RR: Palm Springs - Cindy Whitehead

[Burner]

I guess I'll start the RR....

So 8 of us showed up for a Christmas Eve ride. Started with a long sandy steep climb up Dunn Rd. Troy (I think?) broke his chain about midway up. Once at the top, we kicked at the picnic tables for awhile, talked to some locals on a shop ride.

(by the way, turns out that a couple weeks ago my mother went into that guy "Velo Bum's" shop to look for some presents for me, and he told her to leave, that he "didn't want to deal with it".)

From there we hit up Hahn Buena Vista trail. This singletrack winds around then drops you back off at dunn rd, where you can directly cross it and take Cindy Whitehead trail down to the bottom. The trails out here are gnar, rocky, some exposure here and there.... and enough cacti sitting just on the edge of the trail to keep it interesting. The over all terrain is very rugged, making for great views and scenery we aren't used to seeing around LA and OC.

Again, I had the wrong tool for the job. A twitchy steering softtail was way overmatched for the rocky descents... way too sketchy. After the merrils a couple days ago, and this ride yesterday... I'm definitely building up a trail bike. Thanks to all for waiting for me to get my ass-unpuckered and down the trail

All in all a great day of riding, no mishaps and only 2 minor mechanicals, a broken chain and only 1 flat. There were plenty of spots to rip a derailleur off, I kept waiting for that to happen.

My camera battery was dead, so I was taking pics with my phone's cam. Hopefully others have some better ones.

Great group and great day!

[outlaw]

very fun ride!! just long enough to feel it, and get home in time for christmas eve family stuff the switchbacks to me were the only tuff parts. great fun with great views, and as always no pressure on these rides to be a super hero, nobody cares what or how you ride as long as you can make it to the end with a big grin on your face!! thanks tom for the ride, and craig for the lift out there. Merry christmas everyone,

[CalEpic]

Yep, a good ride! Thanks to Tom for suggesting this ride and playing tour guide. The high speed descent on the Hahn Buena Vista trail and the end of Cindy Whitehead made up for a pretty brutal climb up Dunn Road. That is one steep mutha. I have not used my granny gear that much in a long time. Tom was the only flat in the group after he blasted through a cactus.

A couple pics:

[Tom Cosgrove]

Great ride guys, The epics wouldn't be epic without the company. Sure glad I didn't crash in that cacti!
You guys rock!

[dstepper]

Thanks for the reports guys. Kinda looks like what I was riding today.

Matt, I was wondering how you were going to manage on your Salsa...you answered my question...now what bike are you going to build up 29er or 26.

[kentonn]

If anyone wants the Google Earth file for this route... If you want the gpx file, pm me with your email address. It was too big for this forum.

[LBmtb]

Originally Posted by kentonn

If anyone wants the Google Earth file for this route... If you want the gpx file, pm me with your email address. It was too big for this forum.

How big is it?

[kentonn]

Originally Posted by LBmtb

How big is it?

The .gpx file is 155kb or 18.8kb when compressed which of course, I able to upload and attach to this post.

I was looking at the route on Google Earth. We went right at the fork on Cindy Whitehead. If we had gone left, the trail would have been anti-climatic, however. There is another trail on the left a short ways past the fork... This is the trail that we were looking at from the bottom of Dunn Road. The one the had the really steep roll in. I am not sure if it would be any better than the final switchbacks but it would be worth a try.