Art Smith trail

[Tom Cosgrove]

Ok guys.
Last chance to ride in Palm Desert before big horn mating season.
Going to do the Art Smith Trail . This is an epic ride that has it all.
The ride is Sat Dec 31st .
Leaving at 6:30 am. Meeting at mills edwards north parking lot to car pool.
Whos in????
Climbing Dunn road to Hans buena vista, up hans to oasis then down Art Smith!!!!!!
Balls Baby.

[RidetheRAAM4]

sorry, wont be home, but i would love to do that trail sometime

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Hey Tom,

won't be able to make it i get out of work at 6:30 am, maybe next time

[Endo Verendo]

I might be down for that. Art Smith is worth the horrific climb up Dunne Rd. Makes my legs hurt just thinking about it.

[Tom Cosgrove]

Hey guys,
The ride has moved to Sat 31st.
Seems more of us can ride on Sat.
Let me know whos in?
Last epic road trip and ride of the year.

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Since it's changed to Saturday, I'm in!! \/

[ShinKen]

Originally Posted by Endo Verendo

I might be down for that. *Art Smith is worth the horrific climb up Dunne Rd. *Makes my legs hurt just thinking about it.

how horrific is this climb? do u need to be on triathlon shape to do this ride? how long is it? do u have a map of the trail? thnks and sorry for all the questions

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Hey Jose,

i doubt any of us are in triathon shape. you did fine on the turkey ride, so you'll do fine over at this trail. it's more mental than anything.

i'm assuming you've been riding; remember you got a granny gear, you can climb anything with that.

if you want to do any rides with tons of climbing let me know, i'll hook you up i've got a few killer loops at Bonelli, Turnbull, & Marshall that i can take you on. \/

[Tom Cosgrove]

The climb up dune rd is about 5 miles, some steep sections but nothing we haven't donne before. The total ride distance is about 22 miles. The ride discripstion is in 100 best trails and southern calif mountain biking. Its probalbly on line at mtbr.com also.

[emfc]

How far do you think this trail is from San Diego?
I am always up for a road trip to ride great trails.

[Tom Cosgrove]

We will be meeting in the northeast end of the edwards cinema parking lot. At the corner of 4th and Ont mills go south on ont mills and take the 1st right into the lot. Meet at 6:30 a.m.
Any questions my # is 909-921-7924.
Lets ride baby!!

[ShinKen]

Hey guys tried getting actual directions there for my friend Robert (he may join) but all I could get was this. Is this close to the trailhead?



I will try making it if I don't work [-o<

[RidetheRAAM4]

Jose, you may want to call Tom to find the official meeting spot, but mountainbikebill.com has directions to a shopping center down there where we met when we did the palm canyon epic and I would think that would be a good meeting spot where he may want to meet again

[Endo Verendo]

Originally Posted by Jose

how horrific is this climb? do u need to be on triathlon shape to do this ride?

Dunne is a very brutal climb and I'm a climber. It's super steep in places and it's a bit rutted now. Having said that... I wish I could go. Have fun.

[Tom Cosgrove]

The ride will start at the corner of hywy 111 (E. palm canyon dr.) and Cathedral canyon dr. in the imax theater parking lot at 8:30-9 am.
From there we will ride up to Dunn road, climb dunn road to Art Smith, down Art Smith to hywy 74, down 74 to 111 left to the parking lot.
About 22-24 miles.

[ECOdork]

So when does this area re-open? I'd love to hit this area!

[Tom Cosgrove]

The area is always open, the locals ride it when ever they want, they ask you not to ride Jan 1 through oct . kind of rediculous.
We rode it today and would have to say its the best trail out there.
Baaaaalls baby.

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

What a great ride!!

The ride up Dunn Rd. was a long grind but definitlely doable, some climbs on Turnbull are a lot steeper.

Art Smith Trail is one fun roller coaster of a ride, i'd have to say it's *99.999% rideable, a few dab and a couple of sections that i stumbled on due to poor line choice. *This was the first time Tom, Hector and myself have done this ride and had no problem finding the trail since it's clearly marked and there is a good amount of signage. *A couple of mini drop-offs and one 2-3' drop-off. *rocky descents and climbs, and one long sandy descent that wasn't too bad to pedal through. the scenery is spectacular and along with riding by some real oasis in the middle of nowhere.

From the Art Smith trailhead on the 74 we did a road ride back to the truck, loads of fun to be able to just coast at 35 mph after such a ride, and a little bit of flat road riding made for a great way to cool down

Thanx to Tom and Hector for also making the ride a lot of fun.

For all those that haven't done this ride , I highly recommend it, it's worth the drive. and making the ride into a loop.