We spent the weekend in Santa Barbara, Calif again and went on a challenging Muni ride Saturday. We had 9 riders for the Tunnel Trail, a 4 1/2 mile technical descent that drops over 2500’, mostly on rocky terrain. You have to watch out for Santa Barbara weather forecasts as they seem to refer to the temperatures close to the ocean - where the fog stays into the afternoon. Up in the mountains, it is HOT HOT HOT such that heat stroke could be a real problem. Packing your camelbak full of ice is a good idea!
Eyal, Hans, Matt and the other locals showed us a great time. It was great meeting two recent converts to Muni who have only been riding 4 months yet were still up for a ride like this. John Long, who has been riding 7 months also came and was riding very smoothly and in control. Although the heat affected everyone’s performance, it was still a great ride.
Looks like fun! Hot, sweaty, I think I’m gonna die fun. That is some rugged looking rock.
And what a group! I am happy to say I know 6 of the 9 and a fine group they are. And congrats to the muni newcomers for taking on that terrain. I am really looking forward to seeing all you guys in a couple of weeks at CMW.
That’s an amazing thing to be able to crank out a ride and see a slideshow of same two days later. Technology!
That ride was a riot but we all almost perished from the heat. The problem is that after an hour you get so sapped you don’t feel like challenging yourself on the grim sections, and simply walk them out for fear of fainting from heat prostration.
That was a great group, incidentally. Nathan’s kid is so small he’s basically sitting on top of the 24 inch tire and getting down everything – and that terrain ain’t easy. And two of the guys have only been riding a few months and go for everything. Crazy!
And what a trip to run into another climber (Nathan) whose scaled all the big formations in Yosemite. Ultimately I think MUniing will get a stack of converts from the climbing world, soon as the word gets out.
For maybe a year, I’ve been asking Beau occasionally if/when he wanted to upgrade from a 20" to a 24" and he was always non-committal. Even when a friend offered a used one with a brake perfect for him - still he didn’t want it. Back in May though, he went on a Muni ride with Ryan Atkins, Zack Baldwin and a couple of others that opened his eyes. For the first time he struggled to keep up (like anyone would do riding with Ryan!) The next day he decided he wanted to switch up and we picked up the used Yuni.
After riding the 24 for a couple of months, he likes it alot, especially the brake. He’s still adapting to it and is not able to ride at quite the level he could on the 20. Also he hasn’t got gliding yet on it. But it did power him to a 1st in Cross Country at Unicon.
But Harper is right. It is for all time. Also, he’s currently growing at a rate of 2" every 6 months…and getting correspondingly stronger.