{"id":506,"date":"2009-12-24T09:26:11","date_gmt":"2009-12-24T17:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=506"},"modified":"2009-12-24T09:33:03","modified_gmt":"2009-12-24T17:33:03","slug":"golden-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=506","title":{"rendered":"Golden Eagle"},"content":{"rendered":"

This pasy weekend I ventured about as far as I am\u00a0willing to travel for a single day ride.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Golden Eagle Trail<\/a>\u00a0is on Liebre Mountain about 60 miles north of downtown LA.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a long haul from San Diego.\u00a0\u00a0 Why drive that far?\u00a0 Well is a really awesome trail and with the recent snow and rain, the conditions should be prime.\u00a0\u00a0 So I was up at O-Damn Early and headed north.<\/p>\n

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After meeting up with Bill O’Neil in the LA area continued onto the trail.\u00a0\u00a0 We mulled over some kind of epic shuttle but our shuttle vehicle was acting a little flaky so we opted for the out-and-back option.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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It was a rather brisk start when we started the climb up the singletrack, but it did not take long to get warmed up.\u00a0 Most of the main climb up onto the mountain is on its north slope and offered some shelter from the morning breeze.\u00a0\u00a0 The predominate ground cover on the north slope was this incredibly green grass that reminded me on an oversaturated photo.\u00a0 Simply incredible.\u00a0\u00a0 What was not incredible was my climbing speed.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe it was too much breakfast, snacks and coffee on the drive up here but I was having “issues”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By the time I made it up onto the ridgeline I was feeling rather sick and something bad was about to happen.\u00a0\u00a0 It was one of those feelings that creates uncertainity about what should be pointed where.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After some gastrointenstinal “adjustments” I started to feel better and we continued.<\/p>\n

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Once up on the ridgeline we did quite a bit of rolling up and downs with each undulation gathering a little elevation for us.\u00a0 The trail not technical to speak of, just sweeting flowing goodness.<\/p>\n

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There were patches of snow here and there as we cruised along that for the most part were rideable.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the patches were as deep at six inches which offered some challenges to keep going and maintaining control.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After handling a bunch of these patches I got pretty complacent with the stuff, hitting them with more and more speed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One particuarly small looking patch decided to refocus my attention as I got bit sideways in the patch.\u00a0\u00a0Upon leaving the patch and suddenly regaining traction, I\u00a0aburptly switched from out-of-control cyclist to amateur geologist.\u00a0 FYI, there are much easier ways to take soil samples.<\/p>\n

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Soil samples aside, we had a great time on the ridgeline.\u00a0\u00a0 Once the Golden Eagle trail ends you can continue along the ridge on a fire road and explore around a bit.\u00a0\u00a0 We did this for a while until turning around.\u00a0 The return leg was really cool as there was more down than up along the ridge.\u00a0 The final segment is all downhill and it simple rocked.\u00a0 The conditions just don’t get any better.\u00a0 The trail in this section\u00a0was incredible with the perfect balance between traction and speed.\u00a0\u00a0 This trail is also open to motos so most of the turns have\u00a0berms which\u00a0made\u00a0for some insanely fast turns.\u00a0\u00a0 Bottomline – We ripped down this section back to the truck!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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