The 4th of July weekend was almost upon me, and while I had some time off, I had no idea where to ride. Then Doug gave me a call, and the perfect situation presented itself.I had been following with some interest a series of discussions on STR about a mythical new tunnel out at LPQ that was something of a secret. I was one of the people on the outside of that little circle of trust. Until today.
We met at a trailhead I had never seen before, and were making our way up Powerlines almost out of the gate. It was me, Doug, Evan, and Scott, which made for a great group. Evan was on his singlespeed, which was impressive.
Evan led the way for the early going, and took us all over the singletrack that is up on top of the mesa above the tunnels. There were some really fun sections, including one that had some moderate exposure that got my attention, and we wound our way around for a while up there. All of the singletrack we rode made me miss the intestines a little less, since the terrain and style were very similar.
We skipped Rocking Horse completely, and went down the main tunnel over to the tunnel with the bike at the entrance, thenwent up the fire road and back down the fun downhill section back into the tunnels.
After a short regroup, in which we were regaled with Evan's Canada stories in his accent, we took the traditional climb out of the tunnels and went back up to the mesa for some more upper singletrack.
At that point I became totally lost, which may have been everyone's intent, because all of a sudden we were dropping into the mysterious new tunnel.
It was a lot of fun, and was clearly somewhat less traveled than the others. I caught my camelback on a branch halfway through, and also slipped my chain at one point, so I fell a little behind. Fortunately, Scott waited for me at a juncture, and we caught up with the rest of the group at the base of a pavement climb that took us back to Del Vino.
The pavement climb was steep but not too long, and I made it up relatively well. From Del Vino we went down Cobbles, through the fun up and down section at the end, and then along the canyon floor back to Powerlines. We went up powerlines a bit, then headed back to the car.
It was an interesting ride for me. It felt great to be included, and I always like being "in the know" about new trails. The pace of the group was interesting: when we were riding, the pace was pretty fast, but we stopped relatively often to take breaks. I never felt like an anchor, which is my only real goal for any group ride.
In any event, I really liked this group of guys, and look forward to riding with them again. I won't be posting a google map of the route due to the sensitive nature of the trail, but if anyone reading this wants a tour, I'm sure we can work something out.
We did miss going over to the new section that has some newly built stunts and jumps, which I would have liked to have seen. Maybe next time, if I can find them.
Total Distance: 13.88 miles
Total Time: 2:45:04
Ascent: 1494 feet
Average Speed: 5.0 mph
Top Speed: 20.0 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map: [CONFIDENTIAL]
Evan led the way for the early going, and took us all over the singletrack that is up on top of the mesa above the tunnels. There were some really fun sections, including one that had some moderate exposure that got my attention, and we wound our way around for a while up there. All of the singletrack we rode made me miss the intestines a little less, since the terrain and style were very similar.
We skipped Rocking Horse completely, and went down the main tunnel over to the tunnel with the bike at the entrance, thenwent up the fire road and back down the fun downhill section back into the tunnels.
After a short regroup, in which we were regaled with Evan's Canada stories in his accent, we took the traditional climb out of the tunnels and went back up to the mesa for some more upper singletrack.
At that point I became totally lost, which may have been everyone's intent, because all of a sudden we were dropping into the mysterious new tunnel.
It was a lot of fun, and was clearly somewhat less traveled than the others. I caught my camelback on a branch halfway through, and also slipped my chain at one point, so I fell a little behind. Fortunately, Scott waited for me at a juncture, and we caught up with the rest of the group at the base of a pavement climb that took us back to Del Vino.The pavement climb was steep but not too long, and I made it up relatively well. From Del Vino we went down Cobbles, through the fun up and down section at the end, and then along the canyon floor back to Powerlines. We went up powerlines a bit, then headed back to the car.
It was an interesting ride for me. It felt great to be included, and I always like being "in the know" about new trails. The pace of the group was interesting: when we were riding, the pace was pretty fast, but we stopped relatively often to take breaks. I never felt like an anchor, which is my only real goal for any group ride.In any event, I really liked this group of guys, and look forward to riding with them again. I won't be posting a google map of the route due to the sensitive nature of the trail, but if anyone reading this wants a tour, I'm sure we can work something out.
We did miss going over to the new section that has some newly built stunts and jumps, which I would have liked to have seen. Maybe next time, if I can find them.
Total Distance: 13.88 miles
Total Time: 2:45:04
Ascent: 1494 feet
Average Speed: 5.0 mph
Top Speed: 20.0 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map: [CONFIDENTIAL]
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