RR: STR Idyllwild camping weekend (lots of pics)

[allison]

First off, we had a great weekend with everyone. It was our first "gathering" of sorts and everything went off really well! The campsites were perfect. Thanks to Dean and Scott for setting up a killer weekend.

We got in around 4:30-5 Friday evening. Scott and Lynn had already set up camp and were out riding, and Matt pulled in camp shortly thereafter. Was nice to kind of meet everyone slowly so it wasn't too difficult to remember names and faces

I think one of the worst mechanical's of the weekend occured some time in between setting up camp and going out for a night ride. Justin and Keith were messing around riding on the pavement, over rocks, and through camps. Somehow Justin managed to tear his derailleur hanger off his bike, so went from 9 gears to 1 gear in a short amount of time! Even though he's not a SSer, he rode 30x21 all weekend.

Justin bbq'd up a few spicy sausages and Keith talked us into going for a night ride around the 24 hour loop. I ended up falling when I got caught up on the fire hose full of water. Visibility was fairly poor throughout the meadow due to heavy mist, so Justin and I bailed out at Coyote Run. Keith, being hardcore as he is, continued on!

Woke up Saturday morning to sunny skies and warm-ish temps and the riders started showing up! We ended up with 21 total for the Little Thomas Mountain - Ramona Trail ride. Decent fire road climb up to the top, which is way up there, then a fun, somewhat-techie descent down the Ramona Trail. The SSers and fast climbers were cool and made sure to wait up for everyone at intersections, and for regroup's. We all made it up to the top and prepared for the fun descent down. Everything went really well considering there were so many riders! No major problems.

Saturday we got back to camp and everyone ate, drank, and hung out. Thanks to Ann and Andy for bringing smores, those really made the evening!! The campfire talk was a blast. The burgers Justin made were perfect. Johnny - thanks for providing condiments!

Sunday we woke up to gray skies and a breeze. It wasn't particularly warm, and as the wind picked up it got colder. We could all see fog banks swirling around. We all packed up camp, got our warm weather riding gear on and started the shuttle up to Idyllwild.

As we drove through Idyllwild the sun had broken through the clouds up at the higher altitude and it kinda warmed up before we started the ride. It was really nice that the forest rangers pulled up and started ticketing about 30 seconds after we got there! At least wait until we ride down, eh?

The shuttle ride was AWESOME! Totally a great ride. The fire road climb in the middle sucked, but it was well worth it for the descents we got to ride. It was the most fun I've had on the bike in at least a week

After we got back to Hurkey Creek Matt busted out with PEEPS! and Justin got out some beer. It was a good way to end a great ride!

Here's the photos beeches.

First beer of the weekend -



Camp -



Still putting a bike together on Friday evening!



How many engineers does it take to put up a tent? Hmmm



Before the break -



Good thing for EBB!



Continued in next post!

[allison]

Staging area at camp on Saturday morning -



The start of Little Thomas Mountain fire road -









Got used to seeing the back of Keith a lot over the weekend...



Riding up (or, me taking a break)





Justin decided to try to get this "little" fellow off the trail, and then preceded to annoy him! Sounded like an entire flock of angry locusts when I pulled up. Hmm, somewhat similar to Dell's hub!



Regroup -





Continued in next post...

[allison]

Who doesn't like switchbacks?



Are we still climbing?



The top!



Token handlebar shot -



Singletrack at last!







A log roller -









Continued...

[allison]

Descending Ramona Trail's easier switchback -





This little drop caught a few by surprise!





Jose, I thought you said you were gonna look tough??



Sunday, here's the drop in to the first trail -











Continued.

[allison]

The lone SS at the Cherry on the Top!



Pulling in for a regroup at a nice view point -















The view -



Sequence shot -











Log Roller -







Okay, I lied. Last photos at the end of the 24 hour course in the next post!

[allison]

End of the ride...



The only photo I have of Keith -















Thanks again to everyone, let's do it again soon! Who's up for NOBLE CANYON at the end of the month?? April 28.

[Sprockethead]

Thanks for the ride report and pictures Allison.
Things I'll remember to bring next time.
-Cigarettes for the trollers coming into my shower asking for a smoke.
-Bring Micro Brewed beers, I couldn't give away my beers.
Lunch at Applebee's was worth the wait. After getting to Paradise Cafe and finding out the Cafe closed after lunch was the low point for me all weekend. Boy was I hungry. Johnny, Dillion, Rob, and Matt, nice meeting you guys. Everyone else, good seeing you again. I'll edit this post later on tonight with photos, although I have pretty much the same photos.

Link to Photos: http://www.socaltrailriders.org/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/695

[kentonn]

Any rides over at Alvin Meadows?

[allison]

Originally Posted by Sprockethead

Thanks for the ride report and pictures Allison.
Things I'll remember to bring next time.
-Cigarettes for the trollers coming into my shower asking for a smoke.
-Bring Micro Brewed beers, I couldn't give away my beers.
Lunch at Applebee's was worth the wait. After getting to Paradise Cafe and finding out the Cafe closed after lunch was the low point for me all weekend. Boy was I hungry. Johnny, Dillion, Rob, and Matt, nice meeting you guys. Everyone else, good seeing you again. I'll edit this post later on tonight with photos, although I have pretty much the same photos.

haha! We didn't have trollers in the women's restroom Just bring Fat Tire! No one turns that down.

Everyone loves seeing photos, so even if they're exactly the same that's all good

If Alex gets his photos online I'd love to see them!

Originally Posted by kentonn

Any rides over at Alvin Meadows?

Nope. Just the Little Thomas Mountain - Ramona Trail (climb up from the Hurkey Creek side of Ramona Trail), and then the shuttle from Idyllwild. I heard you kind of need a trail guide/local to show you around Alvin Meadows.

[Keith B]

Phew.....Nearly done with my pictures........there's jsut so many. I agree with Allison - always good to see other peoples picture as its from another persective.

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by allison

Who's up for NOBLE CANYON at the end of the month?? April 28.

I'll be there for that for sure!! Glad you guys are willing to help me play tour guide

[allison]

Originally Posted by Keith B

Phew.....Nearly done with my pictures........there's jsut so many. I agree with Allison - always good to see other peoples picture as its from another persective.

Notice I have no photos of Justin's backside.

Originally Posted by PacMan

I'll be there for that for sure!! Glad you guys are willing to help me play tour guide

I'm posting in that thread next. Want to get it settled and have everyone provide feedback on how long of a ride/day they want. I hope some of you guys from the Idyllwild trip decide to go! You won't be disappointed.

[Keith B]

Originally Posted by allison

Notice I have no photos of Justin's backside.

He told me he had a ton of mine but not as many as I have of yours

[sauce]

wow. great pics and rr! wish i could have made it. kudos to the girls for hitting all that technical! ann and lynn - lookin' good! :-)

[kentonn]

Originally Posted by allison

Nope. Just the Little Thomas Mountain - Ramona Trail (climb up from the Hurkey Creek side of Ramona Trail), and then the shuttle from Idyllwild. I heard you kind of need a trail guide/local to show you around Alvin Meadows.

A guide would make it easier but you could use my GPS data from Geoladders (Geoladders -- Alvin Meadows: Optimater). That would a least make it easy to find Optimator. Other than that, use the control roads to climb while looking for single-track. There is plenty of single-track to be found.

[Keith B]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Part 1: Friday Night:[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]I’ll admit to having total bike fever for the whole weekend and I actually lost count of the number of times I tried to recruit people….someone…..anyone for yet another lap of the 24hr course. I just wanted to ride real bad OK?! I eventually talked Justin (Mechman) and Allison into a freezing cold late night lap of the course – Hey it was the least I could do after they helped me assemble the fresh from REI tent with ‘flysheet-from-hell’![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Justin had already made life hard for himself by snapping off his rear mech hanger whilst we hopped over rocks between the tents – luckily with a well stocked spares box and an eccentric BB meant a conversion to SS.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]The keen camp climb was pretty churned up from the bulldozers but they’d moved all the fallen trees that were there at the start of Feb when STR last hit this trail. However the fog and mist was so thick that both Justin and I thought it was dust from the fine silt on the ground. They’d been doing some controlled burning earlier in the day and the fire hose was criss-crossing the trail which made for exciting times as you tore into foggy corners only to find a hose full of water at an acute angle in front of your tyre – Nice![/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Arial]The meadow was just as foggy as Keen Camp and is now double-track rather than single (good for passing in the race!) however without being able to see any reference points in the fog and the fact that it was now ‘double’ and not ‘single’ made me think we may have taken a wrong turn – but I didn’t tell Justin & Allison that! Sage scrub descent was awesome in the fog – each bend appearing out of nowhere and the urge to not touch the brakes was hard to balance with the visibility. Total rush! Allison and Justin headed back from here so I decided to continue for the second half of the lap which felt pretty intimidating with my ‘Russian Roulette’ [/FONT][FONT=Arial]Battery[/FONT][FONT=Arial] pack and the fog making everything seem unfamiliar. Took the rest of the course flat out and wanted to do it again straight away when I got back! Great to be back here, Hmmmmm 24hr race is coming up…….[/FONT][/SIZE]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Scott is a secret pyro[/SIZE][/FONT]


[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Justin trashes his mech hanger before the weekend has really begun[/SIZE][/FONT]



[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Time to hit the beer.......unless anyone wants to ride another 24hr course lap???[/SIZE][/FONT]



[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]OMFG! This was taken in broad daylight. We had to light a fire to see by as the event horizon created by Justins ass has sucked all the light in! [/SIZE][/FONT]



[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Enjoying Lynnes cooking......[/SIZE][/FONT]