Old Men on the Mountain

A couple of weekends ago I joined a great group of guys for a men's camp out and ride on Mt Pinos in the Los Padres Forest. The weather was totally June Gloom and misty the night of the camping, but dawned sunny-ish and 45 or so degrees at the top of the climb, just under 9000'. Miles of singletrack, very digital...all up, then all down. Good stuff. Old farts can rage, dudes. Then we medicate. Got any Ibuprofen?

Phil, the mad scientist organizer.

Tents, bikes, trees...dirt. Ahhh!

Campfires, carne asada, beer, guacamole.

Breakfast, tailgate style.

Pre-ride muster.

I love these Elements. would be a killer 29er app.

So would this. Simple and taught. Good racing set-up.

Joe's sled. I sure like the way Big S forms those tubes.

Up we go.

And up...

Union break at the bench.

Almost to the top. Still pretending to be feeling fine. Thumbs up! Then we die.

Yes, it's a meadow.

We ran into KT and his gang at the top. A couple of them are getting ready for the Breck Epic 100. Go get 'em, fast guys.

From here it was a long, buff, descent on some fine singletrack. Pizza followed. Joe with the Spechy found he had left his hydration pack at the tippy top of the mountain...6 miles or more away and 2 miles past the last locked gate preventing a retrieval by vehicle. Bummer.

Great weekend. I need more of this type of stuff in life, but I will take what I can get.