Tour de Corona 2012 (aka The Adventure Ride)

Wow, I predicted an adventure, and boy did we get one. What an awesome day... probably the best Tour de Corona of all.

For the 9th annual Tour, we rode from my house, took Temescal Canyon all the way to the trailhead of Indian Truck Trail (ITT). Up ITT to the Main Divide, and took a right. Most of the group continued up ITT, but a few of us hiked up Upper Holy Jim. We headed down Coldwater, then double backed on Temescal Canyon back home for a BBQ, some tasty beverages, the UFC fights, and a quick round of Texas Holdem. I've now managed to cram my favorite things all into one day!

We started with 15...

Dave (Me)
Kevin B
John
Steve
Dara
Derik
Big Ethan
Skippy
Larry
Adrian
Bob
Joe
Rich
Dean
Tom

...and finished with 10. To be fair, Kevin did 95% of it and Rich did about 85%, but both had to bail due to time constraints. And Big Ethan rode about the same amount of miles because he kept riding ahead, then coming back to check on everyone, then eventually went back with his parents.

For a large group of 15, we managed to stay pretty close together. Rich was pushing ahead due to his time constraint, but overall, the pace was pretty casual. I managed to be in the very back during the climbs, but in the very front on the descends, which is par for the course.

Considering the amount of riders, mechanicals and crashes were minimal unlike in 2004 when we had a flat-fest while riding ITT to Santiago Peak.

14 riders, including myself, had a 10am start time at my house, but didn't hit the road until 10:30, which is pretty normal. The plan was to pick up Rich, who parked near the ITT trailhead. Riding along the road is always interesting, especially when you're on a mountain bike, and especially with a large group. People in cars gave us the right away and even let up blow through stop signs while they waited.

Near Dos Lagos, we saw Kevin's wife and kids driving in their minivan. Kevin was stoked because his son thought it was a race, and of course, Kevin was in front! He scored some big Daddy points with that, and we agreed to go along with it if ever asked.

Continuing on Temescal Canyon Road, we pass a couple bars (tempting!) and Tom's Farm. We make our way over to the new neighborhood at the bottom of ITT, and Rich meets up with us there. The road portion was 9.1 miles.

Heading up ITT was pretty uneventful. We spreaded out a little as we made our way up this pretty easy climb. It was a little warm in some exposed areas, then a little cool in the foresty parts. Overall, it was perfect, early December riding weather; around 70 degrees and clear skies.

We take a break about 2 miles short of the Main Divide. We knew this because Rich and Big Ethan road up together, and Big Ethan road back down to tell us. He managed to do this several times, acting as our communication link between the front and back of the pack because we didn't have much for cell service. Just before this point, John's tire was attacked by a goathead and he had a little trouble finding someone with a 29" tube. He and some other 29er riders had 26" spares for some strange reason.

We lost Dara, Derik and Big Ethan due to time contraints, then continued up the Main Divide. We split off where Adrian, Kevin and I decided to hike up Upper Holy Jim, while the other 9 continued riding up the fire road. we regrouped at the top of Coldwater, and that's where the fun began!

Coldwater started off fast and flowy along the side of the mountain, then tucked into some forest tunnels. I wanted to stop and take pictures, but I was having way too much fun. I seriously couldn't stop. This has to be THE best single track around Corona, and it surprises me why it's not so popular... until you get to the steep stuff. This part explains it all. The end is super steep, loose in some sections, and drops you off in a barbed wired open-pit quary.

At this point we were starting to get concerned about daylight. Rich was ahead of us and totally thought we were trapped in, but after we regrouped we found a gate and pryed our way out.

We continued through the neighborhood and back down Temescal Canyon Road. Rich went back to his truck parked at Vons, and Kevin had his wife pick him up at Tom's Farm. By the time the rest of us got back to my house the sun was totally down.

A few others joined us for the BBQ and UFC fights, and a small group stuck around for a quick Texas Holdem Tournament.

What a great day... I really don't know how I'm going to top this one. But I'll think of something. Afterall, next year will be the 10th anniversary, so it HAS to be awesome! Until then...

Here are the Stats...
Distance: 33-35 miles (shorter for the Upper Holy Jim hikers)
Lowest Point: 889' (my house)
Highest Point: 4643' (top of Coldwater trail)
Total Elevation Gain: 4581'
Ride Time: 5 hours, 25 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours, 42 minutes
Flat Tires: 1 via goathead (John)
Crashes: 3, 4 if you count Skippy's fall while hiking up hill! (plus a few slide outs)
Mechanicals: Broken front derailleur cable (Kevin)

View more photos here.

Tour de Corona 2011

For the 8th annual Tour de Corona, we started at my house, rode up Bedford, across the Main Divide, and down Skyline. We started with 7 and ended with 3. The weather was perfect, right around 80 degrees, while the East Coast was hit with a record storm that took power away from millions. There were a couple crashes with a little skin left on the trail, otherwise a great, long ride and a fantastic party with friends, tacos and fights. More photos

Tour de Corona 2009 (aka The John Hudspeth Redemption Ride)

For this year's Tour de Corona, I decided to repeat the ride from 2007, mainly so that my buddy John can redeem himself. He broke his leg on this ride two years ago and never felt the glory of finishing like the rest of us.

The proposed ride was up Bedford (everyone's favorite climb), across the Main Divide, down the Silverado Motorway, back up Maple Springs, down the Main Divide and back down Bedford.

We started with 12 riders:

Dave (me)
John H (the man of the hour)
Bob
Steve
Joe
Brian
Skippy
Domenick
Patrick
Adrian
John A
Chris (a friend of John H)

And 11 of us completed the entire thing.

A couple of really cool and memorable things happened on this ride. One was that my buddy Dom flew all the way down from Seattle to spend the weekend with me and my Southern California friends. I've been inviting him for years and he finally took me up on the offer. Jeff, who usually rides the Tour and is about the same height as Dom, let us borrow his bike, which was very cool.

Dom is a strong road rider who does about 5-6 centuries per year and this was to be his first mountain biking adventure off road. That made me a little nervous because this is a pretty difficult route that we had planned. I knew he'd do well, and at worst he'd have to simply turn around and wait for us at the house. But my main concern was that this ride would turn him off to mountain biking completely.

We woke up early and drove up Bedford in my wife's Highlander to drop off a big Arrowhead bottle full of water. I did this last time and it was a big relief for everyone. Plus, I thought it was a good idea to give Dom a hint of what's to come. Turns out it wasn't what he expected... at all!

The starting time was 10:00, but as usual, everyone took their time getting ready. Plus, we wanted to wait for Steve who was coming from his kid's soccer game. We shoved off right at 10:30.

The pace started off very casual, which was good. Climbing up Bedford is no picnic, and most everyone knew that. But, just like every year, Patrick takes off like a bullet. I was expecting John to follow him, but John waited in the back with his buddy Chris, who "hasn't done this kind of ride in years." Dom was in the back as well, getting used to the bike and trying to find his pace. We continued up to around 2,000 feet and couldn't see Dom and Chris on the trail, so I called Dom. They were by the main gate and Dom was ready to throw in the towel and head back to the house by himself. I was sort of relieved because I didn't want him to have a miserable time. I called Tricia and told her to expect Dom in a little while.

John A, Bob and I headed up together, and John H waited for Chris. Everyone else was way ahead at this point.

We got to the Main Divide and Patrick has been waiting for about an hour. I can tell he was on a mission... but the rest of us were just looking for a casual ride. We filled up with water, had a snack, and when everyone gathered I get a call from Tricia saying that Dom never made it home. "Oh shit," I thought... "what if something happened?" I quickly call Dom and he picks up panting. Turns out he decided to ride up by himself after all. I didn't like it one bit, but he was determined to at least make it to the Main Divide. The only thing I can do was to call him often, so I did.

The rest of us took off across the Main Divide, then down The Silverado Motorway. It was a little loose, but man, I love that trail! Steve got the first flat somewhere in the middle.

At the bottom of Silverado, we all congratulated John for making it past "the point". Skippy was awesome enough to stash more water for us at the bottom, and man, we needed it. It was a pretty warm day so far.

The ride up Maple Springs was nice and cool though, but holy crap was it hard! My knees were starting to hurt pretty bad, so I just wanted to take my time. Pretty much everyone was in front, but I think Steve was behind Skippy for most of the climb... I'm not sure. I rode a good portion with John A so I was asking tons of questions about his Ironman races. He claims any of us can do it with the proper training, but I don't know. It was inspiring nonetheless.

John and I pull up to Four Corners and see someone with a sombrero in the distance... "What the F?" We get closer and see that our friend Darrell drove up in his car with his two dogs and kindly set up a Tour de Corona Hydration Station. "Want a beer?" he said. "Oh, hell yeah!" That was the coolest thing I'd ever seen!

I get a text from Dom saying that Patrick was already back to the top of Bedford, so they road down together. I texted back "Having a beer at 4 corners!" I learned later that Patrick saw the message and told Dom that I was just messing with him. Too bad Patrick blew through Four Corners and didn't wait for us.

We waited quite a while for Chris and started to get a little worried. John H and Joe headed back down Maple Springs to see what was going on. A little while later they come back up, and Chris was hurting pretty bad. He didn't crash or anything, he just got his ass handed to him on this part of the climb.

When Chris arrived, he enjoyed the last beer that we saved for him. If he didn't take it, it would've been a bloody fight over who got it.

We all shove off together, but immediately, Bob gets a flat and Brian busted a spoke. There were a few more small climbs, and my knees were done! This was the first time I've felt this sort of joint pain. I know, I know... I'm turning 40 next year so I have to expect this kind of crap... whatever!

We get to the top of Bedford and had some guy in a truck take my empty Arrowhead water bottle down to the gate. I really didn't want to drive back up to get it. From the gate, Brian grabbed it and strapped it to his back the rest of the way down.

At home, Dom and Patrick were already cleaned up. Patrick was pissed when he found out I was telling the truth about the beers at Four Corners. That was pretty funny.

More friends and their significant others starting showing up, Patrick took over on the grill, and everyone else helped with the prep work while I fixed the TV. We enjoyed some well deserved beers, carne asada and chicken tacos and the UFC fight on pay-per-view.

The highlights were, of course, John redeeming himself, Domenick actually flying down from Seattle for the ride, and Darrell's awesomely cool hydration station at four corners. Besides Shogun loosing the main event in the fight, it turned out to be the best Tour de Corona so far. This will be a hard one to top. Can't wait until next year!

Here are the stats:
Distance: 31.24 miles
Total climb: ~6,200 feet
Total time: ~7 hours
Patrick's record ride time: 3:52:59 (wow!)
Flats: 2
Busted Spokes: 1
Crashes: none!

Tour de Corona 2008

For the first time in the Tour de Corona's 6 year history, all of the riders completed the whole ride. Way to go!

We had a great ride this year. Nothing too strenuous, no serious injuries like last year, and no death march like the year before.

This year we started off at my house, as usual, took a 6 mile road ride to Skyline, stopping at Steve's house on the way. We went up Skyline, traversed the Main Divide, and descended Eagle Road. Here is the ride profile on Geoladders.

The ride stared (and ended) with 11 of us:
Dave (me)
Joe
Bob
John (quickly recovering from breaking his leg on last year's tour)
Adrian
Patrick
Steve
Skippy
Brian
Frank
Dalton

People started showing up at about 11:30am with the goal of taking off around noon. We didn't get out until about 12:20, which was a good hint at the leisurely pace that was in front of us.

I started out by giving everyone an option on the road portion... a quick, steep climb or a long, easy climb. Everyone voted for "quick and steep" to get it over with, accept for Joe. Sorry Joe... and up we went.

We get to Steve's house and he's lounging in the garage, shoes off, working on his laptop. So we cracked open a few of his beers while he finished up.

Going up Skyline and the Main Divide was very uneventful, except for the heat, which was in the upper 80's until we reached the Main Divide. It seriously felt like it was July. John, Brian and Adrian were always in the front, I was a usually a couple minutes behind by myself, and everyone else was scattered behind me. After a while, Brian and I noticed that John would effortlessly suck you into his conversation, and before you know it your lungs are on fire. Luckily, I noticed it pretty early and dropped back.

We thought for sure that Dalton wasn't going to make it because he kept walking his bike. With his full-faced helmet and skater shoes, he definitely didn't know what to expect on this ride. But, he held his own and finished with only a few problems.

Going down Eagle was a blast. Eagle is a closed fire road, so it's somewhat over grown with a single track blazing down it. You get up to some pretty high speeds (I clocked 28mph at one point), with little jumps mixed in, and a pretty sketchy cliff on one side. It was a lot of fun to say the least.

Dalton crashed twice on Eagle. Once just flipping into the brush, another bending his big chain ring on a boulder. Steve and Adrian helped him remove the chain ring so that he could at least get home.

Then we took the road back to my house. And that's it! Like I said, pretty uneventful... but I have to say that I had a blast and can't wait to do it again.

The party back at my house was great as well. A bunch of other riders and neighbors showed up for the burgers, dogs, beer and UFC 90. It was great to hang out and catch up with everyone. Other than the disappointing Silva vs Cote fight (Cote blew out his knee in the 3rd), this turned out to be the best Tour de Corona so far. It's going to be tough to beat this one.

Stats...
Distance: 24.12 miles
Lowest Point: 889' (my house)
Highest Point: 3804'
Total Elevation Gain: 6155'
Ride Time: 3 hours, 22 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours, 15 minutes
Flat Tires: 0!
Crashes: 2 (by the same person)
Mechanicals: Bent chain ring

Can't wait to do it next year! Here are some Google Earth photos of the ride...



Overview of the ride.


Overview of the ride, facing South-West.


Overview of the ride, facing South-East.


Overview of the ride, facing West.

Tour de Corona 2007

The attendance at this year's tour was much slimmer than last year's. Partly because I gave less than two weeks notice, but also because nobody likes to climb Bedford Road.

The proposal was to start at my house, climb Bedford to Main Divide, take a right and go down Silverado Motorway. From there we climb back up Maple Springs to Four Corners, back down Main Divide and back down Bedford.

And that's exactly what we did, with a nice long break at the bottom of the Motorway. John twisted out of his pedals wrong and ended up on the ground with his left foot pointing behind him!

The ride stared with 10 of us:
Dave (me)
Joe
Bob
John
Jeff
Adrian
Patrick
Nick
Andrea
Steve

...and ended with 9 of us back at my house.

We headed out about 9:30 am, for a nice, easy stroll up Bedford Road. Uh, yeah. The good thing was that nobody was racing this time, which took a little bit of the edge off. During the climb, we had the typical group splits, with Patrick and John in the front, followed by a strong Steve and Jeff, and me way in the back.

I planted 10 gallons of water at the top of Bedford so that we didn't have to lug full Camelbaks and bottles up that dreadful climb. I realized that it was a great decision when I saw everyone refilling and thanking me at the same time.

Going north on the Main Divide was pretty uneventful, except when Jeff slid out while trying to avoid going over the cliff on a sharp left turn at top speed. He ended up with a bloody elbow and knee, and a piece of his inner-tube coming out of his rear tire. So the engineers congregated and devised a plan to place many Gu packets on the inner wall of his tire... Chocolate was the flavor of choice today. Jeff filled his tire up to about 30 pounds and off we were.

Going down Silverado Motorway was a blast. This was my first time, so I was loving it. Miles and miles of single-track... that's what I'm talking about. Bob and I were the first ones down, followed by Steve with some bad news... "John broke his leg about a half-mile up." Oh crap, what do we do... we're almost in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no cell phone reception.

Steve and I proceeded to the nearest house and ask if we can use their phone to call 911. The woman literally rolled her eyes, sighed, and said "just don't give out our address or phone number". Apparently, this has happened once or twice before.

So I call, and we return to the base of the trail to see Jeff. He said the whole group only had 400mg of Ibuprofen, so I rushed up the hill to give him 600 more. Poor John was in some serious pain, but handling it like a true fighter. Three other guys were standing above him to provide shade, and we basically just had to wait.

Eventually we saw a Sheriff's helicopter hovering over us, then a Fire helicopter, then 2 paramedics hiking up the hill with full yellow fire-fighting suits on, then 2 more with a gurney, then 3 more, then 4 more... Of course it was the older guys in the back, huffing and puffing... but they made it. Eventually we had 11 or 12 firefighters up there on this little narrow trail, right on top of a huge washed out section just waiting to suck someone in.

They went to work, took John away in a helicopter, and Jeff caught the whole friggen thing on video. (.ASF 138 MB)

After it was all said and done, John ended up with a broken tibia and a cracked fibula. Because he got to the hospital fast enough (helo-ride) the doctor could reset/realign his tibia before his muscles contracted causing further damage. John said that re-setting his leg was very painful. After the realignment, the 2nd set of xrays looked good. He ended up with Intrameduallary (IM) Rodding and will need about 6 months to recover. Hang in there John!

Brian met us in the canyon, but was too sick to ride. He resupplied us with water and snacks, then he was kind enough to take Jeff's bike back to my house (Jeff rode John's bike because it was more reliable) and join us for the bar-b-que.

The climb up Maple Springs was looooong and tough. Of course, I ended up in the back again with only Patrick and Nick behind me. Eventually, I see a Jeep drive past me with Nick in the back smiling back at me. That little bastard! So I plug along, Patrick catches up and we continue up together to regroup at Four Corners.

Now the fun begins with the rest being pretty much all down hill. We basically blazed down the Main Divide and Bedford, hitting some of the final single tracks towards the end.

Amazingly enough, there were no flat tires this time, although Patrick ended up with a slow leak towards the bottom.

We returned around 5:30 PM. We scarfed down some well-deserved burgers, dogs and beer, and watched the UFC on my back patio with a nice warm fire pit on the side.

Can't wait to do it next year! Here are some Google Earth photos of the ride...



Overview of the ride from my street, facing south-west.


Overview of the ride facing north-west.


Overview of the ride facing north.


Overview of the ride facing east.


Overview of the ride facing south.


Overview of Silverado Motorway, where John broke his leg, facing north-west.

Tour de Corona 2006

This year we started at 9:00, went up Bedford, up Main Divide all the way to Santiago Peak, back down the same route, hitting the single tracks, back to my house to enjoy some tasty beverages, grilled meat and UFC 65.

Here's a cool map of the planned route...



The ride started with 16 of us:
Dave (me)
Rich
Brian
Joe
Bob
Skippy
Frank
Patrick
Bart
John
Cody
Jeff
Jeff Jr.
Tony
Adrian
Lamond

... and ended with 8 at the top. Here is my attempt at showing the losses suffered by the Tour de Corona 2006. The thick yellow band represents the size of the group at each position...



Inspired by "probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn" by Charles Joseph Minard, here is Napoleon's March.

Can't wait 'till next year!

Tour De Corona 2004

This year's tour was a great ride overall, even with all the flat tires and crashes. I estimated a 30 mile-ride... I was a little off. The path was right on, but I messed up on the calculations somehow. Here's what we road:

Started at my house
Temescal Canyon road ride to Indian Truck Trail
Up Indian Truck Trail to Main Divide
Up Main Divide to Santiago Peak
Down Main Divide to Bedford Road
Down Bedford, through the orange groves back to my house.

Everyone met at my house around 7:00 am, including a couple of new faces. Jeff, who I only rode with once before, invited a couple of friends to come along. Which was totally cool because this past week a bunch of people backed out for one reason or another and I thought for sure that nobody was going to show.

John and Mike pulled up shortly after Jay and introduced themselves. Totally cool guys. Jeff warned me that John was a hard-core rider and rides like 5 times a week. So John starts talking about doing this ride in the middle chain ring, and I'm thinking - Okay he's definitely with the wrong crowd, but oh well, let's see how it goes.

Everyone else shows up one-by-one, eating their Jack in the Box breakfast and getting ready for the big ride. Bob finally shows up and we shove off around 7:45.

All together it was:
Me
Joe
Brian
Steve
Bob
Jay
Jeff
Jeff Jr.
John
Mike

The road ride on Temescal Canyon was a subtle incline, but we went way too fast. This was supposed to be a mellow warmup, but I had to stay in front of the pack to direct everyone. Everyone else kept passing me, so the whole group just went too fast. At this point, Jay already blew his load.

Climbing up Indian Truck Trail was nice and steady. It was interesting to see all the ancient Indian furniture on the side of the road. I'm sure that La-Z-Boy was comfortable in a tee pee at some point.

As we started the climb, Mike asks "So how far are we going?"

"All the way to the peak!" Apparently he got the email, but failed to read it. Details.

Jay started to fall back, so Steve and I waited up for him and harassed him into keep climbing. "Come on Jay, it just around that corner." Hee heee... works every time. Just before Holy Jim Trail, he threw in the towel and turned around. He probably could've went down Holy Jim to get to his house, but his truck was still at my house.

At this point, everyone was way ahead except for me, Steve and Jeff (Jeff probably had 50 extra pounds of equipment on him, including a GPS device, a walkie talkie, an MP3 player, a Hamm Radio and enough water for both him and his son). I pulled ahead slightly, and was so tired I could've sworn I saw the Indian Truck pass me by with a real life Indian smoking a pipe in the drivers seat. I looked at him, he looked at me and said "how". I blinked, shook my head and he was gone. Dehydration perhaps? They say nobody ever saw the Indian Truck and lived to tell about it, so I started to worry a little and considered it a true hallucination.

By the time I reached the top everyone was cursing at me and giving me high-fives at the same time. It was a little awkward to say the least. But I, along with everyone else, felt a great sense of accomplishment to bag the peak. I don't know what it is that keeps us coming back to these torturous rides because during the ride we think "what the fuck are we doing?" then once we reach the top we're like "hey, can't wait to do it again!". It's a very strange, unexplainable phenomenon and it happens e v e r y - s i n g l e - t i m e.

I've been up to Santiago Peak once before, but from the Orange County side. This was the first time from my house, which I've been wanting to do every since I moved to Corona two years ago.

Now comes the fun part... the downhill ride. Mike and I pulled up front for most the ride, until I got a flat. From that point on, it was flat after flat after flat. I got two, but changing my second one resulted in another because of a bad stem, so I used 3 tubes total. Similar thing happened to Joe with 3 tubes, but he had some kind of mysterious hole in one of his and Brian was determined to find it come hell or high water. He blew it up to the size of a truck tire but to no avail. He was getting so pissed.

The wierdest flat was Jeff Jr's. As we were waiting for Joe and Brian, Jeff Jr was just standing there... let me repeat... just STANDING there with his bike for a good 20 minutes. Then he said, "Do you guys here that?" We didn't hear anything. Then all of a sudden... 'psssssssssss s s s s' His tire flattens right in front of us. Very strange... Did this have anything to do with the Indian Truck I saw? Hmmm...

Steve started the crash sessions with a flying-leap-over-the-handle-bars-into-the-rocks-with-a-flat-tire-to-boot-trick. Very impressive. Mike crashed and racked up his knee to get the "Most Bloodiest Crash" award... until I crashed. I felt a little bad because there wasn't enough action going on for this ride so I saved my crash right until the very end. I crashed pretty good and ended up with blood dripping down my leg to take over the award.

We then returned to my house for some well-deserved burgers and dogs and very tasty beverages.

Everyone's computer said something different, but Jeff's GPS device seemed to be the most reliable. Here are his stats and images (Thanks a bunch Jeff):

Distance: 33.76 miles
Lowest Point: 889'
Highest Point: 5622'
Total Elevation Gain: 6138'
Ride Time: 4.5 hours average
Total Time: 8.5 hours
Flat Tires: 9
Crashes: 3

Tour de Corona 2003

For the first annual Tour de Corona, we took off from my house, did a short road ride through the neighborhood to go up Eagle road, up to the Main Divide. We traversed the Main Divide over to Bedford Road, down Bedford and back to my house for a bar-b-que and tasty beverages.

Besides the small fly problem in the house, we had a great time! Can't wait to do it next year.