RCY RIDE
REPORTS
Saturday and
Sunday
October 6 & 7,
2007
In a similar manner that Latigo Canyon
worked her feminine wiles on Uncle Louie's ride last Saturday, so did
Sullivan Canyon beguile me on Saturday. My original intent for this
weekend was to concentrate on the Rocky Peak/Devil Canyon ride on Sunday.
I knew it would have a couple of long, tough climbs and two challenging
downhills and, at my advanced age and crumbling infrastructure, I wanted to
conserve my strength for Sunday's ride. Thus for Saturday, since Caballero
Canyon is close to my home, I planned to either do a short hike there with
my wife or meet the RCY group there and just pedal part way with
the group for the comraderie. But the crisp clean air, sparkling blue
skies, and the autumn feminine charm of Sullivan Canyon tempted me far
beyond my ability to resist.
Saturday
Caballero to Sullivan
Canyon
Well, as you could
guess, I decided to mountain bike with the RCYs who arrived at the
trailhead--George, Dean, Nelson, JohnF, SteveK, and Reuben. The seven of
us headed up Caballero Canyon under clear cool skies. Because I had
planned to head back early, I did not carry my camera with me. But as we
turned east towards Sullivan Canyon, the views across the San Fernando Valley
made me wish I had the camera. On towards Sullivan we pedaled and as
we descended into her depths, the gorgeous canyon revealed her
charms. The trail tread was in great shape, probably because of the recent
freak rain storm, not too loose, hard-packed. The bright sun filtered
through the sycamores and oaks, coloring the canyon floor with shades of
green, yellow, and orange. I could not stop myself and just kept on
riding until I found myself at the bottom of the canyon with the entire
group--smiles on faces all around.
After a brief rest we turned
around and climbed right back out. Pedaling slowly up the canyon allowed
us to appreciate her beauty even more. The temperature was very pleasant
and even the last steep climb out of the canyon was comfortably done. Back
to dirt Mulholland we cycled, most of us choosing to ride The Red Car Trail for
a final thrill before heading for home. Happy I was, but tired too, and
wondering if perhaps I was pushing my limits for Sunday's ride.
Sunday
Rocky Peak
Johnson, Chumash, Las
Llajas, Devil Canyon
We also had 7 riders for
Sunday's ride, but only 6 at any one time. Our new meeting place on
Iverson Drive under the 118 overpass saw Matthew and his friend Bill, Andy,
Jamshyd, new member GeorgeB, and me arrive under blustery skies, ready for the
challenges of the Rocky Peak area. However, our first challenge happened
at 7:45 when the gate into the Indian Wells development was closed and the guard
said we could not enter until 8:00 under the rules of the HOA. But when a
vehicle exited, we made a mad dash thru the opened gate. But the guard
pulled out his howitzer and bazooka and ordered us back under penalty of
death. Four of us returned but the Persian Army continued on, unafraid of
a mere mortal security guard. A few minutes later the law-abiding riders
were allowed entrance, soon catching up with our renegade comrades where Johnson
Trail turned into dirt and the real challenges began.
Up up up and up we
pedaled. Up rutted earth, up rocky ledges, up slickrock, we
struggled along the difficult trail.
With Andy gone
ahead, Matthew, Bill, Jamshyd, and GeorgeB (with pedal-banged shin) rest on
the Johnson climb
Detail of George's
stained sock
Jamshyd leads
George, Bill and Matthew up the slickrock towards blue
sky
Finally arriving at the Rocky
Peak Fireroad, we said goodbye to Bill
who had to head for home. But we traded Bill for The BoneMan Rod (the doc
spent the night and morning "on call") who arrived late, eventually meeting us
at the bottom of Chumash Trail.
Before heading down
Chumash, Andy attaches the faceplate to his imported Italian
helmet
(A face plant
earlier this year in St. George, Utah, apparently has made Andy a wiser
man)
After the five of us
took the wild ride down Chumash, Rod meets us at the end of Flanagan
Drive
Now with 6 riders again, we
headed towards the Las Llajas climb, sharing stories, tales and 'shooting' the
proverbial bull.
Andy looks back at
the huge animal that glared at us and put fear into the common RCYer....and
that's no bull. Or....maybe it is.
At a little past this point
Jamshyd got a flat in his premium $4.95 rear tire. So we stopped
to repair it. After a little struggle trying to pump up a replacement
tube, we finally tried a used spare tube carried by Jamshyd that had about
a dozen patches including a half patch
and several 1/4 patches! Jamshyd is
a very thrifty, ecologically concerned citizen. Waste not, want
not.
The flat fixed, quarter
patches holding, we headed on up the Las Llajas Fireroad. It was the
usual tough, exhausting climb, but at least in spite of climbing into occasional
Santa Ana wind gusts, it wasn't too hot!
Beautiful clear
views awaited us as Matthew approaches the top of Las
Llajas
Next it was a quick jaunt on
Rocky Peak Fireroad over to Devil Canyon for the joyous downhill.
Conditions were great!
At the intersection
of Devil and Ybarra Canyons the group pauses:
From the left:
George, Rob, Andy, Matthew, Rod, and Jamshyd
Matthew insisted on
taking this portrait of Rob
We continued on down Devil
Canyon until we came to the old abandoned, very steep road that we hiked up
to the Indian Wells Community.
You can barely make
out the start of the steep uphill road on the right side of the
photo
A quick ride thru
Indian Wells brought us back to our cars parked under the 118
overpass
Rod, Matthew, Jamshyd and I
enjoyed a relaxing lunch at the Country Deli on Topanga Canyon before ending
what for me was a wonderful, yet exhausting, weekend of mountain biking.
At least I have the rest of this week to try and get out of this
chair before next Sunday's CORBA Fat Tire Fest. Hope to see you
there!
Have a great
week.
Robco Baggins
