Ridgetop alpine rides

Here's a couple from a year or two back..a very memorable ride after eating some fungus on the way up :)

la grave 2008:

respect where respect is due. thanks.

keep up the good work boys.

I wondered if there might be anything bikeable at jumbo…looks like it could be good. thx for posting.

I wondered if there might be anything bikeable at jumbo…looks like it could be good. thx for posting.

it was some of the best single track that I've ridden, albeit a bit short. I think there are other options to ride some ridgelines once you're up there but we were running out of daylight so we beelined it back out pretty quick.

mental note:

be nice to tomfahland so i can partake in this epicness sometimes this year.

if you are ever down this way, no problem, i'll show it to you(pm me). can only be ridden in spring/fall, other wise, too hot or snow up top!!

I've ridden some incredible ridge top trails the last month.

Los Pinos trail in the Santa ana mountains, Orange county.

It follows the ridgeline for miles, straight up and straight down. The ups are 2000ft of mostly HAB, the downs are steep, loose and fun. With all the HAB there is a huge payoff though, 6000ft total descent. 2000ft of that is in the last mile and a half. This isn't a trail you'd want to ride every weekend, but its a very cool trail.

You can just see the switchbacks on San Juan trail on a hillside on the opposite side of the valley

Bell Ridge

If it looks similar to Los Pinos that's because its on the next ridge over. Same type of ride, but the steeps are steeper and more rutted.

We climbed up Trabuco trail. A fun ride down. Climbing up, not so much fun.

Bell Ridge splits off at Los Pinos peak

Entering a section called can't see bottom. Its on par with the steepest stuff I've ever seen.

The corner above leads into this, and 100ft of straight, loose steepness

And tomfahland suckered me into doing Cactus to clouds trail in Palm Springs.

His 6th time doing it, no one has ever come back to ride it with him a second time. It was 6hrs of pure HAB up, an hour rest, and 4hrs down. The climb up was easier than expected, the ride down was much harder that I thought it would be. This is the first time I've ever wanted a ride to end with a couple thousand feet descent to go. The last 2500 feet are the hardest and I was exhausted to the point of being completely useless on the bike. I wound up walking a lot of stuff I'd normally ride. I'm glad I did the ride (hike?) but not sure I'd want to again, maybe with cooler temps and not climbing so high.

Our rest stop at 6,250ft - Flat rock

Lookout

Begin steep, tight switchbacks. I was pretty much stumbling and incoherent by this time. I made quite a few but some were beyond my ability at this point. After the switchback the trail got chunky and loose.

Even zoomed in 3x our car is still little more than a speck 2000ft below.

Its pretty sad when you're so burnt you can't ride down

Epic day….

very nice!

This thread is ridiculous. Some/most of these pics are un-real. Thanks to all for posting.

Himachal Pradesh, India, 1996
Manali to Leh Road

Rohtang Pass (altitude 13,051 ft (3,978 m)

Just before the Gata Loops, ~15,000 ft

I can post more when I've scanned more, if interested. Link to wiki-page below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leh-Manali_Highway

sweet SoCal pics! Seeing the cacti, snakes [HTML_REMOVED] some of the terrain totally reminds me of riding in Az. One thing on the Shore we don't have to worry about is which trailside shrub is the rattling coming from. Well that and starting rides super early in the summer so the heat doesn't knock you on your ass.

OK, I'll play:
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for someone who's been online since 1992 I'm surprisingly inept at this. how the hell do you attach images to this board?