Viejoland Anti-Gravity Ride

[JamR]

Another three-park ride adventure

Date – Sunday, June 25th
Time – 7:00 am
Meet – Aliso-Woods Canyon W.P. – Canyon Vistas Gate
Distance – No clue
Elevation Gain – Your guess is as good as mine.
Duration – Have no idea, but this will be a “no drop” ride.

Basic Standing Rule – No Whining (Strictly Enforced)

General course (subject to change on the fly):
Leave from the CV gate into Aliso-Woods around 7:15 or so.
Up Cholla
Down Lynx
Coyote to Rock-it
Up Rock-it
Up Westridge to the T.O.W.
Down Canyon Acres to Deidrich’s on PCH.
Caffeine and Sugar break.
Leisurely ride up the back streets of Laguna and PCH to El Moro.
Up BFI
Up Moro Ridge
Across Missing Link and Fence Line
Down Rattlesnake
Up Mach 1
Down Ticketron
Up Deer Canyon and Red Tail
Alternate Route after Rattlesnake (will take a vote in the park)
Down Mach 1
Up Moro Canyon
Up Elevator
Back across Fence Line and Missing Link
Down Emerald Falls aka BVD
Up Old Emerald
Down Big Bend
Down Laguna Canyon Rd to Stair Steps
Up Stair Steps
Down Rock-it
Coyote and Wood Canyon back to the cars

Wahoo’s for Food and Beer.

Roll Call Time

 

[LBmtb]

8-[ This ride scares me. Maybe one day I'll be able to handle this type of ride . . .

 

[ocrider]

I'm thikn about doing this ride.

 

[Pain Freak]

Adam, this is just plain SICK! But I'm doing the Plunge that weekend so no AG-Day for me. I'll expect a RR from the guys who almost died on this ride.

 

[JamR]

8-[ This ride scares me. Maybe one day I'll be able to handle this type of ride . . .

It's really not that bad of ride. Most of the climbs are short and there is a lot of easy rolling between the climbs, plus the coffee break makes for an easy ride.

Pace will be easy and no one will be dropped.

 

[Andrew]

I'm hoping I can arrange my weekend to be able to do this ride. Looks like fun, in a twisted sort of way. Who else out there is considering it?!?!

 

[pshloss]

I'm a definite maybe. This is my cup of tea. But it's going to get hot down in the lowlands...(whine, whine...)

 

[dstepper]

I rode Aliso this afternoon and it was very pleasant, maybe in the mid-70's. Top of the World was very cool as the fog was close.

 

[ocrider]

ok im in

 

[ocrider]

JamR how many riders are you expecting?

 

[Andrew]

I'll be there for sure!

 

[pshloss]

I'm in.

 

[Andrew]

Not sure if you guys will see this before the ride, but I'm not going to make it afterall.

 

[ocrider]

Awsome ride today! The rest of u guys missed out.

 

[CalEpic]

I'm surprised we didn't run into you guys. Did you guys do that whole route?

There were a ton of riders at Aliso today.

C

 

[ocrider]

ya we thought that we would run into you on steps or on Bommer.

 

[JamR]

Ride Recap.

This was a particularly fun ride today, and the weather cooperated for the most part except for the climb up Elevator and the hike-a-bike up Steps.

I decided to dust-off my geared bike since I was feeling the sting of three rides since Friday night.

phloss and ocrider joined me this morning and we started out right at 7:20 am

We headed strait up Cholla, down Lynx, up Rock-It, and down Canyon Acres non-stop at a steady pace.

We then enjoyed a half-hour coffee and croissant break at the Deidrich’s on PCH.

Once refreshed, we did a quick paced ride up PCH to El Moro, and after a quick stop for phsloss to add air to a slow leak in his rear tire, we headed in to El Moro for BFI.

I brain farted on the first section of BFI and blew ocriders line, but he quickly recovered and shot up the rest of BFI along with phsloss, with myself bringing up the rear.

We rode up Moro Ridge to Missing Link, and after another quick snack break, we rode Missing Link and Fence Line, then decided to head down Deer Canyon for an extra credit climb up Ticketron.

We stopped at the top of Deer Canyon for a few moments looking at Ticketron, waiting for some bikers who were pushing their bikes up the climb to clear the trail. I took the lead up Ticketron and settled into a slow easy pace, and ocrider quickly flew past me on the left (showing off his youth). All three of us cleaned the climb, but ocrider was talking about how his quads were burning after the climb. We didn’t call him on the “No Whining” rule since he was for the most part stating a fact instead of whining, so we continued up No Dogs to the top of Mach 1.

After flying down Mach 1 we headed up Moro Canyon towards elevator, all the way knowing we would be shortly hitting the short-steep hill in the middle of Moro Canyon. ocrider hit the climb first and I followed his lead. Unfortunately since I only get on my geared bike 3 to 4 times per year, I completely forgot how to shift, and instead of down-shifting, I went the wrong way. But once into the climb, I could not drop to a lower gear I struggled until I blew up shortly before the top of the climb.

We headed up Elevator and once again I bobbled on a rock section and blew the line for the others, but we quickly re-mounted and finished Elevator with no problem.

Back across Fence Line and Missing Link, then to a sweet roll down Emerald Falls (formerly BVD). We headed up Old Emerald, walking much of the first half, but cleaning the second half.

Rolled down Willow, crossed the street and headed up Phillips road to Steps. Again, ocrider in his youth took the lead but he was starting to feel the ride. In his youth, he has not learned the patience of an easy low speed rest climb, and once at the top of the asphalt, he stepped off his bike and started screaming about cramps. He came very close to breaking the “No Whining” rule, but we let it go. I just laughed at him as I rode into the entrance to Steps, and took the lead on the hike-a-bike up Steps with phsloss and ocrider behind.

Once at the top we rolled down the back streets to the cars and headed home for the day.

Total time for the day was 4 hours 55 minutes, which included about an hour of rest breaks at Deidrich’s and on the trails.

Still don’t know the distance or elevation gain, but it was a pretty mild ride and everyone had a great time.

I usually do rides like these every other weekend, and I’ll post up the next one shortly.

Sounds like everyone had a good weekend of riding from reading the other posts. See ya on the trails next weekend.:wave:

 

[ocrider]

Awsome ride JamR and Pslosh , I got a great work out. The ride was mild and fun till elevator when the sun started to beat down on us and temps rose. Then we had had a sweet decent on the recently opened emerald falls trail. The temps were cooler on old Emerald, and then we bombed down Willow, and when I clicked out on top of Philips road I got a cramps on my quads that locked up my knees and they didnt go away for 5 minutes. After they went there was a couple more minutes of work and it was all DH back to the cars. Cant wait for the next 1! Just to think this is only a taste of the fun and pain thats gonna be in SSDOP!
OCRIDER :wave:

 

[LBmtb]

I told Matt that he should quit riding for a few months and lose some stamina so the rest of us can maybe keep up. Jk, good job on a tough ride! :bang:

 

[pshloss]

I think you guys covered it pretty well. I'll add one thing: after the hike up Steps in the heat and humidity and only a short ride back to the truck, my jersey was as wet as I have ever had it. It was like someone dunked it in a bucket of water. Nice ride!