Skip to content
-
Subscribe to our newsletter & never miss our best posts. Subscribe Now!
MtnBikeRiders.com

Just an old mountain biking site

MtnBikeRiders.com

Just an old mountain biking site

  • Home
  • Contact US
  • FTC Disclaimer
  • Guest Posts
  • OFFICIAL RACE TEAM
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • Clear
    • IPN
    • Receipt
  • About MtnBikeRiders.com
  • Home
  • Contact US
  • FTC Disclaimer
  • Guest Posts
  • OFFICIAL RACE TEAM
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • Clear
    • IPN
    • Receipt
  • About MtnBikeRiders.com
Close

Search

  • https://www.facebook.com/
  • https://twitter.com/
  • https://t.me/
  • https://www.instagram.com/
  • https://youtube.com/
Subscribe
EventsMountain BikingSingle speedTeam MtnBikeRiders.com

The 2009 Traverse

By Joe Solancho
May 10, 2009 3 Min Read
2

Early Saturday morning RL, Ner and I met at my house.  We were going to cheer on our teammate Eric “The Animal” Hunner as he was racing in The Traverse.  What’s the Traverse?  Here’s a brief description:

 

Approximately 43 miles with 8K feet of elevation gain.  For those that are familiar with the Santa Ana Mtns, the ride starts at the end of Black Star Canyon Road at 7:00 AM.  Racers will ride up Black Star Canyon Road to the Main Divide Road.  At this point they will traverse the Santa Ana Mountain range via the Main Divide Road hitting all the peaks (including Modjeska and Santiago Peaks) until they intersect with the Trabuco Canyon Trail.   They then descend down the Trabuco Canyon Trail to Trabuco Creek Road and out 4 miles to the finish line at Trabuco Canyon Road. There are cut-off times which the racers have make, otherwise they are not allowed to finish the race. As you can see, lots of climbing and time is of essence…
After leaving my house we stopped for a quick breakfast at iHop.  Can’t cheer on an empty stomach J

Heading up to Beek’s we went up via Skyline Rd.  Tight fireroad all the way up the mountain which was rutted in several sections.  Reaching the base of Beek’s Place was a group of guys which I believe were the part of the Aid Station.  As I was getting out of the car, I hear one of them say “here comes the first rider”.  We got there just in time!

I started making my way up the hill to find a good spot for pictures when I heard a rider coming up behind me.  It was Manny Prado… If you recall, Manny Prado placed 3rd in the Leadville 100 last year behind Lance Armstrong. 

2E8J5818 low res by you.

Manny is a machine!  I turned around and snapped a quick picture.  I then headed up the hill to look for a spot to catch the rest of the racers.

Several riders later, I see Eric – The Animal on his singlespeed.  To give you an idea how intense of a rider he is, see the sequence below as he passes a geared rider up the hill.

2E8J5897 low res2E8J5898 low res

2E8J5899 low res2E8J5900 low res

2E8J5903 low res by you.2E8J5906 low res

We’ll look forward to reading The Animal’s Race Report.

The Travers gets the best of many racers.  While most rode through this section, there were a few that had no choice but to walk their bikes.

2E8J6229 low res by you.                  You can see RL an Ner at the base of Beek’s.

 

 

Congratulations to those that participated.  It is quite an accomplishment!  More pictures can be found here www.js3images.com.

2E8J6231 by you.RL, Ner and I at Beek’s Place

 

Related posts:

  1. Racing the Redline Monocog 29er, Update #3
  2. Southridge Challenge Nov 2009 Winter Series and Triple Crown Finale
  3. Enduro Stuff: OC Parks Tour 2012
  4. I Hate Hike-a-bike racing

Tags:

AnimalBeeksTraverse
Author

Joe Solancho

Follow Me
Other Articles
Previous

Happy Mother’s Day

Next

Serfas Swapmeet, great turnout, great deals

2 Comments
  1. RL says:
    May 10, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    Man Eric is super cool. That dude has so much power in him that he was making the riders look down right weak!

    Way to go Animal!

    By the way Eric was one of the first Single Speed riders that came through that check point.

    RL

  2. John Muller says:
    May 14, 2009 at 8:05 am

    Would it be possible to use your pic of Manny Prado for our race report?

    Nice coverage, Great Job

    Thanks

    John

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Links

  • Cock Coffee

Archives

Recent Comments

  • Fabricio Delfino on Review: KHS DH200 Downhill bike
  • Craig Cuttone on REDLINE’S NEW D880 & D860 and Hardtail D680 29er’s
  • JML on Product Review: Mighty Mendit
  • Hardtail Mountain Bikes: Exploring the Pros, Cons, and Best Use Cases on Full suspension or Hardtail? Pros and cons
  • Ray Johnathan on Nulksen Tire Inflator Portable Air Compressor first impressions

Links

  • Cock Coffee

Categories

  • 29er
  • All- Mountain
  • Articles
  • California Mountain Bike Directory
  • Company Profiles
  • Downhill
  • ENDURO
  • Events
  • How To's/Tech Tips
  • Humor
  • Injurded Rider
  • Interbike 2007
  • Interbike 2008
  • Interbike 2009
  • Interbike 2010
  • Interbike 2011
  • Interbike 2012
  • Interbike 2013
  • Interbike 2015
  • Interbike 2017
  • Main
  • Mountain Biking
  • News
  • Nonsense
  • Off Topic
  • Products
  • Projects
  • Reviews
  • Ride Reports
  • Safety
  • Screen
  • Sea Otter 2007
  • Sea Otter 2008
  • Sea Otter 2009
  • Sea Otter 2011
  • Sea Otter 2015
  • Sea Otter 2017
  • Single speed
  • Team MtnBikeRiders.com
  • WTF
Copyright 2026 — MtnBikeRiders.com. All rights reserved. Blogsy WordPress Theme