Golden Eagle Extended . . . . ouch?

Berni (bigringrider101) posted he wanted to ride Golden Eagle, but he wanted to do the extended version meaning he wanted to get at least 30 miles.

Uhhh, that's fine an dandy (yeah, I used the word dandy), but to get 30 miles it means you need to drop down and climb back up.........
THE WALL OF DEATH :shock: Yes . . . the wall of death.

Golden Eagle for many is a full package ride in itself. An out-n-back you can get in around 16 to 18 miles and achieve around 2300 feet of climbing. But ramping up to 30+ miles you have to add the Wall of Death and that will nearly put you over 5,000 feet of climbing in just over 30 miles. :?



What's the wall of death? It's a section of the 2N23 Fire Road Access Road that traverses the ridge-line and you can take it all the way from Old Ridge Route Road to basically the 14 Freeway. Riding 2N23 from the Golden Eagle Trailhead to Lake Hughes and back is a 70+ mile ride with significant elevation drops and gains...

The WALL OF DEATH section is 3.2 miles long of rutted and sandy climbing that gains 925 feet with sections that hit 35.7 percent grade. After riding 20 miles and to hit this COULD be fairly mentally defeating... :lol:

SO when I showed up at the trailhead, Berni was already there . . . Nice! It was suppose to be BErni, KirkB, Mikie Mcguire, Varaxis, and myself. But as we looked up the road at another trailhead parking spot there was several cars (and bikes). So I drove up there to find out what was going on, on MY turf!

Turns out is it was a bunch of OTB guys to include Willi-D and Burt! WOW, what an awesome surprise!
So I went back to where Berni was and as I was getting ready, up pulls rossage! Was it my birthday???

In all, I believe we had around 12 guys to do our Epic with! Normally I don't like riding with this size of group but since for the most part they can all kick my azz, I didn't even have an issue. :lol:

So we finally got it together and were hanging around waiting for varaxis to show. as we waited and debated a lone rider was plowing up the steep road grade towards us... Who could it be? Just from the obnoxious lime green bike I figured it had to be none other than Dennis White. Yep! Good ole Dennis on his brand "spanking new" Gravel Bike.

I think we finally gave up at a quarter til nine for varaxis. He showed at like 10 minutes to 9:00am and was smart enough to head up the singletrack instead of the fire road like we did and he was at the first meet point where we jump on the trail.

The day was EPIC, a little on the windy side. The Wall of Death nearly killed me. Dennis kicked my azz on his gravel bike. Burt broke his derailleur and tried making it into a single speed but it didn't work and he had to walk his bike a long long long long loooong way.

But in the end, those that stuck around all hit the last lower section of Golden Eagle back to the trailhead at the same time.

varaxis went first and I went after him. I wanted to see how fast and well he would do on my home turf and I have to say he did very well! He was like following a jack rabbit, he was all over the trail in some places and I was applying the pressure. I thought sure we would end with a good STRAVA time until we went around a lower bermed switchback and he just lunched up and over the bars with me like 3 feet behind him. As we were laughing we heard a tire deflating and I'm thinking it was him and it was ME!!! What the....?

Dan was fine so I told him to go on. The others caught us and I told them to flee as well. Berni stayed as I swapped a tube out and we finished the ride.

GREAT! DAY!

Cruised in to meet the boys at the trailhead, talk a little and headed home. It was nice (for once) to have my shower/beer combo before everybody had hit the 210 off Interstate 5.

Thanks Berni! He's evidently like EF Hutton... When Berni speaks, People listen!

 

Nice! I think I got to the wall on my ride there & said screw it, 16.5 miles is enough by me! Good job!

 

That's my kind of dedication! :thumbup:

 

Damn! That was a fast ride report. I think you wrote it before hand and just filled in the names later.

Excellent time in the gale force winds of Liebre Mtn. Bash Brothers 1&2, Roobik, Dennis, Berni, Burt, Kirk, Jersey, Dave, Mikie, and me. What a crew.
Miracle I even made it as I was planning on Palm Cyn-which was postponed due to the wind. I guess I found it anyway.
Perfect ribbons of true singletrack, around the oak trees, and then out into the grass and the sunlight....then repeat.....Awesome!

 

Golden Eagle (extended) is good way to toast your quads and push your saddle sore tolerance to its limits. I bet my legs will get a sort of a level up after this, and I will be looking for more tough hills afterwards. This was one ride where ditching my granny made me suffer, since I couldn't really spin my gears and with my legs toast and a heavy pack on my back, a lot of weight was slumped on the saddle, without my core or legs helping to carry the load. I was dead tired and bonked by the time I even got to the campground which we turned around at. Downed my emergency ration (can of soup), which helped get me 3/4 up the wall of death, but started slumping again. Could be worse. I felt we were lucky that the gusty winds today weren't creating much of a headwind.

Great views and singletrack that wasn't as wide as a bike freeway, some parts being twisty, some parts rolling up and down, with fast chutes here and there, going in and out of tree-lined sections, with the only downside being a little bushwacking. It was funny seeing odd tire marks off the trail that looked like the riders ahead of me had a bit of trouble, avoiding a bushy branch that was exactly face height, only to find myself doing the same thing. A lot of strong riders on this ride too, with Roobik and Dave showing off their climbing prowess and me foolishly trying to follow them on their $10k 100-110mm travel bikes on my Enduro 29. Met someone nicknamed Jersey, but it wasn't until I heard his accent that I understood why he was nicknamed that. I told him I was from upstate NY and he apparently has rode a lot of the trails near where I lived in NY. Kind of felt like he was a kindred spirit, also seeing how he spec'd his bike to be more DH oriented and was suffering on the climbs too. :lol:

That final descent was a 10 out of 10 on the fun scale. Even the crash I had was fun. What happened was I saw a bermed left and figured I'd just go in no brakes and try and cut it a bit on the inside, since I wanted to lose the guy following behind me. I heard him a few times, but couldn't match the voice, maybe cause I didn't expect it was Mikie since he was stopped way in the back when I walked up to the front. I confirmed who it was when I was upside down in the air, since I turned my handlebars a bit too much and it sort of T-Boned the dirt and the rear just shot me up in the air, similar to how people get launched sitting on a giant airbag with someone else jumping on the other end. I bounced back upright and said that was awesome. I didn't feel a thing really. Almost lost it a couple times before that, in the sunbaked parts that had a bunch of sand and lumps of hardpack, saving it by dabbing a bit (flat pedals FTW), finding a good line, and holding on. I figure if you aren't almost crashing, you really aren't pushing the limits.

With how Cali traffic is, I doubt this will be a regular ride for me. Even going East from OC to Riverside is silly... from Azusa on the 210, all the way to my house I was hitting the brakes far more than anyone traveling on a freeway should have to. Seems the 210 information sign that said 20 minutes to 57 wasn't being a bit too optimistic with its estimate. 5->210->57->71->60->215 was the route home, and 60->101->405->5 was the route getting there. The 405 had a spill in the northbound lane or something, that held me up 20 minutes, which caused me to be late, but like a ninja I caught up and met the group at the first meetup point. The 215 actually wasn't bad, just that there were a lot of people driving 10 mph below the speed limit since it was pitch black out already, with a bit of a jam by the Ramona Expressway exit. I should probably start using this: <a class="postlink" href="http://traffic.calit2.net/la/1.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://traffic.calit2.net/la/1.jsp</a>

This trail helped convince me that wide bars aren't worth the perceived benefit. I'm dropping back down to 711 to 740mm wide bars.

 

Mikie, A RR without pics!?!?!?!?!

 

I had a GoPro on my handlebars filming, rather that shooting pics every few secs, since I brought two good batteries with me, but back at the car I noticed it was pointing downwards way too much. Not sure how long it was like that, but it's all getting imported at an agonizingly slow 12-15 MB/sec. I'll get some screengrabs from the footage tonight if any catch my eye.

BTW Mikie, it was probably the adrenaline that made that not hurt, but after a shower I discovered that I must've landed hard on my left knee. My shins took more damage from the bushwacking than my knee, with just a bit of broken skin, thanks to the knee pads doing their job.

Edit: added some pics, in no particular order


- Some windmills in the distance certainly enjoying the wind today


- Tunnels through the trees





- Singletrack bliss that threads through some beautiful scenery. Natural colors, no cranking up the vibrance filter


- A thin ribbon of singletrack cut across grassy hilltops is a beautiful thing to see for some reason


- The no "mountain bike" sign looks legit.


- My morning drive


- Uh oh


- Dave doing his air guitar (JKing), while I check out the mangled RD


- I'd probably wouldn't ride over the log either if my bike cost as much as his


- Giant pine trees, with giant pine cones to match


- Riding down the "wall of death", before I decide to pass everyone since I wanted to ride through the rougher parts of it that everyone else on their HTs and XC bikes were avoiding


- Checking out the line on the other side of that ditch


- The light beckons Dave


- Classic fast singletrack through old forest growth


- Anyone bring a hedge trimmer?


- Berms sighted


- The world is spinning (from my crash)


- The guys enjoying a bit of twisty fast flowy sections

 

Thanks for letting me tag along with you guys yesterday. I knew the ride would likely be on the strenuous side when Berni was the one organizing it.

Cool pics Veraxis, thanks for posting them - and sorry again for impaling you with that branch.

 

Only a mountain biker could getaway with this apology..... :lol:

 

Branch really wasn't a big deal. I looked up, saw it hanging dead, with you pushing it to one side, and the other (thicker) end fell from up high, and I made zero effort to dodge, since I was literally dead tired. It was merely a shock, that sort of brought me back to reality, so I stood there pondering what was going on. Was barely bigger than a paper towel roll in diameter, and didn't hurt any more than getting hit with hollow plastic baseball bat. Was just long, probably falling from about 25ft up. Didn't get it on vid either, since I saved the batteries for the sustained climbs. Thinking about it made me check out my shoulder though.

 

Thanks for the reports guys. Here's some photos of my failed 5 1/2 month old Shimano SLX M663 rear derailleur. The cast aluminum portion of the upper knuckle that fastens to the lower parallelogram broke about the lower setscrew hole. I'm confident a warrantied replacement will be on the way this week, but I've lost some trust in such a crucial part. Thankfully I have so many other drivetrain manufactures to choose from :? for my next build.






Otherwise, good ride, conditions, and views. Gotta ride more of the Northern ANF.

 

As, so that was what caused the rest of the RD to be jammed into the spokes. I saw the pin securing the upper parallelogram to the frame mount side was forcibly sheared off, so I knew that wasn't the cause, but didn't look at the other side.

 

Re: Golden Eagle Extended . . . . ouch?i

Burt! Get a Shimano XT Shadow Plus RD and leave your worries behind you.

Yes, It's true... I have been known to go through a couple of Shimmano XT Shadow Plus RD's a year but I can justify it by the chunky chunk I love to ride!

 

Sorry I'm so late with my report.
HAMMERHEADS, would be the best word that describes the guys that showed up for this ride. Mikie awesome job on the ride report. You had that up even before some of us made it back home.
I've only ridden there a handful of times and it never disappoints. So Dave and Mikie's guidance was much appreciated. So sorry about loosing my crew on the last section of single track. next time you just got to push harder and keep up. Derraileur or not just keep pedaling.
Got to give kudos :thumbup: to Burt also for making his way back so quick. I just had the idea :idea:, you should've turn your bike into a "strider". Lower your seat just enough for your feet to touch ground and stride away. At the end it was perfect timing, when you met all of us at the top of the single track.
People that complain about the lack of photos, you got to realize that endurance rides and camaras don't get along so well.
I want to call this the official training grounds for Bikerpelli. Next tome we have to make it to Burnt peak.

 

What ? really All of my 2 wheelers have 780s on them. Does this mean I will be making way too many right and left handed supermans? Please advise. I thought you guys had that trail all buffed out. Remember I am riding flats with steel spikes on them so you can imagine what my shins and calf look like already!

 

Nah, you're cool as long as you don't go towards the campground past the "wall of death". The final descent has only 1 part that can prick away at your lower arms, which is probably only 40 yards long, and probably only if your bars are as wide as yours.

My decision was based on the many different trails I've ridden over the past few months.

 

Ok Dan take your word for it!

 

Better late than never.

 

Nice video Varaxis, hauling the mail for sure... Thanks for posting.

 

@varaxis
Hahhhh! You can hear me laughing in the background around the 2:20 mark and then when you were slip sliding away! That was the coolest get off too!
Thanks for posting the vid buddy!
Mikie