I was not planning on riding Saturday. I was going to work on some projects around the house when I turned on my computer early Saturday morning and checked out the RCY Wiki. There I saw a list of quite a few people planning to ride and so I filled up my camelback bladder, emptied mine, pulled on my bike shorts and headed out the door. And I'm glad I did. Thanx to the wiki set up by Rod, I joined with a group of riders for a great ride down fun Devils Canyon on a beautifully warm Saturday in November.

Yes, a Santa Ana condition provided 8 of us with a warm breeze as we headed from the pink shopping center, around the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park to the base of the Chumash Trail in Simi Valley.

[Only one rider is actually in this photo....the rest have been inserted digitally....can you guess who is real?]

From here we headed up the Las Llajas Fireroad. After helping a stranded rider with a flat tire along the way, the group finally arrived at the top of the fireroad climb. A debate about the route to follow ensued at this point and after a lot of arm twisting and crank pulling we finally voted to head to the always fun Devils Canyon downhill. We figured that we should take advantage of this route now before the rainy season makes the area ultra-muddy.

And here is an action series of Andy riding through the water crossing....view as you would read Hebrew--right to left

Near the bottom of the canyon we did some exploring. I suggested that we climb an old "abandoned" fireroad, thinking that it would take us up to the base of the Johnson Trail. Hiking up the steep, rutted road we were blocked at the top by new homes that had been built where the trail used to be. So after a bit of exploration unsuccessfully trying to find a way out, we headed back down the old fireroad. To my surprise, nobody chastized me for my suggested detour. Perhaps it was because the descent down the detour was actually a fun, somewhat technical downhill and most seemed to enjoy it.

At the end of Devils Canyon you climb up a semi-paved road which used to bring us directly to the north end of Topanga Canyon Blvd. But new townhomes are being built here and we ended up having to hike with our bikes over freshly bulldozed land. Some reps in a temporary trailer told us that better access to the trails would eventually be provided. Let's hope so.

From this point we climbed up the pavement, passing thru the Indian Wells (?) development which brought us to the final climb and descent of Santa Susana Pass back to our cars. Half of us then went for a delicious lunch at the newest incarnation of the A-frame restaurant, now called the Old Susana Cafe. I think this one may make it.

And now the answer to the question posed in the first photo above: Andy is the only one who was in the original photo above....everyone else is a digital insert. Now isn't that fascinating?