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Over the Hill
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RR: Colby Canyon, San Gabriel Mountains
We did a reverse Strawberry Peak Loop today. This RR is only a report on one trail we rode; I will leave it to one of my fellow riders (Lynn, Scott, Vic or Matt) to do a write up on the whole ride. Besides it was such a ripping downhill I don't think they stopped to take any pictures of Colby Canyon.
The snow on Strawberry Peak was excellent, it was cold so the ground was frozen hard and the snow was dry, the traction was better than normal. Plus we had a bonus sighting… saw Apex Man and his crew out there. Per my GPS, Josephine Saddle is 5039 ft, Colby Trailhead is 3482 ft, which is a 1557 foot drop in 1.9 miles. The switchbacks are tight and steep and I was not able to ride many of them. Vic owned the switchbacks today. After the ride we all agreed that even though the reverse Strawberry is a harder route and has some hike-a-bikes, it is a better ride. Besides going counterclockwise you don’t have to climb Josephine Fireroad and climbing the Gabrileno Trail is not bad…it is a great climb. Click on the first pic to enlarge and you can see downtown LA. 
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If I'm not lost or getting bushwacked, the trail was too easy. Prescott Valley Houses The Path Last edited by dstepper : 12-09-2007 at 06:52 PM. |
| post thanked by: |
allison (12-10-2007),
Burner (12-10-2007),
cbharping (12-10-2007),
Chaos (12-09-2007),
denmother (12-10-2007),
dirtmistress (12-09-2007),
Fired Yo Momma (12-10-2007),
genusmtbkr5 (12-10-2007),
grandpa (12-09-2007),
guero (12-10-2007),
Hanzo (12-09-2007),
IMALLSLO (12-09-2007),
jeffj (12-10-2007),
jfsh (12-09-2007),
JOx2 (12-09-2007),
Lefty Kev (12-09-2007),
maxwell (12-10-2007),
MOSH1DH (12-09-2007),
MTBBill (12-10-2007),
ocrider (12-09-2007),
ODB (12-12-2007),
OTHRIDER (12-10-2007),
Pain Freak (12-09-2007),
Red Hot Sloth (12-09-2007),
Rob (12-11-2007),
sauce (12-11-2007),
Schecky (12-10-2007),
sdyeti (12-09-2007),
Shannon (12-10-2007),
Sharky (12-09-2007),
sheclimbs (12-09-2007),
Sprockethead (12-09-2007),
stjunkie (12-09-2007),
Tedroy (12-11-2007),
VTVic (12-09-2007),
Waldo (12-09-2007)
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White is the new Red
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Wow..great photos. I wish I was close enough to ride there, it looks incredible.
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Dirty Boo (12-20-2007)
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Directionally Challenged
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Yeah, I do like this reverse route, but I never knew how bad the exposure really was on Strawberry till I rode it that way.Major pucker factor of around 8 or so in some spots.
Going down Colby was a lot like riding Tunnel to me, one slip up and you're gonna hurt. Those switchbacks are hard to make. Looks like Vic is training to be a trials rider? What was the temp up there?
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"The best rides are the ones where you bite off much more than you can chew—and live through it." — Doug Bradbury "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me." — Emo Philips |
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Tom Brady Look A Like
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Good to see you guys out there today. The wife and I had a nice breakfast and fun playing in the snow. I had to spend some family time today to make up for my foul attitude as a result of my tire incident. Much profanity and bad vibes were given off.
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You don't have to be having fun to have fun CORBA Support your local trail crew '07 Niner MCR9 - '07 Lemond Zürich - '89 Specialized Sirrus fixed/free |
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Senior Member
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Awesome times out there. I've always wondered how tough this trail would be backwards and I'm glad I got to do it. Definitely not as hard as I thought and it was actually lots of fun. The trail was nice and packed due to the snow. I can see this being much harder to climb in the summer when its very dry and loose. I don't know how cold it was but it was very cold, especially on some sections going up to red box I thought.
At red box the road up to Mt Wilson was closed due to ice and we saw a lot of DHers doing the paved climb towards the tunnel... Here are some of my pics... this icy turn is the reason we changed plans...fish tailin..glad we did  on the way up to Red Box  Scott going too fast for the camera   Mt Baldy from Red Box  On the way up to Strawberry  Lynn and Dean  Scott  after the saddle and towards the meadow...    posing with  again, Scott moving too fast for the camera      one of my favorite shots...  Lynn  On Colby    I didn't get any shots of Matt (Burner). He was ahead of us most of the time...Let's do it again soon! |
| post thanked by: |
allison (12-10-2007),
Burner (12-10-2007),
cbharping (12-10-2007),
dirtmistress (12-10-2007),
dstepper (12-09-2007),
foofighter (12-10-2007),
genusmtbkr5 (12-10-2007),
grandpa (12-11-2007),
guero (12-10-2007),
jeffj (12-10-2007),
jfsh (12-10-2007),
KBL (12-10-2007),
Ladd Jasper (12-10-2007),
maxwell (12-10-2007),
MTBMaven (12-10-2007),
OTHRIDER (12-10-2007),
Pain Freak (12-10-2007),
Rob (12-11-2007),
sdyeti (12-10-2007),
sheclimbs (12-10-2007),
stjunkie (12-10-2007),
Tedroy (12-11-2007)
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Directionally Challenged
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Nice shots,Vic.
__________________
"The best rides are the ones where you bite off much more than you can chew—and live through it." — Doug Bradbury "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me." — Emo Philips |
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one krazy chinese
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errrr, is vic wearing his pajamas trousers?
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Over the Hill
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Quote:
A few more pics on Strawberry Peak Trail, Gabrileno, and Colby Trails.
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If I'm not lost or getting bushwacked, the trail was too easy. Prescott Valley Houses The Path Last edited by dstepper : 12-10-2007 at 07:17 AM. |
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| post thanked by: |
Burner (12-10-2007),
cbharping (12-10-2007),
dirtmistress (12-10-2007),
Fired Yo Momma (12-10-2007),
foofighter (12-10-2007),
grandpa (12-11-2007),
guero (12-10-2007),
jfsh (12-10-2007),
MTBMaven (12-10-2007),
ODB (12-12-2007),
Rob (12-11-2007),
Schecky (12-10-2007),
sdyeti (12-10-2007),
Shannon (12-10-2007),
sheclimbs (12-10-2007),
stjunkie (12-10-2007),
VTVic (12-10-2007)
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one krazy chinese
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Quote:
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/foru...1&d=1197258313 |
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Bandito
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[FONT="Century Gothic"][SIZE="2"]Thanks for the pics Dean and Victor. What a wonderful day. The crisp clean air was about as clear as I can ever remember. You could see from Strawberry Peak all the way out to the ocean.
I really enjoyed riding yrrebwarts pool sdrawkcab! Great idea guys. Climbing the Gab with all the snow in the trees made for a beautiful section of trail. I find the climb up the back of the loop to the saddle to be really challenging, I think the cool temps and the tacky surface made the climb much easier today. For me personally I enjoyed the loop more than ever. I think I like it better in this direction. I really had a chance to just cruise and get some flow going. You never know who you're going to run into...good to see you Brian and nice to run into Rob up at the Saddle. Even if you guys were going the “wrong” way. All in all this was my favorite ride in the last month. Good friends, and the San Gabs in the snow on a clear and crisp day. Thanks to the boys – Steppie, Scott, Mat, and Victor. There’s only one pic of Burner ‘cause he was way out in front on his rigid ss! [/SIZE][/FONT]
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Mountain biking is a life altering experience STJunkie Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. John Muir |
| post thanked by: |
Burner (12-10-2007),
dirtmistress (12-10-2007),
dstepper (12-10-2007),
grandpa (12-11-2007),
jfsh (12-10-2007),
Ladd Jasper (12-10-2007),
stjunkie (12-10-2007),
VTVic (12-10-2007)
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STR Veteran
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it was a winter wonderland out there. seriously one of the best rides of 2007 for me. The traction was insane! Had to check myself a couple of times from going way too fast on the exposed strawberry sections. Everything felt great, SO glad I only had the SS to ride today, because had my geared bike been operational, I would have grabbed that (and not had nearly as much fun).... my Vulture just performs so well, and feels so good, the bike definitely added to the stoke today.
Great group as usual! on to the pics, forgot my camera but it was just too beatiful to not try to capture some of it with my camphone. the trail  the bike  Scott  Dean on the S curves below  Vic amongst the boulders  Colby Cyn descent to the 2  Scott coming 'round the mtn  Dean  She goes down!  the only shot of me of that day (I think Scott got 1 good one in a switchback)  and finally one for Guero  |
| post thanked by: |
bevaaler (12-11-2007),
cbharping (12-10-2007),
dirtmistress (12-10-2007),
dstepper (12-10-2007),
foofighter (12-10-2007),
grandpa (12-11-2007),
guero (12-10-2007),
Hanzo (12-10-2007),
jfsh (12-11-2007),
Ladd Jasper (12-10-2007),
MTBMaven (12-10-2007),
ODB (12-12-2007),
Pain Freak (12-10-2007),
Rob (12-11-2007),
sheclimbs (12-10-2007),
stjunkie (12-10-2007),
VTVic (12-10-2007)
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Senior Member
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I have ridden Strawberry Backwards several times with the OTB crew. It is a great way to ride it! The last time we did it we rode up the Gab from Switzers then added in the drop down the Valley Forge trail and then up the Gab from there back to Red Box. This is a great add on. You will rarely see any one on the Valley Forge Trail.
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| post thanked by: |
Burner (12-10-2007),
dstepper (12-10-2007),
kanga (12-11-2007),
Pain Freak (12-10-2007),
sheclimbs (12-10-2007)
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mmmmm, noogs...
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looks like so much fun! i ALMOST went to chantry this weekend with hanzo and a few other bubbs...perhaps this coming weekend i will get my first taste of 'the gabes'.
thanks for the personalized "thbs" photo matt! |
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Senior Member
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Over the Hill
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__________________
If I'm not lost or getting bushwacked, the trail was too easy. Prescott Valley Houses The Path |
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Senior Member
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