schnauzers.ws

I spent another beautiful day in California riding with some friends along the Backbone trail in the Santa Monica mountains. Officially Zuma/Trancas Canyons, this area was a very pretty place. It was probably a little more than I bargained for an a fully rigid singlespeed, but still a lot of fun. I actually passed out for an hour when I got back to the hotel. Ok, maybe the two beers at Willeys had something to do with that, but it was peaceful.

We started out from the Tunnel 1 parking lot off of Kanan Road and headed south.

There was a rather rude climb up to the top of the tunnel.  That woke up my legs, lungs, and brain.  What did I get myself into.  Where are my gears?

Suffice to say, it was short and opened up to a grinning downhill.

The area reminds me of the Lakota sandstone along the Frontrange of Colorado.  There seemed to be similar stretches of rock and looseness.

There were quite a few sustained uphills.  This trail was anything but flat.  Pain and gain.  That’s they way I put it into perspective.

The brush tunnels were kind of cool.

A stop at the top (ocean is out there somewhere) and ready for a rough downhill.  Not only was I missing the gears at this point, but some suspension would have been nice.

A little bit more shady goodness before turning around and heading back out.  Something tells me this could be a nice point to point shuttle ride.