RR: SART fun!

[davidB]

Guess i'll start this up from a SART noobie point of view....

my day started off meeting TrojanInsomniac (Mark/the dude who won the XTR crankset at the Toad Festival) at REI so we could carpool.

He was late, I got lost, and we both got confused when we got to the General Store at 9am and no one could be seen. Once we found everyone up the road, all was well.


(me = the white dude next to OMR in bright green)

I found OMR and introduced myself, all the man would say when I asked him what we were in for, was "FUN". Gotta trust the man running this ride, and off we went!


Unfortunately, the 1st mile or so i kept asking myself what I had gotten into! We were hiking, trailblazing, and rolling over logs and branches left and right.

Then we went road riding for a while that really made me question what the hell i was doing this far from home. Then we found the trail, and it was frickin awesome!



and a video of the back of the pack, someone's got some squeaky brakes! (bah, so do I)


we did manage to stop a few times where i got this picture, you could just tell there was a bunch of us today on the trail


This trail was absolutely amazing, so there were very few places to stop and take shots, but managed to duck off the trail a couple times and snap off a few.





^OMR, ride leader, going with the incognito jersey today

it would go like that to this in a matter of one or two turns. Of course, you just knew there would be a river or two at SART.





Gene, our sweeper today, and fellow SART noobie!


you'd have to have a whole bunch of photographers at every turn to really capture how fun this trail is. Fortunately we did!

Unfortunately we had a 2 mile climb out of there just as i was getting out my sandwich to eat.


things I learned...
-you can't escape the heat
yup, that's about it.


I met a few new faces today. Pakiha and I shared a waterfall together , OMR whom was god honest today in his promise of "fun", and cryan, the new guy from colorado in the ride back to the cars.

when's the next ride there?

(rest of my pics here, and there's plenty)

[Blue Rat]

Great ride report ... Thanks.

[Dusty]

Great RR. The video was a great touch.

[TrojanInsomniac]

Great ride report and pics, David! Thanks for doing the driving today! And yes, those were likely my annoying brakes that were squeaking!

As always, it was another awesome ride with a great group of people!

[Ladd Jasper]

Good ride today, all. Great meeting some new folks, and reconnecting with old friends I hadn't ridden with in awhile was a welcome bonus.

Big thanks to Jason and Willie for the lift, and to OMR for putting the ride together. Hope to see you all next time!

[OMR]

When I first posted this ride last weekend... I thought there would be maybe 6 or possibly 8 riders who wanted to do this. I knew that Gene and John wanted to, but it had just never happened... so I was surprised that so many riders signed up and we became an STR mob! Sort of reminicient of Gene's successful newbie rides... they take on a life of their own.

When Gene, John and I pulled into the Angelus Oaks parking lot a tad after 9... there was no one there other than the car full of Rico (Dale), Doug Grant, Ken and Steve who came up with us. Turned out that everyone was waiting in the parking lot just down the road... turned out there was 26 of us all together....this was going to be interesting.

After shuttling up to Jenks Lake and the appropriate group shot... I wanted to by pass the upper section of trail coming down from Poop Out Hill ... welllllll, I was actually never lost... but I'm sure that the group was just about ready to lynch me for going "cross country"... we finally came upon a new single track that brought us down to the SART... Once across 38 we were rocking... and let the trail just speak for itself! Other than a couple of OTB...one in a stream and a couple of trail gashes... everybody had a great time. I lead for a while with Gene sweeping... then traded places as it's more fun to go FAST up front and take advantage of the teraine. After a couple of breaks, it was over all too soon and we climbed back out middle control as the thought was some of us wanted to do the Country Store Loop in the other direction... but after arriving back at the ice chest (errr... I mean shuttle cars) the beer just tasted too good and we decided to pack it in and some went back to Cathy's (CC) for a pool party.

It was there that damaging pictures were taken of Gene and a certain blow up doll named Ceasar?...After a dip in the pool the pizza and beer finally came (thank you CC and DISCO!) and all that could be heard was chewing and swallowing! A great way to end a wounderful ride and day...

Great trail, great people and good food and brew!

Thanks guys for sharing my ride today!

Overheard: Gene there's a bee on your crotch!!!
Reply: Why are you staring at my crotch?

It was that kind of day....

[KeepsWhatHappens]

Yes I had never ridden this trail before. Not that I was avoiding it but the timing had just never worked out. Well I am so glad it worked out this time, because the trail was a blast! After a little cross-country exploring off the bat (which I kind of enjoyed actually) we found our way onto SART and started flowing.

There is some serious exposure pretty soon on the trail and all of a sudden we were all serious and not chit-chatting. We were all concentrating on staying on the trail. The trail wound nicely in and out of the drainages and alternated with fast flowy sections through the trees with no exposure.

And on it went like this for many miles and hours it seems. It was heaven. The temps were not that hot at all and we were under the shade of the big trees most of the time so that kept us even cooler.

But at last after about 14 miles the singletrack came to an end and we hit the fireroad climb out. After that we had planned to do another Post Office loop but the time was just getting too late so we bagged that plan and decided to re-fuel our bodies with food and drink instead.

Finally after the last fireroad climb a cooler of ice-cold fresh summer beverages awaited us. Ahhhh nothing better! After our drivers returned from the shuttleback (thanks guys and gals) we all said our good-byes and about 10 of us headed to CC's for a dip in the pool and some pizza and beer. Thanks Disco and CC especially for your hospitality. It was much appreciated.

We had a few OTBs along the way and some blood but nothing major and only one flat for mechanicals. I'd say this ride was a brilliant success.

Thanks Gregg!

Now onto the photos..captions later..


Forming up in Lake Forest to caravan up to Angelus Oaks.


Riders milling about.


Ahhh the math of figuring out the shuttle cars/drivers.






The shuttle heads up to Jenks Lake.


Getting ready to ride.


OMR addresses the group before the ride.


Group shot.


Dang! That'$ alot of bike$.


And we're off!


After some cross-country riding we came down this hill. Some rode. Some walked.


Dale aka Uncle Rico.


The group mills about why the powers that be figure out where the heck we are and where we are going.


Yeah! We have found the trail!


There was some deadfall on the first part of the trail requiring some HABage.


Steve aka Autoduel heading down SART.


Heading down the trail.


Break in the shade.


Jared aka Pakiha and Jason aka Racinjason


Willie.


OMR


Dale


Doug Grant.


Another re-group.


Willie pulling up for a break.


Jason.


CC leads the guys down the trail.


Ryandood (I think)



..to be continued...

[KeepsWhatHappens]

Gene takes a break.


Steve aka Autoduel threads the needle.


David aka ffw turns the corner with to a spectacular view.


Willie and Jason riding through some stunning scenery.


Creek crossing.


Willie crossing a creek.


A break halfway up the last fireroad climb. It was starting to get hot out.


The group waits in the shade for the drivers to return from Jenks Lake.


Ahhh! Our reward!


Refueling.


Chilling. Mike aka 1FGrider, Willie, aka Queenwilhelmina, Gregg aka OMR, Dale aka UncleRico.


Tire looking bike$.

Thanks again everyone for an awesome ride! It was great to meet, ride and hang with more cool people from the STR family

[queenwilhelmina]

What a day! Many thanks to OMR for setting this ride up and for inviting all of us SART noobs along too! Also thanks to Dell and Steven for riding along with us and chipping in generously for gas. And thank you to David and John for the pics, CC for being the only other girl on the ride and shuttling the drivers, and Gene for hangin' back when I needed a rest. It was nice meeting a few new people too.

I was a bit sad to miss out on the 6 or so miles of trail we missed, but I was partly happy because it was pretty hot and the elevation was killin me! I was so easily winded that even the smallest climbs feel like monsters.

I definitely want to go back, but I think I'll enjoy it better when it's not so crazy hot. There were a couple really sketchy sections and thankfully Jason stopped me at a really dangerous, exposed, washed out section which claimed some of his forearm skin and could have been A LOT worse had he not latched onto some branches preventing a fall.

All in all, it was a very awesome and memorable day. We weren't able to make it to CC's but hopefully next time.

[jasonmason]

Lost my SART virginity today too...and don't feel guilty at all!

Met ryandood this morning at my place at what seemed like a far-too-early 7:00 - I blame jesse for friday night's 'liquid carbo-load', which made this morning come all too quickly! Ryan set up the rack he brought on my 4runner while jesse ran around getting all his stuff together and I made coffee. Strong, black coffee - we needed it. Made it up to the post office at 9 on the dot, and found no one there, which seemed really odd. Luckily cc rode by (not sure why she was down there) and pointed up toward the meeting turnoff. Loaded up the shuttle cars and we were off to the trailhead.

I've heard all the raving about sart for a couple of years now, and now i understand why. Even with the so-called extra credit/trailfinding at the beginning, this trail was incredible. Fast, flowy, a little technical in spots, exposed, scenic - it has everything you could want in an all day ride. Everyone kept a great pace, we had no real major incidents or mechanicals, and the group had a great feel for a 25+ rider outing.

Had a great time riding with some riders i'd only "met" online, and had fun with a number of the usual suspects. Big thanks to OMR for putting this together - I can't wait to spend more time up in this area and ride more of it.

And i hope gene never intends to run for office - those shots with 'francisco' might be a bit incriminating!

cheers

[Pain Freak]

Wow, I knew that ride was filling up and I thought it best to skip it this time as I've rode it many, many times. Still looks like you all managed very well.

4 of us went up into the San Gabes and the weather was near perfect except for VTVic towards the end of the ride when we had descended back down to under 1500' of elevation only then did it become a factor. Best part was we almost had the whole damn mountain to ourdelves and like I said the weather was great.

How was the temps there? Last time I was there a month or so ago there was still a lot of deadfall, is it still there?

I really couldn't have gone anyways as CC is always picking on me and now I have a complex.

Greg, I think I seen a hair out of place.