Rocky Peak and the Chumash
Trail
Saturday
01-28-06
We had 95 people show up
for today's RCY mountain bike rides. 5 showed up at Keuhner Road in Simi
for the Rocky Peak ride while a rumored 90 joined Amy for an alternate
ride at Dread Locks Canyon. The five who showed at the Pink Shopping
Center were DavidN, Rod, John, George, and RobC, and we were eager to start
our ride. We started by riding around Mt. Sinai Memorial
Park where we had to pause to repair Rod's broken chain and
also observed a coyote on an early morning constitutional.
At the base of Chumash we
headed over to climb Las Llajas Fireroad. The climb was relaxing as
we talked and pedaled thru the tree-shaded canyon. Upon reaching the turn
where the road starts to climb steeply we met a large group of people from
BOMB--Believers on Mountain Bikes--who, after a brief chat, were unable to
convert us from our questionable ways. So up we climbed, passing
the fork to the left that would have taken us to Devil's Canyon, and, instead,
climbed the Rocky Peak Fireroad towards the top of the Chumash
Trail.
A distant speck,
John climbs the steep Rocky Peak Fireroad heading back towards the Chumash
Trail
Smiling now, David
and Rod start the steep climb
Soon we arrived at the top of
the Chumash Trail. One of the primary reasons that we chose today's route
was that John, although having climbed it several times, had never
descended Chumash. Armed, or should I say "headed", with his video camera,
he thrilled his way down the magnificent singletrack. At times fast, at
times negotiating rocky technical sections, we made our way down the
trail. Hopefully John will have time in the near future to edit the
exciting video (he previewed some of it for us back at the cars) and post it on
his site. In the meantime, here are a couple of still shots coming down
the trail.
Doc Rod comes around
a rocky corner
Doc George at the
same turn
At the bottom of
Chumash the group poses for a photo: George, David, "Mickey Mouse Ears" John,
Rod
Back at the cars,
David poses with his unique license plate
The ride at an end, David, Rod
and I went over to the Walck Inn for some tasty vittels and, in my opinion, the
best darned coffee in the world.
Humbly yours,
Robco Baggins
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RCYMountainBiking.com
