Corral Canyon Fire

In a random twist, a brush fire broke out early this AM near the section of Backbone Trail where I almost lost my front teeth yesterday. The Corral Fire is raging hard right now and numerous homes have burned. Hopefully, people are at least safe.

Here's a Google map of the area...


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Click here and here for images of the fire courtesy of latimes.com.

Keep your fingers crossed that Backbone gets spared as it's one of the very best single-tracks around. Here are a few pics from last year...

Post-Thanksgiving Carnage

Met Miles up at Corral Canyon for a post-Thanksgiving Backbone Trail ride. Less than 20 minutes in, took a bad line on a short, steep (but easily rideable) section where the single-track drops down into the dry creek bed. My front wheel hit an exposed rock and stopped dead. Subsequently, went over the bars and face/head first into the rocks.

This was one of the scarier crashes I've experienced. The process of taking physical inventory in the immediate aftermath was pretty stressful. Thankfully, it appears there's no major damage. Will probably need to get my neck looked at though which is scary.

Here are a few pics of the rock I landed on, my Pneumo lid which is now fried and my face...

12 Hours of Temecula MTB Race #3

Raced in the final event of the 12 Hour series Saturday on a team with Nor, Mike and Miles. We finished 10 laps overall with Mike and Nor, our first two riders getting in three and Miles and I doing two each. Our total was good enough for 2nd place in the four-man Open category for the series.

Brett rode in the solo Sport category for the first time finishing an impressive 8 laps. Solo entrants seemed to have gravitated to Sport so his field was pretty thick. Had he been in Expert, his lap count would have gotten him onto the podium. He'll be there soon enough.

Miles had the best time in our group with a fast :58 minute lap on his first outing. My times (both in daylight) were 1:02:30 and 1:03:21. On his third outing, Nor turned a smoking 1:04 night lap; his time would have been even faster had he not crashed and broken his light mount.

Here's a link to my lap 1 info on MotionBased...



Here are a few of my photos...

















This is a great event but it's also quite humbling. To be on the course amongst sponsored riders like the Cytomax/KHS guys turning sub-50 minute laps, single-speeders charging climbs I can barely make in the granny gear and solo riders like Pua Sawicki on the way to completing 8, 9, 10 or even 11 laps is awesome.

SoCal 'Cross Race

Went to the cyclocross races for the first time on Sunday to check things out and root for Carlyn. Her friend Dorothy is one of the organizers and a racer herself. Must say she put on a good event with a nice course, clinics, demo bikes, etc. Check out the race flyer.

Here are a few shots from the Women's Category 3/4 race...





Nor providing moral support at a tricky section...



A few more random race pics...







Looks fun in a painful kind of way.

San Gabriel Loop

Went for a long mtb ride yesterday w/ Nor, Brett and one of Nor's friends. The route started out at the parking lot above JPL in Altadena at around 1,000 ft and then proceeded straight up to 5,200 ft. Here's the elevation profile...



Total mileage was around 30 but the ride took almost 6 hours d/t numerous food stops, a crash, one flat and a lot of hike-a-bike around Switzer. Here's a link to info on MotionBased...



Here are a few photos from the ride...









The single-track from Red Box to Switzer was the highlight of the ride. Saw a number of downhill riders shuttling that section but no XC riders doing the whole loop.

Wednesday Night Ride

Did a local loop last night w/ Nor. Headed up Westridge, down Rusty Car, then down Sullivan Canyon. Dense, low hanging fog made for a trippy ride. Here's a link to info on MotionBased...



Perusing the MTBR forums today, came across this post talking about a mountain lion sighting at the bottom of the Canyon last night. Yikes.

Sycamore Canyon Loop

Rode up in Sycamore w/ Mike, Miles and a work colleague of Miles today. It was overcast at the beach in the AM but super-nice once we started climbing. Took a wrong turn off the Coyote Trail single-track and ended up coming down a different (less fun) way. Here's ride info on MotionBased...



Here are a few pics shot near the start of the Coyote Trail...