Nite Ride at Blackstar to Skyline to Blackstar or whatever "feels" good!

[DeeZee]

Originally Posted by guero

like steve said, it was a fun ride. there was a really big turnout. neil ended up blowing up his hub on his new bike and said if he had his reeboks, he woulda jogged to beeks...so, he and carl turned around and called it a night. i rode with turnerob and nam and then just turnerob the entire way to beeks/the gate. like mike said, perfect temps, a few warm pockets and it was pretty chilly down in hidden valley, but nothing that we couldnt handle. after shooting the sh!t for a few minutes at the gate, we all headed down. it was really cool to see all of the bubbs lights rounding the turns as we all snaked our way down the fireroad. i believe jcampbell ended up flatting and anne and andy waited with him while he fixed it. craig, thanks for giving dale and i the Racer 5 to share after the ride. many of us hit in n out afterwards, tasty times!

holy jim to trabuco would be a burly night ride....im not sure if my light would last at my not so blistering pace, lol.

holy jim to trabuco would be a burly night ride....im not sure if my light would last at my not so blistering pace, lol.

We use the buddy system to be on the safe side. Climbing the swithbacks we take turns leading and only burn one light.

It was super clear last night! We started at 6:00 and saw a bunch of riders on the way down.

This was funny. We were heading down and some riders were coming up with their lights on. As we got close they were also ringing their bells

[1x1clyde]

My "shakedown" ride on the cx ss was exactly that...flat tire not a big deal but shredding the pawls in the rear hub a lame but big deal.
Carl and I were cruising just at the base of the "up" and my rear tire went flat so we fixed that- Thanks Carl! I am picking up that pump today!- and off we went.

This is when I started to feel the 48x17 gearing, that 1st little up was nasty but I got over it then lost all momentum hitting those little washboards. Saw Carl up ahead and was grinding my way up when I stood up to round a corner if felt like my chain dropped- knee to stemexcellent!- and I got off but my chain was still on. Then I figured the lockring had come loose under my massive wattage j/k

By then Carl had turned around to see what was up-Thanks Carl!- and we tried the caveman style of bike repair by using a multi-tool flathead screwdriver and a rock to tighten the lockring but it was snug.
That was when we realized the freewheel was not engaging, just spinning freely!!

The choice was made to coast back down and walk/jog to the cars. It worked pretty good until we got to the actual pavement and here is where Carl- Thanks Carl!- got his workout. On his SS he offered to tow me- about 260 lbs with bike and gear- the rest of the way.....thank god he was not running 2:1!
We got back, he was nice enough to offer a ride back my house - Thanks one more time Carl!- where he was rewarded with a ice cold Newkie Brown!!
Bummed with the fatal mechanical but glad Carl was there, thank you sir!
I am now obsessed with completing this ride so anyone up for next Tuesday??

[Letyrides]

Had a good time last night. I'm working on getting more comfortable in the dark. I'm a big wuss! It is kind of nice not seeing what's ahead as far as climbing goes, kept me going. We had our own electrical light parade climbing up to Beeks. The temps and views were awesome last night.
On the way down, Gabe got a flat in the valley area and we thought we lost everyone but as we were making the final decent there was Andy, Anne and Jeff! I was so happy to see them I didn't see the big hole in the ground and did a slow mo endo! Talk about graceful! Tweaked my left hand a bit but it's fine this morning. After I dusted myself off we took off together but I had lost my light and was going a bit slower, we caught up again when Jeff got a flat.
The entertainment and burgers at In-n-Out were a perfect ending.

[Pho'dUp]

Haha, no problem Neil. Dude, I don't know how you Dad's pull a kid trailer. That little grade on Blackstar Canyon Road kicked my ass towing you. Though, I don't think they're too many 200lb.plus 4 year olds out there.

Thank goodness for 33:21 sspeed gearing!

Nam, hope my light didn't cut out on you. But PM me, I need to get that thing back for this weekend.

Sidenote: I did ride enough to try my new FSA cranks. Wholly cow, I should have went to stiffer cranks a long time ago. Huge improvement over my old Octalinks.

Carl

[jcampbell]

If we don't do some crazy epic up Holy Hell, I would be down for another Blackstar next Tuesday.

[TURNERob]

Good times last night! Thanks for setting up the ride Neil, and sorry you weren't able to make it all the way with us. I can say one thing though, I'm glad I wasn't Carl last night! I'd be down for another b-star ride next week. HJ/Trabuco I'd have to pass on though. Trabuco is known to take many tubes/tires out and with a big group I think that ride would just take longer than I'd like it to.

Mike, I'm gonna have to join you going up Skyline sometime so I can end the ride on my side of the mountain.

[tkblazer]

good ride last night guys! Carl, you da man man... thanks for letting me borrow your light! worked awesome last night.... until i i tried adjsuting it while going downhill and it turned off i may be up for another one next week, i'll probly be DFL again tho

[genusmtbkr5]

I may call in "sick of work" to join you guys next week.

[CalEpic]

Yep, good ride. My first time up Blackstar at night. The views are incredible.

I should have joined you at in-n-out. I was expecting spaghetti waiting for me at home and the pigs ate it all.

Sorry to hear about your mishap Neil - Carl, you are a true hero.

C

[Keith B]

Great fun last night - that Sierra totally hit the spot and made great fuel for the descent. Same time next week??

[Letyrides]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

good ride last night guys! Carl, you da man man... thanks for letting me borrow your light! worked awesome last night.... until i i tried adjsuting it while going downhill and it turned off i may be up for another one next week, i'll probly be DFL again tho

DFL is my job. But I'm working on it.

[tkblazer]

that one bubb at the in n out was awesome.... definitely some weird peeps lurking orange at night eh

[Pho'dUp]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

good ride last night guys! Carl, you da man man... thanks for letting me borrow your light! worked awesome last night.... until i i tried adjsuting it while going downhill and it turned off i may be up for another one next week, i'll probly be DFL again tho

Crap. That thing has already been serviced by NR this year. Anyhow, sorry Nam. I usually turn it on and leave it on as it doesn't like being switched off or touched for that matter. I'll try to get one more season out of it and look for some LED's on sale this summer.

I'll call you about meeting up today after work.

Thanks,

Carl

[tkblazer]

wasn't the lights fault carl, i accidently hit the switch and turned it off

[Winger]

The ride last night was great. We decided to go down skyline for some extra mileage. The most amazing feeling is when you're flying down skyline and all you can see is the trail ending into a corner, and nothing but an entire city's lights beyond. Breathtaking.

[guero]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

that one bubb at the in n out was awesome.... definitely some weird peeps lurking orange at night eh

let me paint the picture for those who werent there.

this bubb was about 5'10, 250, looked like he was half native american and asian descent. greasy long pony tail with a black wind breaker, zits on his face. one eye was looking this way ------> the other eye was looking that way <------------ .

a group of high school kids walk in, mostly chix. he wobbles to his seat and says, "hey! hey! hey! you can sit right here."
other popular lines heard throughout our time there were:
"its my birthday"
"do you have 50 cents?"
"keep it real daaaawg"

after making at least 6 trips to the counter, and telling the girls it was his birthday at least 11 times, he hit our tables up for 50 cents...after he struck out he bailed, WERD!

[tkblazer]

did you ever get that one chicks # bret?

[guero]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

did you ever get that one chicks # bret?

you mean the homeless one with the money on the table that you wanted me to steal when she went to the bathroom? nope.

[Letyrides]

Originally Posted by guero

let me paint the picture for those who werent there.

this bubb was about 5'10, 250, looked like he was half native american and asian descent. greasy long pony tail with a black wind breaker, zits on his face. one eye was looking this way ------> the other eye was looking that way <------------ .

a group of high school kids walk in, mostly chix. he wobbles to his seat and says, "hey! hey! hey! you can sit right here."
other popular lines heard throughout our time there were:
"its my birthday"
"do you have 50 cents?"
"keep it real daaaawg"

after making at least 6 trips to the counter, and telling the girls it was his birthday at least 11 times, he hit our tables up for 50 cents...after he struck out he bailed, WERD!

You forgot "what time is it?" he asked me once and several other people several other times as well.

and after asking for 50 cents him pulling out cash to buy himself a burger?!

Nothing good ever happens after 10 PM.