Ride Report Whole Lotta Cherry Poppin' on Noble Cyn!

Over a post-ride lunch last Saturday with some of my getting-to-be-regular-riding-buddies, we cooked up the idea of going down to Noble Canyon for a ride---because the majority of the lunch group had never ridden Noble before....and had heard lots of stories and seen lots of pictures of the trail.

So, everyone agreed, if the weather planned to be nice, we'd plan mid-week to get together on Saturday and do a ride.

A dozen peeps showed up to ride, seven of whom were Noble virgins!



No shuttling today, we all climbed up the narrow road, and took a little breather at the oak tree to decide on going on the extra credit loop: Indian Creek to Champagne Pass, or just ride up the rest of the pavement and then ride the Laguna Meadow loop.







Even the bikes needed a rest...



So, after the torturous asphalt climb to the top of Sunrise Highway, we re-grouped at the Upper Noble Trailhead where an Aid Station was set up for a 50 mile trail run on the PCT....and they had food! And they were giving away this food--even to hungry mountain bikers! Dirtmistress, who kept dreaming of sandwiches as we climbed up the road, scored a huge bag of red potatoes..which the majority of the group attacked!





After a water refill at the top of Noble, we took off toward the Meadow loop and picked up Aquaholic who was lurking around the Aid Station and recognized dirtmistress. He's a Noble local and told us of some new areas that had recently been added to the trail system with some log jumps and other fun features.

The singletrack around the meadow does not disappoint. It flows through the meadow's edges through trees and mini-rock gardens and whoops and yells could be heard from some of the riders!

Jay's seatpost dropper broke just before the turnoff for Los Gatos where the log jumps are and all the McGyvers in the group helped him to get it back into working order so he could continue riding, and up to the log roll we went.

Shannon's rocking this log feature...







Dirtmistress was bound and determined to ride the log--and she did!



We finished our loop around the Meadow and then headed back to the top of the Noble Cyn trail. After a couple of climbs, the trail winds through the oak woodlands over rock gardens and water crossings. The Noble virgins finally had their first experience with the Stairway to Hell--since I was off the back I don't know who attempted it and who cleaned it, so those who did have to post that up!!

It was a full day on the trail and loads of fun! I'm sure those who popped their Noble Cyn cherries will be back to ride this trail again! Good times all, thanks for the ride! :beer:

 

Waaaaahhhhh. :-({|= So sad for me that I had to turn around and head home, but I'm so glad you guys had a great day! I hear everyone was utterly and completely done for at the end of the day! :lol:

 

What a day!

I woke up yesterday morning not knowing what route we were doing or how many miles it would be, and I was not informed that Noble is at elevation which is my nemesis. I was not informed or prepared to do 30 miles. I figured with the group we had, we'd do a 15 mile fun loop and be out there a few hours. I think we rolled out at 9:45, and I got back in the car at 630? What a day. :bang:

on to the pictures....

We started off on a hell of a 7 mile pavement climb. It sucked.






















There were all sorts of stunts to play on yesterday. A few of us rolled this one.

Willie's first attempt, not so well.




2nd try, cleaned it


again, more stuff to play on

Jay


myself










more to come this evening, happy mother's day everyone!

 

Cool, have yet to ride Noble..

 

WOW. Really.......WOW.

I really don't know how I could have much better than to ride Noble with this group. I think that's what made it so great. We had the perfect mix of people new to Noble and some folks that have been riding since the "ferns were small". hehe

It made the ride very special.

It was incredible. It had pretty much any mix of riding that I enjoy. Scenic singletrack, gnarly chunked downhill, good tech climbs, and a nice 7 mile pavement warmup climb. hehe

On with the pics. Now bear with me, as I don't get much riding pics. Mostly just scenery.

 

It was way to much fun yesterday. Thanks to Aquaholic for being such a great tour guide. It's almost a guarantee to run into him somewhere out there and I'm always so glad we do! He's a joy to watch and a patient guide.
I was pretty concerned about Tara as she stated this would be her longest ride ever but by the time we finished Stairway To Hell, she was still beaming and still looking fresh
so I quit worrying about her and started worrying about my own tired ass.
By the time we finished Whore, I was wasted. I tried to ride a Roman Wall but my issues with "long way down's" on both sides got the better of me. I got 1/4 of the way then put my tip toes down while Ken AKA Freenkengo steadied my fork. I bailed. crap! I know I could have done it. (she said not doing it) I have some great shots but I'm here at my moms waiting for her to come home so I'll post up what I can tonight or tomorrow.

Genny. Thanks for setting this up. Another two weeks and the meadow will be off the charts gorgeous!!

 

Great Ride....

Funny that we did not see you there. We had a group of 22 riders. I remember seeing the girl on the horse but on the other side of the meadow. Great place to ride. :wave:

Want to ACKNOWLEDGE that all the planning was done by Erik MM and his partner Bet. The GPS is from Erik MM who did all the hard work and created a great ride plan. Erik MM is as hardcore Mtber as they come.

Again....thx

GPS Map Removed........

This Pic I took myself. So I would like to ask myself permission to post the picuture on a public forum and give credit to myself for taking the pic.......DONE!

 

Looks like Fun....We are going soon, Question where are the log features (particularly the ones where Willie and Liz are riding)? Up in the meadow I presume, any help would be great. Thanks

 

If I remember right,they are on the los gatos trail. Look at post #4 of this thread it has a pic of the sign at the entrance. http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/ride-reports/50511-r-r-mt-laguna-san-diego.html#post737056

Aqua actually lives in a cave below Stairway! True story!

 

What a day! Great group an a great ride. The big UZZI kicked my butt on the climbs but was a bonus on some of the log rides and other trailside features. Stairway to Hell was a blast! I want to go back soon!!! :beer:

Oh, I only took one picture. All the rest was video.

 

Fantastic day out in the sun! I've been meaning to have a rematch with my nemesis (stairway), and I finally got my revenge!

The initial climb up the pavement was no where near as bad as I remember from the last time that I was there(still a brutal climb), but then again, the last time we were there, it was a balmy 30 degrees on the climb up......#-o The meadows.......... So beautiful out there. It's hard to believe that this is so close to us!

Then the features.... Although I didn't hit many of the stuff out there, the stuff I hit were off the charts! Even the roman wall at the end, I was able to do a walk through, and did my visualization, and then was able to hit it just at the right speed and cleaned it! I can honestly say that I had a fantastic day on my bike! I felt good, the bike felt "right", and weather fantastic, the company even better!

The last time I met Aquaholic on the trail was out at San Juan Trail...... the dood is just an amazing rider.

Thanks to everyone in the group for putting up with my lack of speed! Thanks to Jay for the heads up for this ride! And a special thanks goes to Genny for putting this ride together! We have to do this again soon!

 

Looks like an awesome day at an awesome place - I'm happy for all of you who got to share in it.

Genny, next time you're putting something like this together I wanna be your friend too!

 

What an amazing day. Everything seemed to work out perfectly, quite serendipitous really. I don't think any of us knew it was going to be an 8 hour day, but it was 8 hours well spent! And lucky for us, the nice lady with the potatos gave us a big huge bag that saved lives. Mark/stinkyrider was nice enough to haul them around for us.

Not only did we have gorgeous weather, a fun group, and an awesome trail to ride; we even had the King of Noble there to show us around, impress us with his skillz, and get us to try some scary sh*t ourselves. What a perfect day. Onto the pics...


Shannon's friend Mark throwin some style on that log


Jay's second try looked better than the first


Liz nails it


Genny sums up the emotion of the day


Liz is in there somewhere


Aqua Steve doing what he does


I believe this was called "Dental Plan"


How the F--- did he go UP that?


More Aqua gnar


Ken impressed us with hittin this roman wall on the first try, nicely done!


And this guy goes UP the wall!


Steve tried to tell me he didn't like pics of himself, but it turns out he was just joshin.



I can't wait to get back out there again. Can't f***in' wait!! :bang::beer:

 

Bob, you're on my list...but I knew you were doing the Traverse Saturday...

 

Good reports

With all of these glowing reports you guys are ruining Aqua's hard earned ASSHOLE reputation!

 

Jeff, funny you mention that. Just as we were all packing up to leave, Steve pulls up to the lot in his car and showed us the latest edition of Dirt Rag, where he is captioned as such....:lol:

On a different note, I think the next group ride should be the Cannel trail! With the obligatory dunk in the river post ride.....:bang: Just have to wait til Sherman pass opens..... Open, open, open, open..... Is it open yet???:beer:

 

Not yet

We are 1 1/2 to 2 months away from Sherman Pass opening. There is a lot of snow up there and it has been a cold Spring so far.

 

Put me on THAT list!

 

i want revenge on the plunge too!
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apparently i've had bronchitis since last monday, and that first hour or two of the ride I was coughing out what used to be my lungs. I just thought i had a really bad cold???

anywho, on to more pics!

 

I remember him whining like a girl (no offense to females) w/ a snotty attitude at a trail event: "geoladders...you mean ego-ladders"...blah, blah "ego-ladders"...weird coming from someone on a boutique 1 speed rigid...other than that crappy impression he seemed OK when I have seen him riding up there, but I didn't spend a lot of time w/ him...