F-the-heat ride, Saturday 9/26

Well, it's gonna suck again this weekend. Highs in the nineties in the OC foothills. So what do we do...we follow conditions. That means avoiding the evil sun...

You need some endorphins and free radicals to enjoy the supermoon lunar eclipse Sunday night, so saddle up for a classic:

Joplin Trail

Meet at Holy Jim parking (or the base of Cadillac or the wash, if u dont wanna drive up canyon). Climb Holy Jim to Main Divide, to the top of Upper Holy Jim via one of two routes (grinding up the road or pushing up Upper Holy), then on to the start of Upper Joplin (bonus Santiago Peak bag option beyond that). Down Upper Joplin, Joplin and Cadillac.

Start time 6am, so a small light might be useful just at the start. No-drop as always; casual fun with a little spice on Joplin.

It's a long-ish, tough-ish climb, with a technical two-mile descent on Joplin, a fast rip down STT to steep dirt ruts and fast riding down Caddy. Lots of shade early in the day, lots of good rest spots, great views, engaging DH. Bring some epic snacks, lots of fluid and a bomber 'tude. I did this ride last week; trail is a little rough from the rains, but firm with minimal dust and, overall, in great shape.

Option to move this ride to Sunday if that makes it work for someone.

Shout out to Knucklebuster, manning the home front. Hope to ride soon, buddy!

 

I'd like to do this but last time we rode San Juan together I'd be the yahoo this time and you'd have to get me airlifted out.

I'll be cheering the crazies at Oaks for the OC Race Series on Saturday. Pedal on Mike ...

 

You kidding me? Yer hard as nails, Rox... Good on you for supporting a local event

I honestly do not have high expectations for takers for this ride. I just feel compelled to F with the weather gods, because they love to F with me. That climb out of Old Camp is a site of frequent misery in warm weather. As many of us painfully know...

 

Mike! hope the ride went good and please check in with a mini-report to let us know you aren't out there suffering in the heat still

Yes you know I'll join you on this route soon, high priority! Getting past the wife-post-surgery-chauffeuring to pt-cook-bottlewasher-grocery getter stuff is priority 1

 

Thanks, Dave! Hoping all is going on plan for the wife, good supporter.

There was more than enough suffering out there today for everybody... After months I finally got the wife to commit to a bike ride. We grabbed the only operable bike combo we have, and made a plan to F the Heat up Holy Jim to Main Divide.



I'm pretty sure I would have died if I had tried to do the Joplin run. The tandem made it easy to get quickly wasted by the heat, which I was well before MD. We decided to rename the ride The Getting F'ed by the Heat Ride.

The Old Goat marathoners heading up HJ for Bluejay had me realizing how light I am, but you could bet some of those folks looked pretty tentative in the mid-morning heat.

We drained our spartan liquid reserves at Bear Spring and headed down from there, having a giddy time since we had not trail ridden this bike for over a year. I guess we accomplished what we set out to do, silly as it was... Props to the runners and to the many bike riders we saw today.

 

That is a bad ass way to go up and down Holy Jim!

 

Dang a tandem up HJ switchbacks has to be a tough go even in cool weather. Good you and the Mrs. got out there, and esp. back safely.

 

I feel all weak and wimpy every time I see a tandem in places like that.

 

Thanks, pals.

For sure, the big bike is a big workout. Talk about core blaster... But be assured we pushed it up the majority of switchbacks, and lots of other places this time around. We did better with gravity on our side; got a few of the switchbacks and creek crossings we hadn't previously done, which is a purely ridiculous hoot on an eight-feet long bike with a fun-loving lass on the back. : )

 

Yeah, this weather sucks. Way to not let it keep you inside!!!
What kind of rig is that? I LOVE MTB tandems.

 

Thanks, CT! It's a MTB Tandems Fandango, Rohloff-specific HT frame by Ventana. The cousin to Ventana's El Conquistador de Montagnes FS tandem. Both solid and well tested designs. Economical too — no more expensive than a good single bike, less than many. Talk with Alex Nutt at MTBT...he is a really good guy to work with, knows his stuff and listens. Cheers...

 

Love it, thanks! I've checked out ECdMs before, they look great. Right now we have a Trek T200 which is one of the few 700C tandems that can fit more than a 32mm tire. I just can't figure out why they don't make tandems w/ fatter tire clearances!!?!?!? Puruising the MTBT site (haven't been there in a while) this is soooooo what I could get into: http://www.mtbtandems.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=273
Serious, I need to work on this angle...