Almost Viper.....Los Pinetos
Trail
Saturday
12-17-05
Lately I have not been writing
my reports until after the weekend is over, but typing now on the keyboard is
helping to warm up my fingers. Cold was a major
factor facing us during today's climb up the fireroad to the L.A. County Fire
Suppression Camp #9 at about 3800 feet. According to Matthew's cycling
computer, the temperature at the fire station was between negative 5,000
degrees and positive 40 degrees Fahrenheit. And, of course,
that did not take into consideration the wind chill factor....it was blowing
pretty good.
The computer relays
the truth
And then of course there was
the fog bank that we found ourselves in.
View of the San
Fernando Valley far below the fire station heliport
At the top we also tried to
huddle together in a small alcove in order to get warm.
On a cold and foggy
December morn'....ten of us huddle for warmth at 3800
feet.
From the left: John,
Roger, Nelson, Dean, Matthew, Rod, Joe, George, SteveK, and
Rob
(Quiz question: 2 of
us have been digitally inserted into this photo....can you tell
whom?)
After a short refueling break,
we headed back down the fireroad. There was some discussion about trying
to go down the "real" Viper Trail today, but our hands were so cold and the
shivering so intense that it was decided that we should delay that
challenging descent for yet another day....in spite of the warning sign posted
at the Los Pinetos Trailhead.
But before we headed down the
Los Pinetos Trail we decided to cuddle for warmth once more inside the alcove of
an outhouse. In fact, some thought we might be able to interest a
Hollywood movie producer into making a movie about gay mountain bikers
and calling it BROKEBIKE MOUNTAIN.
"Love is a force of
nature"
Not that there's
anything wrong with it
A bit warmed up, most of
us headed on down Los Pinetos, while Joe and George decided the
safer/warmer route would be back down the fireroad. Most of the
singletrack was in pretty good shape. A couple of spots of
walking. Like at the wooden bridge....which was "improved" over its
half-built condition on our last time thru here the end of last
June.
Nelson was the first
across the "improved" bridge
Nelson and Dean help
relay bikes over the bridge
Dean takes a quick
saunter over this modern miracle of engineering
Roger crosses the
bridge a bit more cautiously
The bridge behind
us, we continued on down the trail
At the bottom of Los Pinetos
we hit the pavement for the ride back to our cars. Five of us then drove
over to the Original Saugus Cafe for some fine eatin' and talkin' to end a fine
Saturday of mountain bikin'.
Robco Baggins
Eighteen miles and 2800 feet of elevation gain
