STT-Old Camp-Luge Ride with Gap Jump Fun

Rode today with 5 of the STR guys from South OC. Matt, Kip, Dell, Lance, and me. Matt and Kipp are both really strong riders and are still in high school. Lance is in his 20's and Dell in his 30's, I think. Anyway, it was really hot today when I left work at 3:00. I think it was upper 80's, which was a bit of a shock to the body after such a cool winter. On the ride, the start up from Cook's Corner on Santiago Cyn Rd wasn't too hot, but on the STT it was getting pretty hot for a while. We get to the first "bonus side trail"- an uphill that looks long and steep, and Kip says "follow me". So I do, and the others don't. Hmm... Anyway turns out to be a definite leg burner, which Kip cleans, but I come up about 20 feet short. Anyway, the downhill on the other side is pretty extreme, but doable and fun. We catch up to the others pretty quick. Matt was riding a rigid singlespeed and was going strong to the Luge. On the steep climb up just past the Luge, he stopped or something and we never saw him again. Turns out he rode home and is OK.


We hammered it pretty hard up to Old Camp clearing. Kipp is really strong and I couldn't quite keep up, but almost. Lance came a few minutes after me. Dell decided to rest and enjoy the view a few miles below. I nearly lost it coming down on a little twister in one of the bush tunnels, but pulled it together with one of those emergency saves. As we were about to head down the Luge, Dell and Kipp started talking about jumping the gap near the top. Dell takes the first attempt with me and Lance watching from below, off the trail but not too far down (can you see it coming?). Dell clears it with room to spare, but lands at an angle. Before I can think, "He's going to hit me", he does! Lucky for me he hit square on my tire and I get away clean. Unlucky for him, he flies off the bike and does a nice roll. A few scrapes and sore shoulder. The fall freaks out Kipp so he passes on the jump. Going down the Luge, Dell crashes again- lost his mojo and this time gets a flat. He decides to walk down. So we change the tire at the bottom and ride out. There's one little grunt climb just past the bottom of the Luge. I usually clean it, but the little grunt at the beginning of the ride when I followed Kip takes its toll and blow up. Oh well. We cruise back down to the cars just as the sun sets.

A few days later, Dell rides the same trail and does the jump again- this time someone took pictures. One of him sizing up the jump (note the intense expression!) and another of him clearing it: