SART-Amber Alert!

So, our big group met up at REI for a chance to ride SART, midweek. It was just Me and @Luis, small squad, just the way I like it. The two of us filled up the seats in the Spaced Mobile, bikes in the back, and donuts, bagels, and coffee in our stomachs.
The ride out to Angelus Oaks took a little longer than anticipated since we ran into a bike race in Redlands. Closed roads and detours....darn roadies! Got around that, and started rolling a little after 9am. Short warm-up past the Post Office and it was on.
What a way to start the ride! Dropping in on some of SoCal's best singletrack, and it is in great shape. With the exception of a few very overgrown sections requiring sleeves, the trail was tree and debris free. And that is just the first few miles. Volunteers have SART in excellent shape right now.
Luis and I continued up the trail all the way to South Fork, total of 18 miles of this sweet San Bernardino singletrack. The grade is actually quite mellow, but constant, with a few punchy climbs and some exposure near the top. Just past the stream crossing with the log bridge is a 50m section of trail that is undermined by a seep and has become a muddy, rutted, mess. No way around it-just deal with it.
The views are amazing and the weather was too. We got up to South Fork campground for a quick break. The campground is closed until May 12th and there is NO WATER available from the spigots. Plenty of water if you filter or life-straw or chug giardia.
We actually hit the trail rather quickly, but even then, our legs were slow to get back to speed. after short climb, and some techy rolling, we bombed (sorry @Tom the Bomb ) down the trail to the Glass Rd. crossing.
Maybe Luis will post up his Strava, but this section is 6 miles of flowy, chunky, smooth, rough, tree-dodging, rock-hopping, and g-outs into and out of small drainages-Fun Fun Fun!
Long sight lines lead to high speeds and if you take your mind off the trail for a second you will end up over the side like Luis-no harm no foul-but is is funny to see your buddy just launch otb and land unharmed in a bunch of grass.
The high-speed finale leads you to the Middle Control climb that finishes the ride with the final fireroad climb. I waited until I made sure that Luis saw me heading up the road and started cruising up the final 2 miles. Unfortunately, I didn't stick around long enough to find out that Luis had burped his rear tire, and was having trouble getting it to hold air. Oops! We both made it back to the van, after 32 miles and 3500ft of climbing.
A quick stop to get some jerky from Greenspot and a well deserved Double-Double set us up for the drive home. Another amazing day on the longest legal singletrack in SoCal.
Get Some!

 

Luis on the trail



Luis off the trail



Don't know what happened to Luis afterward, he just kind of disappeared. Maybe we need an Amber alert?

 

Looks like a fun time.

Any issue with the bugs?

 

Yeah, there were some gnats flying around, several were inhaled, and at one point we were surrounded by thousands of Lady bugs in flight. I saw one shuttler wearing a bug net. Luis used a bug spray and my Bullfrog sunscreen seems to keep the bugs from landing. Luis had an close encounter with a tick but I didn't see any.

 

Great....about what I expected.

 

The abduction pic is priceless!

 

The off the bike pic looks staged! He's posed and smiling to his adoring fans!

 

It's not staged! It's not a fake crash! It's alternative posing to recreate a historical event-much like Andrew Jackson's objections to the Civil War.

 

When's the Do Over ride?

 

Mid-week SART ride? Yes please

Those of you that have participated in the annual Hell Ride, know where the post office and The Oaks restaurant are located. That was the start of our ride.
The post office route allows us to ride a lesser traveled section of SART. It is a little bit overgrown in this area and the terrain in a little more exposed and chunky. Kinda reminds me of the San Gabriel's dark side behind Mt Wilson.

Ross on some single track goodness. Just south of the post office.

Nice and chunky and exposed with a couple of washouts to keep us on our toes. Six miles later, the single track comes out on Middle control FR. From there it becomes more flowy with the occasional exposed sections.

Flowy goodness with great views that lure you into taking your eyes off the trail

I had to make Ross stop mid-climb to take this shot. Note the snow still present on the Peaks in the distance

Did someone order some flowy single track?

Ross gives it his seal of approval

It took us about 2:50 to travel 18 miles from the post office to south fork campground. While technically we were riding uphill, there are no long sustained climbs to speak of. The numerous short punchy climbs do wear you out though. Especially if you want to keep a fast pace.
Since it is still the offseason, south fork campground was still closed and there were no operational water faucets.
The stream was flowing though

 

Haha! great RR. The temps up there are great.

 

Didn't you warn me about not getting into that VAN!?!?!?

 

Exactly a week ago I fell when Ross took a pic of me.........hmmmmm

 

Yea but he had donuts and I was hungry...

 

That looks INCREDIBLE!
Thanks for the report.
Jealous!!!

 

Looks like a perfect ride! Better to go OTB onto some grass than into the rocks!!!

 

Here are the Strava stats from the ride

 

On the way back, I was riding in front of Ross and he started to make fun of my socks. They are black with a pair of white stripes going up the back side, so we started quoting the Van Halen song "Everybody wants some". I reached down with my left hand to point out the line on the sock when I came around a corner and clipped a couple of trimmed branches. Handle bars turned hard left and my bike launched me right off.
You can see the branches in the picture and the skid mark my front tire left on the trail.

 

Glad you came out okay from that one! That's pretty much how I broke my clavicle last year.

 

DLR "I kind of like the way that line runs up the back of your stockings"
Luis "Oooooooof!"

 

Hahaha the "Abduction" pic came up on the picture slot machine

 

Glad you made it out!!!

 

Surprisingly there is no mention of the skid mark in your shorts from going OTB

 

Oh no skid marks anymore, after mastering the art of the OTB I've learned how to "pucker up"

 

Thanks for bumping, Luis, I missed it originally.

 

One of several “CLASSIC” imtbtrails pics. Another picture slot machine production!

 

This photo is the best on this forum! (Not including the hotties thread, or course)

@Luis 's expression and @rossage 's evil thumbs up tells the tale. I can't help but laugh out loud looking at this. My wife laughed too.

 

Yep, definitely one of the classic'ist.