Sounds like a great time! If it was just regular conditions, it wouldnt have been as memorable! -Mike
On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 7:58 PM, dougP <dougpn...@cox.net> wrote: > My fellow steel bike enthusiast Noel got a rare mid-week day off work & > kid duties so we planned a ride up Saddleback. The highest peaks in Orange > County are Modjeska & Santiago, at over 5,000'. They are informally > referred to as Saddleback. Last week the snow level in Southern California > dropped to around 3,000' in places, and Saddleback looked to have a nice > dusting but was clear within a few days. We never expected to ride in > snow. For those familiar with the area, our route was out Santiago Cyn > from the El Toro area, over Modejeska Grade (a speed bump on the way) then > up Modejska Cyn to the end where the Harding Truck Trail is the dirt road > up to Saddleback. One the way we met a trail runner who let us know to > expect snow & ice if we planned to go over the ridge & drop into Silverado > Cyn, which was our plan. Sure enough, as we gained altitude, the temp > dropped & we slogged thru a few inches of snow & broke thru crusts of ice > on shaded, north facing sections of the road. Amazing how little snow it > takes to cover rocks that one wishes he'd avoided. A bit of skating here, > rear wheel spinning there, and some pushing but we slogged thru without > getting our feet seriously wet or falling over. Noel's bike is a custom > 650b with Rohloff hub and my Atlantis uses 40 mm tires, just right for > trail blazing. > > The top out at the main divide is over 4,000'. We elected not to try the > last 1,000' feet or so to the absolute top of the mountain but plunged down > into Silverado. More snow & ice lurked in the protected areas. We were > passed by one MTBer who said he was not enjoying that part one bit. Maybe > he had the wrong bike? > > Lunch at the Silverado Cafe was at hour 5 & mile 23. I'm not a good > descender (heck, not much of a climber either!) but Noel was kind enough to > wait up for me. We finished up back at Noel's house for a total of 31 > miles. No idea on total elevation gain but let's call it "good enough". > And neither of us carry a camera so no photos to prove it really happened. > We both agreed photos of a couple of So Cal natives in shorts & T-shirts, > on road bikes in the snow on a dirt road would have been worthwhile. Maybe > we'll do it tomorrow just for the pix (NOT!). > > dougP > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
