Noble Canyon
The group (minus Corby) on "Big Laguna":
This past Saturday four of us took a trip down to Noble Canyon. Noble is somewhere around Cuyamaca and Julian, which is maybe 40 miles east of San Diego. It was a long trip, but well worth it.
Noble has a reputation for being pretty technical, and it didn't disappoint. The rating on GeoLadders was 8.3 out of 10, which is the same rating that Joplin got. I had read some posts on some forums about the trail and all signs pointed towards rocky, technical descents.
To the ride ...
We ended up getting down to the trailhead a little past 9AM. We were all surprised after looking at the directions that the first 10 miles were going to be on the _road_. Needless to say we were all a bit bummed to spend almost half of the ride on the road, but whatever ...
The first 3 or so miles of the road in were pretty killer. The sun was out and in force causing me to sweat a ton. It reminded me of riding last summer in 90+ degree weather. I think everyone in our group was expecting something a bit milder to start and so I think we all were pushing a little harder than normal. Also I forgot to mention three other riders were out and had started before us and we wanted to make sure we passed them.
It was funny because the leader of their group was a girl, which meant we had to pass her "with prejudice". Matt and Andrew both blew her away, but I was nice. I just came up along side her and then gradually passed her. Haha.
We eventually came to a stop on the paved section and waited to see what the plan was. The other group tried to talk us into doing a variation of the trail we wanted to do, but we declined.
The road section went on for quite a while, but it was actually pretty interesting. Being in a new environment takes away a lot of what would otherwise be a boring 10+ mile road ride.
When we reached the campgrounds at the top of the climb we saw a truck full of storm troopers (mountain bike talk for downhill riders with shin guards, full face helmets etc.) getting ready to ride down. This made me a little nervous. I couldn't help but wonder what the trail was going to be like if some other guys were riding with body armor.
The trip down Big Laguna was pretty uneventful. The trail was nice and the scenery was pretty amazing. I kept waiting for some nutso technical section around each corner, but never hit it. I wish I had gone a lot faster down this section.
Eventually we hit the start of the technical riding with about 4 miles left. The anticipation had been killing me, so I was glad to finally see some more challenging riding.
I don't really feel like writing a ton of boring prose today, so I'll bullet point the highlights of the tech sections (in order of importance to me):
- Matt cleared ALL of "Stairway to Hell". This was a really, really impressive thing to witness. The picture I have does not do it justice, but it gives you an idea.
Stairway to Hell:
- I crashed going about 0.5mph on a rock. I ended up going over the bars and landed on my hands and knees. My left knee hit a rock really hard and drew some blood. I felt cool riding the rest of the ride with blood coming down my leg. Makes me look tough.
- I cleared 95% of a pretty rocky/technical section. I walked the first 10 feet and had to put a foot down once, but otherwise rode all of it. It was a pretty long part of the trail and reminded me of Joplin a little.
Rocky Section:
- I spit on Andrew because I didn't realize the wind was blowing into him. Hahaha.
- I rode with my seat down for the last 2-3 miles. This helps me so much on more technical/steep riding. I feel pretty good when the seat is lower.
Me climbing on a lowered seat:
Rolling over a log:
All in all a really fun ride. We ate at Frosty Burger after the ride and had some good conversation on the way home. I really love taking this all day trips to places outside of Orange County. Hopefully there will be quite a few more before the year is over.
Here is a link to the pictures from the ride:
This past Saturday four of us took a trip down to Noble Canyon. Noble is somewhere around Cuyamaca and Julian, which is maybe 40 miles east of San Diego. It was a long trip, but well worth it.
Noble has a reputation for being pretty technical, and it didn't disappoint. The rating on GeoLadders was 8.3 out of 10, which is the same rating that Joplin got. I had read some posts on some forums about the trail and all signs pointed towards rocky, technical descents.
To the ride ...
We ended up getting down to the trailhead a little past 9AM. We were all surprised after looking at the directions that the first 10 miles were going to be on the _road_. Needless to say we were all a bit bummed to spend almost half of the ride on the road, but whatever ...
The first 3 or so miles of the road in were pretty killer. The sun was out and in force causing me to sweat a ton. It reminded me of riding last summer in 90+ degree weather. I think everyone in our group was expecting something a bit milder to start and so I think we all were pushing a little harder than normal. Also I forgot to mention three other riders were out and had started before us and we wanted to make sure we passed them.
It was funny because the leader of their group was a girl, which meant we had to pass her "with prejudice". Matt and Andrew both blew her away, but I was nice. I just came up along side her and then gradually passed her. Haha.
We eventually came to a stop on the paved section and waited to see what the plan was. The other group tried to talk us into doing a variation of the trail we wanted to do, but we declined.
The road section went on for quite a while, but it was actually pretty interesting. Being in a new environment takes away a lot of what would otherwise be a boring 10+ mile road ride.
When we reached the campgrounds at the top of the climb we saw a truck full of storm troopers (mountain bike talk for downhill riders with shin guards, full face helmets etc.) getting ready to ride down. This made me a little nervous. I couldn't help but wonder what the trail was going to be like if some other guys were riding with body armor.
The trip down Big Laguna was pretty uneventful. The trail was nice and the scenery was pretty amazing. I kept waiting for some nutso technical section around each corner, but never hit it. I wish I had gone a lot faster down this section.
Eventually we hit the start of the technical riding with about 4 miles left. The anticipation had been killing me, so I was glad to finally see some more challenging riding.
I don't really feel like writing a ton of boring prose today, so I'll bullet point the highlights of the tech sections (in order of importance to me):
- Matt cleared ALL of "Stairway to Hell". This was a really, really impressive thing to witness. The picture I have does not do it justice, but it gives you an idea.
Stairway to Hell:
- I crashed going about 0.5mph on a rock. I ended up going over the bars and landed on my hands and knees. My left knee hit a rock really hard and drew some blood. I felt cool riding the rest of the ride with blood coming down my leg. Makes me look tough.
- I cleared 95% of a pretty rocky/technical section. I walked the first 10 feet and had to put a foot down once, but otherwise rode all of it. It was a pretty long part of the trail and reminded me of Joplin a little.
Rocky Section:
- I spit on Andrew because I didn't realize the wind was blowing into him. Hahaha.
- I rode with my seat down for the last 2-3 miles. This helps me so much on more technical/steep riding. I feel pretty good when the seat is lower.
Me climbing on a lowered seat:
Rolling over a log:
All in all a really fun ride. We ate at Frosty Burger after the ride and had some good conversation on the way home. I really love taking this all day trips to places outside of Orange County. Hopefully there will be quite a few more before the year is over.
Here is a link to the pictures from the ride:
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| Noble |
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