Ham-Hock Like Training Ride

Old Coach Trail Bridge out... gnarly downhill led to detour.

I was carrying Mac's dyno wheel bungee'd onto my left handlebar as I made my way over to the 8:00 start at Mule Hill. Weather was OK, with temps approaching 50 degrees and the sun was starting to push thru the clouds in the east. Made good time from San Marcos as the 27.5" x 2.8 WTB Trailblazers were quite smooth on the roads with 30psi. Was a little nippy approaching the San Dieguito Valley start. Trail runners all over the place... seems an event today.


Dan Phillips was near his truck as Mac & Keith were getting ready. I dropped off the wheel to Mac and then sped over to Chevron for a ice refill on the bottle. After viewing Keith's new tubeless tire setup & Mac's cheapo tires, we were off just after 0800. Guys were layered up & several had jackets on. Answering "when will it warm up" question with "in 30 minutes you'll be sweating like a dog".. So it was after the 19% climb up to Old Coach Trail.

Horse climb in back-alley trail Poway rutted & washed down.

We opted for our first detour here. I figured it was too gnarly on the power-line road downhill and with the muddy portage at the bottom it made sense. ( I had ridden down there on Wednesday to check things out...not good). Nice downhill riding thru country estate homes and out past a bewildered security guard post. Soon back on Justin Trail, we stopped for several regroups before hitting the back alley horse trails in Poway. Tough H-A-B at the end brought us to a short roadie ride and then back on the downhill dirt. After a park bathroom stop, we soon were at Poway Road 7-Eleven and a refill. Short chit-chat and we were off.


The old route took us straight onto dirt from here. It was really tough with wet mud, so we did the revised roadie route with a Community Road turn thru the Fire Department and back onto a Poway side trail. Nice short ride as we soon were back on the Poway Trail into some drying mud and filled in pea gravel uphills. Dan knew by now that his road rated rear tire wasn't good in this stuff. A regroup or two later, we approached $5 Hill. I've never seen anyone make this climb and today was no exception. Mac gave 'er a go, and fell over. Dan was the cleverest by packing his bike up to the top. The rest of us pushed up.  Regroup time.

Placid look down $5 Hill on Poway Trail. H-A-B time!

Nice rocky trail riding along the ridge-line overlooking Poway. Interlaced were several gnarly rocky climbs thrown in. A long downhill on once smooth packed trails (now rain rutted gutters) brought Mac some dirt-face. Maintained trails awaited along with a few runners as we made our way over to the pump-house by I-15. Real nasty downhill section around the pump-house had been filled in spots. Info regroup and we were off into Penasquitos East Trails.


Passing the "TRAILS CLOSED" sign, Mac made a comment as we soon found out our first bridge-out portage. Not bad as we tipsy-toed across boards and rolled onward. Trail was packed with high-water trash and wood bridge remains. Not to be deterred, we stopped at the split trail signboard for a regroup and to chat with a old trail rider on his FS TREK. Shoes damp as we opted to ride across the water and try the north trail, following the old guy. Rock garden time for the group here. The lowered air 27.5+'s were really nice here, just floating over and not worrying about "picking a line thru the rocks". Into Canyonside Park for water and a blow.

Penasquitos East Trail requires several water portages.

Another "TRAIL CLOSED" sign didn't deter us at all as we entered Penasquitos Canyon North. After a mile, we cut off, crossed a road and took a trail north under the SR-56 Bike Path. I offered Dan a 5-dollar note for clearing the end-of-the-trail H-A-B climb. He took one look and said "not today". Mac gave it a try and went down again. Nice try. We were soon onto the SR-56 Bike Path and into the sun alongside Camino Del Sur Circle K store.


Return trip started with a short roadie north and then we cut off just before Bryn Glen Way. Trail had a big hole which Keith almost went into while jumping over. After a few trail turns and some muddy tires, we stopped at a trail "Y" near Camino Del Sur. Left followed the trail under... the right branch went around and up to the roadway. I suggested to Keith he might opt for the latter. Mac "offered" to keep him company on the roadie route back to Mule Hill. Away they went. Dan & I turned left. That's when the fun started.

This hole nearly swallowed Keith & his Salsa Spearfish!

After several steepish uphills, we made our way toward Black Mtn. Park the trail way. This included several rock gardens and upward side-hills. I was sort-of familiar with this and led out not to be denied. Dan was behind when he disappeared!

Dan's story:  
"Oddly and ironically, Keith as you and Mac rode away I was thinking it would be better if we stayed together in case one of us needed to be carried out after a big get off. Little did I know! Kelly and I were chatting while climbing a notchey little side hill trail and I lost concentration for a nanosecond and the next thing I knew I was tipping over with no place to put my right foot but air. As you can see by the pristine trail we chose I never should have fallen.

At least I landed down in some bushes between the rocks and not the rocks between the bushes! I remember closing my eyes so as not to get my eyes poked out as I flailed through the brush and I heard a big "smack!" I remember thinking "I wonder how much that will cost?" Well the bike hit the rocks and bent the derailleur bracket and broke a tooth off the little sprocket. Lucky for me I kept my newspaper from the morning and so I wrapped it around the derailleur assembly and gave it a twist. After a few tweaks it was good to go. You can see from the photo it was pretty ugly. Up at the park I took a break for some inventory and flat repairs while Kelly chatted it up with a rider about parts sources and the good, the bad and the ugly of retail."

 After ravine tumble, Dan's initial repaired derailleur looked like this.

I heard some yelling, stopped and walked back to check things out. Dan was down in the ravine walking back up with his bottles. After some time, the rear derailleur was close to position and we were off to the Park ahead. Dan went into post-concussion mode and was fumbling around with his tube repair, counting the thorns he was pulling out. I was chatting with a Santa Cruz big-guy rider packing his bike away. He liked my single ring set up and said Bike Bling had a deal on a single ring conversion for only $1500. After I cleaned my pants, I suggested he take his hi-end Santa Cruz back to his dealer and have them do it for cheaper. Dan was finally finished up, so after a mini-medical, we left.

Not wanting to risk a further hanger breakage or blood loss, we opted for a roadie route back to Mule Hill via Rancho Bernardo. Still a few trail runners as we swung around the bike path and back to his truck. We were done for the day. Dan took my 27.5+ for a spin around the gravel lot and then we chatted about tubeless advantages. Local hard core FS rider overheard and added his tubeless knowledge on air pressure. Made sense to me. Dan offered a ride home, so we threw the bikes in the back of his pickup and we were off. Another memorable training ride.


Per report, Keith and Mac made it back to Mule Hill OK... arriving around 2:00 PM. At home, I'm sure they were resting up and ready for the next one.

-randorides