RR: Daley Ranch

Today was redemption day for me, as I decided to attempt to do a full ride at Daley Ranch more than five months after I had tried to ride out there and couldn't finish because I was so tired.

After struggling somewhat at Cuyamaca on Friday night, I had some concerns about how I would do at Daley, so I elected to ride it solo. Armed with Doug's suggested route, and a trail map I found at the Daley Ranch website, I figured I would go at my own pace and do as well as I could. By riding alone, I didn't have to worry about holding other riders up or taking breaks when I wanted to.

I left work a few minutes early, and was at the trailhead a little after 5 PM. I gave my chain a quick lube and got underway around 5:15.

Here was the map that I was using:

I started out on Creek Crossing trail, which I had ridden back in January. As I spun up the climbs, I actually felt pretty good. My pace was generally slow, but I was keeping a consistent speed and not stopping to rest as I made my way over to the East Ridge trail and started up Sage. It was a grind, and I was feeling the ascent as I climbed up Sage, but I wasn't blown out and wasn't even tempted to HAB. I even had a chance to enjoy the views a little as I rode along.

I continued to climb Sage past the connector to Coyote Run, which I had ridden back in January. The ascent continued another mile or so, including this section which briefly went under a neat canopy of trees:

Just past the tree canopy I saw the sign for Diamondback trail, and I made a left. That section included an awesome singletrack descent, with small bumps in the trail that enabled me to get a little air as I swept through the turns. After a little less than half a mile on Diamondback, I made the transition to a section of Coyote Run that I hadn't ridden before, and it was a blast as well. After just over a half mile of awesome swoopy singletrack, I reached the junction of Coyote Run and the East Ridge trail.

I took the East Ridge trail to the right, and rode that fire road for about 4/5 of a mile until it joined Ranch House Road. On my left as I rode by was the Ranch House itself. After passing it, I decided to double back for a quick picture:

Then I turned around and headed north, to the Jack Creek Meadow Loop. I had read on other sites that the Meadow Loop was just a flat spin across the meadow and is essentially a connector to some of the climbing sections in the far northwest part of the Ranch. I agree that the Meadow Loop is not a destination portion of this ride, and I would not consider it a highlight. It seemed to go on forever, and despite the advertisements, I think the northbound side had a slight incline the whole way out. Here's what it looked like as I slogged along:

I rode the entire east side of Jack Creek Meadow Loop, made the turn at the end, and approached the right hand turn for Hidden Spring fire road, better known as Cardiac. Here is what it looks like from the bottom of Hidden Spring;

Not that bad, right? I started my way up, with no idea what was in store for me. That quickly changed as the road morphed from graded fire road to rocky trail in the blink of an eye.

Any designs I may have had on cleaning the whole climb disappeared at the first rocky step-up that I couldn't handle, and it was HAB for me from there on. I did stop to take a picture of the Palomar mountains to the northeast:

The rockiest and most difficult part of the climb ended after about a quarter mile, and when I reached what I thought was the top of the climbing, I stopped for a short break. I ate some Clif Shots and gathered myself, and after three minutes or so re-mounted the bike and continued the ride.

What I didn't realize at that point was that the climbing had only just begun, and the rocky section had been but a preview of coming attractions. The next 3/4 of a mile alternated between moderate to significant climbing, and I was able to ride all of it except for one final steep, short, rocky 100 yard section that I had to HAB. I was also feeling pretty fatigued by this point, but was actually pleased with my overall performance. After having to bail out at the Ranch House back in January, I was chugging along pretty well today.

The climb up Hidden Spring finally ended, and I made a right turn onto the singletrack at Burnt Mountain trail. My legs were a little fried at that point, and I actually had to walk a tiny uphill at the beginning of Burnt Mountain because I lost momentum making the turn and didn't have the strength to get clipped back in and power up the brief climb.

After that I rode the rest of Burnt Mountain, which was a fun downhill singletrack with some short drops and rocky sections that kept me on my toes and provided a nice contrast to the miles of fire road climb that I had been doing. After about 1/3 of a mile, Burnt Mountain intersected Engelman Oak trail, and I made a left at the "T " intersection.

It was back to fire road as I rode along Engleman Oak, but the views were scenic. There was some tree cover alongside and over the trail, and on my right was the "Old Water Tank."

Off to my right was also an even better view of the Palomar Mountain range than I had seen before:

I rode along Engleman Oak for about a half mile, and then made a left onto the Bobcat trail, which was once again a fun and challenging singletrack descent. Bobcat was more difficult than either of the previous singletrack sections, and a couple of times I had to grab fistfulls of my brakes in order to stay on trail or keep from getting more air than I wanted on a particular drop. It was also pretty rocky and rough, and by the end of Bobcat my hands were actually a little sore from the vibration. Nonetheless, it was a fun section, and I had a great time flying downhill and taking the turns as fast as I was able.

Bobcat dead-ended at Cougar Ridge trail, and I took a left at the point of intersection of the two trails. What I didn't know at that point was that the next mile and a half of the Cougar Ridge trail was a steep, rocky uphill climb that for my money was even more difficult than Hidden Spring (Cardiac) had been. Cougar Ridge was not as rutted or rocky as Cardiac, but it felt longer and steeper. (My GPS graph of the elevation of the ride informed me that I am mistaken about that, and Hidden Spring is slightly longer but Cougar Ridge climbs a little higher in less time, which is probably why it felt so difficult.)

I'm not proud of it, but I HAB'ed most of the Cougar Ridge climb and just tried to keep going as the trail unfolded in front of me. I did stop to take a picture of the views to the south, which were expansive:

Eventually, the death march mercifully abated, and I enjoyed a short downhill section of Cougar Ridge before making a left onto the Crest trail, which I believed would be the final singtrack of my ride today. Here is what the early section of the Crest trail looked like:

Crest trail was another fun downhill singletrack, with more short bumps to get air over and sketchy downhill spots that required getting back over my seat and skimming through and over ruts that seemed to be everywhere. I almost got out of control at one particularly rutted section that led to a short drop, but reduced my speed and rolled the drop without stopping or crashing, which was good.

The Crest trail was a mile and a quarter of downhill fun, which I needed after the slog that had been Cougar Ridge. When I reached the bottom of Crest, my directions told me to take a left and ride a very short section of the Boulder Loop trail until it connected with the Ranch House Road, which I would then take back to the car.

I was pleased with myself that at that point, I was on pace to make it back to the car in about 2 hours and 5 minutes, which was only five minutes more than the suggested ride time of 2 hours that Doug's directions had indicated. Even with my HAB(s), I had kept a decent pace and had not fallen too badly of the projected ride duration, which made me feel pretty good.

It was only 7:05, however, and I figured I had at least an hour of daylight left. I was fatigued, but not exhausted, and I was not entirely ready to go home. However, without detailed knowledge of any of the other trails nearby, I decided not to risk getting over my head, and made the left turn on to Boulder Loop trail and quickly turned right on to Ranch House Road to do the short paved ride back to the car.

As I started down Ranch House Road, however, I had a change of heart. I had ridden well today (for me), and still had some gas left in my tank. I could tell on my map that the Boulder Loop was less than two miles long, and had a singletrack section in the middle that looked like it would be fun. After consulting the map for another minute, my mind was made up, and I turned around and rode back west on the Boulder Loop trail in the direction I had come.

I passed the turn for the Crest trail that I had ridden, and continued along Boulder Loop to the west. I turned a corner, and then I saw the first climb. It was steep. I downshifted and spun away, doing my best to keep my cranks turning despite my fatigue and the ascent. After about 2/10 of a mile, I was cooked, and the remaining 3/4 of a mile uphill climb constituted my final HAB of the day. And defintately my slowest.

I stopped a couple of times to rest, and each turn of the trail revealed another uphill section. I finally hauled myself and my bike to the top, passed the turn-off for Cougar Ridge that I would have taken had I not ridden the Crest trail, and continued along the Boulder Loop.

I pedaled away, spinning an easy gear even on the flats, and willing myself up the short moderate climbs that punctuated the north side of the Boulder Loop. Just as I was finally questioning my decision to do this bonus loop, I spotted the sign for Rock Ridge trail. I made the left turn, and rode up two short medium climbs that wound their way along the singletrack. After the climbs, it was all downhill, and I was glad I had decided to ride this section. It was less rutted and rocky than Crest and Bobcat had been, and had some fun bermed turns and up and down sections. I rode the Rock Ridge singletrack until it re-connected with the Boulder Loop, and I made a left turn.

The Boulder Loop continued downhill, and ended with a gnarly fire road descent that was particularly steep and rocky. I was on the brakes the whole way down, and had very little traction as I bumped along the rocks and ruts all the way to the bottom. From there I hooked up with the Ranch House Road, and rode the final half mile section of paved road back to the car.

I had an awesome time on this ride, and left Daley with a sense of pride and accomplishment, particularly in the face of the debacle I had experienced back in January. This time, I had ridden the entire beginning section without major difficulty, whereas I had HAB'ed almost all of it in January. And despite the fact that I still had more than my share of HAB's on today's ride, I think most of them would have presented problems for many riders, and I did significantly better than I could have done in the past.

I had a great time experiencing a new trial, and was aided tremendously by Doug's directions and the Daley trailmap that I brought with me. And despite the brutal climb at the beginning of the Boulder Loop, I was glad I chose to do the bonus section at the end of the ride. I had the time and the legs to do it, and despite the difficulty, it was fun and gave me a sense of accomplishment. But now I totally understand why it wasn't part of Doug's regular route.

I'm also glad I made the decision to do today's ride alone. I'm planning a lengthy post about my feelings on solo vs. group rides, which is inspired by my preliminary thoughts posted in the last portion of my ride review of the Cuyamaca night ride last Friday. But as far as today's ride, it felt great to go at my own pace, take pictures when I wanted to, explore new trails for myself, and HAB when I couldn't ride a section without worrying about holding someone(s) up. Someday I'm sure I'll do a group ride at Daley, but at least now I'll know what I'm getting in to.

Here are the stats from today:

Total Distance: 14.46 miles
Total Time: 2:28:55
Ascent: 2592 feet
Average Speed: 5.8 mph
Top Speed: 25.9 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:

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