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KeepsWhatHappens

We had five strong riders show up today and brave the elements. Our route did stray a bit from what I had planned due to weather. But we accomplished our goal of hitting 50 miles and at least 5000 feet of climbing.

Our ride total was 52.4 miles and 5580 feet of climbing.

Here's our route info from Geoladders. Here is our route overlaid on a map.

It was brisk and wet when we started from Daily's in RSM so most of us were in leggings and jackets.

We started off heading uphill skirting O'Neill Park and heading up into Robinson Ranch.

After reaching the top of Robinson Ranch we then dropped into Bell View Trail system and came out at the Dove Canyon waterfalls. Then we followed the Rwanda Route into Caspers.

In Caspers Paula wanted more suffering we we turned NE and up Oso Trail for some serious climbing. We stayed on Oso for several grueling miles up to the shelter at Badger Pass Trail.

From there we descended the beautiful Badger Pass Trail and then met up the San Juan Creek Trail which we followed back to the Ranger Station in Caspers.

Then after a quick water re-supply in Caspers it was a grunt back up to East Ridge. We continued north on East Ridge until the Sunshine Boys Trail which we dropped into Coto horse trails system.

Under a threatening sky we looped around the bottom of Coto and did a tour de Riley Park to add up some miles. Riley is just stunningly beautiful this time of year with the singletracks in great shape.

Then on our way up to the Sawgrass Trail which we had planned on taking up into Chiquita Singletracks it started raining. We decided to play it safe and continue up the horse trail and sidewalk toward the Coto gate.

By the time we reached the gate the weather had improved so we begrudgingly took a left and climbed up onto the ridge. This normal easy climb hurt as we were approaching the 40 mile mark.

Once up on the ridge we re-fueled and stayed along the ridge for a while then dropped into the trail paralleling t the 241 and took it down to Oso Parkway.

Then at Paula's insistence (even though we didn't need the miles to make it 50) we turned left and climbed up onto Ladera Ridge. After a fun ride down the ridge we dropped into Firehose Singletrack and came out near the fire station at Crown Valley and Antonio.

We had planned to then do Waterworks but rain was falling and time was running short so we high-tailed it back up the sidewalks to Daily's. Troy had to leave so unfortunately he missed out on the ravenous carbo-loading at Dailys.

Awesome ride everyone. Thanks for making it fun.

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Paula climbing in Robinson Ranch on Bell View Trail.

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Vickie climbing up Robinson Ranch.

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Some sketchy extra credit singletrack off Bell View.

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Troy on East Ridge heading south toward Caspers.

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Re-group.

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Creek crossing in Caspers.

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Troy (Thinkfast) just after a steep climb.

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Ooops Debbie's (DB250f) lunch looks pretty squished.

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Vickie offering up Tums and Advil.

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Group shot at Badger Pass shelter.

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Vickie descending Badger Pass. Not riders down below.

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Troy (Thinkfast) stops to take in the view. Note riders below.

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Paula.

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Troy.

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Vickie on San Juan Creek Trail.

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Deb and Vickie on Sunshine Boys Trail.

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Singletrack in Riley Park.

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Paula. Mile marker 41 climbing on Chiquita Ridge. Click to enlarge photo. Note rainbow in background.

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Troy on Chiquita Ridge. Click to enlarge photo. Note rainbow in background.

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Db250 (Debbie) on Chiquita Ridge. Click to enlarge photo. Note rainbow in background.

...more to come...

KeepsWhatHappens

KeepsWhatHappens

...continued...

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Debbie leading the others on un-named singletrack.

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In between showers, the group cruising down the trail in Chiquita singletracks.

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Vickie and Paula on Firehose singletrack.

KeepsWhatHappens

foofighter

talk about an epic ride...the scenery is crazy beautiful.

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Dulce et Decorum

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dirtmistress

Great RR! Thanks! That looks so pretty! finally things are emerald green!

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J_Sims

Looks like we just missed you guys... Rob, one of his friends and I were up in the Chiquita ridge area most of the afternoon. Some of The Single tracks and a biot of the fire road. Nothing like your day though we ended up with about 19 miles and 2400 ft of elevation. It is absolutely beautiful out there, and yes we got wet but then the sun would come out and dry us off.

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ThinkFast

Good times today for sure. Once again John showed me a few new trails. Thanks John. We started out the day wondering if we were going to get rained on and we were fortunate that it didn't really start to rain until Debbie said something at the end . Kudos to Vickie for her great attitude. I think Paula could have kept riding all day. Oh wait a minute...we did ride all day. .

Here are a few pics I took.

Early in the day


John, Debbie and Paula


Debbie climbing one of the tougher hills


Vickie, Debbie and John heading down Badger


Vickie and Debbie on lower Badger


John on lower Badger


John, Paula and Debbie on Bell View


Debbie and Paula in Riley


Thanks for the great ride everyone!

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"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together". - African Proverb

CaDownhilldoll

Work SU*ks!!! I'm so jealous I missed out!! The photos are awesome!! I was hoping to get out tonight but.. BOO HOO!!! I hope it rains for the next couple of days while I'm out of comission. Then I pray for sunshine all weekend!! Lets do a Long ride for my B-day!! C-mon!! how about 43 miles for well, let's ride

sdyeti

Nice RR and photos...we saw that rainbow as we were driving south on 5 from Tustin.

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J_Sims

South from Tustin I need details

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If you don't live for something... You will die for nothing

That's right 1/2 Horse power baby



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sdyeti

Ahhh...we were at The Path! Drooling over new forks (see my post in the Marketplace) and getting some stuff to put my Yeti on a VQ diet!!

VQ diet plan:

8" front rotor to 6"
2.35 tires to 2.1
gravity dropper to regular seat post
CB Acid pedals (donating to Dan) to Candy C's

...and hopefully an F100 or maybe Float 32 fork.

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THE PATH-Love the Bike You Ride

bevaaler

Sure its not 33?

I was really bummed to miss this ride but our babysitter couldn't make until 8 am and that was way to late to make it down to RSM by start time.. Glad you guys had an awesome day, looks like Deb and Vickie kicked some serious arse as usual. Again, great photos, that area is so beautiful, can't wait to ride there someday. I will keep my eyes open for the next ride in this area to be posted. Great RR.. Happy trails. Erik V.

Jordansrealm

Damn! Wish I could have made the ride with you guys today I really wanted to. Ended up having to go into the office Looks like it was some great riding!

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Vickie

Thank you again John for showing us such an incredible ride. The weather did look sketch most of the day, but for the most part - held off...well, until the very end. It never seems to amaze me how much riding is out there ... right in our back yards and if you plan accordingly and know your way, you can get plenty of miles, not to mention elevation.

Troy, it was nice riding with you again, this one was quite different than the SCST's!!

Thanks too, John and Troy for the photos and great RR

Deb, you were amazing with your pace, both climbing and descending - you were right there with John and Troy. Paula, you are a strong climber...both you ladies ROCK...neither of you will have any problems with the VQ.

After riding five out of the past seven days and racking up some serious miles, I'll admit, this ride turned into a mental game for me - some times they do...but we press on!! They say a good attitude is EVERYTHING, one thing I DO HAVE, a good attitude...one thing I DON'T HAVE...the word Q-U-I-T in my vocabulary!!! I even said yes to Paula when she insisted we add in a few more miles with Ladera Ridge!!!

Great riding ....great beer......great friends - what else is there !!!

When's the next suffer fest...cause you know I'm there!!

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.V~
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin

Vickie

Sister....you let us know when and where, we'll be there for you b-day...whether it's 43 miles or another 53 miles..

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.V~
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin

KeepsWhatHappens

Ain't that the truth! You just kept going and going!

Ancient proverb says: 90% of life is in your head - the other 10% is reality.

KeepsWhatHappens