I'm back in Vancouver after an amazing week of riding bikes in Southern Cali with Dakota and Evan, two friends from UBC. Dakota is from San Diego and his parents were nice enough to let us stay at his place. We had our own bedrooms, his mom making dinners and there was even a mini-moto track in the back yard!!! This was nothing like previous ghetto Cali trips that I have done before.
The week was packed with riding. We were up at 8am every morning and on the road by at least 930am to our destination of choice. Unfortunately, we didn't have any proper camera equipment so we weren't able to capture much. The week looked like this...
Day 1: Ted William, Mt. Lemon and Mt. Lime
We were gung-hoe as ever to get on our bikes. We met up with a big crew of Dakota's friends and a couple of Evan's buddies from the Sol Vista bike park and went to Ted Willams. We punched out 3 laps and got our huck on at the bottom where there are some road-gaps and jumps. Next, we went over to Mt. Lemon which a secret trail that Dakota and crew have built. Super steep, wide-open, some big jumps and a lot of rocks. Evan had a big crash and was definitely rattled. Check out this helmet cam http://www.pinkbike.com/video/177102/?trk=vlogo . Mt. Lime is another trail that Dakota has built in San Diego which is similar to Lemon but not quite as crazy. We got one lap in before it was dark.
Day 2: Laguna Beach
Right where the MTV show was filmed. Imagine doing shuttles through the nicest neighbourhood in Cali and then at the top of the hill are amazing single track downhill trails which I bet the residents have no idea about. There are 3 main trails in Laguna beach - Telonics, PG and Silver Surfer (links are videos). Another full day of riding with the Sol Vista guys. Highlight: Matty nearly running me over after I stacked on a rock face.
The view from the top
It was very necessary that we ended the day at the beach...
Day 3: Lake Elsinore
We rode in the morning at Elsinore and then hit the beach to go surfing in the afternoon (link to video). I got punished by a wave, 30minutes in, which broke the leash on by board so my surfing day was done. Evan got pretty pitted as well.
Day 4: Pine Valley
Evan, Dakota and I had to wait for the young guns to get out of school so we went over to a step-down jump that Dakota built a couple blocks from his house. We then met the boys at noon and went to live the Pine Life. There ended up being two truck loads of us.
We started by riding a 35 minute all-mountain trail called Nobble Canyon. Pretty fun with some rad corners and intense rock sections but a lot of pedalling. There were at least 10 of us riding which made it really fun.
Next we went to the infamous Pine Valley jumps and got a pretty good session in. I hit a new hip that I have never done before. I got pretty squirelly on my first run but brought it in for the landing. It started to downpour after that which ended our day. I really wanted to hit a few more of the jumps and drops but couldn't. We went to the Alpine Taco Shop and then home...
Day 5: Iddylwild
Iddylwild is a little mountain town, 1.5 hrs away from San Diego with a population of 700 and one amazing downhill trail. Most of the riders that we talked to in San Diego knew about it but had never ridden there. They are missing out! It is a 20 minutes shuttle on a paved road that drops you off 8000ft feet about sea level which begins a 30 minute downhill trail to 2000ft. The upper trail is full of jumps and berms, the middle is flowy single track and the end is in this little valley with amazing corners and more jumps. You don't need to pedal at all on this trail except for a short fire-road that connects two sections of trail; My type of trail.
We each did 3 runs and we were gassed. Finished the day of with an In-n-Out burger and a chocolate shake. Here is a short video of a few smaller jumps that I found on pinkbike. http://www.pinkbike.com/video/180640/
Day 6: "Picking up the scraps" - Ted Williams, Lemon and Lime
We were still tired and sore after Iddylwild so we did a half day of riding, packed the bikes up, went to Phil's BBQ for some ribs and then checked out the scene at San Diego State University. I was in bed by midnight as my flight to Vancouver was at 6:40am.
An awesome trip!
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