[Winston]

Cleveland National Forest, CA. Sunday I had the pleasure of riding Los Pinos for the first time here in Orange County, CA. The trail runs along a spur that descends from the Los Pinos Peak down to the San Juan trail parking lot. It's not all downhill though, there are several hike-a-bikes on the way down. The trail can be steep and loose at times, but it does offer some great views of the local mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Temps were in the upper 60's with a cool wind at times. Winter is fast approaching here in Socal.

For awhile Sunday morning it was looking like Darin had scared everyone away from the Sunday Path ride. Earlier in the week he sent out an email with a link to the Geoladders.com website's version of Los Pinos. (A 42 mile affair.) Fortunately it just turned out that folks were just running late.

Loading up Joel's truck:


We stashed Mark's car at the San Juan parking lot were Los Pinos ends and drove up to the Main Divide.

Here we get our start entering the Main Divide:


It's a pretty steep climb up the Main Divide to reach the Trabuco/Los Pinos trailheads:


Once we regrouped we got started on Los Pinos. (Go maybe 20 feet on Trabuco and there is the Los Pinos trailhead on the left.)


I know what you are thinking, "This is a shuttle, how hard could it be?" Well we still have to get up to Los Pinos Peak.

Tani taps out on one of many hiking sections today:


Regrouping at the top of the first climb with Lake Elsinore visible in the background:


A short descent and once again it time to hike. This time to the top of Los Pinos Peak:


The view from Los Pinos Peak:


The first challenging descent of the day was steep with loose rocks. Joel, Tani, Terminaut and I came down it first. Once at the bottom we turned around and looked up to see the guys all stacked up near the top, their eyes as big as silver dollars. Darin had some trouble getting restarted, but I'm not sure whether it will translate on the video because of how far away I was from him:


Once at the bottom of the first descent Tani gets his first flat of the day:


What do you mean it's not all downhill from the peak?


A look at what lies ahead. Fun downhill with some nice hike-a-bike:


Darin fixes a flat:


Josh nears the top of the hike-a-bike mentioned earlier:


Almost there:


Just last Saturday the Warrior's Society had brushed the trail. The challenge from this next downhill section on was to keep the clippings out of your wheels. I had to stop on more than one a occasion because I was dragging a full size bush down the trail. DOH!

BUT, I will take that over bushwacking anyday, thanks to all the guys for the great job maintaining the trail.

Darin finishes off another descent and gets to climbing:


Up and down, up and down. Notice a trend developing?


Flat number 2 for Tani:


Looking down the trail while Tani repairs his flat:


Regrouping:


Flat #3 for Tani. A least he was consistant, only flatting the front tire all day:


Flat #4 for Tani, with San Juan visible across the way. Switchbacks come into play from here on out:


Frank nears the bottom of Los Pinos:


Josh:


Terminaut takes another run:










Here comes Darin on his second attempt:








Los Pinos was a blast. Quick hike-a-bikes followed by challenging downhill sections. I recommend this ride only to advanced riders who allow plenty of time. There were plenty of sections where a brief lapse in concentration can get you hurt. I also recommend knee and shin guards or leg warmers. Better they take the abuse from the brush than your legs.

Ride stats:
Distance = 10.7 miles
Moving time = 2:32
Tani time (not moving) = 2:27

Here we wait for our drivers to return. Thank you Tani, Joel and Mark for doing the driving.


A big thanks to Terminaut for leading us rookies down Los Pinos.

Video:

Los Pinos (Please right click and select Save Target As...)
Windows users: This video is best viewed using Windows Media Player.
Duration = 13:09
File size = 128.2 MB

 

[mtnbikej]

I give a lot of props to those of you that ride Los Pinos. We did the hike up the trail last weekend to help with the trail maint. Tough hike and some of those sections near the bottom are tricky.

mtnbikej

 

[Shwaa]

is it just me, or does this Tani guy get flats (multiple usually) on EVERY ride you post about him? Doesnt he own "The Path"? Surely he can afford "Stans". Or....if he does run Stans, then it doesn't make me feel bad about not having it

 

[Winston]

Thanks mtnbikej for your work on the trail.

As for Tani, he is an aggressive rider and the owner of The Path. (We all know that bike shop employees don't have much time to work on their own rides.) He just recently got his Kona Coil-air. The morning before his first ride, he did the Stans setup. Well, it didn't survive the first quarter of our Viejo Tie/Chiquita ride and he was forced to run tubes. Maybe if he had given the Stans setup more time to well setup things would have turned out differently that day. Tani is going to give it another shot since in the past he had great success running Stans.

I also had good success when I used to run a Stans kit as long as the tires weren't worn out. Now days I'm a UST guy. (Don't want to worry about the burps.)

is it just me, or does this Tani guy get flats (multiple usually) on EVERY ride you post about him? Doesnt he own "The Path"? Surely he can afford "Stans". Or....if he does run Stans, then it doesn't make me feel bad about not having it

 

[Wherewolf]

Trail sounds!

Thanks for including the trail sounds. We can hear you slipping and sliding, rocks rolling, bushes whacking into you, and that you are having fun. Really adds to the video and conveys more information about the trail. Difficult angle of the sun these days but good quality video. Are you still using TMPGEnc?

 

[Winston]

I figured the trail sounds would please you Steve.

I explored other options like MP4, but I stuck with TMPGEnc. The quality is hard to beat.

I've never been more aware of the sun's position since I started shooting videos.

Thanks for including the trail sounds. We can hear you slipping and sliding, rocks rolling, bushes whacking into you, and that you are having fun. Really adds to the video and conveys more information about the trail. Difficult angle of the sun these days but good quality video. Are you still using TMPGEnc?

 

[dft]

I give a lot of props to those of you that ride Los Pinos. We did the hike up the trail last weekend to help with the trail maint. Tough hike and some of those sections near the bottom are tricky.

mtnbikej

hats off to you guys, you did a great job of clearing the trail. i hear the warrior society might be doing a coldwater bushwack sat dec 10th, they need some folks, count me in.

 

[imjps]

"May you never hear surf music again..."

That was so much fun to watch, I'm too tired to do anything else today.

jps