Bike for Bender- Hell Ride!

Discussion in 'Trailhead' started by Faust29, Aug 26, 2017.


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Added to Calendar: 10-28-17
  1. Faust29

    Faust29 Moderator

    Location:
    irgendwo
    Name:
    B. Bunny
    Current Bike:
    I gots some bikes.
    Ride Name: Bike for Bender- Hell Ride!
    When: October 28, 2017
    Time: 6:00
    Where: Hangar 24
    Ride Description or Details:
    Do a search...
    ~~~~~ Optional Details ~~~~~
    Meet Location:
    Skill Level:
    Ride Pace:
    Type of Ride:
    Rider Limit:
    Anticipated Mileage:
    Elevation Gain:
    Ride Duration:
    Previous Ride Reports:
    Possible Bail-Outs:
    Facilities:
    Food/water suggestions:
    Option to Upload:
     
  2. Faust29

    Faust29 Moderator

    Location:
    irgendwo
    Name:
    B. Bunny
    Current Bike:
    I gots some bikes.
    The date has been announced! Woo-Hoo!
     
  3. Luis

    Luis iMTB Addict

    Location:
    Sylmar
    Name:
    Luis
    Current Bike:
    La Diabla
    Come on blessed mother of electronic vacation requests, don't fail me now...

    Request sent!
     
  4. Mikie

    Mikie Admin/iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    NW Arkansas
    Name:
    Mikie Watson
    Current Bike:
    Ibis DV9 / SC Hightower
    Everybody from imtbtrails should be in. No excuses! :whistling::thumbsup:
     
  5. mtnbikej

    mtnbikej J-Zilla

    Location:
    Orange
    Name:
    J
    Current Bike:
    SC Chameleon SS, SC Hightower
    Man....my social calendar is filling up fast.
     
  6. DangerDirtyD

    DangerDirtyD iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    CA
    Name:
    Chicken Nugget
    Current Bike:
    2018 Guerrilla Gravity SMASH
    Since this falls on the day after I was born, albeit 36 glorious years later, and I am resigned to participating in baby photography shenanigans the day before the ride, I will hereby petition for permission to participate...or something like that.

    With that said, if I do get to go, and I do get the entire day to ride, I will bring lights and make a second attempt at the [previous mission failed] route to Wildhorse Meadows before embarking for SART.

    It should be noted that in order to make this the route a' la @burt, additional climbing to Sugarloaf Peak would be required before connecting to SART at Southfork Camp via the Heart Bar connector trail.
     
    Grassblade23, Luis, Mikie and 3 others like this.
  7. konakc

    konakc iMTB Rockstah

    Name:
    kc
    That would be epic ride...all the way down from big bear
     
  8. Sidewalk

    Sidewalk iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    The road is where I call home
    Name:
    Josh
    Current Bike:
    N+1
    I'll be a maybe. I might consider either shuttling people.
     
    Cyclotourist likes this.
  9. Grassblade23

    Grassblade23 Member

    Location:
    Fullerton
    Name:
    Dan
    Current Bike:
    Surly Karate Monkey
    Props if you do that. I'm still working on getting Morton Peak before I tack on any extras. Eventually, I would like to start Hell Ride from Big Bear, though.
     
    DangerDirtyD and mtnbikej like this.
  10. Cougar

    Cougar Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Washington City, UT (near St. George)
    Name:
    Craig
    Current Bike:
    '14 Turner Burner
    I really really enjoy this ride and have gone the past two years, but it is looking likely that I'll be in Shanghai/Bejing at the end of Oct/early Nov :(
     
  11. BonsaiNut

    BonsaiNut iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    Troutman, NC
    Name:
    Greg P
    Current Bike:
    Santa Cruz Hightower CC XX1
    Quote:
    Is it really that hard?

    Yes! As the name suggests, the ride is over 36 miles, with about 2500 ft of climbing and 7300 ft of descending, and it can be quite “hellish” for some.

    BonsaiNut's answer: LOL!
    Wow I'd love to do this. Sounds like so much fun! I'll have to look... last year on Oct 30 I was doing the @Faust29 Tree Farm / Motorway ride :) 28 miles and 4500 ft of climbing :eek:

    I don't even know what a 7300 foot descent would feel like. Heck the descent from Santiago via Harding is only 4200'.
     
  12. mtnbikej

    mtnbikej J-Zilla

    Location:
    Orange
    Name:
    J
    Current Bike:
    SC Chameleon SS, SC Hightower
    No, it's not really that difficult....it's just a long'ish ride. No worse than Motorway.....just 30+ miles of it. :thumbsup:
     
  13. Faust29

    Faust29 Moderator

    Location:
    irgendwo
    Name:
    B. Bunny
    Current Bike:
    I gots some bikes.
    It's only hard if you fall off the back of the shuttle truck and tweak your wrist, ribs, knee, and a few other parts before the ride even starts. :whistling:
     
  14. Faust29

    Faust29 Moderator

    Location:
    irgendwo
    Name:
    B. Bunny
    Current Bike:
    I gots some bikes.
    The descent can be a little deceiving, because there is still a lot of rolling up and down... It's not a sustained descent, like from the peak. It really is a great ride.

    Hell Ride Elevation Profile.jpg
     
  15. BonsaiNut

    BonsaiNut iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    Troutman, NC
    Name:
    Greg P
    Current Bike:
    Santa Cruz Hightower CC XX1
    Yes it looks like fun. However when I compare your ride profile to the ride profile for a Trabuco Canyon loop (starting at bottom of Trabuco Canyon, going up and around via Cook's Corner, climbing Harding to the peak, out the back via Holy Jim) the two rides don't really match up :) That net 4500 foot downhill is a big plus :)

    trabuco-loop.jpg
     
  16. Sidewalk

    Sidewalk iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    The road is where I call home
    Name:
    Josh
    Current Bike:
    N+1
    Not terribly interested in Asia in general, but I would still love the opportunity to at least go see more of it, especially China (I've been to Singapore and Russia). Pretty cool!

    Some people struggle with 10 miles/1000'. Cat 3 races are usually around 13-15 miles and 1000-1500' of climbing, so to those this would be a long, hard ride.

    Others of us are far less limited.
     
  17. Cyclotourist

    Cyclotourist iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    Redlands
    Name:
    David
    Current Bike:
    Don't fence me in!
    The Hell Ride/SART can sneak up on you. The climbs aren't really exhausting, as the two sustained ones (Middle Control, Morton Peak) are constant grade and fairly spread out. But the ride is so long, that after a while you can get lulled into complacency plus generally fatigued. Then you end up doing something stupid. The trick is to stay mentally sharp, as the trail has QUITE a bit of exposure along in. Pretty good penalty for a slip up!

    That said, I think this should be considered one of the must-do rides for Southern California mountain bikers. You don't have to do it on the organized Hell Ride date, but if you haven't been on the SART, it's a good time to experience it. Up there with PCE and the Floop for sure.
     
  18. BonsaiNut

    BonsaiNut iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    Troutman, NC
    Name:
    Greg P
    Current Bike:
    Santa Cruz Hightower CC XX1
    Been meaning to do this ride for a while. Sounds like as good an excuse as any :) I always drive up that way every winter anyway to play in the snow around Jenks Lake.

    Does anyone have photos of the trail? How well is the course marked? I see start photos and it doesn't look like a huge crowd considering the length of the ride - are the transitions well marked?
     
  19. Sidewalk

    Sidewalk iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    The road is where I call home
    Name:
    Josh
    Current Bike:
    N+1
    SART is almost completely singletrack. Technically speaking, from Southfork to the end on the fireroad is something like 15-20 miles and you would need to spend about 500 yards on a fireroad (connecting to PO Loop). Relatively hard to get lost. There are a few intersections, but just go down the most worn down trail, the others usually are for hikers to campgrounds. Grab a GPX from someone or use Strava segment viewer and you are good.
     
    DangerDirtyD and Cyclotourist like this.
  20. BonsaiNut

    BonsaiNut iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    Troutman, NC
    Name:
    Greg P
    Current Bike:
    Santa Cruz Hightower CC XX1
    Thanks... I'm watching trail videos now. Looks like a ton of fun!

    Hmmm... only problem is that weekend is a big bonsai convention in Riverside (not kidding). Priorities, priorities...
     
    Cyclotourist likes this.
  21. Sidewalk

    Sidewalk iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    The road is where I call home
    Name:
    Josh
    Current Bike:
    N+1
  22. BonsaiNut

    BonsaiNut iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    Troutman, NC
    Name:
    Greg P
    Current Bike:
    Santa Cruz Hightower CC XX1
    I keep seeing people mentioning the exposure. I can see some exposure on the videos, but it doesn't look like anything worse than say sections of Trabuco Trail downhill or San Juan Trail downhill. Are they comparable? I see a few tight lines or a tumble down the side(?)
     
  23. Sidewalk

    Sidewalk iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    The road is where I call home
    Name:
    Josh
    Current Bike:
    N+1
    I haven't ridden those places, so I can't speak from experience for comparison.

    Most of SART has a very steep drop off. If you go off line, you will MOST likely fall off and tumble a few feet down a steep slope, if anything. Usually if I start feeling things going wrong I am for the high bail on the safe side, if possible. But there are places that are shear cliffs that have a high potential. The lower section of SART near the end is less trafficed, more rocky and loose, and steeper. If you go off in some of those places, you might fall a ways.

    @LLPoolJ had a weird off at the end of the PO Loop. He hit a rock on a climb at the end that slammed his bike to a stop. Where he would normally just put a foot down, there was a hole so he couldn't catch himself. He fell a good 5' before impacting the hillside and tumbling another 10' or so, coming to a stop next to a pile of rocks. He got lucky and was still hurting for weeks.
     
  24. MattB

    MattB Member

    Name:
    Matt B
    To me, the exposure is worse than San Juan or Trabuco, but only in a couple of sections. The ones that stick out most in my mind are on the singletrack after Morton Peak. I definitely have issues with heights, and that section freaked me out the first year I did it. I've gotten a little more used to it each year, but I still dread a short section of that singletrack and am glad when I'm through it.

    There are a number of other sections where the exposure seems pretty similar to San Juan and Trabuco. Even with my height issues, the ride is still worth it and one I try to do every year.

    As far as a few of the other questions:
    • The trail junctions haven't always seemed that well marked to me, but there are almost always other riders around during the event, and if not you can usually just wait a few minutes and someone will come by. Having the GPS route loaded is definitely a good idea.
    • The group photo at the start probably understates the size of the ride a bit. The last couple of years it seemed like a good number of people hit the trail early (as soon as they were ready to roll) to avoid the bottleneck at the start when so many people hit the single track at once. Otherwise the first mile or so can be kind of a cluster until people start to spread out.
    • The ride's not that tough, but it's not a typical shuttle ride. There's still plenty of pedaling and time in the saddle. I agree with others that it's just the time in the saddle and hitting the Morton Peak climb late in the ride that may be more than what some people are used to.
    • I think someone said it a long time ago (maybe in another thread), but what makes it a "Hellride" is typically the weather. It's been under 40 degrees at the start 2 of the years I've done it, and hot down in Redlands at the finish both of those years. One of those years included about 2 hours of riding in 40 degree rain. A lot of people dropped out that year when their gear failed and they were soaked and freezing. My gear held up, and it made for a pretty cool adventure. Don't get me wrong, I was really glad when the rain stopped, and welcomed the heat as we reached Redlands. Before my time, there was a year with snow.
    I'm planning to be out there again this year.
     
  25. mtnbikej

    mtnbikej J-Zilla

    Location:
    Orange
    Name:
    J
    Current Bike:
    SC Chameleon SS, SC Hightower

    We were on the first shuttle bus.....we got in front the mass pack at the shuttle drop. Even with that, we spent the rest of the day weaving through hordes and hordes of other riders. Not all the riders start from the top. Many start at the Post Office or at Glass Rd.

    And I know we only saw a small percentage of the riders out there.
     
  26. Cyclotourist

    Cyclotourist iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    Redlands
    Name:
    David
    Current Bike:
    Don't fence me in!
    There are sections that are pretty exposed on the first and second segment (just before and after Glass Rd), and yeah, the portions past Morton are really up there in pucker value. Those portions past Morton are the least traveled as well, so usually significantly rougher. For me the worst/freakiest part is in the portion after PO Loop and around Mt. Constance area. I don't know what it's called, but there is crazy exposure off your right side, and technical granite sections on the trail going up and coming down. Zero room for a mistake there.

    /shiver
     
  27. Faust29

    Faust29 Moderator

    Location:
    irgendwo
    Name:
    B. Bunny
    Current Bike:
    I gots some bikes.
    Our trails don't compare... They have trees! And water! And miles of flow!
     
  28. rossage

    rossage iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    East Sacramento
    Name:
    Ross Lawson
    Current Bike:
    Highball
    I would ride it the either 27th or 29th to ensure maximum flowage.
     
  29. UPSed

    UPSed iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    Simi Valley
    Name:
    Ed
    Current Bike:
    Niner Jet 9 RDO
    I was talking to a buddy of mine on Sunday. We are thinking of hiring Crazy Bear and doing our own Hell Ride.
     
    LLPoolJ, scottay, PATKOUG and 7 others like this.
  30. Sidewalk

    Sidewalk iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    The road is where I call home
    Name:
    Josh
    Current Bike:
    N+1
    We took a few newer riders down the backside of Constance and agreed we wouldn't do that again. Expert only from now on. I haven't been on Morton yet.

    You're turning me on!
     
    code3, Cyclotourist, MattB and 3 others like this.
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As a former Amazon Associate I continue to get screwed trying to stay qualified as an Amazon Affiliate. So I quit!


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