Ride Report: The Luge
The Luge is finally back open after the fires from 2007. Whiting Ranch, which Joe rode in July the weekend of its Grand Opening, is across the street from the Luge and was also closed for months after the fire as well. I wasn’t able to get out for the initial reopening Luge ride, but a few of us did ride there a couple of weekends later.
The Luge is a great ride if a little short at just under 8 miles. It has a couple of grueling climbs but nothing too long and it ends with a fast singletrack descent from the flagpole.
Donnie, Mark, Tim “Scissors” & me. The Luge starts right behind us and descends along the faint singletrack down the mountain.
Donnie, Mark, Tim & I did something we normally don’t do and shuttled to the beginning of Santiago Truck Trail. This shortened our ride even more by allowing us to skip out on some road riding on Modjeska. Not normally a shuttler, I have definitely found the benefits to this type of riding! By the way, just an fyi, we found out afterwards that parking along the street before the dirt entrance is a big no, no. Some cops were giving out bright orange warnings, not tickets.
The Santiago Truck Trail part of the Luge ride is usually a bit on the boring side. It’s basically a fireroad climb to the flagpole which is the beginning of the “Luge” part of the Luge trail. But this time the STT was different. The trail was the same but the surrounding scenery was burnt making for very interesting views. The best part, though, was seeing how new growth was beginning to push its way through the burnt plants.
The weirdest thing was shooting down the Luge. The luge is fast, singletrack shaped in a sort of small “u” shape… hence the “Luge” name. It was weird riding down the Luge because on my previous trip here, the Redline Mono 9 handlebar got caught on a branch and I went OTB. This time though, the fires made sure that there were no branches to reach out and touch my bar. There were very few bushes at all which although a great relief to me, did take away from the Luge a bit.
The ride up STT didn’t have much vegetation to look at to begin with, but the fires didn’t help with the view either. I’m not complaining though as it’s definitely good to have the Luge back
Since we were strapped for time, the Luge was all we could schedule in for this morning ride. Next time though, with both Whiting Ranch & the Luge open, I’m definitely voting for a 2-fer.
The new site theme (black w/ white text) is a bit hard on the eyes. I miss the tan.
Funny you say that Aaron, but I actually have astigmatism and when I read books and news papers I have a hard time seeing it, but this new theme hasn’t bothered my sensitive eyes. What’s your resolution set at?
RL
The Luge is a great ride, a little short but fun none the less. You can actually continue on towards Old Camp from the flag where the group picture was taken. There use to be a Thursday night ride with a Spagetti dinner afterwards at Cooks Corner, not sure if it’s still going on though.
i’ve been been really been hearing about “The Luge” lately, and i really wanna try it out, but im not really sure where it is, any help?
Hi Dallas,
Thanks for the comment.
Here is the geoladders link: http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=1
Geoladders.com is a great resource for Southern California mountain bikers. You do not need a gps device. Look on the left side of the page and find the third box. There is a button to print Turn by turn directions. Click that for pictures and directions.
Good luck and have a great ride.
I went down the Luge early today 12/23.The rain really took its toll on the Luge. It has suffered heavy slide damage and runoff.There are many small 10-20 foot slides over the trail, but one 75 yard section is completely blown out! Unfortunately, It is not ridable and will need alot of volunteers to get it back.I thought folks should know.