Ride Report STR Invasion of Marshall Canyon

First off- Let me give a big THANKS to the guys at INCYCLE for coming out and supporting STR. There were more than a few folks that took advantage of their talents.



Now on to the FUN! :beer:

I rolled into the parking lot a little bit after 8 am and there was already 20-25 riders already there mulling around and getting ready. Dean (dstepper) was rolling on the full squish, looking for some features to go and play on. Unfortunatly, I couldn't join in the fun, but it was great to be out there and see the LARGEST group of riders outside of a race at Fontana or Sea Otter. I had a chance to meet Jarrod (Pahika) and his wife after the main group had rolled and his count was 112 riders!

Here are a few photos from the pre-ride parking lot.

Folks getting ready.



Stephanie (SDYeti) and Hugh checking in.



The Godfather



More riders





The "A" Group

 

Wow, looks like that was a terrific ride! I was called for work at the last moment, and had to forfeit my fun for the day! I am sorry I missed this one!

 

I could just not get the motivation to ride with only 4 hrs sleep. I tried,I was so planning for this ride.Looks like it was a blast.See ya on the trails

 

Fun ride. too bad the majority of the riders made a u turn once marshall merged with Mills loop. For the handfull of us B guys that went down and back up it was fun.

I had a great day other gettting their late and playing catch up then some asshat bombing down thru marshall and taking me out practically breaking my wrist, tearing up my leg and breaking my polar watch...and that was only the first part of the ride.

This isnt the route most took but it is what was planned for the ride and my route.

http://www.animalhousedesigns.net/mtb/marshallmillsnewbieride.kml

http://www.animalhousedesigns.net/mtb/millsnewbieride.gdb

 

didn't get to bed til late last night... ended up doing a tour of aliso with a nug

 

Don't you mean a "noog"?

 

Fun ride today

That was a very fun ride today. The park seems like it has endless possibilities which will spark a re-visit in the future. It was great to see the STR and INCYCLE tents in the parking lot when I pulled up. Thanks guys and also thanks to the people from switchback who had ice cold sodas for after the ride. I also want to say a special thanks to gene, nancy, roger, cc, gregg and whoever else was helping out through the day. CC I seriously had so much fun coming down and following your line through the single track and stream crossings. I am sure the hikers, bikers and horse riders were scratching their heads after seing a pack of 100+ riders coming through. It was great to ride with all of you guys for sure. Here are some pictures from today. I was going to take more but I was having so much fun I forgot to get my camera out.

It was also my first ride on the KHS softail single speed i just built up and it exceeded my expectations.

 

I really had a great time and it was really nice to have over a 100 people sing Happy Birthday to me.
I'll never forget that,thanks friends!

 

Nice mellow day, the canyon was nice and green and it got a little warm on the last couple of climbs. A couple of misfortunate accidents but I suppose that is to be expected with that many on the trail at one time. I hope the two guys that I know about that went down are OK.

A big boo to the knucklehead that blew by me on the downhill singletrack without saying anything….un-cool.

Picture of a dead horse on the trail…I thought they should have shot it and put the poor thing out of its misery…but...NO...they had to try to get it going again.
:steppie:

 

Yeah, it's amazing how many dead horses are out there.

 

Arrived about 8:30 and the parking lot was pretty crowded. Lots of riders cruising around. Recognized some faces.....didn't recognize lotsa of faces.

Fist time out riding here. With these rides you never know what you are going to get. The "A" group took off first, then the "B" group left....which at first was most of the riders. We got strung out on the gradual up hill and stream crossings. Had several regroups. Pretty nice casual pace. Temps were perfect under the canopy of the trees. Then we started climbing. Once out of the canopy the temps went up quite a bit....but not unbearable. A couple of the climbs were on the steep side but still fun. Once out to the turn-around area, there was some confusion as to what way we were going to go. Nobody seemed to have a clue where they were going. However, we figured out where we were and where we were headed.


The swoopy doubletrack coming back down was a blast. We got out in front....left a little early to have the trail wide open. Lots of little jumps and stuff to play on.

Let's just say I will be coming back.

Very fun ride. Can't wait to try it again and really see what is out there to ride.

 

More pics:

 

Ouch!!
Yeah that was me,
Dino can you come to my rescue?

 

Wow, definitely a BIG group. Awesome ride and great company. Great meeting all the new faces. Also great seeing the big turnout of beginners, including my wife. Hope to see you out there again soon. Not much of a RR but here are a few of my pictures.
Cobwebs on Walter’s rig

Kickstand on Tina’s bike

...Great meeting you guys
Adrienne and I, as I said, this was her 2nd ride (Bonelli was first) and while she was struggling she still had a great time.

Wave of riders

Happy BDay Pain Freak

And off we go…

Hanging with my wife

We made it to the first gate by the water towers when she decided she had enough so we started to head down…her first mini carnage

Playing around


Once I dropped her off at the car I went back for more and to try to catch the group. As I was climbing the FR I noticed the STR train coming down the switch backs…



Another options was to skip the switchbacks and go back down the fire road.

More switchback action


Down the steep DH section that we all skipped

Climbed up the switchbacks to meet the rest of the group helping a rider down at the rolling fire road. Apparently there was a pretty bad crash involving a beginner. Hope it was nothing serious.



Sweepers

Group doing a little extra credit





Heading down towards the golf course

Brenda and Mark

Nancy

 

i was that dude carrying around the nikon d40 today. Long story short, I took a crapload of pictures, some good, some not so good, but those pictures will be up either late tonight or tomorrow.

Highlights of my day:

-getting far enough in front of B group to get off my bike and off the trail to take pictures. It was like watching a parade. The riders kept coming, and coming, and coming. I asked a couple times "is that it?"...."nope, more!"...kept coming, and coming, and coming.

-doing the same at the bottom of Marshall canyon after my ride was over. Get to the parking lot, find out almost no one is back yet, head back to Marshall and plop myself on a rock nearly on the trial. Riders after riders after riders. got some good pictures here. It'd be real quiet, then a half dozen riders would go by, I'd snap pictures as the flew by, then it'd be quiet. Rinse, repeat, a dozen more times.

No parking issues, no serious crashes, saw a ton of familiar faces, got to know quite a few more (still can't get past the issue of people coming up to me and knowing my name and saying hi....how'd they know?)

Good times. :bang:

 

Few pics from the parking lot and the "A" group. Anybody get a shot of my leg? I cleaned it up before I took a pictures. Looks pretty juicy right now.

 

Wow looks like you Guys had a good time!!!

 

more

 

Are you kidding me? You're practically a RockStar!

 

:bang:No pictures taken here as I left my camera at home. Sweet ride, no problems beyond dodging the Poison Oak. Hung with Brewmaster and his Mrs, Fired Yo Momma, Stinky Rider and his Mrs, among many others. You all rock and the ride was incredible. Big thanks to Incycle for doing a quick tuneup for me. Good to see my local LBS (where i bought my Specy) show up and rock it. The downhills were sometimes hard due to the long line of riders. Thanks to all who guided and sweeped. You all are awesome. Lastly, Thanks Brew for making me feel at home with the Trek/VW "Team" :lol: Jerseys....