Palm Canyon Epic - 4/2/06

After the great ride on Chiquito, Thomas had to head back to Switzerland. The next weekend, I joined a big group from SocalTrailRiders.org (aka STR) on a ride called Palm Canyon Epic, near Palm Desert. This was my first real desert ride and it was a wild one. We met at 6:30 a.m. in Ontario- a 50 mile drive for me just to pick up the carpool. It was going to be a long day. Eight guys met and we took three cars to the desert. We left a car at the bottom of the mountain outside of Palm Desert at the lower end of the Art Smith Trail, our intended final destination. We met a local rider at the lower parking area with a really clean, new bike, who had been in contact with us via the internet. He said it was his first ride..?? I don't think this computed with any of us. We loaded up two trucks and with bikes and riders and headed up to the trailhead. However, this was a not a total "gravity" ride by any means.

At the top, we unloaded and got ready to ride. Three riders were really loaded with fluids and other supplies. All of us thought we were prepared with fluids, food, spare tubes, etc. As the nine of us were just about to head down, a group of eight local riders pulled up in a van with a trailer loaded with bikes. Our leader, Tom, went to pump them for directions. We ended up all riding in one humongous group for most of the ride.

The ride started out with a series of fun up and down mildly technical twist, turns, and climbs. I was hanging near the back of the pack taking pictures. I passed two riders but after about three miles, the local rider in our group was complaining that he couldn't keep up. He stopped and decided to turn back. I didn't try to talk him out of it. This was definitely not the ride for an inexperienced rider. I noticed that my rear brake was having no effect. I chalked it up to maybe contamination from lube spray and hoped it would improve with the ride. I needed both brakes on this one.

After about 6 miles, the terrain started getting really rocky and gnarly. One of the other locals crashed hard, and had to walk out with a local hiker and her dogs. So our group of 17 was down to 15. Shortly after that, I was ripping down a really rocky, fast section and I hit a big rock. I flew over the bars and landed on the top of my helmet. My knee and shoulder also hit, and I had cactus needles in my glove. I was a little dazed and my knee hurt a little, but fortunately the head and neck were fine. I was definitely not the only one to endo on this one. There were at least four other documented cases.

The ride continued on varied terrain- sandy, rocky, up and down, through brush, until we reached a huge sandy wash at mile 11 (I think). At this point we took a good break. It was warm- about 75 degrees, and very dry. The climb up the wash was hard. The sand was packed in spots but in others it was too loose to pedal and we had to walk. About 1 mile up the wash, the local group turned off on the Hahn/Buena Vista trail. We said our goodbyes and kept climbing. I ended up walking about 1/2 mile out of the 3 miles up the wash and arrived at the top first. The others came pedalling or walking on up. It seemed to take a lot out of some folks and a couple were showing signs of dehydration and muscle cramping. Not good, as we had 9 tough miles left to go.

We pedaled an easy mile or so up to the top of the Art Smith trail and regrouped. We started down the trail. Immediately, we were in deep sand, although this time at least it was downhill. I was in the back again, and another rider back with me was experiencing really bad muscle cramps in his legs. It turns out the Art Smith trail is a series of ups and downs for the first half or more of its length. The cramping rider had to rest on every climb. He was out of water, too. I told him I would stay with him and gave him my remaining Gatorade (I still had a little water). After a while, I started worrying about how much daylight was left. A couple more riders joined us at some point and we all took our time moving on. We took a good rest at a little palm oasis and right after that I had a major problem with my chain. All the delay was frustrating, but it afforded the cramping rider time to recover. After that he was fine. We all descended the last few miles- extremely technical as it turns out- at a good pace. After recovering the cars, getting some food, returning to the rendezvous point in Ontario and driving home, it was 10:00 pm. What a day!
p.s. I found out a few days later that my back brake (Avid BB-7 mech disc w/only 200 miles on it) had failed. The caliper shaft had sheared. So I rode this entire ride with front brake only. Oh well. Got it fixed under warranty.