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My Office (nice and cosy with the bike)
Last weekend I had my first ride in Redlands with Jamie and Jared. Alex also came alone with his new bike (brought a week after I arrived – I had nothing to do with it… I swearJ) and had a great time. None of us knew where to go but found some good challenging climbs (or hikes as Alex prefers) and some fun fire road and one good single track downhill. After 15 odd miles of biking we cruised to town and had a great sandwich for lunch. Mmm… Cranberry and Chicken.
Trails at Loma Linda (Jamie had just a wee spill)
The next day I went out with Al. He is a semi pro and so is Rob who also came along. (http://donsbikesraceteam.com/default.aspx) They proceeded to pull my legs apart bit by bit. It was a great ride up in Crafton. Yet another area ridable form home. The up was a bit like the Makara Pk 4wd road (or Rapaki for the Chch lot). Down was a fast single track, open with heaps of Hairpins. Then we went up the highway a bit and hit up 5 miles of sweet as, flowing rocky single track alone the floodplain of a river. Its called the ‘Wash’ and was a ton of fun. Both of them were well impressed that on my first run that on a hardtail I kept up with them. They were fast but I was loving it. Al has a Santa Cruz Nomad along with their sponsored Intense race bikes. So yeah all in all a great time. Can’t wait to get fit again and do some real epics with these fellows and maybe some races. We will see. Depends how well my lungs continue to filter out the smog which at times is real bad.
This weekend Redlands has been host to one of the largest cycling events in the States. Many top riders were here from the States and Europe. The Criterion in the town centre was awesome. The guys have big b**ls I tell ya. The speeds through some of the corners 4 deep are just awesome to watch. Mate on the little half inch of rubber touching the ground its awesome how far the lay the bike over. I also watched some of the road races which were up around where I live a few miles out of the town centre.
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Patrolling the Redlands Classic (looking at his legs you can tell he does not walk... Still he has a gun so I am not going to argue)
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On Sat before the racing I went back out to Loma Linda. This time I had been out during the week with someone from work (Andrew) and knew some of the tracks like Jedi and Razorback. Hehe at this stage I had my new bike. Did not take long aye. It is a Specialized S-Works Enduro. 2007 model and was a bargain. Got it through Don’s Cycles and Al. What a wicked bike. How a full suss should be. No more Jamis’s for me J Anyway the tracks were pretty cool. Pretty sandy and drifty. Razorback is a 4wd track along a ridge. It’s fast with heaps of rollers that you pump. Too much speed and if you are hitting it wrong you eat dirt as you front wheel piles into the next wee roller all wrong or you just lose it as you get kicked from one jumpy thing to the next or thrown in a rut. I was fast on the DMR but jeez the speed on the Enduro is just freaky. One thing I will get good at in these parts will be drifting. The sandy gritty stuff just asks it. Hit the front break at all in some spots and it will dig in and you will be superman for a split second before you crumple to the ground.Today I went out with Al to the lower reaches of the San Bernardino Mtns (The hills where I drove on my last post). I can see that there is going to be some great riding up there to come. Epics galore. Anyway we headed up the Old Californian 38 Highway. It is all slipped in and overgrown but was a great way of gaining some height. Through Angelus Oaks and further up hill. We got out of the pea soup and were well above the cloud layer. I was real impressed with how the new machine pedals. For a 6inch bike it zips up the hill pretty well (must be the new 08 Fox Shox). I guess it’s only 33 pounds, but it will get me fit taking it out lots instead of the hard tail. Anyway got to the top of the hill and dropped into 5 odd miles of sweet single track. It was part of the Santa Ana trail.
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A Mtn store at Angelus Oaks after about 1600 ft of climbing
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View well above the clouds about 5000ft above sea level
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Pushing the new machine up what was near to a small cliff :-)
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Back into the muck
Anyway this single track was sweet. A bit reminiscent of the Craigiburn Trail back home. Scree slopes, drops, rocks, heaps more shingle and some snow not to mention some evil alpine plants. It was wicked trying to hang off the back of Al on his Nomad tearing it up. To think that the Santa Ana track in its entirety is 35 miles of that sorta single track. Can’t wait. After pluggin along this we were back into the pea soup and it was cold. Al got a flat then we charged down the fire roads. I was a bit tentative about getting a 6 inch bike so early (I mean I don’t even have a car yet) but it was sooooo worth it. The ruts and terrain and line picking down these fire roads was wicked at speed with some suspension so swallow it up. I would have been a cripple after doing it on the hardtail, well at speed anyway.
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Take 2: A rocky sketcy swicthback (much steeper than it looks)
So yeah my impression of the mountain biking so far; the tracks in Chch and Welly are better in terms of the ones which are ridable form work/home. However they still seem fun here. Further afield however some wicked riding is to be had just 15 mins drive from home. So yeah I think it’s going to rock. Of course within 2-3hrs drive the options are countless. There is so much to explore. Joshua Tree, Santa Barbara, Fontana, San Diego, Laguna Beach. 5-6hrs hour’s drive = Crafton Mesa in Utah (many here say its better than Moab), Flagstaff and Sedona in Arizona and Mammoth Mtn in Northern California, also the stuff near San Francisco. Bring it on…
Redlands Classic Photos
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Patrolling the Redlands Classic (looking at his legs you can tell he does not walk... Still he has a gun so I am not going to argue)
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On Sat before the racing I went back out to Loma Linda. This time I had been out during the week with someone from work (Andrew) and knew some of the tracks like Jedi and Razorback. Hehe at this stage I had my new bike. Did not take long aye. It is a Specialized S-Works Enduro. 2007 model and was a bargain. Got it through Don’s Cycles and Al. What a wicked bike. How a full suss should be. No more Jamis’s for me J Anyway the tracks were pretty cool. Pretty sandy and drifty. Razorback is a 4wd track along a ridge. It’s fast with heaps of rollers that you pump. Too much speed and if you are hitting it wrong you eat dirt as you front wheel piles into the next wee roller all wrong or you just lose it as you get kicked from one jumpy thing to the next or thrown in a rut. I was fast on the DMR but jeez the speed on the Enduro is just freaky. One thing I will get good at in these parts will be drifting. The sandy gritty stuff just asks it. Hit the front break at all in some spots and it will dig in and you will be superman for a split second before you crumple to the ground.Today I went out with Al to the lower reaches of the San Bernardino Mtns (The hills where I drove on my last post). I can see that there is going to be some great riding up there to come. Epics galore. Anyway we headed up the Old Californian 38 Highway. It is all slipped in and overgrown but was a great way of gaining some height. Through Angelus Oaks and further up hill. We got out of the pea soup and were well above the cloud layer. I was real impressed with how the new machine pedals. For a 6inch bike it zips up the hill pretty well (must be the new 08 Fox Shox). I guess it’s only 33 pounds, but it will get me fit taking it out lots instead of the hard tail. Anyway got to the top of the hill and dropped into 5 odd miles of sweet single track. It was part of the Santa Ana trail.
+001.JPG)
A Mtn store at Angelus Oaks after about 1600 ft of climbing
+003.JPG)
View well above the clouds about 5000ft above sea level
+008.JPG)
Pushing the new machine up what was near to a small cliff :-)
+012.JPG)
Back into the muck
Anyway this single track was sweet. A bit reminiscent of the Craigiburn Trail back home. Scree slopes, drops, rocks, heaps more shingle and some snow not to mention some evil alpine plants. It was wicked trying to hang off the back of Al on his Nomad tearing it up. To think that the Santa Ana track in its entirety is 35 miles of that sorta single track. Can’t wait. After pluggin along this we were back into the pea soup and it was cold. Al got a flat then we charged down the fire roads. I was a bit tentative about getting a 6 inch bike so early (I mean I don’t even have a car yet) but it was sooooo worth it. The ruts and terrain and line picking down these fire roads was wicked at speed with some suspension so swallow it up. I would have been a cripple after doing it on the hardtail, well at speed anyway.
+046.JPG)
+053.JPG)
Take 2: A rocky sketcy swicthback (much steeper than it looks)
So yeah my impression of the mountain biking so far; the tracks in Chch and Welly are better in terms of the ones which are ridable form work/home. However they still seem fun here. Further afield however some wicked riding is to be had just 15 mins drive from home. So yeah I think it’s going to rock. Of course within 2-3hrs drive the options are countless. There is so much to explore. Joshua Tree, Santa Barbara, Fontana, San Diego, Laguna Beach. 5-6hrs hour’s drive = Crafton Mesa in Utah (many here say its better than Moab), Flagstaff and Sedona in Arizona and Mammoth Mtn in Northern California, also the stuff near San Francisco. Bring it on…
Redlands Classic Photos
Mountian Biking Pics in Redlands Areas so far
3 comments:
Dude,
Sounds awesome. Good to know you are adopting the "When in Rome..." approach with the imperial units through out this post!
Awesome to see you are getting into it so quickly!
Hah! 5,000ft.... try 5,000m!!!!
At least I wont be the only one aclimatised to a little altitude when we get up to BC. And good to see some appropriate decoration on the office wall.
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