Depending on what route you guys take but my usual is from the gate to the saddle(3/4 mile) slow gradual climb of middle ring>to Upper Merril(300 yards)of some little hike a bike>ride down and through to Middle Merril>climb out (1 mile) of small ring climbing up to Sunset>down to Millard campground and the climb out(1-1.5 miles) up to El Prieto Canyon and then the 1.5 mile ride out of the canyon to the parking lot. You can opt out of Upper Merril,Middle Merril and bypass El Prieto to avoid climbs but that would be 40 miles of round trip shuttle for 4 miles of S/T. All in all its about 15 miles of trails with a 4500 ft. descend. Single chainrings need not apply unless you like pushingmtnbrider said:How long, big, steep are
the climbs?
All my numbers were guesstimates but assuming your using the TOPO they were pretty close No Upper Merril or El Prieto? 30 mile round trip shuttle for 7 miles of S/T? I may show up anyway. Ill be the white guy in the Honda Element.Ciaran said:My route's a bit different then IMALSLO's. I do the frontside horse trails instead of El Prieto. If you look at the map I posted you can see... It's the gate to .5 mile uphill (this is super easy, and a good warm up. don't let this keep you away) to the fireroad. Now here you can take a singletrack or the fireroad. The singletrack is way more fun but way more climbing. They both end up at the same spot. Next is Middle Merrill singletrack. Flat at first, then down... This goes to the Mt.Lowe hotel ruins. We take a break here (Smoke 'em if you got 'em!). Next is a 0.8 mile uphill. This is the one that pisses people off. you'll be pushing a big bike, or pedalling in the middle and granny. But it's less then a mile. Are you telling me that you can't push your bike for less than a mile?!
This takes us to the Sunset singletrack. All down, very fun. After that you can take El Prieto or the horse trail. I take the horse trail. Less climbing but we'll still have two very short (less than .5 mile) climbs. And then we're done. The climbs suck and I am looking for an alternate trail to bypass them but so far I have been unsuccessful.
It turns out to be like 12 miles with about 3 miles of climbing/pushing. If you have a trailbike that can climb, the El Prieto rout is more fun but more climbing.
That sucks, maybe next time. Nargaredama is at the whoops right now trying out his new AS-X.fiddy_ryder said:you can count me out for wilson tomo.. just found out i have friends coming down from up north..gonna be a long night.. i will probably be out at the whoops sat and sunday afternoon/evening though.
tgreathead said:That sucks, maybe next time. Nargaredama is at the whoops right now trying out his new AS-X.
Dude, you gotta let people know you're gonna do these things. I had a camera in my bagfiddy_ryder said:Then we you guys hiked up the last time, i packed up and took one last run down and hit the small kicker over the wash out for the first time :dancing:
You'll have way more fun on tunnel than you would on Wilson.mtnbrider said:Have fun, Im just going to ride tunnel or something in Santa Barbara.
I am in.. getting ready to leave now... see you there at 10:30. I'll be in my RM jersey.IMALLSLO said:Whos riding then? Mike you still in?
This blows. I checked back to see if anyone responded at about 9:50 (I had a 1/2 hour commute)and didnt see anything and assumed it was off. I must have just missed your post. My apologies.Ciaran said:I am in.. getting ready to leave now... see you there at 10:30. I'll be in my RM jersey.
im heading out there w/ tgreathead and some other dude tomorrow (sunday) we'll be there at 8am in the parking lot if u wanna go. im in a green 4runner w/ a chumba wumba on the rackIMALLSLO said:This blows. I checked back to see if anyone responded at about 9:50 (I had a 1/2 hour commute)and didnt see anything and assumed it was off. I must have just missed your post. My apologies.
It won't be so bad once it cools down. The only time I actually got really hot was the walk of shame in the blistering heat on fireroad to El Prieto. Marlopez rode every uphill like a freaking animal.blt2ride said:That brings back memories. Wilson has way too much hiking/uphill for me to consider it a good time...
Wilson is about all we got now that BB is done, as far as any good distance single track riding goes.blt2ride said:That brings back memories. Wilson has way too much hiking/uphill for me to consider it a good time...
James,blt2ride said:That brings back memories. Wilson has way too much hiking/uphill for me to consider it a good time...
Noah,Zark said:James,
I think your tour guide was a total masochist and took you on a hell ride. When I did it there was about 1.5 miles of climbing and it wasn't that bad.
btw, punkassean and I are thinking heading down your way for some riding some time soon. I'll keep you posted.
There were 4 people on DH bikes yesterday. Probably overkill but whatever gets the job done.Stinky D said:Oh wow, talk about being a buck short and a day late. I went riding w/ some friends down in Aliso Viejo and I wanted to do Wilson instead.
I heard there's a shuttle run there too. The only trail I've hit had alot of climbing. Sorry, I don't know specific trail names. Is there a run that's DH bike friendly? I'd be interested in meeting up w/ you guys if you did it again.
Dave
tgreathead said:2 days of Wilson went off. However, just like like my first time riding it, I didn't get any riding pictures. Maybe if I wasn't so slow I could be there waiting with the camera
Ciaran, I've got your sunglasses (left in my car).
And somebody snaked my Roach arm guards. Who's got 'em?
Nargaredama & Ciaran at the drop
Ciaran's flat halfway down, good thing I always carry a tube
Nargaredama about to down 2 sandwiches
Closing ceremonies (rumor has it that wearing scrubs gets you admitted to the ER faster...)
Good times.
fiddy_ryder said:damn,, sounds like it was a blast.. i need to start pedaling more.. my damn legs are sore just from going up and down the whoops for a couple of hours.
The concept is true but I don't have a gym membership. I try to ride at least twice during the week and many times its just around my neighborhood in the city. I purposely go to the steepest, longest hills I can find and just power up them a few times. There's a few near me that I could only do once that I can do over and over now. One of these days when I have time I'm gonna ride from my house (near UCLA) to the Valley on Sepulveda. That'll be funNagaredama said:If you belong to a gym that offers spinning classes I highly recommend it. During the paddling offseason when I have time to take the the classes it kicks my butt hard. Once I hop on a real bike I am able to motor up the Whoops and just about every other hill I can find.
tgreathead said:The concept is true but I don't have a gym membership. I try to ride at least twice during the week and many times its just around my neighborhood in the city. I purposely go to the steepest, longest hills I can find and just power up them a few times. There's a few near me that I could only do once that I can do over and over now. One of these days when I have time I'm gonna ride from my house (near UCLA) to the Valley on Sepulveda. That'll be fun
The whoops are good if you're learning to jump and ride from top to bottom but it'll never get your legs in great pedaling shape. An easy way to help this is when you go to the Whoops ride up the fireroad (or walk that first steep part) and ride up to Mountaingate. Then just turn around, come back down and hang out at the whoops. Do that every time you come up and you'll be hitting Wilson like a champ in no time. Or just park at Mountaingate so you have to ride back up