DHRR: OMG, I'm in love....

[Slacker]

It was a day of massive changes. Massive new bike, new trail
new abilities discovered.

My buddy called me at 5am this morning to wake me up. We
meet a few hours later at the bottom of Mt. Wilson, and make
the long drive up to the parking lot.

At the top we meet two other DH'ers just packing up, getting
ready to leave. They notice my Turner and come over to check
it out. One of the dudes likes it so much he ask me for an
Allen wrench to fix the bad routing job I did on the front
brake hose. After a brief drool session they leave, and my
buddy comments that they didn't even notice his BigHit ;-( ,
to which I replied, "what BigHit?!?!"

After the initial 1/2 mile hike, we were able to mount our
beasts. It was a really weird feeling at first. It seemed
like there was so much rolling resistance and I needed to
pedal. I think all that weight was like a locomotive
effect; it may take some energy to get it going, but once
it does... Woo Hoo!

I didn't take more than a mile of DH till I felt
comfortable. There was a fairly long, windy, rocky and loose
fire road at the top of the trail. This was the perfect
place to test the Hopey steering damper. I cranked the
adjuster knob several turns and immediately notice even
better handling on the corners. I crank it a few more turns
and completely lay off the brakes. I couldn't believe how
well the bike hugged the trail. It didn't matter how fast I
was going or how far over I leaned the bike into the turns,
no rock or rut would even come close to deflecting the front
wheel. I could choose any line I wanted and the bike would
just roll right over /through everything.

We found some super sweet single track toward the bottom of
the hill. Nice and twisty with water bars and little step
downs all over the place
. It was nice getting the Shiver airborne, even if it was
small air. Plush doesn't even begin to describe the
feeling or I should say lack of feeling. I almost couldn't
even tell when the front wheel landed back down on the
ground after catching some air. I now have a much
preferred landing method for most jumps - front wheel
first. The Shiver is an amazing fork!

All in all, the trail was a nightmare because there was way
too much hiking and fire road. We wore all our DH gear and
it was frig'g hot, but all the discomfort/disappointment was
superseded by my love for the Turner

--
Slacker - will be sleeping like a baby tonight

 

[G.T.]

Slacker wrote:
>
>
> All in all, the trail was a nightmare because there was
> way too much hiking and fire road.

Where in the world did you start from?

 

[Slacker]

G.T. wrote:
> Slacker wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> All in all, the trail was a nightmare because there was
>> way too much hiking and fire road.
>
>
> Where in the world did you start from?
>

I believe it was at or very near Mt Lowe trail. It's in
between Red Box and the observatory.
--
Slacker

 

[G.T.]

Slacker wrote:
> G.T. wrote:
>
>>Slacker wrote:
>>
>>
>>>
>>>All in all, the trail was a nightmare because there was
>>>way too much hiking and fire road.
>>
>>
>>Where in the world did you start from?
>>
>
>
> I believe it was at or very near Mt Lowe trail. It's in
> between Red Box and the observatory.

Did you go through a tunnel on your bikes? Did you shuttle?
Did you do Sunset? Or Sam Merrill? Any REALLY narrow, cliff
edge singletrack? Did you end up at a park or did you end up
at the arroyo overlooking JPL?

Greg

 

[Slacker]

G.T. wrote:

> Slacker wrote:
>
>> G.T. wrote:
>>
>>> Slacker wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> All in all, the trail was a nightmare because there was
>>>> way too much hiking and fire road.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Where in the world did you start from?
>>>
>>
>>
>> I believe it was at or very near Mt Lowe trail. It's in
>> between Red Box and the observatory.
>
>
> Did you go through a tunnel on your bikes? Did you
> shuttle? Did you do Sunset? Or Sam Merrill? Any REALLY
> narrow, cliff edge singletrack? Did you end up at a park
> or did you end up at the arroyo overlooking JPL?
>
> Greg
>
We shuttled it, one car at the Windsor parking lot and the
drop off point up that road a few miles from Red Box. From
the beginning of trail trail: there was a gate that you walk
around that leads into a fire road, which we did an easy
climb for about .5 mi. Then there was a tunnel that we went
thru; not a train tunnel.

That fire road plateaus and it's a several mi DH till we
stopped at an intersection. There was a sign going uphill
called Mt Lowe Trail East at one side of the fire road. On
the other side I believe the trail marker said Mt Lowe camp
ground or something.

We continued down the fire road till we reached a major hub.
There was a single track branching off to the right, which
some dude told us that's one you want to take. It kinda
reminded me of the upper, woodsy part of SJT, but I don't
remember the name of it.

We eventually, came to a shaded area with a stream running.
We could hear the water but not see it. A hiker told us it
dead ends if you go right, which was DH, so we went left.
This dumped us out at small hub. It overlooked all Pasadena,
Echo Mt, JPL... etc.

You could go right which went DH to a whole **** load of
switchbacks that reminded me of the lower SJT spaghetti
switchback section. We went left down a sketchy, rutted and
loose ridge. It ended up a small shoot (about 5") really
steep, which dumped you back onto a another fire road. We
took this road uphill (left) till we saw another single
track branching off it, which we took.

At the end of that track it ended in some pavement and there
were a bunch of trail maintenance people working. We
dismounted and passed thru them to another single track.
This one had a lot of really fun tiny drop offs, water bars,
and rocks in the middle of the trail. It was fast, twisty
and really fun! The Shiver really loved it in there.

This dumped us at another hub. There were a couple mobile
homes there and more pavement. We saw yet another small
track to our right which we took. This one was super smooth
and there was this tall grass lining both sides of the two
foot wide trail. This trail was fast too, and there were a
bunch of made small jumps every 75 yards or so.

Man, I can't seem to remember to much more right now. There
were so many twists and turns. We talked with so many people
asking directions or letting hikers check out my map so they
didn't get lost.

--
Slacker

 

[G.T.]

Slacker wrote:
>
>
> We shuttled it, one car at the Windsor parking lot and the
> drop off point up that road a few miles from Red Box. From
> the beginning of trail trail: there was a gate that you
> walk around that leads into a fire road, which we did an
> easy climb for about .5 mi. Then there was a tunnel that
> we went thru; not a train tunnel.
>
> That fire road plateaus and it's a several mi DH till we
> stopped at an intersection. There was a sign going uphill
> called Mt Lowe Trail East at one side of the fire road. On
> the other side I believe the trail marker said Mt Lowe
> camp ground or something.

Gotcha. Did you notice Echo Mountain, Inspiration Point, Ye
Olde Tavern, or any of the Mt Lowe Railway signs?

>
> We continued down the fire road till we reached a major
> hub. There was a single track branching off to the right,
> which some dude told us that's one you want to take. It
> kinda reminded me of the upper, woodsy part of SJT, but I
> don't remember the name of it.

I believe that was Sunset. It was off to the right of the
main fireroad you had been descending?

>
> We eventually, came to a shaded area with a stream
> running. We could hear the water but not see it. A hiker
> told us it dead ends if you go right, which was DH, so we
> went left. This dumped us out at small hub. It overlooked
> all Pasadena, Echo Mt, JPL... etc.
>

Hmmm, you lost me here.

> You could go right which went DH to a whole **** load of
> switchbacks that reminded me of the lower SJT spaghetti
> switchback section. We went left down a sketchy, rutted
> and loose ridge.

That sounds like the Ken Burton trail or lower Sam Merrill.

> It ended up a small shoot (about 5") really steep, which
> dumped you back onto a another fire road. We took this
> road uphill (left) till we saw another single track
> branching off it, which we took.
>
> At the end of that track it ended in some pavement and
> there were a bunch of trail maintenance people working.
> We dismounted and passed thru them to another single
> track. This one had a lot of really fun tiny drop offs,
> water bars, and rocks in the middle of the trail. It was
> fast, twisty and really fun! The Shiver really loved it
> in there.
>
> This dumped us at another hub. There were a couple
> mobile homes there and more pavement. We saw yet another
> small track to our right which we took. This one was
> super smooth and there was this tall grass lining both
> sides of the two foot wide trail. This trail was fast
> too, and there were a bunch of made small jumps every 75
> yards or so.
>
> Man, I can't seem to remember to much more right now.
> There were so many twists and turns. We talked with so
> many people asking directions or letting hikers check out
> my map so they didn't get lost.
>

Yeah, you did more trails than I thought existed, although I
think I know the 2nd to last one you did.

Greg

 

[Slacker]

G.T. wrote:

> Slacker wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> We shuttled it, one car at the Windsor parking lot and
>> the drop off point up that road a few miles from Red Box.
>> From the beginning of trail trail: there was a gate that
>> you walk around that leads into a fire road, which we did
>> an easy climb for about .5 mi. Then there was a tunnel
>> that we went thru; not a train tunnel.
>>
>> That fire road plateaus and it's a several mi DH till we
>> stopped at an intersection. There was a sign going uphill
>> called Mt Lowe Trail East at one side of the fire road.
>> On the other side I believe the trail marker said Mt Lowe
>> camp ground or something.
>
>
> Gotcha. Did you notice Echo Mountain, Inspiration Point,
> Ye Olde Tavern, or any of the Mt Lowe Railway signs?

I did see several signs. One about some mine... I think the
name of it started with a D, but I can't remember. And I do
remember some sign about a railway.

Echo Mt, is that where there used to be a tram that went to
the top of it.

>> We continued down the fire road till we reached a major
>> hub. There was a single track branching off to the right,
>> which some dude told us that's one you want to take. It
>> kinda reminded me of the upper, woodsy part of SJT, but I
>> don't remember the name of it.
>
>
> I believe that was Sunset. It was off to the right of the
> main fireroad you had been descending?

Yeah, to the right. Sunset sounds really, really familiar.

>> We eventually, came to a shaded area with a stream
>> running. We could hear the water but not see it. A hiker
>> told us it dead ends if you go right, which was DH, so we
>> went left. This dumped us out at small hub. It overlooked
>> all Pasadena, Echo Mt, JPL... etc.
>>
>
> Hmmm, you lost me here.

I got a little lost here myself. I think I'm getting two
totally different sections confused with each other.

>> You could go right which went DH to a whole **** load of
>> switchbacks that reminded me of the lower SJT spaghetti
>> switchback section. We went left down a sketchy, rutted
>> and loose ridge.
>
>
> That sounds like the Ken Burton trail or lower Sam
> Merrill.

Ken Burton doest' ring a bell, not sure about Sam Merrill.

>> It ended up a small shoot (about 5") really steep, which
>> dumped you back onto a another fire road. We took this
>> road uphill (left) till we saw another single track
>> branching off it, which we took.
>>
>> At the end of that track it ended in some pavement and
>> there were a bunch of trail maintenance people working.
>> We dismounted and passed thru them to another single
>> track. This one had a lot of really fun tiny drop offs,
>> water bars, and rocks in the middle of the trail. It was
>> fast, twisty and really fun! The Shiver really loved it
>> in there.
>>
>> This dumped us at another hub. There were a couple
>> mobile homes there and more pavement. We saw yet another
>> small track to our right which we took. This one was
>> super smooth and there was this tall grass lining both
>> sides of the two foot wide trail. This trail was fast
>> too, and there were a bunch of made small jumps every 75
>> yards or so.
>>
>> Man, I can't seem to remember to much more right now.
>> There were so many twists and turns. We talked with so
>> many people asking directions or letting hikers check out
>> my map so they didn't get lost.
>>
>
> Yeah, you did more trails than I thought existed, although
> I think I know the 2nd to last one you did.
>
> Greg

My buddy said his computer only read 14.5 miles by the time
we made it back to the truck. I didn't believe him because
it felt more like 20. I think the last 3 miles were surface
streets though.

That's a big mountain. We need to go back and take that Mt
Lowe single track from the top. It looked like that thing
might be pretty sick.
--
Slacker