Grouse Ridge with Whit.

Finally hooked up with Whit to go ride Grouse Ridge this weekend. We had tried to make it happen last weekend but some home problems for Whit nixed the plan. We made the plan and executed pretty well, we were on the bikes by 8:30 on what was likely to be a pretty warm day even as we climbed to 7,300'. We did a route that I had done many times but likely not in the last 10 years or so.

We parked at Fuller Lake and went up the road to Loney Meadows and caught the Bowman Peak Trail. This is a very primitive rocky techy trail that certainly tests my skills, Whit looked right at home, it's quite obvious he is a really good rider and he can do his job in cast, unlike me... :)

Loney Meadow

Bowman lake below us as we traverse the Bowman Peak Trail

Whit railing the Bowman Peak Trail

Killing it!

Hey, an actual picture of me, courtesy of Whit.

A decent amount of this takes place, noticed the sweat smeared camera lens, classic!

Eventually we made our way in the Grouse Ridge Lakes area. The Forest Service had finally done some saw work here so it's beginning to open up to the relatively few mountain bikers who like this sort of riding. We did see a few tire tracks and one actual rider out around Island lake, good to see some like minded souls.

Whit popping up into a particularly lush section of trail

Penner Lake

Island Lake

We eventually made our way to the top of Grouse Ridge and dropped the Grouse Ridge Trail down to the Spaulding Lake Trail and eventually the Pioneer Trail. This section always takes more time than one would think, but we made good time and found ourselves at the top of the Pioneer trail in a relatively short amount of time.

The view from the top, towards the Sierra Buttes and the Downieville area, seems so close!

Hey, another picture of me in front of the waterfall on Spaulding Lake Trail. Credit to Whit.

We made our way down the switchbacks of the Pioneer Trail with Whit out front. I had been feeling really awkward all day, like I was going to go over the bars at any moment, not a good thing on trails like these. We were railing along when all of sudden I'm a bit loose and just like that I'm over the bars and slamming into the granite rocks on the side of the trail. I must have made a pretty good thump because Whit stopped when he heard me go down. A quick tally of my body parts reveals nothing too serious, a couple of scrapes and what would turn out to be a pretty banged up knee and left shoulder, but otherwise I dodged a bullet. Come to find out at the bottom that my Lefty had migrated over 50 mm and I was riding what amounted to a really steep road bike on these really tough trails. No wonder I felt so amateurish all day.

We rolled our way down to the bottom and rallied for the hot couple of miles back up to the truck. After getting back to the truck and downing a little ice water we headed for Fuller lake and a nice little swim before we headed back home.

All in all a great day with great company!