Turkey Day SS San Juan (a.m.)

Thanks for putting together a great ride today! H2oChick and I enjoyed our first ride up/down SJT with the STR group. Looking forward to the next ride ...

 

Just some photos

Thanksgiving turned out to be a beautiful day. It was a bit chilly driving to the SJ trailhead. We came in from the Elsinore side and I believe the coldest reading I got from the car was 38 degrees. When we got to the parking lot, there wasn't a spot available. The ride up was pretty uneventful, just a lot of riders enjoying the company and climb. I saw a lot of smiles and heard lot's of laughter out there. Oh yeah, we came upon the 7am crew halfway up. Neil, Steve, and Jose rockin' a Bionicon and chatted with them for awhile. Great to see everyone out there today. Oh yeah, Jeff Sims came out to see us off. Wish your knee was feeling better dude.

Thanks to Rut for taking the photos as I was in the back again.
The STR Crew


Pat


Clinky


Bosley


Heather was kickin' butt today!


See


Jeff with his One handed wheelie into a switchback


Roger




Ok, hats off to the Trail Paparazzi, she was killin' it all day


Andy leading our group up


You didn't see that right?


This switchback had my number. I tried it 3 times and couldn't clean it #-o


Rut




T.P.


Denmother and SlowSpokes


Jeff got lost trying to find the trailhead and started 45 mins late.....he still caught us! #-o We're slow.


Gabe caught up to us also


STR group at the top. Part of the group continued on around Cocktail Rock.


Steven ending the trail.


Good times and I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Good times today!
Jose, Steven and I met up a bit earlier and hit the trail.....but Jose was on this stange contraption: a 26" Full Suspension fully geared bicycle:lol:! Actually he wanted to try it out and did fine.....until we headed downhill:lol:

Here were the conditions when I left my house at 6 this morning in Corona




Onto Jose "back" on a full squish rig:lol:


What is the phrase, A Jose in the bush is worth 2 in the hand? Jose climbing up


Cocktail rock with Jose contemplating a lovely Ti ss:lol:


Steven who killed it today, it was hard staying on his wheel!


Posing?


We started seeing some of the STR crew on our way down: Gene, Greg and Jeff who just kind of grunted and kept pedaling...that saddened us:lol:
OMR


Carnage #1


Carnage #2 with a nasty otfb by Jose served with a side of tacoed front wheel, Steven doing his best to get it "straight":lol:




Just when we were ready to take off the rest of the STR crew arrived


Great to see all those folks on the trail today and in great spirits!
Nice job Gene on pushing 34x18, the ole 2:1 was nasty today:lol: next time I am bringing a 18t!

Great weather this morning and great riding, thanks for putting it together Allison!

 

Nice pictures. Thanks!

 

Hasn't the story about the guy having relations with his bike been posted enough!!!!:?:


Looks like a great time.

 

Thanks for all the photo's I wish I could have joined you but I think i am better off having not. I am headed to see the Doc and see what's up because it does not seem to be getting any better.

 

Plenty to be Thankful for...

Had a GREAT ride out at SJT this morning with some STR peeps. Here's my photos (mostly by Justin):

New rigid carbon fork:



Niner



Most of the group at the bottom



Steve climbing up



Pat



Me



Clinky





Klutter



Gene



Jamr



Danny enjoyed his first SJT trip



Ann and Heather



Climbing rigid, smiling



Boyz



Sorry, totally can't remember your name, but you were also at Bootleg



Jeff and the 1-handed wheelie



davidb gettin' the new Kona dirty!!




Roger on the climb



Nancy and the switchbacks



jcampbell. WAYYY STIL!!



Gabe



Rut makes it look easy



Heather rocked it all day





Nancy was kickin' butt



Andy



Annie

 

Group-ish shot



Me, Annie, Heather



Me, descending







Great time everyone!!

 

Totally fun ride today ... and I'm giving thanks!

Thanks Allison & Justin for putting this ride together. The climb up was a little loose in spots until I let a little air out of the tires... then everything seemed to click. Been a while since I climbed up to Cocktail Rock on the SS. Really felt good... but the ride down was even better... for several reasons.

Really enjoyed taking my time and riding down with Andy, Heather and Justin. Usually rocking and rolling coming down from Cocktail Rock; but, sometimes it just feels good to stop and smell the flowers.

Also, major props to Justin for taking the time and sharing his knowledge of descending, switchback riding and braking with Heather on the way back. I know that she learned a lot today and that just demonstrates what kind of person he is... the kind of guy you want to ride the trail with. It is our responsibility as riders to continue to pass on to those coming behind us the knowledge we have all learned with bloody knees and arms. Like ripples in the water from pebbles ... you never know just how many other people you effect.

Special prop to Pat at the bottom... that brew tasted mighty good.
Line of the day by Pat: "I wish I could go a week without wanting to buy bike stuff!"

Grasshopper Andy: Always great to ride with you... you always make it look so easy and make it fun for everyone ...

My Nancy asked me later in the day why I was smiling so much today ... I told her I was thinking about a good ride and a great group of friends...

Happy Thanksgiving! :bang:

 

How was it descending with the ridgid?

 

Looked like you guys had a great day!

I like this shot...capturing the switchbacks.

 

It actually wasn't bad!! Normally my hands and back hurt from the braking, and today wasn't any different. But, overall it was pretty good. No crashes. The worst injury I got was similar to my worst injury at last week's race...

I was literally like 10 feet from the parking lot and a freaking stick jumped up and scraped my lower shin drawing blood. Last weekend I was running to see Justin racing and ended up getting a stick to the knee. Ridiculous.

It was a great day. Had a blast with everyone!! Wish I would've been able to spend more time with more people, but it's hard with a big group. Either way, had a great time and was stoked to see so many familiar faces.

 

What an awesome day. I'm thankful for the wonderful weather. I'm thankful a group of friends were able to spend a few hours together doing what we love. I'm thankful that Warriors and Sharers, photo takers and photo posters, poseurs and those that don't care all got along and had a great time.

I felt really good climbing up to Cocktail Rock. I cleaned all the switchbacks including the rocky lefthander that usually gives me trouble. I was thinking that I finally would be able to clean them all and then I dab on an easy one. ](*,)

A few of us decided to do the upper loop and it was great. I was following Jeff down a rutted hill and I'm not sure what happened but he went OTB. I was able to stop just short of him. I looked back and saw lurker Steve was not going to be able to stop so I saved myself. He did an impressive superman with his ribs landing on my rear derailleur. I hope they're just bruised. Fortunately I had a spare hanger and we were on our way.

By the time we got back to Cocktail the group had left. We cought up with a few on the way down, had a cold one in the lot before heading home to feast.

I have some pics in my camera that I'll post tomorrow.

Thanks for a great time everyone.

C

 

Awesome Time!

Another fun STR group ride! I haven't ridden SJ in about a year, and the last two times we did Los Pinos and didn't get a chance go back the way we came up. I forgot how much fun it was riding down! :bang:

Thanks for all the Pics., Justin, Allison, Andy(Rut), you guys rock!!! It must be tough to ride ahead to get pics. then wait, shoot and ride ahead again!

Sorry for the pile up Craig, luckily my OTB wasn't to serious. It was great doing the extra loop with you and Schlep (?) and the lurker! Good times for sure. My legs are a little sore.

It was great riding with you all, Andy, Slow Spokes, Danny, Roger, Nancy, Justin, Allison, Rut, Heather, Gene, Dave, Adam, Gregg, Craig, Kevin, etc.

Roger, thanks for the cold one post ride :beer:

 

Great shots...wish we could have made it. Hopefully Candace and I can ride with you all again soon. I'm bummed seeing the pictures that I didn't just leave her at home .

:beer:
Andy

 

OMR, good call.
If memory serves though, the record shows Pat saying...:-k

"Damn! *pause *pause Why can't I go a week without wanting new bike stuff?!?!?!:lol::lol::lol:

Pat? Do you remember?

 

Yup. Your memory is to good. You are all bad influences on me. Always with the new parts.

 

Wish I could have ridden up with you guys, but my ride ended just 5 minutes in with a broken frame (just too much power going up those switchbacks ). Broke my driveside dropout. Thanks to Neil who told me about this ride at 12 hours of Temecula. Would have been nice to meet more of the STR group this time around, but that's okay. Next time I'm down from the Bay Area with my bike I'll be sure to check out the group rides.

-Dave

 

Bummer about your frame, Be glad it broke on the way up rather on the way down. #-o It was nice to meet you, I was the one on the camo SS.

Pat, thanks again for the after ride bevs. That hit the spot, I owe you!

 

Grasshopper Brian,

The memory is the 2nd thing to go!