RR: Adrenaline Shop Holy Jim ride

[1FG rider]

Well, today certainly started off interesting to say the least.

First of all, Neil had us meet at the ungodly hour of 6 am. So that meant most of us were up before 5 am to get to the meeting spot in the cold and dark. Not exactly the motivation for grinding up a trail for a few hours.

Secondly, the dirt road up to the Holy Jim trailhead likes to take bikes and equipment off vehicles and leave them on the road. We arrive at the trailhead and find a bike missing. Somewhere on our Baja 1000 excursion up the road my Niner disappeared from the back of Neils truck. Out of 4 bikes on his truck mine was the only one to jump out of the rack. So we quickly unloaded the rest of the bikes and headed back down to search for my bike or at least what was left of it. I was already thinking about what my next bike build was going to be. But fortunately the rest of the group hadn't made it to the trailhead yet and found my bike leaned up against a tree! Apparently a car coming down from the trailhead saw my bike in the middle of the road and left it off to the side where it could be found. What a relief to see it laying in the back of Tim's truck. Thank goodness there's still some honest people out there.

Next MIA was a bike tray from Jason's truck. That was also bounced loose somewhere down the road, but was also recovered. Luckily there wasn't a bike in the tray at the time.

Other than Sara, I think everyone survived fairly intact. She went down pretty hard on the descent back down, falling on the shoulder that she had surgery on four months ago. She took it easy for the remainder of the descent and even road her bike not just to the end of the dirt road but all the way back to the shop!

Despite all the drama it was a good ride. Weather warmed up and the trail was in good shape. Always a good time hanging with STR.

Gearing up for the ride.


Ah, there she is. My Niner survives the fall from the back of Neil's truck with no damage.

[foofighter]

wow that's crazy Mike...glad you got the niner back...i wanted to take it home but it was too big for me and it was a RIGID :P it must have been hella cold up there.

[queenwilhelmina]

Well today confirmed that I will never again let Jason drive up to the trail head on that damn road. We lost (and later recovered, luckily) a tray off our 4-bike rack, and it was a white knuckle ride the way up. Jason liked driving up that road waaaay too much and it was horrifying. "This is half the fun!" he says. I was getting carsick.

Anyway, I had a hard time getting warmed up with all those damn stream crossings (and without my dirt road warmup) so I wasn't having the best time. About half way up Holy Jim I finally started to feel warmed up, so from then on I felt pretty good. I got to the top of HJ just in time to say bye to Neil and the Adrenaline crew. I hung out with Jesse and Sprankle for a while, when Jason and Jared finally arrived. It was getting really chilly up there so I wanted to get moving. I was proud of those boys -- Jason rode a heavy-ass Evo all the way up HJ and Jared rode his new rigid 1x1. Good job guys!!

The way down was fun, except for when I washed out on some loose rocks and got a nasty scrape on the top part of my shin. That sucked. Oh and the pinch-flat I got towards the bottom sucked too. Oh yeah and dogding all the hikers and folks riding up kinda sucked as well. But everything else was awesome!

It was a pleasure running into the Manns and the Steph/Dan team. I think they did like 34545645645 miles and about 839576940388049374 feet of elevation. That's just an estimate.

Anyway, it was a good ride today, but not the best ever. Thanks to Jared for helpin' with my pinchy and hangin back when I ate it. You rock! Oh yeah and the hikers who picked up our chunk of rack and also kept Jason and Jared company rock too!

[Sprankle]

A good time once again. Thanks Neil for setting this one up. I got to meet some new people and had a great time. This was my second time up HJ, I will be back, Soon!!!!

[grandpa]

Fun riding with all you guys again! First time up Holy Jim for me and it was a fun ride. The drive in to the trailhead really sucks though.
And big props to Jared for for making it up on his ss. Way to go dude!!

[1FG rider]

Originally Posted by foofighter

wow that's crazy Mike...glad you got the niner back...i wanted to take it home but it was too big for me and it was a RIGID :P it must have been hella cold up there.

Funny thing was we were all joking about the bikes falling off on the ride up and I thought Neil was kidding we he said a bike was gone.

[1x1clyde]

Yes Mike, I felt horrible getting to the trailhead and realizing that we had 4 riders and 3 bikes but thanks to the kindness and honesty of a stranger the bike was recovered and Tim picked it up on his way up the trail!

Well, the ride did get a little bit of a late start but off we went.





The group shot: Jeff, Jesse, Sara, Tim, Willie, Jason, Jesse, Jared, Mike and Joe


Everyone's favorite stream crossing




The trail was in good shape, a little loose in some spots. I felt like I slipped out a lot more then I usually do!

One of the regroups


Tim rolling up on his 7" XC rig, you are the MAN!!


Another quick stop


Mike and his Bike together again


Once we got to Main Divide we rolled up a ways and took a break, I forget how beautiful it is up there on a clear day!
I believe Jeff and Joe continued onto Trabuco? but it was close to 9 and I had to get work so I told my friend Sara we would meet at the 1st stream crossing at the bottom. On the way we ran into Jason and Jared- props to both for making it up!- and told them the classic "almost there" which they were!
Sara had gone down on her shoulder she just had surgery on so that sucked but she said she was ok and as Mike said she decided to ride from the trailhead back to Adrenaline, she needed the miles

Thanks to the crew that made it for the ride, one of my favorites!!

[JOx2]

1x1clyde really want you to ride to the trail head j.k
Really a fun day for everyone, hope to join you on the next Adrenaline ride.

[allison]

Originally Posted by queenwilhelmina

It was a pleasure running into the Manns and the Steph/Dan team. I think they did like 34545645645 miles and about 839576940388049374 feet of elevation. That's just an estimate.

We didn't do quite that much, but it was a long day

[KeepsWhatHappens]

Gotta love the guy riding in Levis on a fully rigid-retro Zaskar.

Thanks for the RR and the nice images.

KeepsWhatHappens

[BandMan]

Holy crap Mike! When you told me your bike fell off the truck today I thought you were talking about the Schwinn cruiser. Nice to know there are some good peeps still out there.

[1FG rider]

Originally Posted by BandMan

Holy crap Mike! When you told me your bike fell off the truck today I thought you were talking about the Schwinn cruiser. Nice to know there are some good peeps still out there.

Good thing I didn't bring the Schwinn because going up Holy Jim on that would have been a real b*tch.

[Singletrack Angel]

Originally Posted by 1FG rider

most of us were up before 5 am to get to the meeting spot in the cold and dark. Not exactly the motivation for grinding up a trail for a few hours.

Yeah, I was thinking about you guys as I rolled up to the Ladera Ridge ride at 8:50 a.m. in the warm sunshine...

[Pain Freak]

I think your derailuers toast...