A Devilishly Good
Ride
Devils Canyon
Sunday
11-20-05
Another gorgeous fall day in
Southern California had a large contingent of mountain bikers show up at the
Kuehner Road pink shopping center for Sunday's ride. Word had spread
throughout the land about the wonder and magic that is Devils
Canyon. And thus it was that 14 mountain bikers, both RCYers and
others, filled with excitement and anticipation, set out for exploration
and adventure.
Pedaling around Simi's Mt.
Sinai Memorial Park we arrived at the base of the Chumash Trail.
Immediately we had our first bike repair--Ali had a flat.
Riders mill around
while the repair takes place
The repair complete, we headed
for Las Llajas Fireroad--the initial gradual climb thru the beautiful
canyon turned into the final steep ascent where we stopped to regroup, refuel
and rest.
From left: Shannon,
Paul, Mark (3 friends of Roger who joined us), Warner, Roger, Rob (me), Ali,
Reuben,
John
(note the video camera lens atop his helmet--can't wait for the video),
Dean, Joe, Matthew, Jamshyd, and Rod
It was at this high point in
the ride that we began the descent that brought us the real "high" on the
ride. From here it was mostly downhill--a quick left turn at Rocky Peak
Fireroad and a short pedal to its northern terminus brought us to the
"top" of Devils Canyon and the start of the long-awaited E-ticket ride down
Devils. It was all smiles from here.
2 riders, framed by
an oak limb, enjoy the leaf covered path
There were many, many short
creek crossings. Some of them provided a challenging climb up the other
side.
Rod climbs the steep
bank after a creek crossing
Matthew splashes thru a stream
crossing
Jamshyd is all
smiles after a successful creek crossing
Joe grimaces as he
pushes up the opposite stream bank
Reuben (who actually
claimed he liked the ride!) crosses the stream
Roger (relatively
new to our group) "spins" thru the crossing
Our videographer John,
aggressively flying down the canyon, had his now traditional "at least
once-a-ride" mechanical....a rear tire pinch-flat.
Riders assist and
watch as John changes his tire
Although our guest
riders--Shannon, Paul and Mark--had long disappeared down the canyon, the rest
of us stayed more or less together as we continued to wend our way through the
beautiful terrain.
Dean, in spite of a
bloody elbow won after an endo into some rocks, enjoys the
ride
Warner can't believe
he can have this much fun on earth
A photo-painting of
Matthew and Dean swooshing down the canyon
At the bottom of Devils near
the north end of Topanga Canyon Boulevard we took a new pavement route over to
Santa Susana Pass Road which we climbed and descended back to our origin.
Another great ride thru Devils Canyon with our odometers clocking about 18
miles. A few of us went for talk and eats at the local Walck Inn before
ending another wonderful weekend of rcymountainbiking.
Have a great Thanksgiving
Week.
Robco Baggins
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RCYMountainBiking.com
