This past Sunday, Kim, Tony, Steve, Josh and myself met up at Aliso and Woods Canyon Wilderness park to ride what I consider one of the best Orange County All-Mountain rides.  We set out from the lower lot at 9am to pedal up Meadows to Top of the World park, descended and crossed Laguna Canyon Road to pedal up Willow Canyon Road, Descend T&A, cross Laguna Canyon Road again, ascend (walk mostly for me!) Stair steps and finally descend Rock-It to head back out to the car.

Tony entering the Trail

This was a maiden voyage for Tony’s new ride, a Pivot Firebird and he was diggin’ life until a pivot bolt for the upper rocker backed out and caused a failure of the upper rocker.  The bike performed well up to that point and we were able to rig a make-shift repair to avoid a long walk back to the car.

Joshua descending the last bit of T&A

Joshua is a newer rider, but did pretty amazing on this ride.  Not a whimper or complaint the entire way, no angry accusal of attempts to end his life by taking him to trails this challenging, instead he was a great riding partner, he realized if he really had to think about it, it probably would be better to walk down some sections and by the end of the day his skills had increased.  Way to push your riding Josh!

Steve leading Tony at T&A

Steve is always a hoot to ride with.  He’s got endurance to burn, a penchant for holding conversations uphill as my lungs burn and Steve’s always excited to hit new trails (this was his first ride here).

Kim near the bottom of T&A

Kim also was new to this trail and man she impressed me.  Kim will roll over or through most anything!  It’s funny that though I may look like I’m doing something faster or better than Kim…the reality is that I’m trying to jump over, hop or avoid the obstacles that Kim is riding on top of.

I took some video with the awesome Vholdr Contour HD 1080p camera, check it out below.  The camera has been awesome, however I’m disappointed in how much the vented helmet mount rattles around, though I think I can remedy that by adding some foam to the mounting surface.  Enjoy the vid!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Last Saturday, we met up with Joe,Cons, Gabe “Dr. Thunda”, AV Dan along with The Animal and Lil’ Animal.

We started at the lower parking lot of Aliso Woods. To reach the top of a trail called Cholla, we had to ride 2 miles on the main fire rode before ascending another 7-11 mins of granny gear riding.

The Animal and Lil’ Animal were leading the group as they muscled their way up the trail.

Here’s Gabe “Dr. Thunda”. He’s not a real Doctor, but he can give you a thorough exam on the trail.

Resting at the top of Cholla. Eric likes to pack his Ergon BD1 with enough drinks and snacks for his daughter Dana. One time he even had chicken nuggets in there!

Priscilla and Joe sporting their SRC Championship Jerseys.

We decided to go down a trail called Lynx. This is a super fun, fast and technical (at times) single track. Since AV Dan knew this trail like the back of his hand, he lead the group, Joe and I followed. We quickly approach a few trail workers and come to a stop. We let them make their way up and when it was time to go, Dan and Joe led first. I proceeded to roll about a foot, then my front wheel got caught on a rut, and OTB I went! I landed with my left arm across my chest, and face on the ground. The wind gets knocked out of me and I’m grunting and squirming trying to catch some much needed air. At the same time, one of the trail workers starts asking me tons of questions about my shoulders, my neck, and etc. He basically wanted to make sure I was ok. But when you’re in the middle of pain like that, you just want to be left alone. Anyhow, I try to sit up, my knee is banged up, I see Priscilla rolling, and asked if I was ok. I slowly get up, made sure all my fingers, hands, shoulders and penis was working fine. I’m good.

I get back on the bike and hurry to get to the bottom of the trail I catch up to Dan and Joe. I gave quick explanation of what happened. Within a few minutes, the adrenalin wears off, and I start to feel the pain. From the stinging sensation on my knees (road rash) to the aching pain radiating from my ribs. We were supposed to go back up Cholla, but because of the pain, I tell the group to go ahead and I’ll meet them back at the car. The 2 mile ride back to the car wasn’t too bad. I’d occasionally wince from the pain in my ribs. I never went to the doctor, but I’m sure they’re not broken, possibly bruised.

Picture taken at the bottom of Lynx.

2 days later, I’m feeling my ribs even more. It hurts when I laugh, sneeze, cough or anything with the same type of motion. I can’t even tie my shoes without it hurting. At this point, I’m really bummed out. I just started training for all this downhill racing that I wanted to do, but now I’m side lined by an injury! ARGH! Pretty frustrating. Luckily I was able to get on the spin bike last night for about an hour. I’m going to try and maintain my cardio level that way when I’m all healed up, I didn’t lose any valuable conditioning time.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Vholdr Contour HD Vented Helmet Mount in Box

Here are MtnBikeRiders.com we’ve been tasked with testing the Vholdr Contour HD 1080P camera, and though the initial impressions are awesome, the lack of a vented helmet mount left a bitter impression in the staffers minds. The goggle strap that comes with the camera is awesome, relatively secure and adjustable. The rub was, just how often does a mountain biker wear goggles? For most of us, that’s during DH shuttle runs and maybe free-riders. Here in sunny so-cal there just aren’t that many shuttle runs to explore and most of which could be ridden comfortably on a 6″ all-mountain bike.
So what does all this babbling lead to? Most mountain bikers wear XC style lids most of the time! This left us hoping for a vented helmet mount. Well, Vholdr was aware of this and was working hard behind the scenes and the wait is over!

The mount is similar to those used by Nite-Rider to mount helmet lights.  A dual strap arrangement that loops through your helmet vents.  The mount also has a three-position tilt adjustment feature which is very helpful in getting that picture just right.

Mounted to my XC skid lid

With Camera

We’ll be taking advantage of a break in the busy holiday schedule to squeeze in a ride with our newbies on the Fullerton Loop, I’ll try to take some video with the mount and post the results here.  Stay Tuned!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This was another fun filled weekend on our fat tires. For RL and I, we’ve had a great weekend riding. On Saturday, we shuttled the Troy Lee trail in Corona, for some downhill fun. A video of our ride will be posted shortly.

Sunday morning started off in a bad note for me. I was meeting my bro-in-law Cons so he can follow me to the trail. Along the way to our meeting point, I wasn’t paying attention and made an illegal U-Turn – result… a ticket.

This morning we headed to Aliso Woods, one of our favorite trails. We were setting for a chillaxin’ ride. It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these “relax vibe” sessions. Meeting me at the trail were RL, Priscilla, my son Jared, Cons and our friend Gabriel (Gabe).

Today’s ride was extra special for me as it’s been 10yrs since my son has been on the trail with me. Last time we rode together he was at a young age of ten. We started our ride up Cholla. Once up top we headed to Rock-It for a fun descent. At the bottom we rode on Coyote Trail towards Dripping Cave. On the way back we saw some wildlife. There was a family of deer and about twenty feet away a coyote. We watched for a bit waiting for something happen, but turned out to be nothing.

It was a great ride. No pressure, just riding from point A to point B. We had several cameras today. RL had a camera mounted on his frame and I wore a chest mounted camera. Cons also brought a camera and mounted on his handlebars, however as we started our descent on Rock-It, the mount broke. Below are two videos from RL and I, enjoy…

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I had super long week that started with Sea Otter and ended with some business travel to North Carolina. I finally came home on Friday night and was looking forward to some weekend riding. I sent out my usual email telling people about a trail I had planned on riding. One of our riding buddies, Dan B. told me he’d meet me at the trail the following morning.

After climbing up Cholla, Dan and I rode down a fun trail called Lynx. This trail offers fast rolling descent as well as small portions of rock garden. By the way, my weapon of choice was the KHS XCT 555…sweet bike.

We then headed back up Cholla and while Dan and I were on a photo break, guess who rolled around the corner, The Animal-Eric Hunner! We chit chatted a bit and then we continued our ride. I swear, Eric is one strong rider, Dan and I watched in amazement on how Eric sprinted up the hill on his single speed as Dan I labored with our granny gear…

After going down a fun rock garden, we stopped at the same spot where we first met Eric over a year ago. While we rested, a couple walked up the path and started talking to us. The gentleman stated that they had a hard time walking it and said that it would be nearly impossible for us to ride it.

If you didn’t know this about Eric, if you say that he CAN’T do something, he’ll set out and prove you wrong. Once he hears someone say that, he’ll say, “Sounds like a personal goal…” then he’s off to do it.

At this point, Eric rode down the hill and back up just to show the couple he was able to climb it on his single speed…

We then stopped at Dripping Caves to take our mandatory group photo.

All in all, a great day. I was super happy that I had a chance to go riding. I love Aliso Woods because it offers so much fun trails. Kinda makes me wish I lived closer to it. Thanks again to Dan and Eric for being part of the ride.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This past Thursday I headed to Aliso Woods.  I’ve been dying to try a new route that would take me from Aliso to El Moro.  I downloaded the route through Geoladders.com however for some reason from the start of my ride, I could not get the GPS to navigate and direct me to the right path.  I decided to forego this new route and stick to my normal ride when riding Aliso.  It would be up Cholla, down Rock-it, up Cholla again, then down Lynx.  Heading down Rock-it was a blast as usual. Floating over the rocks on my 6.6 is something I could never get tired of.   Reaching the bottom I turned into Coyote trail towards Cholla for my second round of climbing. 

Approaching the bottom of Lynx trail I see a female rider stopped.  As I reached her, she asks “do people go up this trail?”  I said “No, typically everyone comes down this as it’s a fun descent”…. It was obvious that she has never been to Aliso Woods before.  Fast forward the conversation, she introduces herself “Hi, I’m Jill”.  I then recognized her and asked “Jill Kintner???” With her pretty smile she says yes and asks if she can tag along.  Now I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to ride with a World Champion and a Bronze Medalist from this past Summer Olympics … so I said “Let’s go, I’ll give you a tour”.

                          BMX- Bronze Medal, 2008 Olympics

From here, we headed towards Cholla to climb back up to the top.  For those who are not familiar with Cholla, it’s a long grind up on switchbacks which are steep in several sections.   From the top of Cholla, we rode towards Lynx and went down on this rocky/rutted singletrack.  Fortunately my helmet cam cooperated and I was able to record the ride (although I cut most of it out on the video below as it was too jarring). 

Bronze grips for a Bronze Medalist. 

Typically I would be finished with my ride call it quits by now.  But since the World Champ wasn’t done yet, I wasn’t ready to end the day.  She asked what other sections were fun in Aliso.  The only thing I can think of was coming down Mathis, but that means we’ll have to climb Cholla again.  Up for the third time, but by now my legs are starting to give.  I actually stopped somewhere in the middle to rest for a bit, while the World Champ was cruising to the top.  From the top of Cholla I had a chance to rest some more.  Jill was on the phone so I took the opportunity to grab my phone and text RL saying “You’ll never guess who I’m riding with”   From here we headed towards the top of Mathis.  Now Mathis is another fun descent; longer, however not as technical as Rock-it or Lynx.  Reaching the bottom, we headed back towards Cholla where we parted ways. 

               Jill and I at the top of Cholla. 

Jill was fast on both descents.  Quite impressive for someone who wasn’t familiar with the trail and rehabbing a knee.  Man, what an experience!  How often would one have a chance to give a Pro/World Champ/Olympian a tour of a trail?  It wasn’t just a simple giving of directions but to actually ride several segments of the trail and see that they are having as much fun as you are…what a blast!

Jill Kinter, a Seattle native was down in So Cal training and visiting her sponsors.  Formerly with GT, she is now riding for my favorite bike manufacturer – Intense Cycles.  She was on her new Tracer VP and diggin it!  Jill was also riding flat pedals (non-clipless) while still in recovery from her right knee surgery of a torn ACL.  Look for Jill to make a comeback this year in Mtn Cross and Dual Slalom.  Most of 2008 (if not all) was dedicated to BMX in preperation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. 

Jill will racing in the Kenda Cup National Series.  We should see her in Fontana, CA at the end of this month.  Below is a short list of her accomplishments:

Popularity: 6% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Last Saturday, Priscilla and I met up with Eric “The Animal” Hunner at one of our favorite trails. Eric is quite the regular at that venue and we had asked him to show us some new stuff that we’ve never done before. Sho-nuff, the fella doesn’t disappoint. For the first part of our trek, Eric took us to a trail with a name like Sage something. It included a steep climb and awesome single track on the way down.

The Animal chose his weapon for this trail, a Santa Cruz Bullit. Though he’s a great SS rider and we actually met Eric at this trail with his SS, the All Mountain Bullit was built for this type of riding. I too was lured by the benefits of an AM bike for this trail and chose to ride the Ibex Ignition 3.

As we made our way through the trails, I made sure that Eric was in front of me during the descents just so I can capture this big Animal bombing down the single track. If you watch the video below, around 1:28, you’ll see Eric…all 240lbs of him, using his bike as a pogo stick. It’s actually pretty fun to see.

It was a busy day at Aliso, here we are at Top of the World looking over the Pacific Ocean. I think that’s Laguna Beach if I’m not mistaken.

I do have to give big props to Priscilla. She has grown tremendously as a rider and showed off her skills as she rode down some of the most technical portions of the trail. If you had seen the video, there’s a section around 2:23 where the trail becomes a baby-head rock bed, its called Rockit. Most riders will ride to the smoother area on the right, but Priscilla chose to ride down the middle like Eric and I did. Rockit is super fun and can be pretty gnarly and down right scary, especially if you’re not paying attention. You guys have to understand that for her to ride down the middle of Rockit is a big thing. Heck it took me a while to get enough skill and courage to do that, and I know of a few riders that won’t dare touch the middle…so great job Priscilla!

Unfortunately I had some mechanical issues with my Avid BB5s. I normally do a thorough inspection of the bike I’m riding the night before just to make sure its dialed in, but since I forgot, I didn’t realize my brakes were rubbing a bit. But that problem was quickly fixed by using an Allen tool and setting the calipers. Oh that thing you see on my helmet is the Vholdr camera. That’s what I used to make the video above.

Anyhow, watch the video if you haven’t already, you’ll get an idea of what kind of terrain we rode. I’d also like to thank Eric “The Animal” for showing us the new trails, that’s definitely something I’ll be coming back to.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This past Saturday Priscilla, Joe Solancho and I went out to Aliso Woods to have some riding fun. Our office recently took delivery of the new Vholdr Cam. It’s a wearable camcorder. I took the opportunity to perform our first test of the Vholdr. Now keep in mind Youtube sucks, and that the first half of the footage was foggy. That morning there was tons of fog on the trail, which also caused moisture to build on the lens in turn got it dusty. After the sun broke through and a cleaning of the cam, it showed a better picture(towards the end).

Here’s the first video, enjoy!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Going from one trail to another via fireroad. No leg pads, just the arms as they’re pretty comfortable.

I got to put my new Sette Strike pads I purchased last week to use when I rode at Aliso. As I was coming down Rock-it I slowed down way too much and my front wheel got stuck in a gargantuan hole. Over the bars I went but thankfully into some soft terrain. Some people know this soft terrain as rock. The pads did a great job keeping me from getting all beat up. The pads did get a little dirtied from the rock but none the worse for wear.

Some people might think that I intentionally ate it just to test the pads abilities. These people would be absolutely correct. I am not the type of rider that falls down ever unless it is purely intentional. In fact, I only fall down when I want to fall down, and never before or after that. That is why I know EXACTLY when to put on the pads and when to take them off.

Right before I donned the leg armor again

Taking the pads off and on had a bit of a learning curve. I only tried to put them on once before this ride, when I initially received them from UPS. The first time I really got to put it on was at the top of the first climb before the first descent down Lynx. No mishaps on Lynx, as I planned it. At the bottom of the Lynx, I stripped off the leg pads as they were not conducive to climbing.

At the top of the next descent on went the leg pads. I dropped in and chose about the midway point of the rockiest section to test out the pads. Off the bike I went landing with a primal yell or was it a girly scream? Which brings up the question: “If a mountain biker falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make sense to tell everyone you ate it?”… or something like that.

After a quick check of the faculties I got up, dusted off the pads and jumped back on the bike to meet up with everyone else. When I caught up, a quick check of the pads showed that they had done their job, just like I planned it.

Showing off where my elbow crushed the rock

Popularity: 7% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites