Joshua Tree: GT Road to Berdoo Canyon Rd.

[obie]

Saturday was partly sunny, breezy and warm. Found a campsite early Sat. morning at Ryan. Loaded the MTB and left for Geology Tour Rd. on the paved road. Took GT Road to the intersection with Dillon Road and headed towards Berdoo. Steady climb (easy 3-4%)but loose sand. I was in the saddle up the ridge but the road is narrow and you have to watch your line and keep moving - no room to manuever through the deeper sections. Little 4WD traffic, I saw the ranger on patrol (3x) and two jeeps. Went about two hours up Dillon Rd. towards Berdoo - was short on time and playing it cool these days with no nite rides until the leg is 100%. I fell a couple times on the bionic leg but in the sand - can't get my brain to change pattern and fall to the right. Most cyclists fall to the left...it's hard to change. Ride was 7 hrs. and around 60 miles.

Next time I'll use some fat 2.5's with more tread. The ranger said the ride gets technical over the top and down through some busted granite sections. This would make a good shuttle ride - one car down on the Palm Springs side at the end of Berdoo and then start back at GT Road. Or just do a two day out /back on Berdoo with bivy etc.

Sunday was way too breezy to do the road ride. Tent was near liftoff a couple times during the nite - 45-55 kts. in the gusts. Got up at 6am and it was howling and more than I wanted to deal with on a road bike. Threw the bikes in the truck and got home before noon. Fun trip.



Valley floor is hardpacked and in fairly good shape




Burning quads


Ryan


Working on the tan also known as sit down or be blown down. Wind would come up out of nowhere on the ridge and blow hard for 2-3 mins.

[Hikin_Jim]

Looks like a cool one.

HJ

[hvydrt]

Ride was 7 hrs. and around 60 miles.

$%@*!!! 7 hours on a bike! Nice ride, thanks for sharing.

[lilbitmo]

I fell a couple times on the bionic leg but in the sand - can't get my brain to change pattern and fall to the right. Most cyclists fall to the left...it's hard to change. Ride was 7 hrs. and around 60 miles.

I wonder why that is, I'm thinking back to all the times I've bailed on my bike and 99% of them are to the left, never thought about it.

Nice ride Obie, glad the leg is coming along, thanks for sharing this.

[obie]

I fell a couple times on the bionic leg but in the sand - can't get my brain to change pattern and fall to the right. Most cyclists fall to the left...it's hard to change. Ride was 7 hrs. and around 60 miles.

I wonder why that is, I'm thinking back to all the times I've bailed on my bike and 99% of them are to the left, never thought about it.

Nice ride Obie, glad the leg is coming along, thanks for sharing this.

There are some threads on bike forums on "Falling to the Left". Some of it is that if you're right handed then falling to left with right hand hand down first etc, etc. is how you want to cushion the impact. It is now quite hard to unlearn this. I think sand is a good place to practice falling..slow speed, no trafffic (usually - I fell in front of a ranger and he was concerned that he had caused me to go down). I tell people I'm "Practicing Falling" and they give me an odd look but, racers always practice bail-out moves and close quarters riding to get the moves down when you crash because you know you're going to anyways if you ride a lot.

Thanks - the leg feels fine. The 'push' section up GT Road is a good workout. I just wish my ankle were strong enough to hike on foot - I can't manage down climbing yet. I try short 20-25% descents around here and I just can't get the ankle to work. I can only walk about a 1/2 mile before I start limping. All things in time I guess.