Noble Canyon, big laguna loop

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Great turnout yesterday. * 12 *total, 3 locals and the rest of us made the journey down to SD county. *The ride itself was really great, beautiful vistas, excellent rolling singletrack to very technical rocky sections. this was a very memorable ride

Tom, coordinated a great group from out here carpooling 6 of us from from out here in the Inland Empire: Chris (ridetheRAAM), Mike, Dave (Dtew), Kenny, Tom (Tom C) & myself.

Pshloss & Mikecsulb carpooled from Long Beach Area

Endo Verendo, from LA, was already in SD for the weekend so he joined us.

Emfc, from SD, real fun guy to ride with showed up.

Aquaholic & friend , from SD area, also joined us and were fun to watch jumping & bombing down some of the obstacles since they do the trail often.

Everyone did a great job in riding, and we're fortunate to suffer no tragedies, not even one flat, we very got lucky on this ride.

****This ride definitely requires some careful planning so you can get there early and take full advantege of more trails out there. *This ride is very much worth the drive and is recommended to all who haven't done it.

[Tom Cosgrove]

Hey guys,
Glad you liked the ride. I enjoyerd everones company too.

[pshloss]

Very cool to ride with such a diverse group- the young and not-quite-as-young, experienced and less-experienced, etc. Everyone had a great attitude. I think that was the biggest group I've ever ridden with- and on one of my favorite trails. I rode it once before, but had either forgotten about so many of the technical sections or maybe last year's rain made them a little more technical. Pure heaven!

[Endo Verendo]

Great ride guys! Good times.

[DtEW]

Without reservation, I'll say this was a great epic ride with a great bunch of people. If there was anything that could be more perfect, it would be an In-And-Out and a Peet's at the top of Sunrise Hwy. Yes, I'm spoiled.

In case anybody didn't hear enough of me rattling these off throughout the ride, here are the accumulated stats (I love data and stats, FYI) for me. This shouldn't be too different for the others in the subgroup that took the road climb up and was able to do the Big Laguna loop off Sunrise Hwy:

Total Ascent = 4420 feet
Maximum Elevation = 5829 feet
Trip Odometer = 26.0 miles
Moving Time = 3 hours 35 minutes
Stopped Time = 2 hours 20 minutes
Moving Average Speed = 7.2 mph
Maximum Speed = 36.8 mph

See, now this ride has got me rethinking my bikes again, right as I consigned my Heckler exclusively to short-technical-ride duties. Now I gotta find a way to drop those CrossMax XL's on the Heckler in a pinch. This was definitely a ride that favored longer-but-still-efficient-pedaling suspension. On that note, Kenny and CSULB Mike definitely co-won the Equipment Perseverence Award.

Oh, my shoulder. It was actually a mild AC separation. (This came from a mid-descent endo that I wasn't able to roll out of well.) It wasn't terribly bad last night, but man did it ache this morning!

[Tom Cosgrove]

Whos in for Art Smith on Sat?

[mikecsulb]

The Noble Canyon, Big Laguna loop on monday was a killer ride, ( Killer as in awesome and a blast). Me and pete (Pshloss) were the first ones at the trailhead which is convieniently located off the 8 freeway, 50 miles inland from San Diego. We left at 6:30 from Los Alamitos/ Long Beach and get there around 9 ish. The Parking Lot filled up quickly, and soon after we started the ride with a large group of twelve. Pshloss and three others took the technical single track up and the rest opted for the paved road up( similar to maple springs. Long,strenous and boring) At the end of the road at the oak tree everyone met up and some decided to stay on the road or opt for the long single track climb and technical downhill.

I decided to hit the dirt and it was well worth the effort. Pristine trail and very fun downhill. However, riding through this single track was very cold and windy. I give props to chris ( Ridetheramm) for only wearing a T- Shirt ur the man. The added miles were no problem because for some reason riding single track up hill doesn't seem as tiring as a road climb (IMPOV). We then road indrian creek which was a blast and finally met up with the original group that decided to do the road instead of the single track. Halfway through the ride there is a spot that has a pump water station which was way cool. After the half way point the trail started to warm up and get technical, very technical in some areas. I hiked a bike a large portion of the trail in the forest area. The part of the trail in the forest makes trabucco look very easy. After the " Stairway to Hell" section which speaks for itself. six riders tried and 3 cleared it. Props to chris and pete for trying. After this, the rest of the ride was intermediate including some more climbing and fun downhill comparable to San Juan. I believe the total miliage was around 25-27 miles with 4,000 feet of elevation climbing. Not one flate tire/ injury besides my bad fall. The mechanical problem was one broken spoke. Grabed dinner at a good little mexican joint and headed home under the darkness of the night talking about how sweet that trail was. Definatley will do the trail again and hopefully sooner than Later. Those of you who have not done( Noble, Big Laguna) Jump on the opportunity when the next ride is scheduled, you will Have a blast. Thanks to everyone who went.

[mikecsulb]

These are some more pics

[mikecsulb]

more picks

[mikecsulb]

more pics

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Hey Mike,

GREAT PIX!! I didn't know you had a flat , must have been on the climb when the group split up into 2.

Props to you for being the only one on a hardtail!! definitely a whole different ride the more suspension you have, those guys on the long travel bikes were impressive going. down the rocky sections

[LBmtb]

Man, that stairway to hell looks gnarly as hell - err? Awesome pics, Mike! Looks like quite the adventure.

[TURNERob]

Sweet pics Mike! That is one trail I've wanted to try for a long time but just haven't gotten down there yet. Thanks for sharing with us.

[pshloss]

Originally Posted by LBmtb

Man, that stairway to hell looks gnarly as hell - err? Awesome pics, Mike! Looks like quite the adventure.

Just to set the record straight- the pics of the switchback are not the stairway to hell. It was just a tricky switchback. The stairway to hell was about 200 yard long, not very steep and chocked full of jagged 12 inch and larger rocks. I went for it and have the road rash to remember it by.
Here's a link to some more pics of the ride that someone posted on mtbr.com: Dirty dozen thread

[Endo Verendo]

Thanks for the pics Mike. However the photo you have of Endo Verendo is actually that of SDMBAMark.

Good job to the young 'novices.' I hate both of you.

[RidetheRAAM4]

we love you Endo