50 Miles of Fixie Fun in the Santa Monicas...

[singleSSpeedster]

ahhh....alright. been yearning to get a long ride in for awhile....this was it. great weather (cool....but a thick marine layer made it not so good for pics).

ride was in topanga st park in the santa monica Mtns. started at amalfi/capri, at the base of sullivan fireroad.

numbers;
roughly7500ft. of approx elevation gain
about 50 miles (sorry, computer didn't work)
32/18 fixed gear on the 29er (roughly a 2:1 ratio...works well both up and down)
10 miles (atleast) of fun singletrack/narrow doubletrack
5 1/2 hours of ride time, 6 hrs with stops
2 calls from my 3 1/2 year old daughter asking me to please come home so i can ride with her
about 100 trail runners (apparently there was a 1/2 marathon on Mulholland)
riders...1. solo....and no ipod or mp3 player.
2 spills on backbone...no blood.
1 very sore knee
1 VERY raw @ss....next time, EVEN MORE butt'r.

hit sullivan canyon, farmers and backbone singletracks. dig the eagle rock "doubletrack" too!

route was up sulli fr, and an out and back on the sulli canyon singletrack. here are a few pics of the fr climb, the climb ahead and the sulli canyon st.





after the climg back up to sulli fr, i rode to mulholland and a quick out and back to caballero canyon. from there, i rode to the hub. a quick breather and down to eagle rock, some cool rolling doubletrack;


and trippet ranch. washed off my water bottle (caked with dirt from sulli canyon). the steed at trippet and back on the trail to the mesa;



rode from trippet to parker mesa. i had never ridin' down to trippet and the mesa....good stuff. a view from the mesa and a red rock formation;



from the mesa, it was back towards trippet and on up past eagle rock and back to the hub. eagle rock from the trail below;


from the hub, a decent down backbone and to my car. here is some backbone goodness;




sorry for all the pics. just thought i'd share this epic ride with some great views. family was buggin me to take a camera with me on a good ride since i hadn't done so in so long.

cheers!

[FoShizzle]

dude...awesome ride! wish i could have joined you

as for your ass, i am sure there are some Homers over on mtbr that would be more than happy to oblige "helping" you out

[singleSSpeedster]

oh man....talk about homers. i must have past atleast 10 rides while decending sullivan canyon. out of the 10 riders, 7 must have been on turners.

coulda ask one of them

[Pain Freak]

We do accomodate!

But not that way.

Long live the Homer Nation

[ShinKen]

Danngg Kam is this the ride u was talking about? lol 50 freaking miles? ohh man!!!

[kevinator]

Sweeeeet pix! Man, I need to head north to check those trails out. Just converted my old hardtail to a SS - 32x18 with canti's. How steep were some of those sections? Hardest climb I've done so far was Mustard (in Whiting), followed by Cholla.....

[dstepper]

Kevinator, if you did Mustards and Cholla, you will be fine.

Many ways to get up to Dirt Mulholland. From Brentwood: Sullivan Fireroad is a long haul but nothing real steep. Sullivan Canyon nice moderate climb until the end of the canyon, the last section up to Sullivan Fireroad is steeper, maybe about the same as Mustards. Have not climbed Westridge.

My GPS: Sullivan Fireroad, to Dirt Mulholland, to the hub down Backbone to Will Rogers State Park, Sunset Boulvard back to car was 20.97 miles and 2211 foot elevation gain. Next time I would go up Sullivan Canyon instead of Sully Fireroad. The canyon is mostly singletrack and much more scenic, but would add some extra pavement miles.

SingleSspeedster, Kam, must not be human, that is a ton of climbing he did, and much more agressive than anything I would try.

[singleSSpeedster]

jose....actually, this loop is quite abit longer. i added a couple of out and backs. armando took me on a sweet route, and from there, we just change iit up to make sure everyone is happy. we usually ride 25 miles.

kevinator...32x18 should be good if you have some miles in ss. sulli fr is a average fr climb. sulli canyon is fun going down, but the climb back up is steep. some parts are abit loose at the beginning.

Dean....I am human alright. just ate good the day before, tried not to toast myself on any climbs and watched my electrolyte intake. i just love fixie riding so much, i think i am going to try the cc/vq on a fixie. oh, and there are ways to avoid the pavement.

cheers!

[LBmtb]

Nice photos! Looks like you had a nice, long, peaceful day out there. Fixed riding - man I can't even imagine. I guess you're one of those lefty lovers?

Thanks for the report and pix.

[pshloss]

Kam, nice ride! I'm yearning for a long one now, too. But maybe not quite that long.... By the way, what do you have against freewheels? After all they're free? (although I have gone through several crappy shimano freehubs...)

[Schecky]

Backbone looks sweet.
50 miles is a strong ride no matter how you slice it. On a fixie - amazing!

[FoShizzle]

Originally Posted by singleSSpeedster

jose....actually, this loop is quite abit longer. i added a couple of out and backs. armando took me on a sweet route, and from there, we just change iit up to make sure everyone is happy. we usually ride 25 miles.

kevinator...32x18 should be good if you have some miles in ss. sulli fr is a average fr climb. sulli canyon is fun going down, but the climb back up is steep. some parts are abit loose at the beginning.

Dean....I am human alright. just ate good the day before, tried not to toast myself on any climbs and watched my electrolyte intake. i just love fixie riding so much, i think i am going to try the cc/vq on a fixie. oh, and there are ways to avoid the pavement.

cheers!

you are a FREAK! you make the Homers seem somewhat normal .......nah, I take that back, they take the cake!

[Nagaredama]

I think I saw you at the Nike site Tues Jun 13. I was standing under the cover with my girlfriend.

Nice bike.

[Abui]

The end of the ride looks like J-drop. I couldn't imagine doing it fixed.

[singleSSpeedster]

nagaredama....i think i know who you saw at the nike site....mtbr member aosty. my bike is alot like his (same fork/frame/lefty/h-bar). i think he is gonna b!tch slap me when he see's my bike! i usually only get to get out on the weekends for a ride in the dirt. maybe do some running on the weekdays.

trekker....great job at the 24 hrs of oc. and, good luck at the ccp100. i wish i could be there to ride there with you. next year for sure!!! that last section is j-drop and i was hiking ALOT.

as for climbing/steepness. i think the ride was abot 7K, probably abit less.

what computer are you geoladder people using...the garmon edge 205/305?