RR: Noble Canyon

Well I finally did it. As I've mentioned in multiple places on this blog, I've wanted to ride the famous Noble Canyon trail ever since I started biking, and today was finally the day.

After doing Anderson yesterday instead of an exotic out of town ride because of the rain last Thursday, both Joel and I were feeling a little let down. He had tomorrow off because of the holiday, but I didn't, so if we were to do something to make the biking weekend special, we had to take a risk. And so we decided to shuttle Noble.

We left right after church and headed up to the Noble trailhead in Pine Valley. We ditched Joel's truck there, and headed up the mountain with the bikes strapped to the back of the Acura.

On the way up Sunrise Highway we encountered more people than I've ever seen on Laguna in my life. The snow from Thursday had received so much publicity that it seemed like half of San Diego had migrated East to witness this rarest of San Diego county events; snow. Towards the bottom of the mountain, kids were building muddy snowmen on the sides of the road and parents were pushing toddlers down dirty hills dotted with the occasional patch of rapidly diminishing grey snow.

As we drove to the top of the mountain toward the upper Noble trailhead, however, the snow became much more legitimate and was as much as 3 feet in places. About two or three miles from the trailhead, in typical Joel understated fashion, he remarked, "all this snow could make the first part of the ride a little interesting." Prophetic.

We made it to the trailhead and were fortunate to find parking amongst the throng of families thrashing about in the snow. After a few minutes suiting up and taking stock of our conviction to complete this ride, we set off. Sort of.

I was relying on Joel to lead me through this ride. I've obviously never done it, and despite a keen sense of direction, had no idea where the trail was, let alone where to go. And I don't want to spoil the ending, but Joel ended up doing a phenomenal job getting us down the mountain. But that is not to say that there were not some moments where I feared we would be lost in the woods, eaten by bears and our bodies discovered by backcountry hikers sometime in the Spring.

It is also important to note that Joel last rode this trail in the summer more than a year ago. As he pointed out, it looked a little different today covered in 2-3 feet of snow. So we set out and immediately found ourselves riding through thick snow that came up to the middle of our tires and totally obscured large sections of the trail. Undaunted, we plowed on and made it to a section where the trail was pretty much completely visible. We also found the spot where the Noble trail and BLT trails intersect, which will come in handy next time.

As we wound our way down the mountain, the snow became less of a factor, and the trail was actually in great shape. It was unlike any other trail I've ever ridden. We had amazing vistas of the mountains and valleys, tricky switchbacks, densely wooded forests with windy singletrack, flowing streams, and ridiculous rocky sections. This trail has it all.


There was relatively little climbing, and for probably the first time ever, I found myself looking forward to little climbs just to break up the style of riding we were doing. Also, about a third of the way into the ride, my rear break stopped working effectively. As we progressed, I'd put its effectiveness at about 20% of normal, which was scary in parts.

I tackled several gnarly technical sections, and am generally pretty proud of myself and what I was able to ride. We did walk the hairiest sections, but I'd like another shot at them someday. I think with some more practice and confidence, I could eventually handle the whole thing.

We stopped for a couple of minutes in the section of Noble they call "the playground," and while I didn't do any of the really crazy stuff, I did jump the log in the middle of the trail. I actually handled the jump OK, but with no rear brake to speak of, ended up driving into the bushes after I stuck the landing.

The rest of the trail was so demanding and entertaining at the same time that I don't have many pictures. Some of the sections were pretty loose and exposed, and Joel seriously almost went over a cliff at one point when he endoed over a tricky rock on the edge of the trail. He made a nice recovery, and we were on our way. With a little extra caution.

When we reached one of the lower trail splits, we elected to head west for about a half mile and take the fireroad home, rather than tackling the entire lower Noble trailhead. I think the decision was a good one, though I did feel several twinges of regret that we didn't get to ride the entire trail. But finishing lower Noble would have entailed a pretty nasty climb and downhill section, and we were both pretty fried by that point. So we saved the final stretch for another day. Something to look forward to for next time.

Our bikes were absolutely covered in mud, sand, and even some lingering snow when we finished the ride. So Joel had the brilliant idea of going to the do-it-yourself carwash in El Cajon so we could pressure wash the bikes. That turned out to be a great idea, and saved us hours in cleanup.

Nicole was also nice enough to invite me over for dinner with her and Joel, but I had to decline because the chihuahuas had been home alone all day and I needed to check on them.

Overall it was a great day. The snow made things pretty tough at the top, and I felt a little like we cheated by shuttling the ride and skipping the lower portion, but I stayed within my limits and rode some really tricky sections that I wouldn't have tried a few months ago.

I'm really looking forward to doing this ride again in the spring, and maybe I'll even ride from the bottom someday and not shuttle. But I accomplished one of my 2008 MTB goals today, and it felt good. Many thanks to Joel for playing trail guide, riding companion, and good friend as well.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 9.91 miles
Total Time: 2:29:00
Ascent: 1052 feet
Average Speed: 4.0 mph
Top Speed: 21.7 mph
Bike: Specialized FSR XC Pro
Map:

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