So there has not been too much on the MTB scene that I have felt like writing about since I got back from Japan. That does not mean that I have not been riding. I just did not seem too inspired to write about it. I have gotten in a couple of quick spins through Lake Calvera on my singlespeed and even caught the SDMBA San Clemente Singletracks Ride. These rides while fun where just not doing it for me on the trail scene. I have noticed I get like this for a week or two after epic riding trips. I have come to think of it as “Post Killer Trip Depression” or “Epic Lag”. Pick whatever shrink-babble works for you but I was coming off some awesome trail riding and was looking for some new dirt to ride in SoCal.
I had not ridden with Bill O’Neil in freaking ages. Well maybe not ages but nine months is a pretty long time. He busted up his wrist really bad late last year and had to deal with a long recovery. Combined with my traveling schedule earlier this year and the better part of a year just slipped by. It was time to kick this “Epic Lag” in the ass and catchup with Bill on some singletrack. The person who organized this ride thinks it is best to keep the names of these trails “off-the-air” so I’ll leave things as that. While you may find these trail segments on most of the older topographic maps of the San Bernardino National Forest, you will have to be a little adventurous to ride some of these bits.
The rewards were certainly there and it was just what I needed to bust out of the Post Epic Funk.
The trail was just what I had expected, fairly buff and flowing. One thing I had not realized was that I had been missing the continuous moving that is so much easier to do back here in SoCal. The steepness of the terrain in the area of Japan I was in often meant that your riding mileage was often broken up by short hike-a-bike sections. It was pretty awesome to just be able to “go”. At the same time these trails revealed my fitness level for the continuous “go” has been dropping off. Way to many rides of stopping to navigate and take pictures. I suppose there are far much worse ways to get out of shape 🙂
Ultimately we knocked off a good chunk of mileage on some pretty cool trails. We even had time to stop and smell the flowers. It is always refreshing to get on the trail less ridden and try something new. Doing it while catching up with friends is a nice bonus. Oh yeah, there was tasty microbrews waiting in the cooler at the end of the ride.
