Sunday MTB Ride

Today was spectacular -- 75 degrees and sunny. Rode up the Canyon and down Backbone into Will Rogers.



Hard to believe it's November. The year is basically gone.

Post-Fire Ride

After nine days off, rode the Bianchi across Dirt Mulholland to Mulholland Hwy then down Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon. Was a bit concerned about the air quality but it turned out to be fine. Click on the map for info on MotionBased...



Seeing the burn areas on either side of Malibu Canyon and the charred remains of the church was quite freaky. Here are a few pics taken with the cellphone...

SoCal on Fire

Bailed Catalina early Sunday AM after Bob & Jessica's wedding to avoid getting ruined by the Santa Anas. Smoke from the Malibu Canyon fire blowing directly offshore was visible from as far away as Palos Verdes. Oddly, south of the Palisades, the wind was negligible. Here are photos taken from the water...





Here's a photo of the hellacious-looking evening sky taken from the Marina on Sunday. Phil ended up leaving his boat there when it was too hairball to sail on Monday AM...



This was the eerie scene on the 101 around Camarillo on Monday...



Not suprisingly, air quality is bad from all the particulate matter and trail access could be affected as well. Here's a satellite image grabbed from latimes.com showing all the fires around SoCal on Tuesday. Gnarly.

Fall Night Ride

Went for a great night ride w/ Nor and Andrew after work yesterday. Figured it would be a good idea since I know I'll be off the bikes and having many cocktails this weekend.

Came down Backbone into Will Rogers which was super fun as usual. Total moving time was just under 3 hours and mileage was 27+. Air temps were cool and the ground was still moist after last Friday's rain. Saw a ton of frogs all along the fireroads and trails plus a few owls.

Here's a pic taken at the entrance to the single-track...



Here's a link to info on MotionBased...



Thinking about a Halloween night ride in two weeks which could be very fun. The helmet-cam will be mandatory for that.

Weekend Rides

After the much-needed rain on Friday night, put the 'cross wheelset on the Bianchi and hit the fireroads on Saturday. Went up Westridge, across Dirt Mulholland to the Hub and down Paseo Miramar. For the most part, the ground wasn't muddy but it was soft in places. Here's a link to MotionBased...



On Sunday, rode the Turner up Sullivan Ridge, down Rusty Car, across Dirt Mulholland then down Backbone into Will Rogers. The single-track was in perfect condition: moist, tacky, fast and not a speck of dust.

Hopefully, some people hit the Westridge single-track and packed down the dirt more. Will try to check it out on Wednesday night and report back.

Mulholland Hwy to Encinal Canyon Loop

Did a long one on Saturday going from home to PCH, up Topanga, across Mulholland Hwy, down Encinal Canyon to PCH and back. Here's a cellphone shot of Zuma and Broad Beach taken 3/4 of the way down Encinal.



Total mileage was around 73 and moving time was just under 4:30. Hard to believe this ride is less than 10 miles longer than the Kanan loop from last weekend. Here's a link to MotionBased...