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Backbone

1K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  blumena84 
#1 ·
I spent another beautiful day in California riding with some friends along the Backbone trail in the Santa Monica mountains. Officially Zuma/Trancas Canyons, this area was a very pretty place. It was probably a little more than I bargained for an a fully rigid singlespeed, but still a lot of fun. I actually passed out for an hour when I got back to the hotel. Ok, maybe the two beers at Willeys had something to do with that, but it was peaceful.

We started out from the Tunnel 1 parking lot off of Kanan Road and headed south.



There was a rather rude climb up to the top of the tunnel. That woke up my legs, lungs, and brain. What did I get myself into. Where are my gears?

Suffice to say, it was short and opened up to a grinning downhill.



The area reminds me of the Lakota sandstone along the Frontrange of Colorado. There seemed to be similar stretches of rock and looseness.



There were quite a few sustained uphills. This trail was anything but flat. Pain and gain. That's they way I put it into perspective.



The brush tunnels were kind of cool.



A stop at the top (ocean is out there somewhere) and ready for a rough downhill. Not only was I missing the gears at this point, but some suspension would have been nice.





A little bit more shady goodness before turning around and heading back out. Something tells me this could be a nice point to point shuttle ride.



 
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#3 ·
Nice ride report, as usual. This is one of my favorite local rides. You can also head off in the opposite direction from the same trailhead and click off a 30-plus mile out-and-back ride.

Please note in the photo above that there's a whole bunch of evil poison oak mixed in with those branches where your bike is leaning. There's plenty of it on that stretch of Backbone. Nice that you don't have to worry about that stuff on the Colorado front range.
 
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