Originally Posted by TAF

Too late in the week for me to change my Sat plans, but I'd like to join in on the next one.

Same.

anyone up for a Sunday morning ride of this route? or at least parts of it?

Originally Posted by mack_turtle

anyone up for a Sunday morning ride of this route? or at least parts of it?

Yup. Of course!

Give us a time and we'll see you there.

In +1 for Saturday morning!

I plan on being there on Saturday +4 or 5.

Missed the official pre-ride, mine was at 7am I hope I can join then next one.

Originally Posted by The Tip

Yup. Of course!

Give us a time and we'll see you there.

8:30 am sunday?

Originally Posted by mack_turtle

8:30 am sunday?

8:30 am Sunday, February 7, Dick Nichols parking lot. I will be there. Everyone is welcome to join.

How did it go today? How many people showed up?

A report on our first pre-ride, from today, Saturday 2/7:

We had a very good ride. Great weather, and really only one muddy part that was a problem. That was under Brodie coming out of S.P.

We had up to 16 riders. Some of those we picked up out on the trail! 16 on the trail didn't create any problems at all. 16 was the max we had at any one time but there was coming and going happening. Again, that is not a problem either because of the the way the routes loop back to Dick Nichols.

I panicked a little when I finished the ride because it looked like my Strava didn't record. Argh! But I finally figured it out. So now we have an excellent and accurate idea of what the mileage is on The Big Southie:

Today's riders that did all three loops road 24 miles. It took 3 hours and 15 minutes moving time, with 45 minutes more for our educational stops, and the two rest periods back at Dick Nichols between loops. We did skip a couple of short segments in our "Guts" only ride today. But reconstructing what we missed I can now say that the Guts part will entail 27 miles. We already knew what the mileage is on the "Glory" parts. The Glory parts are the appendages that we did not do today. We only showed the jumping off/return points of each of those.

Here are the approximate Glory jaunts:

Barton Creek Greenbelt from Sunset Valley - 5 miles
St. Preserve no repeating trail adventure - 5 miles
Bauerle Ranch from Veloway south entrance - 6 miles
Slaughter Creek Trails - 5 miles
The climb up dirt Davis, 1826 to Spruce Canyon Drive, Hielscher Greenbelt, Escarpment, Circle C soccer jeep track, Barstow Ave, back to Davis -7 miles

Those add up to 28 miles.
Put in the 27 from the Guts...

...55 miles.

1826 has single track that runs along it the whole way. So if you don't count that as road, and we don't, then The Big Southie only has about four miles of road total. Sweet!

I didn't think it was possible, but I am even more excited about this event than I was before. It is going to be great.

Next pre-ride I think that we should practice drinking beer too.

I should be able to make this. It will be a self supported and self-paced ride for me because I will have been off the bike for quite a while. This looks like a great way to get back on the bike!

Originally Posted by The Tip

8:30 am Sunday, February 7, Dick Nichols parking lot. I will be there. Everyone is welcome to join.

I'll join you tomorrow! Thanks!

Will the BS ride include any technical sections, climbs or just the sanitized stuff?

I will be there. Anyone have a link to the most recent gps file for the route?

Mack, all loops are on the website. GPX, KML and google.

Ernest, there is a tough climb at the end of Davis. Not HOL tech, but still pretty loose and rutted. Bauerle has a decent tech climb by the community center. Stephenson is more technical than most realize. And finally, we have a loop in the GB for max gnar.

Anybody post up to ride with GPS?
Thanks.

NM. A quick search answered that question.

Want to thank Tip and Mack for leading the rides last weekend. Sounded like a good ride.

We will be having two rides this coming weekend so mark your calendars. Will post up with details soon.

If anyone that rode last weekend is interested in helping as a ride leader or sweep, please email thebigsouthie@gmail.com. More help would allow us to ride different loops at the same time or accommodate different rider speeds.

Official ride calls for the weekend:

2/14, 9AM Dick Nichols parking lot. We will do the same route Tip lead last Saturday. This will give riders a good tour of each loop and we will point out where you break off to do other sections. We will skip Slaughter, GB, Stephenson and Bauerle. 24 miles with two stops back at DN park. Casual pace, may break into different speed groups if there is demand for it.

2/15, 9AM Dick Nichols parking lot. We will do the Gnorth loop in full. Riders can see the GB loop and also ride the maze in Stephenson. Will be about 18 miles out and back, so pack accordingly. Casual pace, may break into different speed groups if there is demand for it.

Originally Posted by greenblur

2/14, 9AM Dick Nichols parking lot...Casual pace, may break into different speed groups if there is demand for it.

Looking forward to it. Looks like good weather again.

I volunteer for the casual, casual speed group!

Should we wear Valentine red?

Weather is going to be perfect and trails are in primo shape for this weekend's rides.

We are going to have 5-6 MPH and 8-9 MPH groups.

Hope to see some of you dirtbags out there