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Powder Canyon & Fullerton Loop

Yup, I got in two rides this weekend. Both were short totalling about 20 miles, but both were good in different ways.

On Saturday Duke & I decided to tackle Powder Canyon in Rowland Heights, CA. I took the Dahon Fuego for the ride. Rowland Heights is where I grew up but I wasn’t into mountain biking back then so I never road Powder Canyon (or at least this version of it). I had been lobbying our ride administrator (me) to set up a Powder Canyon group ride, but the supremely diligent ride administrator could not find any trail info on it. Since only Duke & I were riding I asked Duke if we could do Powder while also warning him that we may get lost. Thankfully, he obliged.

Powder is a decent out and back fitness ride. There is a grueling climb right off the back that leads to a pretty easy downhill. After that you can pick almost any trail since they all gradually take you northwest towards Schabarum Park. On the way back we decided to go exploring and within 15 minutes, we got dumped back onto a road that lead back to our cars. Realizing that there aren’t a lot of trails in the area to explore (and everything is fireroad anyway), we headed back to the cars via road and headed off to Maxim Cafe for breakfast (for those who know of Maxim Cafe, I too was surprised that they were opened for breakfast).

On Sunday afternoon, a couple of buddies and I met up at the Fullerton Loop for a spin. I took my Gary Fisher X-Caliber for the ride. I was able to compare the Crank Brothers Egg Beaters on the Fuego versus the Crank Brothers Smarty on my X-Caliber. I’ve got some thoughts on the Smarty so you’ll want to check back for the review on them.

There was nothing special to report on the Fullerton Loop ride. Just a couple of guys getting together to do something we all enjoy: hanging out and gettin’ our mountain biking groove on. No injuries and no mechanical problems make for a great ride.

I was able to take the Go Pro Digital Hero 3 on both rides. Having it on my wrist, which doesn’t bother me at all, is so convenient since I don’t have to reach into my hydration pack to pull out my DSLR (and it is a lot lighter than that rock). Here are some pictures I took with the Digital Hero 3:

Powder Canyon


Duke guttin’ it up the first grueling climb


Duke ready for some grub after our ride

Fullerton Loop


Ivan & Jason on singletrack


Jason enjoying the singletrack a little too much


Obligatory post ride shot

For more info on the Go Pro Camera Digital Hero 3, click here.