Just got back from riding Mt Pinos with the big guy. I suffered. Had a
cold with big nasty loogies and lung cookies from Thurs until this morning
and figured a ride up to 8500 ft would be a nice lung cleaner ride. Boy was
I wrong. For some reason my legs were working just as bad as my lungs.
Took me forever to get to the top of McGill Trail, JD was gracious enough to
stop at the most welcome times to give me encouragement. We encountered a
shuttle monkey twice on the climb up the singletrack along with one
unyielding idjit. One nice thing that kept my mind off of the pain were the
large fields of lupine that filled the air with a tasty grape slurpie smell.
Finally we reached McGill campground and Mt Pinos Rd.
In the interest of not keeping us on the mountain for 8 hours I recommended
that we climb the road rather than the Mt Pinos XC ski trails. We slowly
ground our way to the top, JD hanging with me even though I was in a 1 to 1
gear on my multi-geared bike and he was on his 2 to 1 singlespeed. We
reached the XC ski and astronomy area at the end of the road and there were
two huge telescopes set up next to their respective motorhomes in the
parking lot. Again, in the interest of me not dying out there I suggested
that we start our descent.
Thankfully our last two breaks had given me a 2nd wind and the entire
descent was a blast. I lead the first section which is a smoking high speed
XC ski trail with a singletrack mtn bike groove worn in to it, a couple of
rock gardens and stutter bump filled corners and we hit Mt Pinos campground
for the 2nd section. The drop in off of Mt Pinos Rd was pretty cool, at the
top a nice 30 ft steep pitch with a little drop in the middle of it, and
then 100 ft of high speed descent dropping into a canyon and then up the
other side. I let JD lead the next section as my back was getting tight.
This next section isn't as fast but it's got water bar jump after water bar
jump. And these aren't those [censored] steep little 12" ass kickers, these are
perfectly shaped 3 ft smooth launchers with great landing areas and runout.
After we finished the XC ski trails it was time for the coup de grace, the
descent of McGill Trail. What kicked my ass on the way up was not going to
kick my ass on the way down. I lead for the first half with JD right on my
wheel and we were flying. This is a pretty non-technical trail but, damn,
it is really fast in places. About half way down I started making mistakes,
particularly on a 50 yd high speed off-camber straight, I clipped out and
made a high speed dab and got all lined up again but at the next slower
section I let JD by as not only was I starting to ride like [censored] but I lost
my rear brakes.
Now, what the hell is up with my Juicys? I sure have a lot to learn about
hydraulic brakes. I just went down to the garage and pumped the lever a bit
and they now seem to be ok. I don't see any leaky fittings. Do I just need
to check for air in the line? I haven't bled them in a year.
If JD posts his pictures hopefully you won't be able to see the pain my face
on the climb. We didn't stop for photos on the way down as it was just way
too fun to stop.
Thanks,
Greg