{"id":1130,"date":"2013-02-19T17:04:38","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T01:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1130"},"modified":"2013-02-19T19:04:53","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T03:04:53","slug":"variations-of-palm-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1130","title":{"rendered":"Variations of Palm Canyon"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent this past weekend out in Palm Springs with my girlfriend and got in one of Southern California’s Classic Epic rides,\u00a0 Palm Canyon<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0I have done this ride quite a few times but the plan was to do a different variation on the route for this outing.\u00a0\u00a0 All of the logistics has been carefully worked out a day or so before the ride which meant that would be not be how things would actually go down.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Everyone pretty much arrived on time and after some introductions and early morning chit chat while\u00a0jostling bikes\u00a0between vehicles we were on our way out of Palm Springs and\u00a0up the mountain to the upper trailhead.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We met up with most of the San Diego crew at the top and were soon off and rolling through the Pinyon Pines trails which is the most commonly taken variation on the classic route.\u00a0\u00a0 It was really good rolling up and down singletrack goodess before getting serious about dropping into Palm Canyon.<\/p>\n

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Lance, Matt and Ben were the rabbits of the group and they were being mighty zippy with the pace.\u00a0\u00a0 I should have known better than to chase those guys but I’m a slow learner.\u00a0 After\u00a0 a few miles I\u00a0found myself in cardio distress hanging over the handlebars whezzing like a 90 year old chain smoker with screaming\u00a0quads and the only coherent thought I could hear in my melon over the sound of blood pounding through my temples\u00a0was\u00a0 “What The F$%k!”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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After regaining some composer I was back on the peddles and was able to notice what a\u00a0glorious day it was now that I was\u00a0back in my proper place in the whole age\/weight\/fitness lineup.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The thought did not escape me that we connoisseurs of\u00a0 tasty\u00a0malted and hopped beverages seemed to be pushing\u00a0similar paces.<\/p>\n

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Palm Canyon is known for finding weaknesses in your gear and exploiting them. Steve had one of his pedals strip out of the crankarm. We tried a variety of McGuyver options to keep him rolling but as the ride progressed the pedal got worse and worse and worse. He ultimately ended up have to do at least 6 miles of one legged pedaling, hiking and coasting across the desert before you was able to hit a bail out point and head downhill towards civilization.<\/p>\n

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The trail conditions were pretty good despite it being a fairly dry winter in these parts.\u00a0\u00a0 None of the stream\/creek crossing had water in them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Here are Steve, Michael and Evan heading out on the Indian Poterro\u00a0 trail.\u00a0\u00a0 I managed miss every catcus gauntlet on and along the entire trail but I managed to step into a cholla while getting setup for this shot.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I plucked out a good dozen spines and I’m sure I will pluck another dozen out of my leg over the next few weeks as my body works to push out the ones that broke off flush or under the skin.<\/p>\n

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Michael had a couple of the evil chollas jump out and attack his tires over the course of the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Evan was kind enough to donate a Slime tube after the second flat.<\/p>\n

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One of the variations on the route\u00a0involves not going up the 3 mile wash climb and the follow on descent of the Hahn Buena Vista trail which represents a big cost followed by a big reward section of this route.\u00a0\u00a0 Instead we only climbed about 10 percent of the 3 mile Dry Wash and the hung a left onto the East Fork trail where we did some\u00a0rolling ups and downs over to the Vandeventer trail before settling in for a climb along the fern canyon trail up to the saddle of\u00a0 the upper end of Wildhorse and the Clara Burgess trail. \u00a0 The next variation that was being thrown in on this day\u00a0involved taking the Clara Burgess trail up and over Murray Hill and down into the bottom of Goat Trails<\/a>\u00a0with a follow on climb that would take\u00a0us back up near the top of the Goat Trails again.\u00a0\u00a0 I have gone over Murray Hill in\u00a0the opposite\u00a0direction and\u00a0I knew it was going to be a real beater.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After taking stock of what I had left in the tank, I along with three others opted to forgo this section and meet at the next variation point along the Garstin trail.\u00a0\u00a0 Above are some of the manly mens group heading up the Clara Burgess trail.<\/p>\n

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Dave and Michael making their way to the top of the Garstin trail.<\/p>\n

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The peak to the left is Murray Hill and saddle were the manly men started from is off to the right side of the frame.\u00a0\u00a0 If you play a little “Where is Waldo”\u00a0 you can see them working their way up to the Garstin trail.\u00a0 One of the manly men had to bail after Murray Hill from being completely bonked\u00a0to the point of being sick.\u00a0 We ladies of the shortcut crew had spent every bit of an\u00a0hour changing our feminine napkins, snacking\u00a0and napping.\u00a0 Did I mention what a glorious day it was?<\/p>\n

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The final variation on the traditional route today had us dropping the Shannon and Henderson trail out of the Goat Trails.\u00a0\u00a0 Above is the top part of the Shannon trail before it gets really\u00a0steep with a series of hella tight switchbacks.\u00a0 It was a really cool section of trail but not for those who get a\u00a0freaked out when exposure is involved.\u00a0 Blowing\u00a0 some of those switch backs to the outside would not make you a happy camper and could\u00a0net you an appearance on “When Vacations Attack”, “Worlds Most Amazing…” or any one of those other “Awh Shit” shows.<\/p>\n

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As a bit of coolness bonus along this trail you go by Bob Hope’s house.\u00a0 Its the big domed pad on the right hand side of the picture.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Shannon and the Henderson trails dump you out on surface streets that we took back over the traditional bottom of the Palm Canyon route in Von’s Rimrock Shopping Center.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tasty beverages were soon being had along with post-ride\u00a0chit chat before\u00a0more bike jostling ensued before we made our way over to Rancho Mirage for dinner\u00a0at\u00a0 Babe’s BBQ and Brewhouse<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 I helped shuttle folks back up to top before rolling back down to the hill to finish out the weekend in Palm Springs with my girlfriend.<\/p>\n

More Stuff Like This<\/h3><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t New HelmetCam Setup<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t BLT Fun with the Grommets<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t CRHT Recon in East County<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t San Juan Trail<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n<\/div>