Ride Report STR Invades Aliso - Sunday 1-19-14

Thanks Dino. As always, it was a fun ride and nice weather for it to boot. Unbelievable turn out.
It was a sight to see the regroup at the base of Cholla. And I forgot to take a pic, Doh! I got distracted with everyone and with adding air to my back tire. A hiker commented to her co-hikers as I passed them head up to the base of cholla, “OMG can’t we get a break” seeing the sea of mountain bikes. LOL.

Grego I agree it was surprising on how few hikers were out but it could be that Dino’s ride and what looks like 2 clinic group rides consumed all the parking around the area to deter the hikers. .

Great to see you Hertz. With Vincent waiting for his clear run for his GoPro, we all kind of went ahead of Vincent too.

Looking forward to Vincent's video.

 

A few of us were scratching our heads trying to figure out how anyone could clear the rocks/staircase on the way from T.O.W. to Meadows. Some guy named Lopes seems to have figured it out....your turn Vincent.

[video=youtube_share;-tn591L04cE]http://youtu.be/-tn591L04cE[/video]

 

HOOOOOLY SMOKES! 8-[
(always thought that was impossible)

Either he's really good OR he was riding an Ibis HD...
(pretty sure he was riding an Ibis)

 

WOW thats some serious skill and commitment. I cant imagine what would have happened if he had too little speed or too much or too anything for that matter !

I don't want to be like Mike. I want to be like Lopes.

 

I hit that every time. (Not on an Ibis).

 

I KNEW you could do it!!!
Never thought anyone else could!

Wow! :clap:

 

^Dang, so that's how it's done. Sorry no video, my computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Hero3. Video skips like crazy. He just plugs it into the tv for now until I get something that's more up to date. After all that waiting, he still didn't get a clean run down meadows either and wasn't even that fast, at least not like a Ryan video. Speaking of, Yeah mcg715, show us the goods.

 

Here's a better view of Lopes' approach to the Meadows connector. First 20 seconds of the video. Then you have to promise to press stop.

http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Rapid-Fire-Brian-Lopes,19924/sspomer,2

And I have no doubt that Gabe can clear that, but I'd like to see it in person. Hard to get enough speed with those ruts on the run-in to float up it so smoothly.

 

:lol:LOL I was like why, at first.

 

I never get sick of that clip.. that rock hop to Meadows is VERY impressive but the way he slays the rest of that clip is insane as well..

Greg just to experiment unless you are doing so already, try filming in 720 instead of 1080. It still comes out very crisp and clean and those files are much easier to digest for the PC and they eat up a lot less disk space too.. just a thought until you upgrade the computer. You can also download something like Xilisoft's video converter (although there are plenty of other converting packages out there) and convert what you shot into something more manageable for the computer..

 

This is why I try to preach the gospel of NOT setting up large groups of riders in urban/suburban wilderness parks on weekend mornings. No offense meant to the wonderful peeps of STR. We do ourselves a lot of harm when we piss off other trail users. As kind and wonderful as everyone in this group is/was, and as polite as can be, there is something frustrating and intimidating about seeing a group of 10-30 riders. A hiker trying to get down Cholla would have to wait nearly 30 minutes to get down the trail without contending with bikes. On the flipside, I can't stand seeing groups of 20+ hikers either. They invariably take up the entire width of a 40' wide fireroad and then act startled when a rider tries to get by them, even when announcing one's presence as politely and cautiously as possible. Thus my tendency of shying away from large groups on two way trails on weekend mornings.

Everyone should be as wonderful as I am! (self-deprecating sarcasm) :bang:

 

Chris did you just misspell deprecating?? Love it.. I know you used to ride Mo about his spelling so I couldn't resist :?:

 

See how I did that? I made myself look bad by intentionally misspelling self deprecating. Oh the irony! It doesn't get any more real than that!

Sort of like intentionally going over the bars...

And Mo's spelling is still atrocious.

 

well Dino I guess you need to do it next time since it is the bike or is it the calves

 

Well except after the Bell Game every year.

 

Dino, thanks for setting this up. It was so nice to see people with whom I don't get to chat as frequently as I should. Plus, some fabulous new faces were out (well, new to me). It helped to bring back the old feelings of STR love - riding, cheering each other on, joking, and laughing. <3

Plus, I wouldn't have been able to force Julie onto the torturous SS bike without this ride.

 

Right on McG!! Love it .....

 

We used to say that without pics, it didn't happen.
Nobody had a camera????

 

Dino is not for sale. Lol.

 

Hey Dino,

Any details on the Blackstar ride? A couple of friends and I are planning to join the ride.

Thanks!