Ride Report Steppies Flannel Ride

What a nice day for :steppie: Flannel Ride in the San Gabriels. Strawberry Peak was the trail with a twist.







:steppie: leading the Peloton to the trailhead.






Pho - I'll get them rotors on there soon.





Art23rockpile and Dino



Ladd Jasper



Hunklehoff



Sheclimbs





CC


Spokes



:steppie:



Dino kickstartin :steppie:






Check out the view, but dont look too long cuz its a long way down. Just ask OMR. I seem to recall seeing a pic of him in the hospital after this ride and he is a very skilled rider.







Carnage. This trail had killer plants that jabbed you as you went by.


grandpas shin looks prego


Dell


The regroup


Onward


Playtime for Stjunkie on a roller. Guero cleared it too with his cape but didnt get a pic.#-o

 

Thanks Noel, we had a blast today. Great weather, great company. It was a pretty good pace with so many people out there.

Steppie, this was for you! :steppie:

Getting ready to take off


On our way up to the Gabrielino Trail


Bubbs coming down


Steppie's got an idea and Dell's marinating a Turner.


Scott hitting the rock roller


The peanut gallery watching along


Da Godfather and leader of our Flannel Gang


Spokes sunning on the rock


Fastest way down, it really is steep and long


How's this for exposure? The water is 200'+ straight down


Colby Trail on the decent


Some Vato


Waterfall at the end of Colby


Just a beautiful day


Thanks All!

 

Awesome ride today honoring the man, the myth, the legend :steppie:

My first time riding Strawberry today. I'm told our route was a little different - riding it backwards with a little extra credit. Very fun ride. I can't wait to go back.

Nice group today NO MECHANICALS AT ALL!

Good times.

C

 

nice job on starting the RR HANZolo and great pix. what a fun ride, dedicated to a fun bubb, Steppie! like andy said, it was a nice pace and i think we had ZERO mechanicals...son of steppie broke a spoke by overtightening (i think), other than that, no flats or nuthin!

this was my first time riding 'the gabes' and it was amazing. lots of exposure, lots of granite, some tech here and there, but exposure keeps coming to mind when i think back about the ride. there was a fun rock-roll that a few of us played on about 1/2 way into the ride. after that we stopped at a nice clearing and ate food (thanks for the pb&j art!), shared stories and then carried on. the altitude did make climbing a bit tough, as well as me just getting over a cold, but this place was a blast. we wrapped up the ride with a cold brew, courtesy of dale and some chips n' sals and guac courtesy of lynn. after that most of us hit doña maria for some mexican food. joe truth made a brief appearance while we were there.

special thanks to dino for being himself. always offering encouragement to everyone at each regroup, carrying the ladies bikes in time of need. reassuring us san gabe virgins that they normally ride that loop the other way. oh yeah, he also DOES carry tools even though he doesnt wear a camelbak...i was too lazy to take my camelbak off and reach under my flannel...so he reached in his pocket and pulled out his multi-tool for me to use.

thanks again to all those who came out!

 

I want to thank you all for busting out the flannels, and for CC showing up in her PJ bottoms. To me it was great getting some of the OGs of STR out to ride with the San Gab crew. I thought I might have lost some of the OG's after our Condor Peak Ride. 17 showed up in all their plaid glory, for many of us we lost the flannels on the first climb. We had many Strawberry first timers, a couple of San Gab first timers and many Colby Canyon first timers.

A huge thanks to Guerro for setting this up and getting George to come. Thanks you all, it is a great feeling have such good friends.

Dean

 

Had a blast ridin with you all today! I almost didn't go because of my leg but at the last minute I decided I would go for it and I'm glad I did. Got to meet a few new people and ride with some others that I hadn't in a while and of course it's always fun riding with the legend:steppie:

 

More

:steppie: with Strawberry Peak in the background.



LJ with some GU on his leg



Taking a break






CC as she shouts out at riders passing by...THATS HOW WE ROLL!!!






Strawberry Peak



Burner and Blazer



AMAZING VIEWS!!!







Sprockethead



The Godfather with his tired look after the HAB






Check out hunchback talking to the Bubbs




Can you spot the Vulcan? And how bout that EXPOSURE!







CC













The waterfall was so pretty JasonMason decided to take a shower there so I let him be.


:beer::drunk:Ahhh. Hits the spot. Thanks for the freshies.

A big thanks to the organizer of such a great event honoring :steppie:. It was a blast! On the ride up Tim said he was debating if he should bail because of his leg. On the ride home he said Im glad I came because it such a fun day. This has to be the funnest ride Ive been on in a long time.








Ummm. You're gonna have to ask CC bout this one.#-o:wave:

 

I've got 80+ pics to go thru, and some video to compile... (including CC's infamous "That's how we roll"), so more pics to come...

but just a quick Steppie pic for now... pretty much sums it up.

 

First off, i'd like to thank Steppie for asking me along on this ride. After 20 years away from the sport, I started MTB'ing again a couple of months ago (the bike handling skills come back quickly but getting back into climbing shape takes a lot of work)... and I know he had some concerns as to whether i'd be able to handle this.

As those who ride this area know, the best trails are narrow singletrack with MAJOR exposure. As Dino pointed-out in an earlier thread (debating the merits of doing a newbie ride in the San Gabs), if you are uncomfortable riding 12" (or less) wide trails with extensive exposure, this area is not for you. I cannot imagine bringing a beginner on this type of trail. [-X

Hanzo's photos and RR sum up the ride perfectly. There were 17 of us. The ride was in honor of :steppie:. The weather was perfect, the route was challenging (from what i'm told it's 18 miles and 3500ft climbing, and we did it in 4.5-5 hrs.), there were no major crashes/injuries or mechanicals, and the Colby Cyn. descent was a blast although videos/photos fail to do it justice (it IS harder than it looks). :bang:

For me personally, this is the most breathtaking terrain i've ever ridden. It's also quite possibly the best ride i've ever experienced to date. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated (esp. Dean and Dino) for their comeraderie and support. :clap:

 

Wow, looks like I missed a killer (flannel) ride with lots of cool folks full of smiles and great riding. Very nice!

Good to meet the gang at that mexi-joint this afternoon. I kept my hands out of the way 'cause some of you were looking damn hungry!
The next time you all ride that neck of the woods, hit up La Cabanita (on Verdugo, just south of Honolulu) 3 minutes down the road. It's one of my favorite restaurants in LA. Killer margs with awesome food.

Dean, you're going to have to let me know the next time you and your posse are arranging a ride and I'll be there. So long as it's not a death march through Condor Peak. Thanks for the loaner shock. I'm going to try and slap it on tomorrow. Will let you know if it works out.

P.S. per displayed photograph, is Scott actually wearing a flannel shirt and a matching visor? Oh my!!! :lol:

 

video

CC letting the other riders know what's up
[youtube]J5sUk68z20A[/youtube]

 

And some Rock play:
[youtube]ZgXBLuYqDQM[/youtube]

I hate what you tube does to the quality... the original is really good.

 

To say today's ride was one of my more "memorable" rides in recent history would be the understatement of the century! Reason one, Steppie and I have not ridden The San Gabriel's (together) for many months! Reason two, I haven't ridden with STJunkie or "SMILEY" (in the San Gabriel's) for many months! Reason three, I haven't ridden with Ann and Andy for--- who knows how long!

When I look back, the one reason this ride was so special to me: Watching the expressions on the faces of Stawberry Peak's first-time riders (Art, Grandpa, Guero, The Godfather, Jason Mason and Mr. Epic). Some were nervous (on certain sections), some loved the scenery, some had never ridden sketchy terrain before- ALL finished the day with huge smiles on their faces!

I will be honest, when the group decided to ride STRAWBERRY PEAK "backwards", I did have my concerns. How were these first timer going to climb UP Redbox? How were they going to deal with the hike-a-bike sections? How would the thin air effect them? Would their legs turn to jello? Couldn't be more impressed.... :clap:

A few memorable moments:
*1) The ride was supposed to be a surprise. When Steppie parked his truck, I had the feeling he wasn't surprised? Was he tipped off?
*2) The look on Steppie's face when (one by one) The Vato Loco's showed up! :lol:
*3) Five minutes into the ride, I was thinking to myself it was going to be a long ride- for the first timer's!
*4) Telling Guero, LBMTB, Art and Grandpa 27,965 times, "don't forget, we are riding the trail backwards! Imagine how different it will be if we rode it the other way!" Want them to make a return trip...
*5) The super-relaxed crew I rolled with!!!
*6) Yucca! I took (1) mature needle directly to my elbow! OMG! Took another one to the inside of the knee!
*7) There was a 10 minute section (a narrow and exposure filled section) overgrown with long thorn-like shrubs. Art, JasonMason and I got worked! Every few minutes one of us would utter the words, "ahhhh....#-o sh!t........ damn....... ouch....... ohhh sh!t.... ahhhhhh :lol:
*8) I witnessed Scott dab on (3) separate occasions while doing a rock roll. Never ever seen him dab before!! He did have bike issues. Don't let it happen again Junior!!! [-X
9) Doing Strawberry Peak in reverse was much more fun than I expected it to be!
10) Bombing down Colby with "Lord" Jasper and Mr. Epic was awesome! Steep, techincal, rocky, chunky, switchbacks, stream crossings, EXPOSURE- Everything I could want in a trail!

That's all for now... Rest assured, I will come up with a few more reasons! :bang:

 

With all the flannels and up in the mountains I would think it should have been called the lumberjack ride. :beer:

If STJunky is the same Scott I think it is (looks the same from the pics) then I have seen him dab before but I guess he WAS on a new bike at the time and the frame WAS a tad big for the trail and it WAS a few years ago.

I am trying and as soon as I get my climbing legs back I definitely need to join you all for one of these "backwards" rides"

 

Shiat, in that opening pic, Brett and Dell scare the shait out of me....I was thinking when did the vato loco's find out about mtb'ing and are they going to take over? Looks like a great group you all had there. I'd already been booked to ride a double at Solvang so I missed out on the :steppie:Flannel ride, but rest assured I do have a LOT of flannel stashed away. Good camera work there too, but it never really captures the true amount of exposure this place has.

I had rode Strawberry/Red Box for years and knew of the exposure going the regular way and although hairy it never really got to me. One day a while back STJunkie and Good Ol Slappy suggested this route and off we went. Then I noticed all the exposure we had been riding by for years. The next few times I rode doing the regular way I now knew of the consequences and was so damn tenative it bugged the heck out of me. Finally I became more and more relaxed with it, but damn, that is a loooooong way down!

:steppie::steppie::steppie:Old Guys Rule!!!

 

my pics

I thought I took some good ones today...

Dell on the log


Godfather too fast for my camera


Dino hiking the ladies bikes up


Grandpa and Nam on the edge


JasonMason cranking by the nice view


GraniteSpokes


Guero pre-visualizing his descent


Guero getting his descent on across Colby Cyn


Hanzo hitting the switchback


Nam representing for the 29er's, also cleaning it.


more pics here... there's some of everyone I think.
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1361

 

oh, and here's Dell about to stand up and send Andy and Nam into the dirt :lol:


AND... the best pic of the day...

STJunkie on some nice singletrack, with views of LA buried under the clouds.

 

A few more memorable moments:

* Dean likes SMOKEY beers! 8-[
* The Dean Stepper "seal of approval" was given to ORANGE BLOSSOM AMBER Beer! :bang:

* Art smashed his finger into a boulder (at speed)... remained bloody for much of the day! #-o
* While riding an exposure filled section, JasonMason slid out at the perfect spot- a tree and giant boulder kept him from (possibly) going over the side! All I saw was him getting up...
* When crossing paths with hikers (and trail crews), I believe our riders did a remarkable job of representing mountain bikers. Whether it be slowing down, allowing hikers to pass, saying hello, thanking the crews for maintaining the trails, offering food and drink- we did so with class and dignity!
* Rode up to a trail crew (some in their 70's). They weren't happy to see me/us. Asked if they were with CORBA? Who were they with? How often do they maintain the trails? They eventually softened. Thanked them and rode away! Try to show respect to these people (especially in The San Gabriel's). They are vigilant!
* Mr. Jasper, Mr. Epic and I rode up to an injured hiker (who had rolled her ankle)! She was a bit startled to see us. She tried to get out of our way. We stopped. Accompanied her to a stream crossing. She took off her boot, stuck her foot in the cold water.... and we rode away! Good job fellas! :clap:
* The ROCO COIL Sprockethead installed on his NOMAD is butta'. :clap:
* I will add more as I think of them....


Quote of the day (Steppie): EVERY ride should end with a happy ending! :lol:

 

I firmly believe in this. Ending the ride with a great downhill puts a smile on everyone face, they seem to forget the HABing and 6 mile climbs.

Dean

 

I got the Pendleton, I'm earning the legs, and hopefully, one day, the invitation. Looks like an epic ride! I think the OTB crew El Pres, Kanga, and few others did this ride last weekend. Kanga's been feeling under the weather with that cold going around the past week, so he's been taking it easy (if you call taking 1 day off the bike per week "easy")

Did anyone get a Motion Based log on this ride that I could reference? Link?

Great job guys and gals, glad to see trail etiquette that makes us Mtn bikers look respectable in the eyes of other trail users.