We met up at our usual spot in La Mesa and carpooled up to the lower Noble trailhead. The parking lot was pretty full already, though we only saw a few other riders at the bottom.
We headed out of the main parking lot and headed towards the road climb that most people take when doing the full Tour de Noble. Our plan was a little undefined, but the general goal was to explore the lower singletrack and see if there was another route into Noble Canyon itself.Instead of taking the road climb at first, we rode a section of brushy singletrack that was actually pretty fun. From there it was a short climb, and then we had a fun downhill singletrack section that eventually ended up on the trail that I've used in the past as a bailout point when descending Noble when I didn't want to do Extra Credit at the end. Instead of heading east towards Extra Credit, we headed west and began the road climb.
We climbed for a mile and a half or so, and Billy pointed out several spots where we could have linked up with some singletrack that paralleled the road. Instead, we kept climbing.
About halfway up the paved road climb, we reached a spot where Billy knew of a fire road that linked up with some singletrack trails just east of the road. We started up the fire road but were stopped by a guy in a Bobcat who told us that the fire road was closed to hikers and bikers.
We tried to plead out case, but the guy became really agitated, so we doubled back down the road a short distance to where we had seen a trail that headed east which we figured would meet up with the fire road anyway.When we arrived back at that trail, we had some doubts. It was steep, rocky, and looked like there would be some HAB. Also, it wasn't clear from the bottom of the trail whether it in fact did intersect the fire road we had been looking for. After some discussion, we decided to give it a shot.
We HAB'ed for about half a mile up the steep hill, and at a couple of points almost turned back when we couldn't see if the trail intersected the fire road. We perservered just a little higher, however, and were rewarded with the junction we were hoping for. Here is a shot of what we climbed:
From the fire road we headed south (heading north would have taken us back to Bobcat guy very quickly) and began looking for another section of singletrack, which we found after a little while riding along the fire road.
The next section was very entertaining, with some techy spots and tight turns that were a blast. We followed the trail as it wound southeast, and eventually ended up at another fire road that split into two directions. One direction headed east into Noble Canyon. 
The other direction headed southwest, back down towards the paved road. We were not here to ride Noble today, we wanted to explore lower Noble singletrack, so we took the trail less traveled and sailed down towards the paved road. During the descent, a bee apparently flew into my jersey and stung me right on the chest. I reached inside my jersey and pulled the stinger out, but the sting still hurt like crazy. Annoyed but undaunted, we soldiered on.We reached the paved road after a short descent, and instead of taking it back down towards the trailhead, we followed a neat singletrack trail south that paralleled the road for a bit.
It proved to be another fun section of narrow singletrack that clearly didn't get much use. Brush was encroaching on all sides, and we were a little scratched and scraped by the time we reached what we thought was a dead end. We were about to double back and though we'd have to just ride the road back toward the trailhead when Billy suggested we hike up a bit from the dead end to see if we could meet up with the road that way. It turned out to be a good call, and we found that where we stopped wasn't really a dead end, just a place where the brush was a little more dense than even before. We plowed through, and found ourselves at the dirt lot that was next to the road where the Noble bailout trail intersected. From there we headed farther south for just a short bit to ride a fun section of downhill singletrack that was an absolute blast. It was flowy and packed down, allowing me to get up some real speed. At the end of that short section we doubled back on the singletrack we had ridden earlier, and instead of heading west toward the paved road, we headed east toward Extra Credit.
We climbed Extra Credit, and while I was tired, I managed to clean the climb without stopping which was a first for me. We did stop at the top to rest for a minute and prep for the descent, and then we were on our way.
The first part of the Extra Credit downhill is fun and manageable, but it gets much more technical towards the bottom. Back in April I cleaned about 70% of the techy sections on the Enduro, but today I struggled somewhat. I don't think it had anything to do with the Spider itself, which had been a blast to ride all day. Part of my problem was that I was more tentative than usual. I had fallen over earlier on the ride and put a horrible scratch on the lowers of my beautiful new Fox F100 RLC, which had really upset me. As a result, as I navigated the rocky minefield that is lower Extra Credit, I was more worried about falling and scratching up my bike than I was choosing the right line or keeping momentum like I needed to. Also, the trail conditions were a little damp up at Noble today, and while there wasn't any mud or puddles, dirt kept getting in my pedals and cleats, making clipping and unclipping difficult. On the fall that scratched my fork, I was unable to unclip and put a foot down to stabilize myself because of the dirt in the cleat and pedal. With that memory fresh in my head, I found myself walking portions of Extra Credit that I had cleaned seven months ago, which was a disappointment.
I did stop to session a spot or two, and cleaned the ones I focused on trying to make, which was nice.
At the end of the trail I took my traditional picture next to the trailhead sign, and we visitied for a few minutes with a group of guys who had shuttled down the main Noble Canyon trail for a while before heading home.
It was a fun, low-key ride that fit the bill for today. I wasn't up for an epic Noble ride and didn't want to do any of the same old north county rides that I had been doing, so some fun exploration at an easy pace was perfect. It was quite a drive to make for nine miles of riding, but the exploration aspect was worth it.Also, doing a big chunk of the road ride was a good trail run for the full Tour de Noble that I hope to do sometime in 2009. The new trails also provide some fun variations to the Noble route that will make for a more interesting trip out there next time.
Here are the stats:
Total Distance: 9.08 miles
Total Time: 2:24:08
Ascent: 1772 feet
Average Speed: 3.8 mph
Top Speed: 21.1 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:
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