RR: San Juan/Los Pinos, 1/12/08

[deja vu]

5 riders showed up for this one, Terry, Scott, DT, 'Bloodhead' and me-self. We had a last minute e-mail from the ‘Mountain Bike Mafia’ promising two more, but never ran into them. We started riding from the SJT trailhead at 8 AM. Man was the parking lot full! I have honestly never seen so many people there. Fontucky what? Playoffs, huh?? (made it back in plenty of time to catch the Patriots game though)

The weather and trail conditions were perfect, although it was suprisingly warm. No wind, sunny, tacky, aaah yes, it’s hard to beat this!

The climb up SJT was largely uneventful; with the exception of a lot of trail runners (never have seen one on SJT before this!) That has to be a good run!

We took a break at Cocktail Rock and proceeded up Old San Juan, eventually coming out at the trailhead. Time to replenish our water. I had filled my Camelback with one liter of H20 to get me to Bluejay, turned out perfect, had just a little left. I filled up with 1.5 liters for the rest of the loop, which turned out good too.

Next up was ‘the wall’. If you’ve never climbed from Bluejay to Trabuco Creek/Los Pinos trailhead, you’re really missing out on a special treat! Just as hard as the Canyon Acres climb in Aliso Woods I think, but longer. I almost had a clean, but alas, one dab was counted.

We took a break at the Los Pinos trailhead to rest up and for DFT to look at his bike. His chain tensioner was hanging down, turns out his bottom bracket wasn’t tightened enough. We jury rigged it with some zip ties and headed up to Los Pinos Peak.

We took another break at the peak, eating and hydrating, which I strongly recommend, as for the next hour and a half or so you will be occupied with the task at hand, the Los Pinos trail. There are many opinions about this trail, but I really enjoyed it. I think it is a better ride than Bell, more fun downhill sections and mini-lips to launch off. You better like riding really steep and loose terrain, have some sturdy tires, and wear some arm and leg protection though, or you may not like it. There is definitely some Hike a Bike sections, two of which are ball busters. You will get some excellent views on this trail, unbelievable! Very interesting to see how this fits in to the surrounding trail system.

Not many pictures, I think our photographer was busy navigating the terrain, (which is understandable!)

Pics;

Always a nice view from cocktail rock.


DFT and bike, both exposing their soft white underbelly. Shocking!


DFT giving his bike some much needed TLC.


Ghetto Zip Tie fix


Los Pinos Peak marker


Two riders on one of the many Los Pinos descent. See? It's looks fun, right!!

[genusmtbkr5]

I did trail work with the WS last April or May I think. That trail has some brutal hikes for sure. I was hurting for a week after that trail work. How is the bush? Hopefully it won't need bushing soon. Good report and yes, I understand the lack of pics.

[Winston]

I hope this shot makes the 2009 STR calendar.



Look out ladies!!!

[CalEpic]

Originally Posted by genusmtbkr5

How is the bush?

New signature anyone?

C

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by genusmtbkr5

I did trail work with the WS last April or May I think. That trail has some brutal hikes for sure. I was hurting for a week after that trail work. How is the bush? Hopefully it won't need bushing soon. Good report and yes, I understand the lack of pics.

you guys did a hella of a job, I wouldn't call it carmen electra smooth, but there is an amazing lack of bush! There were some ruts, but I expected much worse, overall the trail is in great shape.

[Geronimo]

Agreed, rode it on Sunday expecting it to be overgrown. It's in great shape, much better then Bell. You guys did an excellent job Gene. I'll try to make it out there for maintenance next time. Great trail, after all the horror stories I expected much worse. Fun descents that are fast with a good flow to them, and all the lips/jumps are fun as well.

[dft]

Originally Posted by Geronimo

Agreed, rode it on Sunday expecting it to be overgrown. It's in great shape, much better then Bell. You guys did an excellent job Gene. I'll try to make it out there for maintenance next time. Great trail, after all the horror stories I expected much worse. Fun descents that are fast with a good flow to them, and all the lips/jumps are fun as well.

yep. i have always internally debated, what i like more, bell or los pinos, LP now wins again. the descent sections are longer and kinda flowier. the HAB's happen earlier and the later parts of the trail really go. plus as mentioned, all the little lips are real fun, and last rocky section is real nice also. great ride, hell of a workout for a 40+ pounder (we took 7 hours). i think i will treat myself to a shuttle next time i do it!

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by dft

yep. i have always internally debated, what i like more, bell or los pinos, LP now wins again. the descent sections are longer and kinda flowier. the HAB's happen earlier and the later parts of the trail really go. plus as mentioned, all the little lips are real fun, and last rocky section is real nice also. great ride, hell of a workout for a 40+ pounder (we took 7 hours). i think i will treat myself to a shuttle next time i do it!

The big bike (mine weighs in at 44.9) didn't feel all that bad until I got to 'the wall' (bluejay to LP trailhead) then it felt way, way big (on the HAB too). I was sure glad I had it for LP though, I needed some travel on that lower section and I still got kicked around by some of those loose rocks running 2.7/2.5 Kenda Nevegals w/ DH casing, I think I got kicked sideways a couple of feet one time! I was running kinda high pressure for those though (30-32) No flat worries though!

The day we did it it was totally shuttle-able (didn't really want to point that out as we pedeled up the wall, but I did ) the gate was open, and posted OK for licensed vehicles (no off road ATV, dirt bikes, etc). I guess when I think of a shuttle though I think all DH, and this is far from that, it would still be a little rough.