Rocky Peak & Devils Canyon

(& some stuff about Saturday)

We had a good showing Sunday morning at the pink shopping center on Kuehner Drive in Simi Valley. Ten men were eager to ride on a pleasant Sunday morning--the first weekend of Spring 2006! 3 or 4 of the riders had never done Devils Canyon before and not wanting to disappoint, that is where we headed. We first pedaled up the Las Llajas Fireroad, stopping to rest and refuel with apples from Matthew at the top of the climb's steep end.

At the top: Matthew, Reuben, Nelson, Joe, David, Jamshyd, Andy, Brian, & Warner

Next it was on to the fun of the descent of beautiful, shady Devils Canyon. Zipping thru the canyon, splashing through lots of short water crossings, riding sections of shallow stream bed, negotiating around small boulders....with the end result being wet, muddy bodies, muddier bikes, but the broadest of smiles. In fact, the fun was so great that I did not even stop to take any photos in the canyon today. Instead, back at the cars, after the return trip via Santa Susanna Pass Road, Jamshyd and I had a mild dispute as it became apparent that we both had worn the same gown....er, jersey....to the ball.

Pointing angrily at Jamshyd's duplicate jersey, I fumed

But then being the bigger man, I made up with him and we embraced

But before I go I wanted to relay a couple of items regarding Saturday's Sycamore Canyon ride. I was unable to attend because my grandson Alonzo had baseball opening day ceremonies and a game. But SteveW, aka Uncle Louie, did attend Saturday's ride and, because I don't think all of you are on his email list, I am relaying his always entertaining and insightful musings below. But before Uncle Louie's report, a proud grandpa wanted to share a composite photo I created of Alonzo's first at-bat of the season....a base hit to right field!!

and now, Uncle Louie....

Saturday Mountain Bike Riding Report or, Where's Reuben?

Under a sky painted in shades of puffy white and gray, a small gathering of brave and stalwart men met at the end of Wendy Drive for the daring plunge into Sycamore Canyon. Yes, for a second week in a row, I would be traveling through the timeless beauty of the most magnificent landscape this side of heaven, but this time, instead of my ancient (thanks, George) hardtail, I would be riding my plush full suspension steed, virtually oblivious to jarring ruts and rocks as my bike and I would seemingly glide over the path below as though airborne on a pillow of soft clouds. Later, reality would sink in, but at the car, getting ready with Joe, George, John, Steve K, Reuben and his friend Steve, the fantasy was sweet and compelling.

Reuben and his rented pal Steve took off early with the excuse that they would be riding fast and didn’t want to have to wait around for the likes of us. I suppose that with our propensity to stop and gab, there is some truth to his comment, and so it was that George became our ride leader for the day instead of Reuben, primarily because his last name has Rubens in it and that just seems to make sense to me in the upside down, topsy turvey, Alice in Wonderland world I inhabit. And being the remarkably, devastatingly creative creature he is, George chose the exact same ride we did last time. I thought about copying last week’s report here, but that would be cheating and no one likes a cheater because cheaters never win and cheaters only cheat themselves.

The long and short of the ride is that we went up the incessant ascent of the Overlook trail and down the Broke Back . . . I mean Back Bone single track and across the Wood Ranch trail where we answered the question “Where’s Reuben” by finding him and Rent-A-Buddy Steve at the bottom of Guadalasca. We also met up with Shah and Aaron who had ridden up from the coast. We all had a jolly good old reunion, swore to keep in touch after graduation and then went our separate ways.

Wood Ranch trail has a number of small, almost imperceptible water crossings. More puddles really than anything else. Of course, last week I went first through one of those little puddles only to have to swim across to the other side as my bike sank in water much deeper than I thought. Well, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. So, after my swim...

The ride came to an uneventful end as we traipsed back to our cars after about 3 hours of riding, talking, joking around and just plain having a good time. Looking forward to hitting he trails again, I remain your most humble and obedient servant . . .

Uncle Louie

Have a great week.

Robco Baggins