Feb 5th - Inspiration Point

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Had a great ride yesterday!

Tom C, Jose, Klutter, Outlaw, DTew, John and myself showed up for the ride.

We climbed up Lower Sam Merrill which in my opinion is tougher than San Juan Trail due to the tight technical switchbacks and steepness then got onto the Mt Lowe Railwat trail, which was not too bad, but interesting because of the history that was there (the little signs show pix of the trolley/train that was up there and long with the ruins). we continued on to a fireroad which pretty much took us to the top of a saddle at the base of Mount Lowe. the climb was gradual but very long (similar to Harding but a bit looser) once we got up to the top rode down Upper Sam Merrill, which was a wild ride, extreme exposure and great vistas. the pucker factor on a scale from 1 thru 10 , this sections would be an 11. I had to eject off my bike when it went off the edge a couple of times and Dtew had a real bad spill, when his leg seized with a massive cramp. (this section a makes Joplin and Motorway look easy) we continued on down to Middle Sam Merrill, Sunset Ridge Trail, and El Prieto. these last 3 trails, made all the climbing worth it. sections varied from extremely technical & challenging, to very smooth and fast all of it being singletrack made for a very fun ride. sunset ridge trail was a blast, tons of great sections but El Prieto is by far the best section, a couple of stream crossings along with great singletrack, technical yet fast, made for an roller coaster of a ride (this totally blows away the luge)

The best thing about this ride regardless of the fact that it was extremely tough, physically, is that the downhill ride you get is more than worth the climb that you do to get it.

Stats:
27.46 miles
6.3 average
32.2 max
4:21:12 actual ride time
altitude gain ~4500-5000 (help me on this one Dtew)

Due to flats , cramps , crashes , running out of water and some friendly obstacle competition we ended up being out there for about 7.5 hours

i recommend this ride for anyone wanting an extreme XC/FR ride. you can't beat ~14 miles of singletrack downhill. in total more than 50 % of the ride is singletrack. as Klutter and Outlaw will agree with me, it is worth the drive. This was definitley an epic ride.

see you guys out on the next ride!!

[outlaw]

logged in, spent 40 min going over this ride in my head writting things down Ect,Ect, And when I went to submit,,, f**ki*g nothing, wanted me to loggin again, must have timed out or something. Anyway lost everything and don't have it in me to start again. Anyway all I have to say is like Epic said, well worth the drive, better than Anything Ive ridden here in OC, And I've ridden everwhere from mountains to sea. don't get me wrong I love our trails but this just blew them away.
Thanks tom c, Epic mt biker, klutter(I owe you a tube) jonh, Dtew and jose. Also it takes a certain person to enjoy these kind of rides and I'm glad I've met a few!! Also, another thing I'd like to say to everyone is to get out and try somthing new, travel a little bit more, and ride a little longer!

See you on the next one.

Mark.
PS Armondo, I'll never give you S**T about getting flats again, Karma got me on this ride not

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Originally Posted by outlaw

logged in, spent 40 min going over this ride in my head writting things down Ect,Ect, And when I went to submit,,, f**ki*g nothing, wanted me to loggin again, must have timed out or something. Anyway lost everything and don't have it in me to start again. Anyway all I have to say is like Epic said, well worth the drive, better than Anything Ive ridden here in OC, And I've ridden everwhere from mountains to sea. don't get me wrong I love our trails but this just blew them away.
Thanks tom c, Epic mt biker, klutter(I owe you a tube) jonh, Dtew and jose. Also it takes a certain person to enjoy these kind of rides and I'm glad I've met a few!! Also, another thing I'd like to say to everyone is to get out and try somthing new, travel a little bit more, and ride a little longer!

See you on the next one.

Mark.
PS Armondo, I'll never give you S**T about getting flats again, Karma got me on this ride not

How did the pix come out?

[klutter]

For those who missed out on this outstanding ride, attached is a google earth file, which shows the route we took. The route appears a little jagged because I didn't set the GPS to a close enough interval, but it's close enough. So in case you were thinking we fell off the trail, we didn't...except for Dave.

Ride report to follow...eventually.

[DtEW]

I was gonna post earlier, but I signed up for Google Earth Plus to use with my GPS and got a little sidetracked, LOL.

Sorry about bailing early, guys. After that one crash that everyone saw, there was another cramp-induced crash that had Jose and me scrambling down the steep scree to retrieve my bike. I figured something like that could have serious consequences on Middle Sam Merrill.

I'm actually real dissapointed that I didn't get to finish with you guys. Aside from the fact that I was crashing left and right, I actually liked Upper Sam Merrill and I knew I liked Middle Sam Merrill and the subsequent Sunset Ridge. High "pucker factor" indeed, but very doable. And I finally had the suspension on the Heckler set-up right (but not the wheels).

After consulting the Hammer Nutrition website (http://www.e-caps.com) and recalling the timing of the problem, I think that the beef jerky (sodium bomb) made things worse. I heard from Tom that there was some cramping going on with those of you who completed the ride as well. Any of you have the jerky too?

So looking at the GPS log, I can note some things. First, here are the stats as accumulated on my bike:

Total Ascent: 4193 feet
Maximum Elevation: 5392 feet
Trip Odometer: 23.3 miles
Moving Time: 3 hours 54 minutes
Stopped: 2 hours 2 minutes
Maximum Speed: 40.3 MPH (from the road descent)
Moving Average: 6 MPH (skewed by max speed)

I think just about everything (save max speed and average speed) should be higher/longer for you guys. I'm guessing about 500-700 feet including the climb back up Mt. Lowe trail and FS2N65 to El Prieto.

The point at which we turned onto the singletrack near the very top (where we were taking turns trying to clean that tech section) was the saddle between San Gabriel Peak (to our north) and Mt. Markham (to our south). The peak closeby that had those radio antennaes was Mt. Disappointment. Mt. Wilson was two miles to our east. Had we continued on that fireroad, we would have hit Mt. Wilson Road in about 0.6 miles.

[Tom Cosgrove]

Way to go guys, had a great time, I agree with Mark the friends make the ride!
Next Tom the bomb epic is Old san juan, chiquito, viejo tie .
Sunday 8am at the candy store.
Thanks Jose I did find the radio.
Hey have to mention Klutter , I can't believe you rode that whole thing on a single speed, wow amazing!!!!!

[ShinKen]

Originally Posted by Tom Cosgrove

Way to go guys, had a great time, I agree with Mark the friends make the ride!
Next Tom the bomb epic is Old san juan, chiquito, viejo tie .
Sunday 8am at the candy store.
Thanks Jose I did find the radio.
Hey have to mention Klutter , I can't believe you rode that whole thing on a single speed, wow amazing!!!!!

cool!!! I was wondering b/c when we got there I saw this dood acting weird around your truck!! so I hang there till he left but u never know w/these doods!!

so did anyone save somm pics to share? I know one of u got @ least one of me falling on that lady oops. he he.. how about the one vid Tom? can I get a copy of it? u guys where kicking ass on the little climb

[outlaw]

Sorry, With the week I've had I have'nt been able to even look at the pictures yet but I'll see you sunday for san juan

Originally Posted by Epic_Mtn_Biker

How did the pix come out?