Big props. to Mott for organizing this ride. VERY FUN!! Mott, Tedroy & Dino were great trail ambassadors, making a long ride with a huge number of people look easy. Look forward to the next one.
As promised.... Saturday was a memorable day for all of us. For Mazer, it will be a day he will NEVER forget! 1) As the "shuttle vehicles" began to leave the JPL parking lot, I told Mott to STOP the vehicle. I noticed Mazer was pulling up to the lot on his bike. Don't know if he was late? Looking for us? :?: What I do know is: 30 seconds later and he may have spent Saturday riding alone! 2) Once at the top, we ALL started to gear up. Not sure if it was the cold, the wind, car sick, nervous anticipation- Mazer was quieter than normal! 3) After the initial 10 minute ride, the riders were given two choices: A) take the fireroad to the next section B) Take the singletrack (narrow, climbing, loose rocks, very technical). Mazer made the mistake :lol: of following us on the singletrack. He sweated. He dabbed. He unclipped. He washed out. He then lost his balance and slammed his right hand/knuckle directly into a rock! OUCH! A few seconds earlier, he lost his balance and went back first into a three foot tall bush- almost ended up head over heels! 4) Next section, things were going fine until he got hung-up on a rock section. Went to put his right foot down- nothing but AIR! He and his bike went over the side. All I remember was rushing over to MAZER (whom I could only see from the shoulders up) and noticing that the only thing supporting him was a tree branch (i.e. him hanging by one arm from a tree branch). His foot was on a rock---- a lot of daylight below him. We pulled him back onto the trail. Lucky guy! 5) Literally 30 seconds later, we came to another rock section. The trail had narrowed greatly at the EXACT spot Mazer dabbed with his LEFT foot! Had the dab been with his right foot There was no place to dab with his right foot! Straight down... 6) I have embarrassed Mazer enough for one day 7) Mountain biking can be dangerous. Accidents DO happen. If a rider (as accomplished as Mazer) can have troubles- So can I. So can YOU! Let's be careful out there. Mazer- I say we go back (in a few weeks) to confront your demons! :lol:
Haha! :lol: Shagginwagon- I am pretty sure MAZER knew he was in for a rough day! It was cold and it was windy up there! Looking forward to riding with you again REAL soon! Giving you early notice.... YOU will be joining us in MAMMOTH next year! There- I told you!
Dino my man! You are right about all that, I had only remembered the main "event" of nearly sliding down the side of the mountain. The head-roll-into-bush was good too. And my right pinky is swollen and is making this much harder to type than it should! And come to think of it, I actually feel bad now. I would have felt even worse (besides the pain) if I had really destroyed myself and made you guys wait around for me to be airlifted (or put into a body bag). Not fair to you guys to put myself into a situation like that. The first part (Mt. Lowe??) definitely pushed my limits and then some. I'm so glad you and everyone else were there though. Next time I'll bite off less and hopefully not get myself into so much trouble out there. Especially when the penalty in certain parts was just insane. Again, not cool of me to do since it would have obliterated the ride for everyone else if I really maimed myself or died up there. 8-[ Let this be a lesson to all beginners, that the Mt. Wilson shuttle run is NOT A BEGINNER RIDE! I thought I was a pseudo-intermediate, but this ride humbled me and proved otherwise. I will say that I just started riding this past May 07, so I have come a long way, but not enough to tackle a ride like this without great people riding behind me to lend a helping hand. Andy and Dino were the ones there this time, but I know everyone else would have helped too if they witnessed the carnage. Anyway, despite all this I did have a great time, and will do Mt. Wilson again. But first I'm going to bust my ass and climb up to and down Sunset --> El Prieto a few dozen times. And ride a bunch of other stuff to get better and build my skills up. I need to practice and push myself in smaller steps, and over time I'll be confident and prepared for rides like this. :read: Thanks again Dino, and please thank the Iron Horse for winching me up to safety (and for riding itself and doing its own repairs, etc). Quite a talented machine! Rock on, my peoples! :bang: Learn from me and don't nearly kill yourselves! :bang: It hurts and WILL a leave mark.
yeah , looking forward to also . I'll be keeping an eye out for more DH type of rides , since I lack in the climbing department . Wanted to hit up Mammoth THIS year , but conflicting vacation plans didn't allow for it .
Hey man, your driving was NOT the problem!!! The ride up in your Ford F-100000 Mega Duty was silky smooth! No, my problem was a general lack of skillz... #-o Thanks again for the ride though! :wave:
MAZER- We can skip Wilson for a while...:lol: How 'bout Chantry? Chilao? You may want to also "ease up" on your lack of skillz argument. [-X The section where you had most of your problems is "arguably" the most technical and loose section of trail in the San Gabriel's. Shagginwagon- Nice response... NOT! The correct response would have been, "Dude, can't wait." Or, "Even if I have to quit my job, I'll be there."
Just for Dino Freekin aye , rite on dude !!!!! I'm now countin the days , hours and minutes until the next STR Mammoth trip ! If I gotta sell my first born child to get there , it's gonna HAPPEN !!!!! :bang:
Advil saved me that night as it tightened up pretty good, I managed to go out for a couple of cocktails at least. I was trying to mix "medications" to get the right "dosage". :lol: I rode the couch all of yesterday, I couldn't really lift my leg up, but I'm doing a lot better today at work. :beer: Now, I'm gonna post my pics. :clap:
Pics from the Frontside As I was a bit late to the ride, I had to stop for gas. I caught up with the group at the parking spot atop the Wilson road and found a great number of riders! Off we went and there was a majority of the riders taking the upper Merill and the rest opted for the speed run down the fire road to the trailhead of the middle section. I noticed a couple of guys in our group that were sporting no hats. :-k I use to be one of them, my thinking then was that there was no throttle and then no need. Ocasionally I'll ride with no helmet on social rides or workouts, when it gets serious though I'll helmet up. If you have a problem with that I don't want to hear about it. I do like that in the future there will be some regulation on our organized rides that if there are no helemts there will be no riding with us. We gathered once to over look Altadena and all of the LA basin, it was CLEAR! Could even seen the major fire over in Malibu no problem. Once gathered we jetted down to the Mt. Lowe ruins, from there it was some chat and then head for Sunset. Sunset was flowy as usual, not many hikers to this point. And the few I came up on where pleasant and appricative of my cow bell and the cautioning of the riders on the way. Made the Merill camp with little drama, we lost a few riders that took the horse trail to the JPL lot citing gimpy limbs. My shape was on the better side so El Prieto was knocked out with flare! I was relishing some of the lower area where I had cleared brush early this year, zoom! Got to the road and strolled to the parking lot. So, I'm feeling good, spry... I think I'll show off. I see the group that had separated earlier and where gathered in a half cirlce, I stear for the circle. I want to make sure I do a good stoppie, well, I voer did it. I had speed to do one for a few feet rather than just a stop. OOOPS! So, right in the middle of the group I demostrated a perfect endo and piled drove myself onto the pavement with a splat! #-o Both my pride and my hip/arm came out injured... Won't show off anytime soon! :lol: From there we gathered the vehicles and hit a local mexican joint for some perfect grub!! As many years as I've eaten in that area I've never seen that place! They don't serve beer is why! :lol: Anyway, good times guys (and gals ;o) Look forward to you next ride up in my neck of the woods!! :drunk: Rob :beer:
Glad you like my bike! And thanks for the wellness wish, Saturday evening was all about ADVIL!! :clap: :lol:
:-k I must have scared him so bad he jumped straight up off his bike. Perhaps if you zoomed out a bit more you might catch a glimpse of him up in the trees somewhere.:?:
