Mountain Bike Bill, The Dirt on the Dirt

ATT Playtime Videos

It had been quite a while since I was last on Anderson Truck Trail. Last week I got back out on it while my long time riding partner in grime, Steve. It has rained a few days earlier which made for some really nice dirt out there. Here some video from the bits we rode.

Also worth noting that I have re-encoded the 2009 video I did out here. This video is hosted on Vimeo as the music has issues on YouTube.

Anderson Truck Trail Playtime

I got in a couple of rides out at Anderson Truck Trail this week.    The first outing was a solo effort and the second was with Steve and Jim.

Winter and some rain has brought back some green to the trail

This view never gets old but it was exceptional on this outing.

The trail had some pretty serious hero dirt during my outing. I had to make some phone calls after that ride.

Steve and Jim joined me for a second visit for the week and once again the dirt was sublime.

There was some rock playtime to be had as well.   Good Times

Friends in Town

I was stoked to have a couple of my Colorado buds roll into town. In addtion giving them a place to shack up and bourbons to sample we got in some riding.

La Costa
La Costa was the local ride.

We had some rain to deal with o. The second day so we went out to Anderson Truck Trail

Anderson Climb
Anderson Climb

The skys looked ominous as we were driving out to the but the there was a large patches of blue sky to the southwest which was where the wind was coming from so I felt pretty good about our chances. Things looked good early on.

Oh Hail
Oh HAIL!

The skys turned pretty quickly and before we knew it we had hail bouncing off our heads. Now we have a bike ride!

Kevin on some SoCal rock

Pretty much by the time we got to the top of the trail the hail and light rain was over and we were back in some sunshine. Time to go back down.

Greg rocking in Socal as well!

I was so stoked to be to return some hospitality back in Kevin and Greg direction.

More ATT playtime

It has been quite sometime since my last ride out at Anderson Truck Trail. The upper section known as “World Cup” is pretty much gone now (or in major disrepair). It was never an above board system as it was on a combination of USFS, private and Indian Reservation lands. The various groups finally got together to put a kabosh on access.

Rock rolling
Plenty of rocks left

ATT on its own is a good climb and descent but its just not the same without the challenges of World Cup.

Tire compression
Tire compression tests SAT!

There are still spurs and loops that can be done from four corners. House of Pain, Spicolli 1 and Spicolli 2 (Your trail names may vary) provide some lollipop options before returning down ATT.

Dusty Trails
Dusty Trails

No matter what your opinion is on the current situation regarding World Cup, the descent down Anderson Truck Trail is still worth the effort to climb.

Return of Wednesday Stoke in Alpine

It had been way too long since I had been out to Alpine for some Wednesday stoke with Steve (AKA Aquaholic).  So some emails were sent and in the very first reply Steve was laying the ground for a lackluster performance.  He saud he has been doing nothing but working on stupid human tricks on his Jet Ski and has not been on the bike in five weeks.

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So I know Steve has been indeed working on said tricks, but not whining about no riding and bad fitness, that’s just classic Steve sandbagging.

 

Not that Steve and I race up Anderson, but I can count on one hand how many times I have gotten up that trail ahead of Steve so I was expecting to call him all sorts of synonyms for sandbagger on the ride.    When we left the trailhead it was 89 degrees and we have gathered enough brain-boil data over the years to safely assume that there a few spots along the climb that are typically about 5 degrees warmer than the trailhead.  After the initial bit of pavement spinning and the opening section of descending the climbing started in earnest.   What the Hell? Steve was already waving me around.   I declined and decided to just ease up and chit chat some.  The kind of idle chit-chat that kills me when I’m struggling as it demonstrates the person behind is not completely winded and its some subliminal pressure to give moving you slug! Steve was talking about the heat.  Now the heat normally kicks my ass, but I had just spent nearly the last month working in the middle-east where the daytime highs got up to as high as 108 and the night-time lows got down to maybe 98 at best.   These low 90’s were just downright refreshing!

After the next wave around, I took Steve up on the offer and he slowly started tailing off.  I was feeling pretty strong and the while I was not trying to push myself up the hill,  I was aware that I gears were ticking over easier than they have in the past.   I’m having and good day and Steve is having a bad time with the climb.

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About a little more than halfway up the climb the trail has been jacked by some four-wheeler folks who got themselves stuck off the trail.  There solution was to bring in a dozer and widen and “clean up ” the trail.

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So I made it up Pistachio Point well ahead of Steve and had time to document the lack of any fresh Steve droppings.

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Shortly after arriving Steve was curled up in fetal position and he even had to use the emergency binky that up until now had only been used to taunt the riders behind him.  Shortly after this picture was taken the thing fell apart from dry rot after it first only usage.

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Once the climbing was done, the tables were turned and life popped back into Steve and he was right back into the airborne routine.  I was a completely different story.   I had not been riding any “wheels off the ground” technical stuff as of late and I had not been out here in a long time.   All the rocks looked bigger and more menacing while the ruts looked deeper.

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I was able to get a little bit of air under the tires but for the most part I did not feel comfortable at all.   I just did not have the feel for it today.    I clearly need to get back out on these kind of technical bits more often.

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The main descent back down was in summer dirt mode and the upper section where the doozer had gone through really removed much of the character of this trail through there.  A few good rains should spruce it back up.   It was good to get back out on the trail with Steve again.   Plans for more Wednesday stoke were plotted over tasty beer and BBQ at Alpine Beer Company afterwards.

More Alpine Playtime

It was time for another round of playing on the rocks out in Alpine yesterday.  There was going to be four of us on this ride.  Brian was going to start later in the day and meet us up top.   Jim was joining us today and this was  going to be his first excursion out here.  It was an amazingly nice day out which made the climb not too terrible.    After a big ride on Sunday and a really descent workout at the gym yesterday my legs felt flat  for the climb up to four corners.   After that point the kinks in the legs seem to work themselves out and climbing was a bit better the rest of the way up. 

I ride out here a plenty and still think a bunch of this stuff is just crazy so I had forgotten just how shell shocking the first time can be out here.    Jim seemed to be digging the place in “You gotta be f$%^ing  kdding me” kind of way.   I recognized the look and it reminded of the things that came out of my mouth during my first exposure to the technical riding of the North Shore of Vancouver BC in 2003.

We fiddle farted around on some of the features while waiting for Brian to catch up with us.

Steve messing around on the “Collar Boner” section of the “Triple Bypass”.

An Old Skool wheels on the ground line.

Jim rolling along

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Brian boosting a rock

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Brian working the 911 roll.

The trail was in pretty good shape and the descent back down the main trail was a blast. (Meaning No Pictures!)   The Exponential Hoppiness  from Alpine Beer Company after the ride was a mighty tasty beverage to enjoy while chatting up the ride and chimping pictures.    There are far worse ways to spend an idle Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday Stoke in Alpine

Wednesday Stoke ride was going off again this week with great weather out in Alpine.    Due to my own discombobulations at the trailhead, I started climbing about 10 minutes after Steve and Evan did.   I tried to tell myself to just do my normal climb but  I did not listen and decided to make a go of catching them by “rest rock”.     I was making pretty good time hustling up the mountain but unfortunately for me it was unsustainable and about 2/3rds of the way up I cracked and went into cardio meltdown.   I was bit of an energyless mess for the rest of the climb and the start of the descent.

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Calm winds = excellent flying conditions

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Evan on the 911 roll

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Steve got himself a flat on the  descent which gave us some time to enough someof the great light of the “magic hour”

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It was the day before Valentines Day so Steve was practicing his puckering up skills!

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After the flat tire delay it was back to downhill funnage!

Back to playing in Alpine

With my various travels over the late summer and fall I have not spent too much time riding in the usual SoCal spots.      Home was home base long enough last week to allow for a bit of playtime out at one of the usual haunts in Alpine, Anderson Truck Trail.

The weather was pretty freaking awesome for December with perfect temps and great winter afternoon light.

I always find it interesting how the rocks look bigger upon my first return out here after some time away from the place.  I was quite happy to stick to two-wheels-on-the-ground play for the day. Whenever I ride while on work trips I make a point to not push my technical limits as the last thing I want to do is have to make a phone call to tell my boss and tell him he needs to fly someone halfway around the planet to take over for me because I jacked myself up out on the trails. All this riding well within my limits makes jumping back into the pushing your limits in the technical arena a bit of a mental adjustment.

Steve of course was up to his usual airbourne antics.

Brian was sporting some air time himself.

With the shorter days we finished up the ride with a only a handfull of minutes of daylight left in the day.    It was nice to be back on some local tech stuff and catch up with some friends I had not seen in quite some time.   I am pleased to report that the beers at Alpine Beer Company still are mighty tasty.

Longest Day of the Year Ride

With Wednesday being the longest daylight day of the year it only seemed right to get out on a bike.   My Wednesdays are normally booked up but this particularly day was open so it was time to hit the trail.

While the temps were nowhere near what they are going to get, they were enough to cause this weather weenie, to suffer on the climb up out of Alpine to the “playgrounds”.  Clearly I have been enjoying plenty of tasty beverages without earning them and the climb was making me pay!    Long climb story short, I sucked on the climb but  I climbed non the less.  

While Steve was up to his usual airborne antics…

I was content just to keep the wheels on the ground and play in the chunk.  

The chunk and rocks were where it was at with me today.   The dirt is definitely in “Summer Mode” which means there are combinations of exceptionally loose dirt combined mega-compacted hard pack that can make for some interesting turns here and there.   It is quite a contrast from the “Hero Dirt” seen out here in the winter time.    There was a bit of relearning to do on some of the trail.   The rocks however are for the most part a know value.  

  

Of course for those that play here all the time it was Perfect Flight Weather.

The “Three Miles of Smiles” descent offered up both adrenaline giggles and a few Oh Crap moments due to some loose bits.   Coming hot out of one corner Steve thought this was a rattler at first but it was a Rosa Boa instead.  These things are pretty cool snakes that are quite docile.   After our feel of Boa fondling we were along our way to the trailhead and onward to Alpine Beer Company for some yummy grub and tasty beverages.   Not a bad use of Summer Solstice in my mind.

Alpine Return

It had been far to long since I have have been out to play on one of my favorite tech play grounds out in Alpine but I finally got back out this week.  This ride was nearly called off due to impending rain, but since San Diego attracts on the sharpest weather guessing minds, the afternoon turned out to be a go.

There was some new trail side decorations on the climb up.  Silly 4x4er, this is a bike trail!

It is funny how after a bit of time away for this trail the rocks look gnarlier upon your return.   

The storm was coming in and the clouds made for some interesting backdrops for pictures that we typically do not see much of here in SOCAL. 

Front row seats for Circ-de-Soul-Steve.   In a rare moment seldom caught on camera Steve did prove that he is indeed not a green blooded alien from a far away solar system in the  in the Dirtus-Major Constellation. 

A mighty fine afternoon on a bike