RR: Holy Jim and staying cool on the Pain Divide

[Pho'dUp]

I saw that Pacman and some folks are headed out here next week so I thought I post my quick ride report from today. Sorry not a lot of action shots because I was too busy trying to keep from melting out there.

In short, it's powdery out there and wicked hot. The switchbacks are pretty good shape and the water crossing are reduced to just a few with it being so dry.

This is my buddy Eric's annual birthday ride where he rides from his house in Dana Point up Holy Jim to Santiago Peak. The heat really got to us on the Pain Divide.

Here's Eric taking a breather:


Having been off the bike a lot lately with a string of mishaps. Back problems and then I got sick for 3 weeks so this was my first real ride in the summer heat. I had two large bottles of electrolyte drinks, and a 2.5liters of water in my camel back to start with. 1.5miles from the peak I was almost out and so was everyone else. If you're familiar climbing the Main Divide up from Holy Jim, this is that grinder portion where the fireroad gets steep and rocky and there's a ton of large marble size rocks. There was some serious talk of calling it a day and not getting to the peak.

Eric's a pretty good guy, and a testament to that one of his friends with a Jeep who couldn't do the ride this year drove up to Santiago Peak with water, sanwiches, soda and fruit. It was 12 noon and he didn't see us at the Antennas so he drove down the Main Divide and found us slowly crawling out way up.



Besides the drinking water he brought a tank of water to douse us with!






Eric enjoying lying in the shade after his shower.



Yum cool fruit! I don't even like Cantalupe all that much.



Refreshed, we all pushed to the peak and had nice meal of sanwiches and soda again provided by Eric's friend Jeff.

Heading down, we took the Upper Holy Jim trail. Dang that thing has a ton of pebble size gravel. I really regretted running a skinny XC tire today. That dam 2.1 Crossmark felt sketchy all day long. As you'll see later, that tire was on my mind the whole way down.

Everything was pretty uneventful, except for a few flats in the group. However, about half way down Holy Jim I turned from the bright sunshine into that really shady section with some rocks and roots. I had been really taking it easy because the braking on that Crossmark was really terrible on the powdery, gravel and rock filled dirt all day. Anyhow, there's some roots and rocks here and it's a little steep. But I've been here many times before so I had my line picked but I was a little out of sorts because my eyes were having trouble adjusting to how dark and shady it was here. Well, I managed to get the front tire hung up somehow was headed over the bars. Luckily, or unluckily and caught/hit a tree to keep from sliding down into the bushes/canyon. Unfortunately, the lower part of this tree had been trimmed and one of these broken off branches skewered me like a freaking pig. Ughh. It was real pretty pulling my leg off that branch. Even better when we were working on my field dressing and I pushed the growing contusion and a stream of blood came squirting out.

Blah, anyhow, hustled back to the car, was so pissed that I crashed, I decided to stop at the country store and have a beer before going to the ER to have them look at my leg.

Nice 2 cm puncture wound


Anyhow, a tetanus shot, antibiotics, ibuprofen, and a bunch of unpleasant squeezing of all the muscle and tissue around my leg. (to get ride of the clotted blood and tree parts in there.) I'm sitting here drinking beer and sulking that I'll be off the bike yet again. Moreover, I had planned a short trip up road trip up North for the 4th and that's probably going to get cut down a day because I need to go for a checkup Monday. Crap.

I guess trouble comes in 3's so I should be all clear after this right?

Anyhow, happy b-day Eric, and props to big Eric, Albert, and Josh for coming out today. Bigger props to Eric's friend Jeff of being our rolling aid station and the staff at Saddleback Medical Center for getting me in and out of there superfast.

[Waldo]

C-man: So sorry to hear about all the mishaps. Not sure if I'm mad at myself for not going, or relieved that I wasn't suffering too. From your description of the conditions, I'm sure I would have made it an even slower day and I would have really been frustrated riding the SB8 rear tire (the Prowler I ordered hasn't come in yet).

Anyway: Mad props to y'all for making it, despite everything, plus more props to the friend who provided the support vehicle near the top. Very cool. And good healing vibes to you for a quick mend to get back on the bike soon.

My birthday's in November: What do you say we start a new tradition and ride to the top then instead?

[Pho'dUp]

Yeah, considering the heat and the lack of riding I felt pretty good about how I did going up. The short knobs on the SB8 kinda remind me of the Larsen or Crossmark. Maybe the StickE rubber would help things.

It's a great ride. You should have came out. We all regrouped a lot and took our time because it was so hot out there. I was trying to get Eric to move it to May after Scott, Eric and I tried it last year in 100 deg heat. It's hard too because since he starts from home we don't really get going on Holy Jim till about 8:30am every year. I'll lean on him to celebrate his 7MO Bday in November.

C.

Originally Posted by Waldo

C-man: So sorry to hear about all the mishaps. Not sure if I'm mad at myself for not going, or relieved that I wasn't suffering too. From your description of the conditions, I'm sure I would have made it an even slower day and I would have really been frustrated riding the SB8 rear tire (the Prowler I ordered hasn't come in yet).

Anyway: Mad props to y'all for making it, despite everything, plus more props to the friend who provided the support vehicle near the top. Very cool. And good healing vibes to you for a quick mend to get back on the bike soon.

My birthday's in November: What do you say we start a new tradition and ride to the top then instead?

[genusmtbkr5]

Thanks for posting this Carl. I'm doing this ride next week. starting at about 7:30. I don't know who's riding with me, but some of the guys that said they might go are all strong riders(VQ and Traverse vets). We'll see. Thanks again for the RR

[Pho'dUp]

Originally Posted by genusmtbkr5

Thanks for posting this Carl. I'm doing this ride next week. starting at about 7:30. I don't know who's riding with me, but some of the guys that said they might go are all strong riders(VQ and Traverse vets). We'll see. Thanks again for the RR

Hey Gene,

Well if they're traverse vets I think they'll be fine. It was a bit tougher for us. We had 2 guys doing it for the first time. I had been off the bike a lot lately too. But I tried this same ride when it as 100 deg last year and it was way way hotter. Just plain stupid when that Hot and I aborted on Holy Jim. There was at least some cool breezes at times this year. Last year was a straight up oven.

I think if we pooled our remaining water resources we could have eeked it out but it would have been dicey if anyone got heat exhaustion. Thankfully we didn't have to do that and we all got the royal spa treatment way out there on the Main Divide.

C

[Waldo]

Originally Posted by Pho'dUp

We had 2 guys doing it for the first time.

The other reason I opted out: I would have been #3, and I didn't want to slow you all down. I will definitely try that ride, hopefully soon, but I'll wait for a day with no agenda and with cooler weather.

[genusmtbkr5]

Originally Posted by Waldo

The other reason I opted out: I would have been #3, and I didn't want to slow you all down. I will definitely try that ride, hopefully soon, but I'll wait for a day with no agenda and with cooler weather.

May have to wait till winter. They may close Cleveland soon if we don't get any rain.

[PacMan]

Cool RR, thanks.

We are planning on starting at 0730. What time did you guys start?

[CalEpic]

Nice RR, C. That section of Main Divide from the top of HJ to the peak is brutal in the heat. At least there are flies to pester you whole way up though

Seriously though, it's a good thing you had support at the peak, in this heat that could have been deadly.

Bummer about the leg. The doctor that sewed me up at Saddleback said they get lots of mountain bikers in there.

Craig

[emejay]

Dana Point to Santiago Peak and back certainly counts as an epic ride to me! I also live in DP and have just started riding the local trails, just last week I rode from Cooks Corner to Old Camp and that kicked my A, the thought of your ride is an inspiration to me.

[Pho'dUp]

Originally Posted by PacMan

Cool RR, thanks.

We are planning on starting at 0730. What time did you guys start?

Hey Pac,

By the time we got everyone gathered up. Some started from their houses (Dana Point, Mission Viejo), or the clearing off live oak, some at the trailhead...

We really didn't start up Holy Jim till about 8:30am. So the early you can get going the better. If it's sunny like Sat, you'll definitely already feel the heat on Holy Jim.

If you can have someone stash you some water on the Main Divide that's a really good idea. A good spot might be the clearing my Upper Holy Jim. About that time lots of us we're getting down to the last 1/3 of our Camelbacks. If you go to the peak, the 2mi next section on the Main divide is steeper, hot and brutal so not having to worry about water would be a plus.

C

Originally Posted by emejay

Dana Point to Santiago Peak and back certainly counts as an epic ride to me! I also live in DP and have just started riding the local trails, just last week I rode from Cooks Corner to Old Camp and that kicked my A, the thought of your ride is an inspiration to me.

No doubt. Eric's not the fastest guy but he go can forever on the bike. I puss out every year and start at the Live Oak and Trabuco Creek. I think the guy setting our group record started from his house in Garden Grove at 5am and did the whole ride.

Originally Posted by CalEpic

Nice RR, C. That section of Main Divide from the top of HJ to the peak is brutal in the heat. At least there are flies to pester you whole way up though

Seriously though, it's a good thing you had support at the peak, in this heat that could have been deadly.

Bummer about the leg. The doctor that sewed me up at Saddleback said they get lots of mountain bikers in there.

Craig

Hey Craig, yeah, the folks at Saddleback seemed pretty seasoned. I hadn't actually been since my friend nearly knocked 2 teeth out on the Luge about 5 years ago.
But both times, the wait wasn't too bad and they seemed to be on top of things.

The ER doc thought the hole was too big for lots of sutures. The thought is it would ooze so much it would put a ton of pressure on the wound. So they basically used some tape to close it slightly. We'll see if my Doc wants to put stiches in on Monday.

True about the Main Divide. I was drinking plenty and still started to get the beginnings of heat exhaustion when I got to the Antennas. My arms started to goosebump a bit so I immediate sat down in the shade and just waited there to regroup.

Wow, no riding means I got all day to post on the msg board! Maybe I'll hobble over to the Path since they're open today.

C

[OMR]

Carl,

Sorry to hear about close encounter with the tree. You nailed it when you pointed out the danger of riding from full sunlight into a darkened area... really hard to keep your line when you can't see anything. Pain Divide can be a hot house and it's only going to get worse!

I also think the guys that are planning on riding next weekend should take off at 6:30 or 7 am.. it will be an oven coming down anyway! The idea is to learn from other's experiences....no?

I think that's why God invented El Moro ... we need a place to ride in the summer that won't burn the beejeeous out of our brains...

I love those cool ocean breezes!

Heal quickly bro,

OMR

[PacMan]

Well, riding in San Diego, the heat isn't too bad if you're smart. I had no idea it got that hot up there.

Being that this will be my first time in the area, I'm wondering if we should postpone the ride next week until Fall when it's cooler.