RR: virgin San Juan shuttle 2/2

[BeantownRider]

This is my first ride review so be gentle.....

Met up with my buddy Ryan (who I met on a STT/Luge loop) after work round 6. We were supposed to meet up with a larger group of guys at 7 at the lower trailhead off ortega. Well, after riding up and down the drit road a few times, it became apparent these guys weren't showing.

So, around 8:30 we decided to go for it, neither of us had ever done this trail but we had lights, bikes and two cars so what else do you need to shuttle at night? We also had the full moon which not only added to romance, it provided wonderful scenery and gave great contrast to my head mounted HID.

Anyway, long story short, I fell in love with san juan. We started at the blue jay campground (I won't tell you how long it took us to get up there and find it) The upper part of the trail reminded me of the downs back in philly, only it was like all the downs from my usual trail strung together into one long sweeping WEEEEEEEEEE! The trails were still nice and tacky from the recent rain so digging the side knobs into the dirt while ripping around the berms was just lovely. We took turns leading, ryan was on a hardtail and he had no problems keeping up with me on my trail bike. By the time we got to the switchbacks I was bonking pretty hard from lack of nutrition (forgot my granola bars and hadn't eaten since noon). I came in way too hot into one of the left hand switchbacks and didn't see the line so I ended up trying to bomb down the rock face and turn at the same time, it wasn't pretty, but we've all had our share of crashes right? All in all, sick ride (one of my all time favs), we finished up around midnight and started the drive back up ortega with plenty of riding to talk about. Our next trip will most likely include beer, bbq and camping gear, can'twait.

[dstepper]

Very nice for a first RR. First time on the trail, at night, bombing down...good stuff.

Dean

[tkblazer]

doood where was my invite man? hahahah glad you had fun, i still gotta ride there at night one day

[Geronimo]

SJT is an awesome trail. One of the few trails that I really love climbing. The descent from cocktail rocks will always be a favorite.