Tonight I had a late hockey game, so when we finished dinner I got a hall pass and shot out the door to get a quick ride in before Rach could change her mind. Now that my regular local ride is essentially gone, I had been thinking about an alternate local route that would be both fun and somewhat challenging that I could do in under an hour.
I'd been itching to ride the Canyon Rim Trail at Black Mountain ever since I did the trailwork there two weeks ago, so I figured that section would at least figure in to whatever local ride I did tonight. Since it was already almost 6:30, I didn't have a lot of time to screw around, so I decided to stick to the trails that I knew on the way there.
I left the house, and made my way over to the dirt fire road that would take me to the 4S "trail" network that runs behind the Boys and Girls Club and around the pond. From there I rode past the Middle School and up Carmel Valley road to the main entrance to Black Mountain Park. I didn't have too much trouble with the paved road climb, though I was in the granny gear most of the time and I did struggle a little with keeping my front wheel straight.
I made it up to the parking lot and took a quick breather to strap on my shin guards, which I had stowed in my pack for the ride over. Rachel and I had actually hiked the Canyon Rim Trail back in January, and at the time, I couldn't imagine riding it. It just seemed too steep, to technical, and too loose for my biking ability. I'm not certain now whether it was the trailwork we did or some advances in my riding skills, but riding it tonight wasn't as difficult as I expected.
The first 150 yards or so are narrow, flat singletrack, which leads to a short bridge followed by a fairly short but steep uphill section.
I bobbled the turn into the section where the bridge is, and had to dismount and walk across, which was annoying. From there I just decided to HAB the 200 yard uphill, since it was pretty steep and slightly rocky.
After the climb, I re-mounted and quickly approached the section that I had worked on a few weeks earlier. I recognized the rut higher up the trail that we didn't have time to fix, and and stopped to take a few pictures of the section that we had fixed.
I restarted, and immediately had to dismount again because I couldn't negotiate the tricky drop and hard left turn at the bottom of "my section." The guys working on that specific part had armored it well, but there was still a series of drops followed immediately by a hard left turn, and I couldn't pull it off. So I walked down it and started again, determined to get some continuity and flow going.
After that, it was smooth sailing. I negotiated some left-over rutted sections, as well as a few additional downhill switchbacks, and before I knew it I was going through the short brush tunnel at the end of the trail that dumped me out on to the paved road.
I knew I wanted another shot at the section of the trail that I had to walk, and wanted to ride Canyon Rim again without stopping for pictures so that I could actually get a feel for it, so I decided to ride back up the paved road to the parking lot and do the whole thing again.
The second ride up was even easier than the first, and I'm starting to wonder if I just need a slightly longer than average warm-up in order to ride effectively. Don't get me wrong, its not like after I get warmed up I'm flying up hills, but I do seem to get stronger after the first 1/2 hour or so of riding, which may be why rides with steep climbs out of the chute (like Daley and Calavera) give me so much trouble. Something for me to think about anyway.
I realized as I began to climb back up the paved road that I had locked out my front fork during the original ride up, and had forgotten to unlock it for the downhill I had just finished. So the entire first trip down Canyon Rim had been done on an essentially rigid front suspension. I am, (as I've mentioned,) an idiot.
I unlocked the fork as I neared the parking lot, and was about to start back down the singletrack toward the bridge when I saw this little guy standing in the middle of the trail:
He stood still long enough for me to snap a pic, then it was time to go. I successfully negotiated the turn into the bridge section this time, and made it across without dabbing or stopping. I even made it up the first short little climb before having to hike the last little uphill section at the very top. Someday I'll be able to ride up the whole thing...
From there I shot through "my section," and was determined to clean the drop and switchback at the end. Didn't happen. I picked too sharp a line, and got sideways in the loose dirt, and went down on my right side, kicking up quite a cloud of dust.
I picked myself up and vowed to clean the rest of the trail, which I did, including the next tight switchback.
I think I would have had an easier time if I had stopped to lower my seat, but since doing so requires an Allen tool, and it was rapidly getting dark, I didn't want to take the time to hassle with it. I think I need to invest in a seat clamp that doesn't require tools to adjust it.
I reached the bottom of Canyon Rim for the second time, and decided that rather than ride down the paved road to Carmel Valley Road and take that home, I'd ride up the paved road a third time and take the fun, short downhill section that shoots off the main trail before Miner's Loop. As I climbed the paved road for the third time, the sun was just starting to set, and I stopped to take this picture as well as the one at the top of this post:
From there I finished my climb to the parking lot, rode the short trail east toward the downhill, and bombed my way back to Carmel Valley Road. This was the section that I had ridden last year where my front tire came off midway down, causing considerable carnage to me and my bike. There were no such incidents this time.
I decided to just take Carmel Valley to Dove Canyon and do a road ride the rest of the way home, rather than double back through the 4S trails behind the pond and B&G Club. I realized at the bottom of Dove Canyon that if I pushed it, I could make it home with a total ride time of less than an hour. So I kept it in the middle ring up Dove Canyon, and made it home in just over 58 minutes total.
It was an awesome ride, and I felt as good as I have in a while. Maybe it was the chance to ride a new section that I'd never ridden before. Maybe it was being able to ride the Canyon Rim Trail after working on it a few weeks ago. Maybe it was not suffering as much on the climbs, and feeling OK about my fitness for the first time in a while. Maybe it was making it there and back in less than an hour, which means this ride or some variation thereof could be my new local ride. Whatever the reason, I came home in a great mood, and it was the most fun I've had on a bike in a while, which was awesome.
Here are the stats:
Total Distance: 6.72 miles
Total Time: 58:31 minutes
Ascent: 919 feet
Average Speed: 6.9 mph
Top Speed: 31.6 mph
Bike: Specialized FSR XC Pro
Map:
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