RR: Trabuco Creek and Upper Holy Jim Loop

[Keith B]

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Riders: George, Sarah et Moi.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Stats: 21.7miles, 4000ft climbing.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Man was it windy riding in on Trabuco Creek, Felt like I was riding into the ass of some giant flatulent monster – well no but it was very windy OK![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Loads of people were out hiking and practicing Holy Jim for VQ/CC, I suppose it was the warmest day yet this year and not a cloud in the sky – HJ is great for spectacular views and it certainly didnt disappoint today.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Sarah was her typical ebullient self and took on the HJ singletrack on her SS – 32:18 on this trail – Ouch! I was almost dreading getting to the top of Lower HJ as we'd got a wager on for the drop from Main Divide onto Lower HJ...I blame Jose for this! [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]The result – carnage. After a walk through, I picked a line, dropped the seat (considered sawing off the entire seat tube) and totally fluffed it, wobbled near the top, picked up some speed and went straight into a fallen tree – nice! Sarah emulated Jose’s last attempt at this and George had a low speed shunt – it definetly looked do-able though. Maybe on the way back…..???[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]MD climb to Upper Holy Jim was steep, hot and loose but over surprisingly quickly. Upper HJ singletrack felt better than ever. Can’t speak for George but Sarah and I made it over most of the rocky sections – I was bummed that she made it round the hairpins when I had to get off, need to get that whole Shakira hip-swing down for race day! [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Back to the MD drop onto Lower HJ....After leaving most of my skin on the trail the first time I wasn’t about to do it again so I left it to Sarah and George. Sarah was Special Forces brave and did a special forces commando roll after a valiant second effort . George was fast, clinical and precise on his next descent and aced it the whole thing – I wonder if he’ll try that on race day??!! I may jsut throw the bike down and run after it.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]I jsut love lower Holy Jim and it was as much of a blast as ever. I think we all cleaned the switchbacks on the way down – although I had a few sketchy moments whilst staring at the gorgeous views [/FONT][FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman] Trabuco creek on the way back was the same wobble-and-shudder-fest as ever although one of the 2 guys who came past pedaling like they were pursued by Mestophalese himself so nearly went down – he had the back end out at like 45 degrees with the frame almost parallel to the floor – nice save dude! Beer at Wahoo's was sooooooo good! [/FONT][/SIZE]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Weirdest incident of the day 1: Coming up HJ and finding a woman lying in a hole at one of the canyon crossings. She wasn’t hurt, just the odd bit of ripped clothing. Hi Dianne, good luck with the VQ ride.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Weirdest incident of the day 2: Pseudo cheerleader type friends of Georges giving us high fives on the Lower HJ descent. I wasn’t expecting that – I love Americans enthusiasm; In England they’d have put a stick in your spokes or something![/SIZE][/FONT]

[LBmtb]

Thanks for the RR, keith. Here are some of my photos:

Sarah climbing holy jim


At the bottom of the switchbacks


Keith's Carnage!!


Another carnage view (post-ride)


Views


The mandatory post-ride group photo


I'll add in some more RR material later. Oh, and sometime this week I'll have a must-see movie!!

[Keith B]

Here's the pics.....

[sauce]

"I was bummed that she made it round the hairpins when I had to get off, need to get that whole Shakira hip-swing down for race day!" - Keith.

Keith, if you want to learn how to whip the back of your bike around with your hips, you should a. get hips and b. ride a single-speed (no weight in the back). i have a feeling the latter is easier than the former, although maybe not ... you ARE an engineer. :-)

george, awesome job at the drop. A+ performance. you were strong all day; i think you'll do great at CC! you've only been riding, what, once a week? sure doesn't seem like it.

keith, damn boy you went fast up the holy jim single-track. i totally lost sight of you. AND you rescued a fallen female mountain biker out of a deep pit. super hero style. you keep getting faster downhill. i'm gonna kill myself trying to keep up. it's making me want to ride full-suspension.

oh, and i'm fine. i tried the drop a couple times. the second time i endoed pretty badly, but it felt great. er. that sounded wrong. what i mean is, i almost made it down, and i didn't even get a scratch or a bruise. i really can't afford any more scares; my body is a tapestry of pain as it is. and i am really vain. j/k

great ride today! i'll be doing this again next week. the evil drop awaits. going up holy jim on a single-speed really exhausted me. my legs hurt! next time i think i'll bring gears along. :-)

The 4th and 5th pics Keith took are of the drop. And yes, that is I, Sarah, removing rocks from the drop. I cheated.

[LBmtb]

OK so here's my mini RR:

Weather was awesome, although maybe a tad too warm sometimes. Tons of hikers!

Sarah was hating life on Holy Jim with her SS but still rode well. Keith was always the guy setting the pace. I was just kinda hanging in there.

I kinda braced myself for a very tough day since Holy Jim has always kicked my ass but pacing and not going all out early on helped out and Holy Jim came and went without a problem.

The drop thing from MD to HJ was good times. Keith's graceful dismount was pretty cool, although he did tear some skin off his finger. Both sarah and my first attempts ended up with us jumping off the bike. My 2nd attempt was better and I made it down to the last (easy) turn. Like many other riders I've been on there was an ocrider sighting!

I've never climbed main divide from Holy Jim to the start of upper holy jim and although steep in some places wasn't too bad. Upper Holy Jim was a lot of fun. Felt like a fast and not so rocky Trabuco.

When we got back to the drop Keith stuck to being a camera man. Sarah's went for it and had a sweet tumble! Perfect 10. My third attempt ended up being fairly smooth. Took it with a bit more speed and didn't skid around as much. All the good drop footage will be in the video.

I was sweeping coming down Holy Jim and ran into a friend from school and her friend and as we were talking I told them about Sarah and Keith and they were talking about how Sarah was just blazing down and bunny hopping everywhere.

Ride was capped off with tasty Wahoo's grub.

Another interesting bit: When leaving, Sarah didn't secure her bike to her rack. I was driving behind her when the bike completely came off the rack and bounced a couple times. Luckily I had enough distance so that it didn't hit my car. Apart from some new scuff marks the bike seemed fine.

Thanks keith and sarah, t'was fun.

[Keith B]

Originally Posted by sauce

The 4th and 5th pics Keith took are of the drop. And yes, that is I, Sarah, removing rocks from the drop. I cheated.

Moving rocks?! I thought you were looking for the remains of my fingers

Love the tapestry of pain comment!

[PacMan]

Nice write-up. I'll definitely have to put that ride on my to do list--though I'm certain it'll take me a whole lot longer.

I'll be on a SS too--well, a 27 speed SS, but I can only use one gear at a time, hence the "single" speed, right??

[sauce]

and here I was feeling lucky that my bike flying off my car wasn't in the ride report ... ah well. lots of flying today.

[ShinKen]

Originally Posted by sauce

The 4th and 5th pics Keith took are of the drop. And yes, that is I, Sarah, removing rocks from the drop. I cheated.

wass up with that ehh? cheating Sauce should be your new name!! next time do it on the Full rigid like me!!

in a diff note u're lucky u didnt brake anything before the race!! that would have been nice to brake yo self before the thing after all the training BS!!

[singletrakk]

Good RR guys.Didn't care too much for that gross pic of Keiths finger though.I hear you Jose.It seems like these coocs are trying to take themselves out of the race early with these crazy antics.hehe jkGlad to hear the ride went well.

[Sprockethead]

Thanks for the ride report, yup, it was quite hot out there today. I would have made the drop in if it wasn't for Jose's body blocking the trail last time.

[andy aka rut]

Did you park your car on the opposite side of the wash this morning?
I rode by on a singlespeed red niner-a few times. I had a MTBR jersey on. Glad to hear you had a great ride. Maybe we will ride together soon.

[Keith B]

Hi Andy,

I parked on Rose Canyon (??) I think, jsut the other side of the little Trabuco Creek Bridge. Someone went past a few times whilst I was unpacking my stuff and the like. Yes indeedy we'll have to get the team together for a ride soon :-)

[andy aka rut]

Originally Posted by Keith B

Hi Andy,

I parked on Rose Canyon (??) I think, jsut the other side of the little Trabuco Creek Bridge. Someone went past a few times whilst I was unpacking my stuff and the like. Yes indeedy we'll have to get the team together for a ride soon :-)

Yep, that was me. BTW, next time you should try riding up Upper Holy Jim. I ended up walking the switchbacks and one other little section. But other than that, it's actually do-able.

[OMR]

Originally Posted by andy aka rut

Yep, that was me. BTW, next time you should try riding up Upper Holy Jim. I ended up walking the switchbacks and one other little section. But other than that, it's actually do-able.

Andy,

Enjoy it now bucko.... and don't be look'n over your shoulder as age has a habit of creeping up on you

See you at VQ, if not before... I'm working lower HJ.

OMR

I could almost hear the flys buzzing around the blood & carnage

OMR

[Pain Freak]

Originally Posted by sauce

and here I was feeling lucky that my bike flying off my car wasn't in the ride report ... ah well. lots of flying today.

What people won't do to get a new bike!

[guero]

nice RR's. kinda disappointed that you sanitized the trail though.

[sauce]

Originally Posted by guero

nice RR's. kinda disappointed that you sanitized the trail though.

Wow - I didn't know removing three pebbles was sanitization. Silly me. I'll be WAY more careful next time.

[mp3]

Sauce -- I didn't like those rocks anyway. No big deal. It's not uncommon to remove some stuff during trail maintenance.

Keith -- ya gotta focus on the trail not the tail to get the best line.