RR: 4th time is a charm

[davidB]

Trail: Marshall Canyon in La Verne

at about noon today I get the itch to ride since I'm busy tomorrow. I get out of the house at 1pm, at the trailhead at 1:30 knowing full well i'll be racing the sun on the way back (no light, cold weather)

8.7 miles all up hill, and 2 hours later i get here with no gas left in the tank (photo taken from geoladders, and is nothing special unless you've been there. It was like the promised land to me)



I think this was my 4th time trying to get there. Stopped short every other time. I'm no power climber, anyone who's ridden near me knows that. 8+ miles of climbing with very few breaks was getting to me when I got there. Last time I think i'll go up that far.
The last half mile just sucks.

word to the wise: never underestimate how cold the weather can be when returning, because descending on the back side of a mountain with no sun, at 4pm in cold enough whether that your fingers turned red because you decided to go with the fingerless gloves and a sleeveless shirt, well, it just sucks (and hurts )

[thebush]

Nice job! Thats a good climb. The ascent right before Potato Mountain always seems chilly to me. How was the mud on Marshall? I was there a few weeks ago and afterwards I was covered in mud.

[allison]

Great RR!!


re: cold weather... Justin and I learned the hard way while training for Counting Coup last winter. We went up Maple Springs to Four Corners once and absolutely FROZE while climbing back down. I said then and there we'd be going out to get booties and some winter gloves. Unfortunately I'm on my like 3rd iteration of winter gloves now...

I highly recommend wool socks. The PI wool arm warmers are cheaper than the thermafleece, and I really liked the yesterday. As for descending... just having a second pair of DRY gloves will make a big difference when descending. The gloves you climb in are sweaty and wet from the climbing.. so then they just get plain cold and you can't really warm your hands up at all.

It's probably overkill for shorter rides, but I've got the Specialized Sub Zero gloves. My hands were SWEATING descending yesterday.

I also like my lined Specialized vest. It's kind of wind breaking on the outside, and lined inside. No sleeves. Justin has a Hoss fleece jacket that has pockets and removable sleeves, and he loves it. I think around $50 at the Path?

[J_Sims]

DOOOOOD I took one look at the pic and my legs started to twitch... I have climbed up to that thing.... Great views if the valley is clear but damn....

[Pain Freak]

One of my local rides. I did this one last week on a warmer day on my ss. I wasn't able to clean that last half mile though. I had to get off the bike twice. My goal is to do it at least once on the ss, the geared bikes are easy in the small ring.

[davidB]

yeah it's that last part that i've been warned about by a couple other riders when I was up there before, and even today I played leapfrog with a guy on the way up there. the lack of traction and fatigue setting in make that part hell

[un-kola]

Originally Posted by davidB

yeah it's that last part that i've been warned about by a couple other riders when I was up there before, and even today I played leapfrog with a guy on the way up there. the lack of traction and fatigue setting in make that part hell

Yeah there's a lot of skree on that slope that just plays havoc with trying to get traction.Good job on the climb. - Lloyd

[genusmtbkr5]

So I guess that would not be the route to take the newbs huh? Nice RR David. I always bring 2 pairs of gloves and a wind breaker on cold days. It gets cold up in Saddleback Mtns and I know coming down will be even colder. I'll have to get up there sometime to see about this climb. Would be good VQ training.

[VTVic]

Ahh, good ol' potato mountain. Done it a few times with Pain Freak. This thing definitely kicks my @ss. Thanks for the RR