RR: The Backbone Trail 1/19/08

[Dino Brown]

AMAZING! That is the best way I can describe today’s ride!

A group of CHERISHED friends and I set-out with two goals:
1) To show STR members that some TRULY amazing trails are only one hour away
2) To warn local riders of the INVASION that is about to hit them!

The Backbone Trail.... Pacific Palisades.... Will Roger’s State Park

Route: Will Rogers St. Park, to Backbone, to Mulholland, to (as Nir put it) "Dino's Ridge" .... Cliff side, to Sullivan Ridge rolling all the way to Sunset, and back to Will Rogers (via an unnamed trail). Note: There were some WICKED trails Andy and Maxwell found along the way. Would love to check them out next time!

Skill Level: Intermediate
Terrain: Had it all! Climbs, singletrack, fireroads, wickedly “fun” technical sections, jumps...
Distance: 21.2 miles
Elevation Change: Nearly 3,200 feet
Total Time: Who cares! We were having a blast!
The Ride Leader: Nir Tal (aka Nintense)
The Riders: Andy Rut, Hugh, Roger, DenMother, Heather, Mazer, Maxwell, Dino Brown, Liz, Monty, Mike, Robin and Joel

A special THANKS must be extended to our ride leader Nir Tal (aka Nintense) for treating us to such a wonderful ride. Couldn’t have asked for a better ride leader. Denmother informed me he owns http://www.bike-improve.com/ After a bit of research, I discovered 1) his shop is very well respected 2) His is the only shop in LA to provide mobile service 3) He was voted BEST MECHANIC IN LA by LA Magazine 4) He was a competitive XC and DH racer 5) He is a very gifted rider 6) Perfect 5/5 from MTBR 7) His customers are very loyal Chicks "DIG" his accent. I can go on and on..... What I am trying to say is if you live in The Westside you owe it to YOURSELF to pay him a visit. Couldn’t be more impressed.....

Andy and Heather

Hugh "Swooping In" on Andy

For all the Ladies

You will be following Maxwell today...

Trail from the parking lot (Will Roger's State Park)

Five minutes into the ride

Is that the Pacific Ocean?

Andy- The camera is over here

Friends... Fun.. Laughs! Thanks Everyone!

Pacific Ocean... Santa Monica... Venice....

Heather- The XC "Beauty"Machine

Robin and Roger

Are we there yet?

Heather could have ridden 40 miles today!


DOH! I ALMOST forgot something! Not one... not two but (3) new recruits today!!!!

[TrojanInsomniac]

Thanks for sharing the pics......was a perfect day! Hope everybody that hadn't ridden up on the Westside before enjoyed what the SM's have to offer. I look forward to riding w/ you all soon!

BTW.......as one of Nir's customers, the guy is the best mechanic up here in LA. Not only is he a master at what he does, he's also one of the kindest, most honest guys around.

[mazer75]

Writing this on my iPod touch, which is painful to write on. But I wanted to say that today was just an awesome time! It was great to get to know some of the Legends and royalty of mtb, such as Maxwell, Denmother, Roger, Hugh, Heather and Andy Rut. Nir did a super job too! Both he and Andy helped me out big time with my flats. Everyone was patient too which was cool.

Can't wait for the next la county adventure!

Oh, and Dino is a legend too! Okay I'm off to sleep now so I can make Pugz' ride.

[Dino Brown]

A Stud.. A Stud.... And A Rocket Scientist (no joke)

Andy and Denmother

Andy "Swooping In" on Hugh

Maxwell went OTB (He LITERALLY disappeared)

Andy just "Hanging" Around

Our ride leader: Nir Tal (aka Nintense) This dude is cool!

Strike a pose

The Man, The Myth, The Roger

Another loose little climb

Liz (XC Champion) Monty (Mountain Bike Machine)

Andy decided to climb the impossible... On his singlespeed!

Andy Rolling the Hill... Maxwell preparing to LAUNCH the hill!
Thank God he didn't bring the big bike!

Liz destroyed every hill she could find!

The Ocean: We are almost home!

Nir Tal: I wish I was 1/2 as talented on a bike as he is!

[dirtmistress]

Thanks for the updated pics!! Another Liz...who knew?
What a great day for a ride! I sat in the Apple store for 4 hours not learning enough unfortunately! The instructor did go to Google Earth and then coincidentally went to Will Rogers park and then the Backbone trail! How wierd is that? I said; "I should be out there on that and not in here not learning!" Nah, I didnt really say that. Almost though. Wish I could have joined you! Did you do Jedi? Did you like it? DId everyone have fun??? What route did you do? I saw you on Google Earth!

[nintense]

I had lots of fun, and I hope to see you again soon (to complete the missing part in the end).
Special thanks to Denmother who set the ride (yes... she asked Backbone) for us, and to Dino who took such a beautiful photos. Thanks also for promoting my business.

[BrewMaster]

Great RR folks. I look forward to riding out there sometime.

[Nagaredama]

Bummed I missed one of the few STR rides in my neck of woods.

[maxwell]

Our computer is acting up.

Hopefully i'll have some pics up later.

Real FUN ride!!

[Hanzo]

Thanks for the RR and pics.

[Dino Brown]

Originally Posted by maxwell

Our computer is acting up.
Hopefully i'll have some pics up later. Real FUN ride!!

I have a few more....

Andy "holding the pose" for 20 seconds while I adjusted camera settings


Monty "pinning-it" on a steep and technical trail


Hugh deciding it was time (for us) to hit the NEXT trail


Nir Tal (aka Nintense).... Amazing Rider! Even better person!


Mr. GQ himself... Is that a geared bike I see?


Mike looking angry! We had just informed him the ride had ended!


Robin and Liz- Looking forward to riding with (the two of) you again!

[mazer75]

We need to do WAY more rides in the Santa Monicas and San Gabriels!!! For all the OC peeps that haven't been up here, you don't know what you're missing! These weekend rides are perfect too (because of traffic).

We should do an El Prieto night ride sometime soon. That way there will be more of us to fight off that mountain lion in the JPL thread!! I'm sure an Iron Horse can take on a little mountain lion, can't it?

Yesterday's ride was great! Now that I'm on a real computer, I can elaborate.

Though I like the bigger group rides, I was kinda glad that the ride was small-ish (13 riders total), because it was easy to keep track of the count, and I got to know people a bit better. It was great riding with Denmother, who was very encouraging and nice to me (despite how slow of a climber I am). And hanging with Maxwell was very cool. He's an absolute animal (and I mean that in the best possible way!). Nintense was a great guide and a VERY good rider. He also showed me that you can put a tire back on without using tire irons/levers, which I didn't know was possible. (Yes, I am not the best mechanic.) Most of you know that Andy and Hugh are also amazing riders, and it was very instructive to watch them ride and follow their lines, which I tried to do when I was anywhere near them (which wasn't often because I was in the back so much, haha).

Needless to say, I had an amazing time! I impressed myself a bit with the stuff I cleared yesterday, but I attribute that to the positive attitude displayed by all, which in turn made me quite comfortable to try and step outside my comfort zone.

We need to do it again guys! Thanks for having me along, and sorry again for all the time wasted on my 2 flats!!

[sdyeti]

Wow! That looks like a really fun ride...I can tell by all the smiles. Great pictures everyone.

While you were grinning and having fun, I had boogers running down my nose, sweat caking up on my eyes, and a sore back (and that was only at mile 15 or so...the worst part was that I asked for it). I would've rather been out there with you guys (though my VQ training would've taken a hit).

Next time...!!!

[maxwell]

Like I said, REALLY FUN ride!

Here's my pics......

Nancy climbing strong right from the start!


Our group riding into the heaven's.


Rut just riding along!


Dino getting the pictures.


This climb was short, steep, and rough. Andy gives it a shot.


Heather. Look at her BIG smile!


Rodger will be racing XC before you know it!


Here comes our fearless leader, Nir.


The one, the only, Dino Brown!


Time for some DHing.....

Mazer, geting steep, and chunky!


Nancy and Rodger, on what used to be Sulivan Ridge?


Rodger


Nancy


Mazer


Hope we can get back out that way again soon!

[andy aka rut]

Thanks to everyone for a great ride. The views were exceptional and the people we rode with were even better. Special thanks to Dino Brown for getting it going and showing us "OC" types there is fun outside of the Orange Curtain....again.

Denmother and Roger, as well as Maxwell are simply amazing people beyond words. Thanks for being such a positive influence in the STR community!

Till next time!

[Dino Brown]

What happened to the pictures *HUGH* promised to post from the ride!

[HUGH]

tried to upload photos but its not working(lucky for Dino!) Will try later. I have to work.

HUGH

[denmother]

Sorry, have not had Internet access until now. Been out RIDING!!!

Saturday was AWESOME! Thanks to Dino for setting it up and thanks to Nir for being our ring leader.

How surprised was I when into the parking lot entered the mystery guests, Rut, Heather and Hunky Hugh!!

So, off we go with the band of miscreants and the 4 new riders!!!! We had a blast, laughed, sweated and smiled until we couldn't do it any more.....

The route was in the opposite direction we normally ride so there was lots more climbing than normal, but it was a glorious 21 miles.

I can't remember if I took any photos or not, I will check tonight as I am off to ride Santiago Oaks with my significant other!!!

[HUGH]

Well this one worked. I dont even know what to say !!

HUGH

[0gravity]

Originally Posted by TrojanInsomniac

BTW.......as one of Nir's customers, the guy is the best mechanic up here in LA. Not only is he a master at what he does, he's also one of the kindest, most honest guys around.

At the risk of making this post into even more of a Nir love-fest than it already is, I'm also a regular customer and have to fully agree.