Tour de Noble Canyon Saturday 9/15

[allison]

Get ready! We're riding the Tour de Noble! 30-35 miles, 4500ft + of climbing. Lots of rocks, boulders, singletrack, stunts, and great views.

Make sure if you sign up you're prepared for at least an 8 hour day. The pace will be moderate. We just don't want anyone running out of food, water, bike supplies (tubes, air, etc), bonking... We should be able to stop and refill hydration packs and bottles, if necessary. Just bring your bike, helmet, plenty of food and water, and you'll end up with a smile on your face at the end!

Included in the Tour we'll be traveling up the trecherous bottom of Noble through .5 mi of rock garden switchbacks, descending 1-2 miles of beautifully sculped singletrack, experiencing the painful Alpe d'Wheez pavement climb for our first break at the Oak tree. Following that we'll take a short fire road and then begin ascending the breathtaking (literally) Indian Creek climb, which leads to our second rest stop at Champagne Pass. After descending Pinball, and then climbing up a bit more singletrack we will continue on the undulating upper Noble trail to Penny Pines. A short break and water re-fill will ensue, followed by a quick climb up to Big Laguna Lake, where we'll play lizard in the sun and eat lunch beside the lake.

From here we can head off and climb up Middle Earth to a fun singletrack descent, or continue around the lake and just descend back to the REAL descent.

Either way, after Middle Earth, or directly next we'll be off to descend a short singletrack, and begin our descent down Noble Canyon. This includes swoopy flowing singletrack through leave-strewn singletrack and a canopy of trees, and has many stunts, such as the log jump, Widowmaker, Barney Rubble, the rock playground, and will eventually wind down to Stairway to Hell.

From there we will climb out and cross over to our final ascent up Whore (this was the beautiful descent from the beginning, but now looks much different in the afternoon, following a lot of miles and climbing). Our last descent will be down the rock garden switchbacks and will end at the original trailhead parking lot. Are you (wo?)man enough to hit the ROMAN WALL??

Post-ride food includes BYOB at the trailhead (for those of you of age) and Mexican food at Mananas just down the freeway in Alpine.

If you want some ride stats, check out geoLadders: http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=944

Noble Canyon



Whore descent





Alp du'Wheez



Oak tree



Fire road descent



Indian Creek







Pinball





Bottom of Pinball



Climb after Pinball descent





Upper Noble



Big Laguna





Middle Earth



Noble





Continued... (stupid photo limit)

[allison]

continued..


Log jump





Widowmaker



Baby's back





Granite roller at entrance to Barney Rubble





Rock playground







Stairway to Hell





Roman Wall





THE END!

[J_Sims]

Are you bringing the DEMO up that hill???

[allison]

Originally Posted by J_Sims

Are you bringing the DEMO up that hill???

HELL NO!

Not unless I get a small chain ring on there

Enduro all the way. It's ALL MOUNTAIN mang!!

[J_Sims]

I'm thinkin the RIP is all over this

[CPATCRASH]

At this point I have no choice. Which 29er? Gears or SS?

[allison]

Originally Posted by J_Sims

I'm thinkin the RIP is all over this

d00d it'll pwn!11!!1 Noble.

Originally Posted by CPATCRASH

At this point I have no choice. Which 29er? Gears or SS?

Unless you are NUTS like Aqua, I'd suggest gears.

But, YMMV.

[PacMan]

I can't wait--always a good day!!

Jeff--the RIP will be fine up there. After all the time you've been spending on the rigid One-Niner--the RIP will feel like a Demo 9

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by mechmann

hey Jeff... take the big ring off that rip before you go. put a light ring guard on in it's place. i really like the Spot Brand ring guard. it isn't any heavier than the stock big ring. this will make it easier for you to roll the big rocks like a stallion!

A fine suggestion and an almost must do IMHO.

[J_Sims]

I don't know i might bring somthing else...

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by J_Sims

I don't know i might bring somthing else...

Umm...

'splain please.

[J_Sims]

Originally Posted by PacMan

Umm...

'splain please.

might look like this



or it might be bigger

[allison]

Originally Posted by J_Sims

might look like this

or it might be bigger

I'll give you climbing what's pictured, but otherwise you may struggle on the climbs!! Don't forget there's quite a bit of climbing involved

If you get it and want to use it out there, definitely wait for a, um... DH only ride

Justin climbs the Socom up there, but he's nuts. Mark rides his Bullit all over, but at least it has a small chainring!!

[J_Sims]

Originally Posted by allison

I'll give you climbing what's pictured, but otherwise you may struggle on the climbs!! Don't forget there's quite a bit of climbing involved

If you get it and want to use it out there, definitely wait for a, um... DH only ride

Justin climbs the Socom up there, but he's nuts. Mark rides his Bullit all over, but at least it has a small chainring!!

It is looking like Bigger is not going to be an option so I believe the ASX is where I am headed.... I just think it is a bike that I will at least have the option to use quite a bit more than something bigger. It can still be pedaled. it is not a super tanker when it comes to weight and the rear sus cn be dialed from 6 to over 7 which is more then I think my riding will ever require. Not to mention single crown fork(Big bear lazy lifty days) One more conversation and it should be on it's way... My main concern is tghe short top tube but this wil not be my cross country bike

[allison]

Originally Posted by J_Sims

It is looking like Bigger is not going to be an option so I believe the ASX is where I am headed.... I just think it is a bike that I will at least have the option to use quite a bit more than something bigger. It can still be pedaled. it is not a super tanker when it comes to weight and the rear sus cn be dialed from 6 to over 7 which is more then I think my riding will ever require. Not to mention single crown fork(Big bear lazy lifty days) One more conversation and it should be on it's way... My main concern is tghe short top tube but this wil not be my cross country bike

Yeah... Justin actually really likes bigger bikes also (he usually has L frames, with like at least 100mm stems), but he does fine on his Socom with a shorter stem, and it's a M.

You'll probably be fine on it. Since it's more DH oriented, you want to be able to throw it around and have the front end be more maneuverable.

Can't wait to check it out!

Bret - what an @$$! I'm not gonna invite you on rides if you're gonna call me SLOW!

[Winston]

If you have the fitness for it, this is a fantastic all day ride.

mtbcat - LOL...been there, done that.

[allison]

Originally Posted by Winston

If you have the fitness for it, this is a fantastic all day ride.

mtbcat - LOL...been there, done that.

What, you're not up for Round 2??

[Winston]

As soon as that chair lift up Pine Creek and Indian Creek gets installed, I'm so there!

[J_Sims]

Originally Posted by allison

Yeah... Justin actually really likes bigger bikes also (he usually has L frames, with like at least 100mm stems), but he does fine on his Socom with a shorter stem, and it's a M.

You'll probably be fine on it. Since it's more DH oriented, you want to be able to throw it around and have the front end be more maneuverable.

Can't wait to check it out!

Bret - what an @$$! I'm not gonna invite you on rides if you're gonna call me SLOW!

I do love that frame.... I got a deal I could not pass up on the RIP and not knowing how I was going to like the 29er thing (oh if I only knew) I was not going to drop that kind of $$$ Now I still think about the upgrade but when I rationalize it

1. Lunchbox frame upgrade....

or

2. complete 26" FR bike

HMMMmmmmm at this point the choice is obviouse