Maple Springs

[Ladd Jasper]

Originally Posted by bdee

<snip> Someone post more about this incident.

Off to dinner now, but I'll try to write up an account later tonight for those interested.

[moochy]

UGH...i just spent like 35 minutes on this big long story and the F#$cking browser crashed ...I think I'm gunna go shoot myself ....JK What a day though

[JamR]

Originally Posted by moochy

UGH...i just spent like 35 minutes on this big long story and the F#$cking browser crashed ...I think I'm gunna go shoot myself *....JK *What a day though

I'll get something written up later tonight. After 22 years of riding saddleback, I thought I saw it all, but today took the cake. I've never seen water rise so quickly and run so violently. If it does not rain all night tonight, I may don some good hiking boots, some rope and a grapple hook and try for some bike recoveries in the morning. If not, I'll go searching next Saturday.

What can I say.......definitely a fun ride until the end. But any ride you can walk away from is a good ride. At least I wasn't air-lifted out of the hills (been there, done that - Twice!!!). Would have been better to finish it on my bike and less the 7 sutures it took to close up my leg, but what the he!!......its mountain biking and it's still all fun.

Already toying with several ideas for the next single speed if I never recover my bike.

If anyone sees a bright yellow Mangoat SS, a red & white Specialized, or a black SS making their way to the pacific, post it here.

All I can say is Ladd Jasper and Moochy......you guy got balls . Looking forward to our next adventure.

Send me an e-mail and let's swap phone numbers so we can coordinate our bike rescue efforts.

JAMR, Moochy...I'm thinking of going to Maples with a pool cleaning rod in the morning. I'll give you guys a call. JAMR, I have your phone # on my phone, I'll give you guys a call -- or call me, when you guys are going.

[LBmtb]

On the bright side . . . I got to meet Dell (jasper), Mike (moochie) and Adam (jamR). Built some comraderie. Awesome to see how people stick together when they depend on one another. Congrats to adam, mike, and adam for stickin together and getting out safely. Looks like you guys had a rougher time then Alan and I.

[JamR]

Originally Posted by bikinglawyer

JAMR, Moochy...I'm thinking of going to Maples with a pool cleaning rod in the morning. I'll give you guys a call. JAMR, I have your phone # on my phone, I'll give you guys a call -- or call me, when you guys are going.

Was thinking about doing a search this morning, but this big flap of skin on my shin that they sutured up yesterday turned black overnight. They weren't sure if they could salvage it yesterday, so I'm heading back this morning to get it cut off.

Should have a nice crescent moon 1/4" deep scar to remember our adventure

Let me know how the water's running. Should be much easier once the silt settles. Last week even though the water was still running deep and fast; the water was clear so you could see the bottom and the rocks to pick you way through. Once the water becomes clear again, recovery should be a snap.

[TURNERob]

I took a drive through Santiago Canyon this morning and it was pouring around 8ish. The creek you see right before Silverado Canyon was a roaring rapid of brownish orange water, never seen it that high and that fast before. Good luck on getting your bikes back [-o<

[moochy]

Alan and I went there this morning and there were no bikes to be found. We walked a lil ways down the river and its still rushin pretty good. When the water dies down i think the only place they could be is be blackstar road cuz it seems like the water flattens out and turns into kind of a marsh. Its gunna be very tough finding 'em though.

Originally Posted by JamR

Was thinking about doing a search this morning, but this big flap of skin on my shin that they sutured up yesterday turned black overnight. *They weren't sure if they could salvage it yesterday, so I'm heading back this morning to get it cut off.

Should have a nice crescent moon 1/4" deep scar to remember our adventure *

Let me know how the water's running. *Should be much easier once the silt settles. *Last week even though the water was still running deep and fast; the water was clear so you could see the bottom and the rocks to pick you way through. *Once the water becomes clear again, recovery should be a snap.

Man, sorry to hear about your leg. A great adventure to remember indeed, and an expensive one.

[LBmtb]

Yeah, sorry to hear that about your leg, Adam. Just think of it as a battle scar of some sort.

Alan, how far did you and mike look for? I'ma make a seperate thread on s&r for the bikes in gen discussion.

[ArrrKelly]

OMG! I am sorry about your bikes fellas. I have seen those crossings on Maple Springs with a fair amount of water and they seemed dicey. But it has never even crossed my mind that it could get that bad. This could have happened to me too or anybody else (hopefully it did not) who just wanted to go ride their bike.

Waiting for a complete write-up

[moochy]

Ok, I'll try to write up the story again...this thing better not crash on me again.

I got there about 815 and we set off riding at about 830 with a little bit of mist/rain coming down. *It was Dell (Ladd Jasper), Adam (Jamr), and myself (moochy).

The first stream was right at the start of the ride. *It's about 10ft wide and maybe waist deep. *The water is solid brown with no way of seeing the bottom. *I've never been riding at a place that wet so crossing stream with my bike was a new experience...as were some other things throughout the day. *We make it across with our bikes on our shoulders and start riding up the paved road. *When the lower half of your body gets submerged you dont really feel the rain anymore (probably a good thing). *The paved road goes for about 3 miles uphill with about 4 more stream crossings. *It's pretty steep but ridable (minus the streams), so I can't wait to get to the actual trail. *We make it up there no problem and continue on the dirt trail for a while.

It's a pretty nice trail. *maybe 8 ft wide and zig zags up the mountain. *Almost like switchbacks but not that sharp (think of a supersized meadows). *As we climb up it seems to rain progressively harder with a couple of bursts of really hard rain. *We make it about 20 minutes from the top(4000ft according to Adam...I hadn't been there) when we see lightning and hear thunder. *We're basically in the rain clouds so its not too encouraging being up there on a metal bike with little cover. *In my mind I'm thinking "HOLY SH#T! I've got my whole life ahead of me, I really don't feel like being electrocuted today.", but of course I keep those thoughts to myself. *We do decide to turn around and go downhill though...I don't know if they had the same thoughts as i did but probably.

As we were going down the mountain it started POURING. *That made it really hard to see cuz the rain was getting in my eyes. *It actually stung quite a bit, I don't know if that was the rain, sweat, dirt from the front tire, or a combination of those. *We were probably downhilling for a good 25 mins (it seemed neverending) before we got back to the pavement.

As I rounded the last turn on the dirt part, I see Dell down in the river (Yes, I classify it as a river now...with rapids and everything). *The water pushed him off about an 8 foot drop off the trail and he was standing in a pool with his bike. *I laid down my bike and ran over to grab him with Adam right behind me. *We pulled him out safely with his bike...all good.

We walk across that crossing and keep on riding. *(Keep in mind. *When we have to walk across these crossing, the water is about 2 feet deep or more and going about 15 mph. *The ground under the water that we're standing on is smooth concrete and we're wearing MTB shoes..not a good combo).

I think we make it across the next one ok, but the one after that gave us some trouble. *Adam and Dell were trying to cross it at a different spot than i was (probably a good idea because my whole body was submerged at one point in this one...luckily it was at a place where the current wasn't strong). *I make it across first somehow and try to help the other two across. *Dell makes it ok handing me his bike and then walking slowly across. *Adam tries the same thing but the current sweeps him off his feet (not in a loving manner whatsoever). *Of course I don't exactly have my priorities straight because i go after the bike (adam didn't get washed away, Whew!) but the bike moving too fast down the river to catch.

So now Bikeless adam and i are trying to get to the next crossing to intercept it while dell searches along the river to locate the bike. *We get to the next crossing, but the bike is already past it so we focus on the task at hand, crossing the river. *This one was a little scary, a little narrower but a stronger and deeper current. *It also has like a 30 ft dropoff that you can get washed down. *Dell, once again, slowly but surely (and smartely..if thats a word) manuvers his way across, bike in hand. *Then, Bikeless Adam starts to go across and I (stupidly) try to cross at the same time a little ways (10ft?) upstream. *Well I step into a whole and sink underneath the water. *The current pulls the bike off my bike with a lot of force and i grab it with my left hand. *Not a smart move cuz that river was taking the bike with or without me. *Thankfully though, Adam was still there and saved me from going over a cliff. *I was still hanging on to the bike, but there was no way i could get out of the water with the current pulling so hard on it. *Just like in "cliffhanger" or "the good son," I let it go. (This is where i would normally start crying but I figured the last thing we needed was more water). *We make it out and across somehow (I'm pretty sure I blacked out).

Bikeless Adam and Bikeless me watched our trusty steads drown in the muddy water. *The bikes ended up getting stuck on some debris but it was about 50ft below us and we concluded that even if we got down there, there was no way of getting back up. *Better to lose your bike than to lose your bike & your life.

So we walked to the final river crossing which was by far the deepest and most dangerous. *(This is where we try (unsuccesfully) to get the bike across that we later find out to be Alan's like adam says in his post...sorry dude). *Luckily, there were some logs to cross on so we all kinda crawled across. *I'm pretty I almost fell off a couple times here too. *Whenever my feet touched the water it almost pulled me. * *Dell had a little scare here too, with the current, but made it fine (its a lot harder to cross these things with your bike...props to Dell and George). *We all made it across and walked down to the parking lot (-2 bikes) where we saw George and Unkowingly Bikeless Alan.

Under normal circumstances I would be telling you guys about how wet I was from the rain and how all of my extremities were numb (Yes, ALL!!!), but it seems like that stuff took a back seat on this particular day.

It was probably one of the, if not THE worst morning of my life. *I did see two dogs crapping simultaneously on the way home though, which I thought was pretty funny (I was thinking it could be a cool commercial for DoubleMint Gum).

I know I'll never forget it or the people I was with. *It's a pretty good way to acquire some new riding buddies but I still don't recommend it. *

When did you cut your leg Adam? *I don't remember when it happened. *Did you guys tell your wives yet? *How'd it go?

[moochy]

Originally Posted by JamR

All I can say is Ladd Jasper and Moochy......you guy got balls * . *

Or a lack of brains...my ex girlfriend says that they're one in the same.

Lemme know if I left anything outta the story

Did you take some pics George?

[LBmtb]

Originally Posted by moochy

Did you take some pics George?

Nice write up.

I had that disposable camera that I took a few pics of you guys with in the parking lot. Then I decided to ride for a minute to the first 'river' to get a pic of that but the camera had fallen out of my pocket I guess. Looked for a few seconds but no luck and decided to get back to the car cause my backup clothes (i had already changed. thank god for dry clothing!) were getting wet.

Pictures woulda been really awesome though. But after everything we went through that day the pictures werent exactly at the top of the priority list.

[Ladd Jasper]

Nice account, Mike. I wrote a big ol' 2 pager that says about the same thing, though of course from my perspective. A little long to post here, so I'll probably just hold onto it.

Apparently when I went over the drop my legs rapped every rock on the way down. They got pretty beat up (lumps, bruises, and scrapes only though, no Adam-style flaps!), but didn't start to hurt until I was almost home--took 'em that long to thaw!

Anyway, there was no hidin' it from the wife. She got one look at the legs and grilled me for the story. She was pretty freaked out even though I skimmed over the sketchiest parts. I don't think she'll let me out again if it's raining any closer than Texas. Oh, and I think she was even happier than I was that my bike was spared (and I was pretty friggin' happy, thank you very much). She knows I'm eyeing a new Turner, but also knows how expensive they are. If the Stumpy had been lost, well...

Let's make a plan now to do that ride again once the weather clears (and you're back on your rig--we'll find the bastard!). It's a good ride...really!

[LBmtb]

Dell, can you send me the 2 pager you wrote about Maple Springs? I wrote a pretty long one too.

Maybe I'll make them into articles for the articles page?

[ArrrKelly]

"I did see two dogs crapping simultaneously on the way home though, which I thought was pretty funny (I was thinking it could be a cool commercial for DoubleMint Gum)."

LOL!

Thanks for the writeup. What a crazy day.

hmm..looking at some new single speeds, the KONA A FS looks pretty nice...

i told my friends at work, they think were crazy.

[Ladd Jasper]

Originally Posted by LBmtb

Dell, can you send me the 2 pager you wrote about Maple Springs? I wrote a pretty long one too.

Maybe I'll make them into articles for the articles page?

Sure, George. I'll clean it up and send it off later today.