![\"View](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/7612845a45f1f02fc53fc90e301c5ea3.jpg?resize=650%2C433\")
<\/p>\nYesterday I planned on attending the San Diego Mountain Bike Associations advocacy meeting at it’s usual location at the Mission Trails Regional Park’s Visitors Center.\u00a0 The meeting was not until 7pm.\u00a0 Just enough time to get in an after work ride, get a bit to eat and get to the meeting.\u00a0\u00a0 I had not been up on Cowles Mountain in a long time so I was excited about hitting it.\u00a0\u00a0 I started from Mesa Road and caught the Mesa Trail.\u00a0 The chaparral had been growing nicely since my last visit and in many spots you are in a vegetation tunnel.\u00a0\u00a0 This was really nice as it was quite toasty when I started so shade and a bit of a breeze kept the bake factor down a little.<\/p>\n
Waterbars, Waterbars, Waterbars…There were just as many as I remembered.\u00a0\u00a0 I like them as it is the uphill ledge action is a good skillset to hone.\u00a0 Since my last visit there has been a lot more go-arounds and widening created.\u00a0\u00a0 Plenty of evidence of both shoes and tires as the culprit.\u00a0\u00a0 Once up on the fireroad the state of my “slackerness” became apparent of the climb up to the top.\u00a0\u00a0 No cleaning this mountain today as twice I had a total cardio redlining followed by a meltdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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While it was not as clear as I have seen it in the past it was still a great viewpoint.\u00a0 The out-and-back to Pyles Peak was great.\u00a0 I basically owned that entire section of trail as I was the only one on it.\u00a0\u00a0 The “in-town” solitude you can usually find on this trail combined with more waterbar action is one of the reasons I like it so much.\u00a0 The returns trip back up to Cowles had plenty of technical climbing challenges.\u00a0 The worst of them come when you are nearly back to the top which means most people (including myself) are nearly spent.\u00a0 There is one set of waterbar switchbacks that I have still yet to clean.<\/p>\n
![\"Cowles](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/7610eafba8db2cbd31d27a5ca8ee35dd.jpg?resize=650%2C433\")
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\u00a0The ride back down the Big Rock trail was a cool as ever.\u00a0 Condition-wise the trail could use some work, but at the same time I like it as morning challenging with the ruts and such.<\/p>\n
Post-ride, I cleanup and head while heading to a nearby store to grab some Gatorade, I spied a treasure that I could not let slip away.\u00a0\u00a0 A bomber of the Stone’s 12 Aniversary Ale<\/a>, A Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout.\u00a0\u00a0 To say it was yummy would be a grand understatement.\u00a0\u00a0 Did I desire so a beer after just a rather small mid-week ride?\u00a0 Well no I did not.\u00a0\u00a0 I owe the beer and bike gods an epic ride at a later date.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0The SDMBA meeting was a good one, lots of stuff discussed\u00a0 There were\u00a0some fresh new faces that are energetic and already taking action\u00a0to further legal mountain biking access in the county.\u00a0 There were plenty of words like jumps, downhill and freeride talked about.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lots of things in the works and you can expect there will be plenty of oppurtunities for\u00a0people to help.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The meeting went long and I was pretty darn pooped by the time I hit the sack.\u00a0 Another good day to be a mountain biker.<\/p>\n![\"Yummy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/726aeda6d8bb2f2680bf1d05ab268f7c.jpg?resize=433%2C650\")
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