am. Then there is the Ultra Quest, the invite only, more extreme answer to the Vision Quest. The Los Pinos Trail is merely one leg - roughly 25% - of the Ultra Quest. But those riders are super-human, and last time I checked I didn't have any capes in my closet.

So we, mere mortal men, set off Saturday morning from Blue Jay campground. The forecast was for late season rain. This seemed to drive away most of the other traffic. On most Saturday mornings Blue Jay is full of bikes and vehicles - mostly riders shuttling the San Juan trail. The rain never materialized, but the weather was optimally cool and cloudy. The initial "wake up" climb up South Main Divide was every bit the grunt we remembered. After twenty-five minutes of huffing and puffing we reached the top and the fun (read singletrack) began. The first order of business was to charge down the Trabuco Trail. I'm sure it wasn't an all out run for either of us (we had plenty more riding ahead of us), but we weren't lacking for grins. This is such a great trail, beginning in the canopy of pines and then descending to the narrow source canyon for Trabuco creek. After a mile the pines give way to Live Oaks and Manzanita as the trail winds along the rocky edge of the tight canyon. It's perfectly scenic and perfectly fun. The riding is fast and only moderately technical - a great warm up for the main event.

After two miles on Trabuco we turned onto West Horsethief and began our climb. West Horsethief is a steep series of gravelly switchbacks. For most riders, including ourselves, it is primarily a hike-a-bike. The slow pace enabled us to take in the resplendent scenery. West Horsethief is a great vantage point to view the rolling contours of upper Trabuco Canyon. It is also a wonderland for springtime wildflowers. By now, most of the hills in Laguna have lost their spring color , but on the higher elevation hillsides above Trabuco canyon there were still amazing collections of lupines, buttercups and monkeyflower.

After climbing West Horsethief, we continued on Main Divide Road, taking the opportunity to actually ride our bike again. This section of Main Divide offers great views of Lake Elsinore, a body of water that definitely looks better from a distance (good from far but far from good we used to say) than up close and in person. Ron and I also spied the top section of the East Horsethief trail. The trail used to connect the Santa Ana mountains to Elsinore - an old escape route for horse thieves - but it doesn't seem to get much use these days and I'm not sure of the trail's condition.

After our jaunt on Main Divide, we returned to Los Pinos. The Los Pinos Trail begins at the top of the Trabuco Trail, coursing immediately up to Los Pinos Peak. The route to the peak provides the first hike-a-bike opportunity of many along the trail. We stopped at the peak and refueled, knowing the heavy lifting was about to come. As you can see from the photo above, the Los Pinos Trail rollercoasters along a sharp ridge back, dropping and climbing steeply for several miles. It is remote. We didn't see any other riders on this Saturday afternoon, and saw no one else at all save a couple of hikers on the bottom leg of the trail.

The precipitous drops on the trail are loose, rutted, tightly foliated and littered with mounds of bagel-sized rocks (and the occasional bowling ball-sized one for good measure). We found every single section challenging and fun to ride. Of course each downhill section is followed by a steep, rocky hike-a-bike ascent. After several hike-a-bike intervals we had to dig deep to keep pushing on. We named the fourth climb after Los Pinos peak "witch mountain" - a steep incline to a narrow summit. The downhill on the back side of "witch mountain" was incredible - something like 700 feet of elevation loss in a little over half a mile. I've heard the term " bike surf" used before - controlled sliding down steep terrain. This section of Los Pinos may be the Waimea of "bike surf." Overall, the entire trail is a challenge of control, conditioning and bike handling skills.

The trail finally switchbacks down to Lazy W Ranch, just up from San Juan Trail. When we reached our car there we had completed about 17 miles, 4,000 plus feet of climbing and approximately 7,000 feet of descent. Not the Ultra Quest, but still a good days work.

If you like taking the path of greatest resistance, then this trail is a must for you, but be prepared for serious drops and steep climbs, then leave your meek friends at home. Also, wear protection - full-fingered gloves, long sleeves and chin coverings are a must. Give yourself plenty of time to complete the trail and enjoy. It truly is an experience.

Central Coast Magic

Last week I took a trip up to the central coast of California. Specifically I went to Arroyo Laguna (near San Simeon) and Jalama to windsurf. The wind didn't disappoint, if anything it was a bit too windy at Arroyo Laguna...and cold. The water was holding sub 50 degree temps and the wind was clocking up around 40 knots. I camped the first night and it felt like I was bivouacking on a glacier. I couldn't believe how many tourists were there as well - spending their Spring Break to see the scenery and the Elephant Seals - they spent their days getting sandblasted by the brisk wind and nights hunkering down in heavy parkas and knit caps...good times.

At Arroyo, all of the windsurfers were done early in the morning. I went out in the afternoon and shared the break with one kiter. It was really too windy to wavesail, but still fun. I would've stayed out longer, but lacking a hood, I became cold and tired pretty fast.

The last two photos are from Jalama. This is a classic Central Cal windsurfing spot and last Thursday was a classic day. Again, I was the only windsurfer and had the place to myself until a few kiters showed up. I think I'm doing the wrong sport, but then again I enjoy being a relic. Truthfully, I'm just happy I can still get out there and do it. I'm heading back to Jalama the next chance I get.

Mountains to the Sea

Two Saturdays ago, I set out with a few friends to ride the length of the Trabuco corridor. We started out at Blue Jay campground and rode up South Main Divide to the top of the Trabuco Trail. The plan was to ride the Trabuco Trail to Trabuco Canyon Road to the Arroyo Trabuco Trail past I-5 and then make our way (by trail if not by dead reckoning) into Dana Point. Atop the Trabuco Trail we were greeted with stunning views, gazing above the ceiling of clouds westward to the coast and inland to the peaks of the San Bernadinos and the San Gabriels. We decided to do a bit of "extra-curricular" riding and headed up to Los Pinos Peak. Needless to say, the view was worth the extra climbing. From the top of Los Pinos we charged down the Trabuco Trail (as great as any single-track in Orange County) and out to the Holy Jim Fire Station. Unfortunately the most invigorating mountain-biking experience came at the beginning of the ride. But there was plenty more to explore. The Arroyo Trabuco Trail was decked out in full springtime regalia - just as green and lush as could be. After a fun detour on the Water Works Trail - a mile of fun BMX style dips and berms - we headed to Taco Mesa for a well needed lunch break. Unfortunately, by this time , we lost two of our riders: one by injury and one by attrition.

After lunch the remaining four of us headed west. Just past the 5 Freeway I lost my riding partners and was compelled to scramble down silty horse paths and dirty dead end trails until I found a major street. By this time I was happy to ride the last two miles on the road. The others were, perhaps, less fortunate, forced to do a long hike-a-bike to the ridge above Dana Point. By this time they may have been too tired to enjoy the final downhill into town. Not sure, it wasn't there to witness it.