Mt. Wilson MTB Ride

After failing to reach the top of Mt. Wilson last month, I gave it another try on Saturday via a more direct route with less climbing. Along with Mike and Miles, started at the bottom of Chaney Trail at about 1,500 ft and made it to the antennas at 5,600+ ft.

Here's a Google Map with a few data errors:


View Larger Map

Here's an elevation graph:



A few photos from the trail:



A view of the antennas in the distance from the saddle near Inspiration Point.



Mike (with his new Blur LT) and Miles in front a rock-slide at the tunnel.



A view of the antennas from below.



An encouraging sign on the far side of the tunnel.

The ride was marred by a crash towards the end. Miles went over the bars in a rocky section near the bottom of the Merrill single-track and landed on his head. After the incident, we skipped the Sunset Peak single-track opting instead for the smoother Lower Merrill Trail. He went to Urgent Care the next day and got X-rays which luckily confirmed that nothing was broken. Gnarly.

Friday MTB Ride

Took the day off work yesterday and squeezed in a ride.

Heading up Sullivan Canyon, ran into two Gas Company workers. The latest is that they'll be making minor repairs to the exposed gas line through the spring. The big plow job to create truck access to the pipe up the canyon is scheduled for summer. That should be the end of what's been a fun local trail.



Here are some pics from the ride. The trails are in great shape and everything is quite green. Rusty Car single-track:





Backbone Trail:





What happens when you don't pay attention:

2009 Tour of California Race

A few belated shots from the second-to-last stage of the Amgen Tour of California road race finishing up at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The peloton:



Mavic neutral support in action:



Frank Schleck looking over his shoulder:



Astana riders protecting Levi:

Mt. Lowe MTB Ride

After a lengthy hiatus, I have some worthy material to share.

Rode the San Gabriels on Saturday with Brett and Miles before checking out the Tour of California finishing up at the Rose Bowl. The route went up Brown Mtn, up the Millard single-track, then up Mt. Lowe road. Going down, we hit the middle Sam Merrill Trail, then the Sunset Peak Trail.

Here's a MotionBased Map:



Here's an elevation graphic:



Here are pics from the ride. Heading up the Brown Mtn fire-road.



Hitting snow at about 3,750 feet. From this point on, there was a lot of walking.





At the drop-in of the middle Sam Merrill trail.





Looking out over Echo Mtn and the Mt. Lowe road.