Bikes & Beers 2009 - Ride Report

Report by Maxwell, friend of The Path Bike Shop

Man what a great day it was today! I didn't get a head count, but I'd guess maybe 75 riders joined in for the FUN!

The lot started to fill up around 8:30am.

Say CHEESE!


We had a lot of the familiar faces show up. And some that had never been to The Path before. I think it's fair to say everybody had a great day!

Anyone recognize any of these guys?



HOLY CRAP! A Mondo sighting!


We started riding at around 9, while it was still cool. My wife and youngest girl said they saw us riding up the road while they were on the way to softball practice. They thought it was a pretty cool sight to see all the bikes going up Irvine Blvd!

I almost ended my ride early. I did the little "Ralph's huck" for the first time on my hard tail. It's has a small curb to bunny hop, then drops away about 3 feet to flat on the other side. Everything went great, but my rear wheel flexed when I came down. It felt like I taco-ed it, but it came out with just a bit of a wobble. A little re tension, and it'll be just fine!

We got pretty spread out on Jamboree, but I was able to hop up on trash container and get a couple of shots.





We had a quick regroup at the back of Peters and where off again.

Then we hit the first "pit stop" where a few of the guys had some hydration going on!

Joel aka IPA Head, shows off his race sponsors!


Neighbor Tim explains the "how to's" of dirt jumping to Carter Holland.


Carter is another one of those guys that most riders just see as a dirt jumper. The guy is rips it up on the climbs, and shows that "categorizing" mountain biking is a MYTH! It's ALL MTBing!



Local frame builder, and Path legend, DUTY!


And his work.....


From here it was into Oaks, and up the 3 "B's".
Jake took off like he was fired out of a rocket! I saw him once when we reached the top drop area. He said he was heading down Chutes. I said cool, I'd see him at the bottom.
We played around a bit up top, then headed down. After heading down Chutes, we went through Blair Witch, where we split up groups again.
Our group met back up with Jake and Bert at the first regrouping spot, and we started back to the Brewery.

On the way, we hit one last fun section of trail off of Newport.
It has a short climb, to a fun short DH section, with some jumps. We stopped there for a couple of minutes, and played like kids!

Sanjay....bouncey...bouncey...bouncey!




Bert




Jake


Me


Like I started off with, what a blast it was! We ended up at the Brewery right around 1pm, where we relaxed, and stuffed ourselves with some great food!

Thanks again to The Path for putting on another great Bikes and Beers ride!

See you guys on the trails!