{"id":1137,"date":"2013-02-26T15:32:54","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T23:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2013-02-26T15:32:54","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T23:32:54","slug":"trabuco-holy-jim-windfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1137","title":{"rendered":"Trabuco – Holy Jim Windfest"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past Sunday I headed up to the OC to get in some riding in the Santa Ana Mountains.\u00a0 The adventure of the day was going to be the Trabuco – Holy Jim <\/a>which combines two really nice trails that are both great descents.\u00a0\u00a0 The problem is you have to climb one of them.\u00a0 It has been quite a few moons since I had done this loop but I did remember that I climbed Holy Jim and descended Trabuco when I last did it. It only seemed right to give it a go in the opposite direction this time. It wias brisk and breezy when we started off on this lollipop shaped route. Instead of driving up the five mile dirt road to the trailhead we decided to ride it on the bikes on this gradual uphill\u00a0as a warm up. We were only a mile or so up the road when the wind really started howling as the canyon narrowed and funneled the wind right into our faces. The weather reports later showed that the gusts were upwards of 50mph which I wholeheartedly believe was the case.\u00a0 There were a couple of times when I was hunched over the handlebars and grinding on the\u00a0pedals and feeling like I was going backwards. We could not help but laugh as it was just so brutal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Things\u00a0got better once we got further up the road\u00a0where\u00a0the oak trees\u00a0difused the gusts just enough to take the edge off.\u00a0\u00a0 The Holy Jim<\/a> and Trabuco<\/a> trails\u00a0share the same lower trailhead at the end of the dirt road which marks the start of the loop part of this lollipop ride.\u00a0\u00a0 The climb up Trabuco is not a dainty one as you around 2,8000 feet or so over\u00a05 miles and some change.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Additionally the trails\u00a0is often rocky\u00a0puts a little extra bit of tax on the legs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While we were mostly sheltered somewhat from\u00a0the wind we would often got whipped around by wind gusts finding there way here and there through the canyon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

About 3\/4ths of the way up we started to encounter some small patches of snow which is just down right cool here in Southern California.\u00a0\u00a0 I like going out to visit snow vice living somewhere where the snow just likes to come over a visit for a while (or months).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As we neared the top Trabuco Canyon we could hear the wind just ripping through the tops of the trees and howling over the nearby\u00a0ridge tops.\u00a0\u00a0 While knocking back some snacks at the top of the Trabuco trail\u00a0which is also the \u00a0junction of the Los Pinos Trail<\/a> along the Main Divide Truck trail we ran into several groups of riders.\u00a0\u00a0 A couple of guys were doing an\u00a0out and back on Trabuco while another few were doing the Holy Jim – Trabuco version of the loop.\u00a0\u00a0 The guys coming from Holy Jim talked about snow and ice on one of the passes we would be descending.\u00a0\u00a0 We had some minor debate about which\u00a0 direction of the loop was worse for climbing on Main Divide Truck Trail.\u00a0\u00a0 The consenus was that it was uphill in both directions with only minor nuances to be noticed in the “Suck” catergory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We soon headed off on Main Divide which included a bit of downhill fireroad action.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While we did get some wind breaks here and there we were often pummeled by a hella cross wind.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was probably 50 degrees at this elevation\u00a0with \u00a040 mph gusts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tacking on another 25-30mph\u00a0worth of self-imposed wind chill\u00a0was enough to subdue the usual hooting and woohooing\u00a0 when ripping down the exposed fireroad sections.\u00a0 The views along Main<\/span> Pain Divide were impressive with the mountains of San Gorgonio, San Jincinto, and San Antonio\u00a0seen to the west and north.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Pacific Ocean along with San Clemente and Catalina Islands we easily seen to the west.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These views were not cheap on this day.\u00a0\u00a0 The Main Divide Truck Trail’s nickname of “Pain Divide” was certainly fitting today.\u00a0\u00a0 There were quite a few spots were the\u00a0false summits\u00a0mentally beat on you just as much as the grade hammered at quads and lungs.\u00a0\u00a0 The icy descent we were warned about turned out to\u00a0be no where near as a big of\u00a0a deal going downhill as it must have been going uphill.\u00a0\u00a0 There were a couple of exciting moments when the ice, my tires and my brain had to come to an agreement on our\u00a0direction of travel vice the intended direction of travel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u00a0is very rare that I would ever find myself cussing on a downhill, but on the final big downhill I was doing just that as I knew I would just have to start regaining nearly all of this elevation within a minute or two.\u00a0\u00a0On the final climb the wind was just insanely blowing to the point that it sounded like a jet engine.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The cool thing was that the way the truck trail was cut into the side of the mountain we were nearly perfectly shielded from wind even though it was just a few feet above your head.\u00a0 That section of the climb was quite surreal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Once we topped out on that climb it was mostly a traverse or slight descent over to the top of the Holy Jim Trail.\u00a0\u00a0 The Holy Jim trail certainly delivered the goods and it was well worth the effort and pain to get over to it.\u00a0 The sweet flowing narrow singletrack was just awesome and the many sections where you are just flying through a vegitation tunnel did wonders to leave burning quads and wheezing lungs way far\u00a0behind.\u00a0\u00a0 The gravity gods where smiling upon after our sizable offering we had given to them on this day.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When we got back to the trailhead\u00a0and started down the dirt road back to the truck\u00a0we\u00a0had a monster\u00a0tailwind on a gradual downhill.\u00a0\u00a0We zipped by numerous vehicles tip-toeing down the road while we flew over bumps, mudholes and wheelied through the creek crosings.\u00a0\u00a0 We had already cracked open the first post-ride beer before the first truck caught up with us.\u00a0\u00a0 We did\u00a0around 26.5 miles with about 4,300 feet\u00a0of climbing\u00a0 for the day which made the tasty post-ride beverages taste even better.\u00a0 Good Times!<\/p>\n

More Stuff Like This<\/h3><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/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
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/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 Soul Ride in the Laguna Mountains<\/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
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/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 McKenzie River Trail Video<\/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
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/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 The Good Water Rim 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>