RR: Muddy or not, here we come!

[OMR]

Met up with Steve (Autoduel) and Gary (commplex) this morning in Rancho Santa Margarita. Everyone on their single speeds. Steve had just built his up and needed to put miles on it now. Beautiful morning to ride. We hit the Bell View Trail and got about 4 miles in, almost to the bench overlook, before the mud started really caking up the tires... which added about 5-7 lbs on the wheels. Made a decision to turn back (good one!) and rode back to the waterfall at Coto.

Steve and Gary had to get back and I continued on the Tijeras Creek Trail... which turned out to be almost perfect. I rode over to the gate where it turns down to Oso... nice and sandy all the way. Turned around and rode back to car & drove home.

Took a while to get the mud off the bike but Nancy says I'm not cranky now ... I got my 15 miles in and I feel better! Hope others got to ride as well.

[Jordansrealm]

Must have just missed you I rode through some of those areas trying to find you guys. Agreed parts of the trail were muddy, too muddy. I did about 15-16 as well and felt awesome with the sun on my face!

[OMR]

Originally Posted by Jordansrealm

Must have just missed you I rode through some of those areas trying to find you guys. Agreed parts of the trail were muddy, too muddy. I did about 15-16 as well and felt awesome with the sun on my face!

Sorry we didn't hook up. Which trail were you riding on, Bell View or Tijeras?

Agree, that sun felt mighty good on the face!

[Jordansrealm]

Originally Posted by OMR

Sorry we didn't hook up. While trail were you riding on, Bell View or Tijeras?

Agree, that sun felt mighty good on the face!

I came up around the back of the high school which I think is technically part of Tijeras? I think it splits right there on the street and if you go up to the right its Bell View? I went behind the school, up and around and down into Tijeras, behind the homes, under the bridge at OSO, up the climb to the street, back behind the houses, back to Tijeras and then jumped on the street instead of finishing Tijeras and rode back home. I figured the jungle section of Tijeras was gonna be too muddy so I cut it short.

[OMR]

We were probably still slogging along on Bell View when you were on Tijeras. Next time!

[J_Sims]

I missed all you guys out there this afternoon... Went up chaquita ridge by the water tank and headed North, dropped to the gate at Coto and found a big trail closed sign on the other side of the road... South it was and rolled all the way over to the gate at Oso and back... The fire road was in great shape.. I saw a number of peeps blowing past the "private Property" signs and playing on all the Single tracks out there... What is up with that??? I even made mention of it to one guy and he told me that those signs are old and nobody pays attention to them Bla Bla Bla...WTF

[autoduel]

I finally popped the SS cherry! The chiquita ridge is great for SS. The hills are rolling, the climbs are short and you can spin up half of them. The gear I had was perfect for those trails. We rode 4 miles in then W\we turned around when the trail went from sandy to clayey. The ride back was tough carrying the extra pounds of dirt on my tires. Once you get clay on them it picks up all the non-sticky dirt on the trail too. The ride back was rolling up hill and I started dropping back and getting more winded. All in all a great first ride on the SS. After lunch, the clouds started rolling in, so I went on a 4.5 mile quickie up the Ladera botanical trail to the end of covenant hills and back. The man made trail was not affected by the rains at all. The climbs were similar to Chiquita.

[foofighter]

that's great to hear Steve! What's your gearing again? you must be an animal sandbagger if you can spin up 1/2 way up the climbs