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foofighter

I want to first take a moment to thank Adam (Jam R) for being our guide today on a beautiful day to ride. You dont realize how HUGE this reserve is and how much everything in connected that it definitely helped to have one of the experienced trail guides leading us on today's journey.

We (Adam, Bon, Marcel, Izzy, and myself) first started on our ride on Quail Trail...nice fire road with a rude wake up call of a climb when you initially start. Not long but DAM it's pretty steep, I would say that it's a little longer than the initial steep climb at the start of Mathis. Adam said that they might make an alternate trail with switchbacks to help minimize the punishment.

Here you can see towards the upper right the climb that I speak of.

The climb rewarded us with a cool view of Quail Hill and portions of Irvine

Here's the stud himself Adam, giving us a little history with the trails

Speaking of punishment, my buddy Izzy is from Texas, where there's beers steers and well you know the rest. He's never experienced the climbs that we have out here so this being his first time he was already in for a treat or punishment depending on how you look at things. Here is Izzy praying to the huckery gods.


Quail Trail makes it to this series of beautifully built switchbacks that leads you up to the beginning of the infamous Rabbit Run singletrack trail. We regrouped again just before the switchback climbs and caught up with Chopper.


Oh did I mention the hucery gods were present today not only w/ Izzy but they almost visited Bon as well.

Adding insult to injury, getting punk'd on by the ladies


Anyway, where was I. Yes we climbed the switchback (sorry no pics too busy climbing) and worked our way along the Serrano Ridge, here you can see the 133 fwy as we were on the highest portion of the ridge.

A little more climbing action to get to our first singletrack "rabbit run". Here Bon and Izzy not having fun.

"It's just around the bend and we're done"

I think this shot encapsulates how the three of us felt after that climb

Cont'd...

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-Duan
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OMR

Foo,

To paraphrase: I love the smell of suffering in the morning!

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OMR .... An elder grasshopper of the Tribe

foofighter

So we start our first descent down rabbit run...great little singletrack that's kind of rolling and definitely meets the definition of singletrack. The corners were a bit loose but that's to be expected since we haven't had any rains lately. A little precipitation will pack it down nicely. Here's a couple of shots of Marcel and Bon going through a section.


How's this for gorgeous backcountry...amazing as it seems portions of Irvine still does have backcountry

Regroup again before we start out downhill through the rock garden. Let me tell you when Adam says it's a rock garden it's more than that. You're talking about 2', 3', 5' hucks with very little room for mistakes. I'm sorry I didn't get any pics for you because I was too involved in hiking my bike down this thing!!!! Adam said "guys go down that rock garden on their rigid" ppffftt!!! I have a mortgage and mouths to feed

Here's the start...this is TAME

Getting tricky

Here's a pulled back view of it from the ground...I guess I did take pics

See Izzy there...that's the last time we see him because he biked it back to the trailhead because this was all a Texan could handle for the day

We then did a little climb along Shady Oaks to loop back onto Serrano Ridge back to the trailhead.

Some nice rock formations

Adam said that if you can clean this climb you'll get LUNCH for free...there's another 46% climb that if you clear he'll give you his bike.

Serrano Ridge heading back north towards Quail Trail

Here's a shot of where we were...

The rolling fireroad of Serrano Ridge, kind of reminds me of East Ridge in AW


More pretty rock formations

Bombing


Eleven miles or so for this loop and it was crazy. It's definitely a good way to train because there are some good climbing to do. I always suck at riding new trails because you never know what to expect how much to conserve energy etc so I think next time it wont be so bad as I'll know what to expect. I really hope that they open this to the public more often as this is a great way options for south OC mountain biking.

Just as a word of caution, Irvine PD has a trail officer that patrols the area as well as motion activated cameras so if you poach you will not only get in trouble but you'll ruin it for the rest of us as the City is very sensitive to nature reserve and they want to protect it.

Thanks again Adam for a great ride, I am WIPED OUT.

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-Duan
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DISCO

Pity I missed out due to a late night, but I am glad you all got a chance to ride some of the best O.C. has to offer.

OMR

Duan,

This is one of the best SS riding areas around and Adam is a great guy to ride with. Nice RR.

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OMR .... An elder grasshopper of the Tribe

foofighter

Thanks Gregg...to show you how much of a MACHINE Adam is, he lead us back to the parking lot and then headed back out to go ride El Morro

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-Duan
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dubjay

Nice seeing you out there Foo.

After the big climb, we went down Rabbit Run and then up Shady Oaks. We looped all the way around and actually ended up going down Rabbit Run again. The second time, I attempted the rock drop. I swear I saw a line that was roll-able but I guess not. I think a wheelie drop would have been more appropriate.

Anyways, not a good idea. My face got a little intimate with the dirt. I think they took a picture of my face when I was checking out. I'm sure it'll pop up somewhere

Bommer is a great place to ride, especially considering the trailhead is less than a mile from my house. Hopefully they'll open up more often in the future.

foofighter

yes, definitely great to see you, i thought it was you when i saw the Chumba roll by you're a brave man trying that rock garden not once but twice LOL. Sorry I didnt stop to chat with you, I really wanted to climb if you couldnt tell

edit: i looked at the pics again and the first part of it looks rollable but that last portion needs balls of steel and mad skills to do

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-Duan
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foofighter

and there was a lot of suffering going on this morning Gregg

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dubjay

Yeah, the first part is totally rideable. It's just that big drop that I had problems with. I tried shooting down in between the two rocks and I got hung up at the bottom.

OMR

I've seen Jeff (Hooiserdaddy) ride it several times... and you know how good his skills are... and I've seen that same Jeff take a good face plant there as well... not a place to trifle with...

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back_of_the _pack

I found Izzy taken a breather at the bottom of Turtle Island and lead him back to the the staging area. He was doing fine, more hills in Irvine than Houston I guess.

Hoosierdaddy

Thanks for the compliment Gregg! The first time I did Rabbit Run I walked the "tough" section, turned around and said to myself "I can ride that". I hiked back up, rode it down and came unclipped after the drop, so I hiked back up one more time and cleaned it. I've cleaned it every time (about 8 ) now, and have to admit I really enjoy that section. The time you saw me crash Gregg, I actually slid on my arse after the drop, like you'd slide into base playing ball. The face plant was on Turtle Island, when I broke my helmet.

I've also cleaned that hill and won a free lunch w/beer included, compliments of Kieth B from SHARE. (not the Kieth B on here) I've also came up short on climbing that hill, got past the tough part at the bottom and just blew it at the top with about 30 feet to go. The funny thing I remember was, the crowd at the bottom let out a big gasp as I stopped.

I'm so bummed I missed the ride out there today, had some Family stuff to take care of.

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OMR

Jeff, it's so hard to keep track of your crashes ...

Keith B. in Share???? and I think you might mean Keith E. (Eckstein)... must be from all those crashes

Missed you on Gene's ride today as well... Holy Jim was hot... and I'm not talking temps here...

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OMR .... An elder grasshopper of the Tribe

Hoosierdaddy

I always thought it was Keith B. It sounds like B when you say it, my bad!

About it being HOT, are you talking about STR trail ettiquette? If that's so, then I really feel bad I missed it.

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www.moderneyewear.com

I can ride my bike with no handlebars... no handlebars, no handlebars.

genusmtbkr5

True to their word. Jeff(Hoosierdaddy) and I cleaned it on the Bommer Canyon ride. We got free lunch at Sharkey's. Nice RR Duan. Rabbit run and Turtle Island are a blast. BTW, I had a bit suffering going on today myself.

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foofighter

trying to remember which was turtle island. there was a route after rabbit run i think it might have been shady oaks single track where there was a rock formation that you had to huck up on and then ride down not sure if that is turtle island

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-Duan
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