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ChipsandSalsa

This is my first post here. I have been riding about one year, and I am considering going on one of the Noble Canyon group rides I see listed here, but first I have some questions:

How skilled does a rider need to be to safely tour Noble?
Can most of the gnarlier sections be walked or bypassed?
On a 1-10 scale, what would you rate Noble's technical difficulty?
Is Noble "scary," or just difficult?
How many years have you been riding?
How many years did you ride before you rode Noble?

Thanks!

allison

Definitely not trying to "scare" anyone away, but the Noble ride is definitely a BIG ride. My local bike shop owner called Noble Canyon "San Juan on steroids". I laughed it off at first, cause at the time I thought San Juan was pretty technical. But, he was right. Noble adds a whole different level of technical riding.

For starters, it's a LONG day. Most of the time riders can bang out 25-30 miles pretty quickly. Noble isn't that way. It's a full 8+ hour day out on the bike. Sure, we spend as much time resting as riding, but you aren't sitting around the house.

There's a good amount of exposure while climbing up Indian Creek, and people can and do fall off the side:



My first trip to Noble was with Aqua about 4 months after I started riding. Needless to say, he didn't ride with us again for about a year I was really slow. We had to cut the ride short mostly due to me being slow, but also due to weather. I was so exhausted I went to bed around 8:30, and it was New Year's Eve!

If you ride Noble and it doesn't "scare" you at least a little, then I think maybe you are missing out

I haven't ridden incredibly techy stuff, but I'd still rate Noble around 8 on the technical scale. Sure, parts of it are not that technical, and you can definitely walk everything, but that's a lot of hike-a-bike.

Just for reference, how long are your normal rides? Where do you normally ride? If your longest ride has been around 15 miles at somewhere like Aliso, you may want to try a few other rides before hitting Noble. If you typically do 30 mile rides in the Santa Ana's, then it's probably something that is doable for you.

Oh, and

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PacMan

How skilled does a rider need to be to safely tour Noble? You need to be able to climb for several hours and have good endurance. The DH is pretty intense for me (although it's getting easier). I know for people like Mechmann, it's prob a whole lot less scary. So it just depends on how comfortable you are on the bumpy stuff.

Can most of the gnarlier sections be walked or bypassed? Sure, anything can be walked over, but my humble opinion is, why bother at that rate??

On a 1-10 scale, what would you rate Noble's technical difficulty? Hard to say. Difficulty is very subjective. An 8 for me might be a 5 for you or a 10 for you, just depends on your skill level.

How many years have you been riding?
How many years did you ride before you rode Noble? I have been riding for 4 years and waited almost that long to ride Noble, but that was just because I was severly overweight. Once I lost the weight, I was comfortable enough to undertake the challenge. But again, it's all kind of depends on the rider. I think Allison has only been riding for a year or two and she is a a much more skilled technical rider than me. She flies over and down stuff that I walk, so again, it's hard to say.


My advice is to be careful and use common sense. Have you ever ridden 36+ miles and climbed 4,500'+ all in one ride??

Do some sort of ride that is at least close in mileage and elevation before undertaking Noble. Sure there are harder rides out there, but you don't want to be 10 miles up a mountain from your car and bonk. We will all do whatever we can to help you and encourage you, but a person still has to be able to do most of it on their own.

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allison

That's Justin's fault!! Anyone that starts riding San Juan 1.5 months into mountain biking clearly has mental issues (me!). I didn't know any better...

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PacMan

LOL. Very true.

You guys are the wind beneath my wings...

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mechmann

noble is easy. there isn't that much climbing, i do it all on a 45lbs DH bike with a 34T chainring and 8" of travel. the descending isn't that hard either, i have ridden everything there on a 29" hard-tail XC bike with 80mm of travel on the front and 160mm rotors. the hardest part for me is waiting for the slow people.


just kidding. when i ride the DH bike i AM the slow people!!!! (on the way up that is)


i HIGHLY suggest completing a full ride on San Juan Trail before riding Noble. if you can climb SJT from the bottom up to Blue Jay (to refill on water) and back down then you have the stamina for the full Tour de Noble.

PacMan

In my opinion, Noble is a good "notch in the belt" accomplishment. It is a hard day, but it is a fun day and for every minute of pain in the saddle, there's 5 minutes of fun trail. And you get to ride all day with some cool people.

I hope we aren't scaring you off. If you feel up to it, by all means--come join the party

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genusmtbkr5

I agree with Allison, Justin and Pacman on this. Noble is not for begineers. It is an advance intermediate at the very least. As stated before, there are harder, longer rides out there like the Death March, but to ride and really enjoy Noble, you need your "A" game. Lots of rocky technical sections, long climbs, long descents, exposure. If you have to walk all the tough sections, why bother to bring your bike?

I went Labor Day weekend and it was hot, about 106 deg. We did 30+ miles in 6+ hours. We didn't stop much, we kept moving that's why the heat wasn't so bad. I've been riding 11 years and it was my first trip to Noble. The reason it took so long for to ride it was, I worked weekends and my riding buds all work weekdays, it's far 120+ miles each way from where I live and you need to plan for a very long day. I left my house at 4:30am and got home after 7pm. Noble is in my top 5 trails ridden for sure.

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project_d

Noble is an MTBrs' wet dream!...

OMR

Hey, I'm 66 and I ride it! How hard can it be???

BTW: You do have insurance don't you?

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andy aka rut

What makes Noble so noble??

It starts off with a super techy climb. You can bypass it and just do the fireroad, but that is just as bad...only steep. Then you descend for a fun bit and all of a sudden you are climbing the dreaded Alpe de Wheez. 2 miles of relentless climbing... it only gets steeper and steeper. Then off to a singletrack that in itself is spectacular, but remember it is only a small part of the whole Noble loop. Super loose rocky sections and one part of the climb called the waterfall. Yeah, you guessed it, it is STEEP! Then more climbing. It goes on like this for the first 10-12 miles. The top loop is fun but if you are out of shape, it is exhausting-don't forget you just spend the last 3-4 hours climbing. Then comes the downhill. You can't ride the DH without concentrating. If you do, you might seriously get hurt. Seriously.
I'm not going to get into the type of bike I ride or any of that. What I can tell you is it is never fun being the last one. If you seriously think that might be you, it might be best to ride a few other trails first. Have you done the San Juan Trail yet? It is a lot closer to OC and it kicks arse!
I'm not attempting to scare you out of it. In fact you might even be more excited about it now than ever.
Does this help at all???

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sladnas

Everyone has already pointed out how subjective all of this is. I've only been riding mountain bikes since May...if you learn quickly and have a reasonable fitness level, I'd say go for it...but don't plan on going and walking. I'd say you might walk less than 1 mile of the whole thing (which includes all the sections that you might find difficulty with).

SlowSpokes

Hey! I always have fun riding DFL!! At my pace I get to take in the breathtaking scenery of Noble.

OMR

You are always such a pleasure to see and ride with!

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ChipsandSalsa

Thanks to all who have replied so far. I guess I should have stated I am in the San Diego area. I most often ride Mission Trails (Fortunas, Suycott, Rim Trail), and Cowles Mountain (fireroad and singletrack). My rides are usually about an hour long, but intense.

It sounds like I need to increase the length of my rides and improve my technical skills to really enjoy Noble.

Please keep the replies coming!

PacMan

Don't be a stranger either. The San Diego crew is growing more and more everyday. Make sure to come out for the rides we have on the calendar. There's a few on there and we have a decent crop every week.

Easy now...Andy's gonna get pissed!!

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nappyt

Welcome to the SD crew.

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