Cannell Trail +

The word was spread, a ride on the Cannell Trail was planned. And then rescheduled. Meeting times were set, shuttle was reserved; the plan was to meet at the Mountain River Adventures at 8 am for the 35 mile shuttle to Sherman Pass. The ride starts near 9200 ft., and ends in Kernville near 2800 feet. For many, the highlight of the Cannell Trail is The Plunge, which begins when Lake Isabella becomes visible; from this point it is eight miles to the end, dropping 5000 feet of elevation. Scattered throughout the first half of the ride are enough tough climbs to make you forget the day started with a shuttle, totaling maybe 2500 feet, of alternately steep, loose, sandy, rooty single track climbs, and some long, grindy double track climbs, including a vicious hike-a-bike out of Big Meadow.

A tough day in the saddle which warrants the obligatory stop at the Kern River Brewing Company mmmm beer mmmm

Simple enough directions, Mountain Rivers at 8. That’s about 75 minutes from the house.. In a rare act of preparedness, Saturday night, I filled the camelback bladder (which I inserted in my new Ergon BD2 Pack), froze a few bottles of cytomax, made some sandwiches, grabbed some honey stingers, a few tubes, a few big airs, flask of Strannies, and loaded the car. Now, I could sleep in and have a leisurely start to my day.

Instead, gonna be another hot one

I was at the Brewery at 5:20 (pffft, they were closed) wheels rolling at 5:45. Everything that I saved from not paying the shuttle could be spent on beer, and as an added bonus, my ride would end at the brewery.. mmmm beer

I had brought a light with the hopes of starting my ride pre-dawn and watching the sunrise as I rode, but it was too late for that. The first 20 miles were a nice gradual climb along the Kern River through the Sequoia National Forest, good temps, light traffic, nice warm-up. This didn’t suck.

Runoff down the rock faces was the necessary ingredient for some colorful algal growths..

At the Sherman Road turn-off, the climbing became real. The first few miles were tackled by alternately standing up for the steep sections, and sitting on the less steep climbs. All while looking around, which allowed me to see some interesting rocks. Well, interesting to me, I’m not sure if a geological engineer/geochemist would find them very interesting, but I took a few pictures anyway.

At some point, maybe five miles up, I realized that I was no longer sitting. Just standing and climbing/rowing and climbing/rowing. Climbing into the sun, allowing the Dark Side to overcome me, and strapping my helmet to my pack. The only opportunities to sit came when I zigged and zagged from one side of the road to the other. That was flat enough to spin. Glancing at my watch, it became obvious to me that the shuttle vehicle should be passing me at any moment. I started looking back to see when that moment would come.. Which, of course gave me an opportunity to stop and take a picture. The real reason all singlespeeders carry a camera. Any excuse for a break..

These switchbacks hurt..

The shuttle passed me with almost five miles to the pass, and at the rate I was climbing,m that pretty much guaranteed that I wouldn’t get there before everyone was offloaded and on the trail. Chasing is always fun after five hours of climbing

Finally, I hit the singletrack and began the chase (after strapping my helmet on, of course, I wasn’t that blown). The singletrack on the Cannell trail is in great shape, a few patches of snow, a few sandy stretches, but it’s tight, flowy, and fast, unless you’re climbing.

With splashes of color every where..

Two hours and two wrong turns later (both occurring at the entrance to the Big Meadow), I was dragging ass, the little bit of energy I had left was taxed heavily by the hike-a-bike out of the south end of the meadow, followed by a tough jeep road climb. It was probably time to stop and eat my sandwiches, but I wanted to push on to a lunch spot a further up the trail, and I still wanted to catch the group. The group that I finally saw, towards the bottom of a long, rocky, fun descent. Catching up to them was the elixir that I needed, as I instantly felt re-energized, faster and more confident while descending, able to stand and power up the climbs again. It was a good mixture of rider strengths and abilities and they were a lot of fun to ride with.

Emily had trouble with her pedals, which would haunt her later

Tail end of the snake passing through one of the many meadows

I took advantage of a mechanical to stop and eat two of these. Yes that is an entire tomato split between two sandwiches, washed down by a little bit of Strannies (Dave the pusher)

Bike repairs over, Ryan flew by on his Surly 1×1.

and the chase was on again..

Entrance to the Cannel Plunge.. eight miles..5000 feet.. a little sandy at the top (a lot of sand at the top), but down lower the trail conditions improved , and speed was the name of the game as I followed Jason and Emily through the turns. Through both of Emily’s crashes (a scary endo into rocks that she escaped almost unscathed, and a fast wash out in a sand turn that she was definitely feeling Sunday night), and Jason’s spectacular mid-crash bail bouncing off of boulders.

Saddle appropriately lowered in anticipation..

Finishing at the brewery was a good call.

Load the bike, change clothes, inside in minutes. “A water, a root beer, and a Class V Stout please.” hydration, sugar, and carbs. just what I needed.

All told, at the end of the day, I rode 64 miles, and climbed almost 11,000 feet. No problems from the knee. Drained my camelback, and both water bottles, partially refilling from filtering at a stream crossing.