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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.

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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.

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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

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