Finally the heat wave broke in Santa Barbara and five of us (Hans, Eyal, Morgan, Josh and I) got to lay down a long shuttle ride from the top of the mountain. The last six miles of the shuttle follow a razorback ridge dropping away thousands of feet on both sides and a huge cloud was streaming over the road at remarkable speed. We also had to stop for a 12 foot snake laying across the road. Hans said it was a Krait or a Boomslang but I think it was just a big ass gopher snake.
For the first few miles we Munied in a cloud–nice and cool (for August in So Cal) but so humid even my shoes were soaked through. Down lower the trail gets technical with ample steep rocky bits and trials lines on the sides. We hadn’t been on Romero for nearly a year and the folks sure have improved in that time. But on a huge forward drop Josh took one of the worst Muni falls I’ve ever seen, and might have ruptured his gizzard. But he’s young so he’ll heal quickly.
Josh will post pics soon as the Gallery is working again.
Sounds like you all had fun! We had a similar HUMIDITY crisis last week in Aliso woods, so I know about that! Hope Josh recovers and is ok!
Krate, Boomslang? Where were you, in Africa! Those snakes are not found in the US; unless they are smuggled in and released here! And gopher snakes generally reach a length of no more than 7 feet. The only venomous snakes indigenous to the US are pit vipers, i.e., rattlers, copperheards, cottonmouths and coral snakes (not pit viper).
For now, I’ll try and attach a few teasers to this post.
We started above a cloud bank in the bright sun, and rode down through whipping winds into the fog, making the most of every tech section along the way.
Hans tractored everything on his monster 26", Eyal set the rolling standard with finesse, and Morgan once again had us all scrambling trying to stay ahead of her rapidly growing trail skills.
John’s not kidding about my fall…I successfully landed a no-footer from far too big a drop, rebounded off the seat and faceplanted. I needed some quiet time in the fetal position after that one.
John’s camelback sprung a leak early in the ride, and he was forced to dowse for water. Luckily, he picked up a good stick that lead him directly to H2O.
Evan–You can’t use needing a “new wheel” for an excuse. We have back up Munis so if you wanna go, just e-mail SBUNI.ORG. I’m usually up in Ventura once during the week and generally throw a run down on the Pratt Trail in Ojai so you can join in on that if you want. Don’t you live up there somewhere?? And yeah, those shorts are ridiculous. We were doing some shows for Quiksilver last year and I snagged a bunch of the craziest shorts they had–those are the 3D Davy Jones models. If you stare at them long enough you’ll vomit. Josh is jealous of those shorts but won’t admit it.
And Terry, we have photos of the Boomslang, er, Krait, though it looks more like a Death Adder or a Taipan or possibly a Queen Cobra or maybe a Black Mamba, this particular one being roughly 32 feet long, stetching all the way over the road and down the first part of the trail. Hans rolling hopped over it.
And what’s up with the gallery??? Josh says he still can’t upload photos, and we have a stack of good ones from that run.
I just gave up on trying to upload to my gallery (STILL DOWN! ) and put my vids on “youtube”. Not as good, but serviceable; for now. Hey, why don’t you post the pic(s) of that Death Adder?! I really want to see that 47 foot Carpet Viper! Oh…Home Depot didn’t have any of those cement umbrella base things. Fresh out. I like that idee’r though!
Slow, Its getting there, I talked to a machinist freind about design and such. I get the wheel around the 20th, then give me 5 days to finnish the plates, then im off to the races.
The wheel’s probably going to outlast me at this rate. A couple more hits like that and I’m gonna raise the white flag.
On tough stuff, I wear a combo of Fox Wristwrap gloves (they’re just like the KH Pulse gloves, but come in more sizes), and Harbinger wrist wraps. I really like having full-finger coverage plus some solid plastic protecting my hands.
Oh, and that 60 foot anaconda - it bit my wheel and bent my cranks. At least, that’s my story…
) and put my vids on “youtube”. Not as good, but serviceable; for now. Hey, why don’t you post the pic(s) of that Death Adder?! I really want to see that 47 foot Carpet Viper! Oh…Home Depot didn’t have any of those cement umbrella base things. Fresh out. I like that idee’r though!