Monday, June 14, 2010

Placerita Canyon Take 2

So Placerita Canyon ended up being a more difficult ride than I realized. I took the GPS yesterday and discovered that it's 1800ft of climbing in 3.6 miles of steep, loose, exposed fire road in searing heat. That may explain why Carie almost died when we rode it the first time.

In any case, it's still a fun ride. The downhill is still oh-so-sweet. This being my second time out there, I did two laps. I may try to keep this tradition alive while building up to the Tahoe Sierra 100; each time I go out to Placerita, I do another lap. It was...hard. And hot. Hard and hot. I'm not in the condition I was late last summer.

View from the climb; Palmdale valley isn't so terrible from far away.

Brief rest at the top. Let my sweaty, tired, slack-jawed visage haunt you forever.

The new bike is magical. I love this thing. At some point I may try that trail that goes out just behind my bike over that ridge; only once I get bored of the descent I'm riding now, though. And that'll be a while.

The entrance to the singletrack. Finally some shade, just too late when I don't need it.

Once of the less well bermed turns. Seriously. I would swear that there are dirt bikes poaching these trails, the berms are so nice. I didn't see or hear any, so I'm not concerned; I just enjoyed railing turns.

I see a lot of this type of view in the summer. Yay exposed fire road!

Good singletrack cannot be valued too highly.

Thank goodness I live in a place with topography.

Am I the snake charmer or what? Not a rattler, looks like a gopher snake.

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