Sycamore Canyon/Farmer's Market Trail

This morning brought a fun, invite-only DT ride that started differently than expected, but certainly delivered at the end.

I met up with Sean, Brent, Mark, Ben, and about a dozen other DT folks at the Costco in Poway and we headed out en masse.

We quickly encountered a short steep climb, which I was pleased to clean despite the lack of warm-up.

From there we rode some lunch-ride type singletrack that soon took us to Sycamore Canyon Road.

We climbed the road up to the Martha's Grove trailhead.

Where we shed some layers and started up. I cleaned both the entire climb and descent, which felt good and is never a given.

After the fun section out of Martha's we regrouped briefly and headed out into Sycamore Canyon. We rode south through the canyon all the way to the powerline towers, and then climbed up the switchbacks headed back north.

Fun singletrack in the canyon:

Getting ready to head up the switchbacks:

Heading up:

Still climbing in formation:

At least you can see where the trail is headed:

And then the payoff begins:

I actually felt pretty strong all the way up the switchbacks, and even passed a few riders on the way up. Descending felt good as well, as I cleaned all of the downhill switches without dabbing and concentrated on carrying a little more speed than usual.

At the bottom of switchbacks we headed back the way we came through the canyon toward Gooden Ranch House. Once there, we regrouped, rested, and observed the shenanigans:

We then headed back out for more action. I was surprised we hadn't ridden any of Sean's secret Farmer's Market Trail yet, since that was billed as the point of the ride. But I was riding well and having fun, so I was happy to blindly follow along and just try to enjoy the ride and the company.

Leaving the ranch house, we briefly hit a little more singletrack as we headed north:

And then it was time for Cardiac. I had heard about Cardiac, but never ridden it before. It was almost as bad as advertised, and despite riding strong for the first part of the ride, quickly got shot out the back as the goaters flew up the steep grade.

I wasn't last, and didn't have to HAB any of the climb, so I'll take that as a victory. I also enjoyed chatting with Sean during the second half of the climb up, which made it more bearable.

At the top of cardiac, we headed north along the fire road towards the upper Sycamore singletrack. After a few laps around the fun singletrack up top...

...we finally headed over to Farmer's Market. Before heading down Sean and Brent's masterpiece, Sean said a few words:

The trail was obviously a labor of love for him and Brent, and they did an excellent job creating something awesome out of nothing.

I was a little worked by that point, and had some trouble with the early technical sections, going off trail a few times and feeling like a moron. Ironically, once I got control of myself I was able to clean a really fun and challenging rocky section toward the bottom of the trail that several people weren't able to do. Evan was also able to make it, and Sean made this neat sequence shot:

At the end of Farmer's Market, we rode some more fun singletrack that took us under Scripps Poway Parkway and along some bonus trail on the north side of SPP.

We regrouped under the overpass for Sycamore Canyon Road, and several of us decided to take the road back due to time constraints.

It was an awesome ride, and I'm really glad I was able to see Sean and Brent's creation. I met some new DT folks, caught up with several old friends, and rode pretty well overall. Definitely a good day. It was also my first ride with Garmin Edge 705, so now I can include heart rate and accurate elevation figures in my stats postscripts here.

Stats:

Total Distance: 24.38 miles
Total Time: 4:31:19
Elevation gain: 3700 feet
Elevation loss: 3723 feet
Average Speed: 5.4 mph
Top Speed: 26.1 mph
Avg HR: 157
Max HR: 191
Bike: Intense Spider XVP

Garmin Training Center Log

RR: Ted Williams

For the second time in a week, I had an opportunity to do a ride in a spot that is considered "confidential" for most local riders. Doug once again invited me out to an afternoon ride, this time at a spot known as Ted Williams. TW is generally considered a downhiller's ride, and some even shuttle to the top and bomb down. We would be climbing, and for me at least, there would be no bombing. But the downhill was a lot of fun.

I met up with Doug and Sean (GP Pilot) after work after a little trouble finding the trailhead.

They were just finishing their first preliminary run when I arrived, having gotten to the trailhead about an hour earlier. I got geared up and we headed up the main trail toward the top of the mountain. At the bottom of the hill, we passed a large section of jumps and stunts that looked pretty hardcore. Halfway up the mountain we stopped at an outcropping of rock, and could see where some of the maniacs would launch from. Ridiculous.

The climb itself was steady, but not too technical or crazy steep, and while I hiked a couple of short sections (10 feet or so) it was mostly ridable. The views were impressive.

We could even see Black Mountain off in the distance.

We made it to the top, and spent a little time playing around on the concrete launchpad that is there. I jumped off of the sides, which were about two to two and a half feet, but never went off the end, which is closer to three. I wish I had, since it wasn't a particularly big deal, so I'll be taking care of that next time.

From there we did a short downhill section, and then traversed over to the south side of the mountain, where we wrapped around and began another long climb back up towards the top. That one did get to me, and I ended up HABing about the last third. It wasn't techy at all, just steep and sustained. Sean flew up it, and Doug was able to ride the whole thing as well.

Once we finally made it back to the summit, we headed back down again, this time on a less-traveled trail that looked fun. It was, but had several sections that each of us elected to walk down because the penalty for failure was substantial.

Doug did huck one medium drop, which was pretty cool. He did his own RR here.

I had a great time, and was able to cross another new trail off of my to do list. While this one wasn't specfically on my 2008 Ride List, I did add it later in my Q1 State of the Union, so it was nice to get over there. Its very close to home, and was more cross-countryish than I had expected, so I intend to get back there soon.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 5.72 miles

Total Time: 1:45:41

Ascent: 1266 feet

Average Speed: 3.2 mph

Top Speed: 20.4 mph

Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite

Map: [Undisclosed]