Ride Report: San Juan

AV Dan hitting the turn at San Juan

Got out for a lollipop ride this weekend at San Juan. It’s a lollipop because that’s what the trail map would look like: 6 mile climb, loop at the top, back down the same way you came up. –O.

San Juan is definitely becoming one of my favorite trails. This past Saturday’s weather was excellent. Little cool to start which worked well with those infamous switchbacks, then warmed up just a tad, but never got hot. In fact the sun was blocked off by the clouds for the most part which made for a great, comfortable ride. On the way down, there was some slight drizzle which cooled us off even more but didn’t even last long enough to warrant wiping the sunglasses.

A brief respite before heading down some more singletrack

This marked a couple of firsts for me on the San Juan trail. The first time I did the loop after Cocktail rock, the first time I rode SJ while not sick and the first time I rode SJ without eating it. San Juan is really not an extremely techy trail. It’s just that after riding for a few hours, I usually get extremely tired and lose focus/concentration on the 40+ minute downhill ride back to the car. When I lose my focus is usually when body meets dirt.

Me on the Jet9. I’ve got to learn to stop staring at my front tire!

The riding group consisted of me, Tim Scissors, Marky Mark and AV Dan. We all brought our full suspension bikes to the party including my Niner Jet9 which did not disappoint. It definitely contributed to not eating it on this ride. San Juan was a blast and that back loop section had some great short techy climbs and rutted descents that are definitely calling us to come back and do it again.

Dan’s one-finger braking always cracks me up