First person opinion on Pinyon by Craig Erion:

Okay, so a lot has been said about Pinyon Flats and its "epic" ride qualities. So on Saturday December 10, 2005 Trey Hart, Dave Crampton and I headed out to the greater Palm Springs area at 6:00am in the morning to do this thing. We really didn't know what to expect other than it was probably going to be a very long day.

We met with other OC Riders at the Vons parking lot on Hwy 111 and Gene Autry Trail. Bad Brad was providing the expert guidance as he had just ridden the loop a week earlier. A big bunch of Bassos lead by Skip also joined in the fun. The Vons was a perfect pit stop to relieve over hydration and stock up on last minute calories before the burning began.

This ride requires a shuttle to the top so we packed ourselves and our stuff into half of the cars and drove the 23 miles up Hwy. 74 to the entrance of Pinyon Flats. Skip did a head count and there were 21 riders along on this trip! And off we were.

But first a few words of earned wisdom: Do not attempt this ride without going with someone who has done it. Bring arm and leg protection along. Bring more water and calories than you would normally think you might need. Make sure your bike is in perfect condition. Don't go with a big group. Don't do this ride unless you are a strong intermediate rider or better. Bring a light along just incase. Do bring an extra derailleur hanger bracket along. Plan on getting a few flats. I won't bore you with all of the details on the above mentioned check-list but suffice to say you need this stuff.

I've got to tell you that for me the hardest thing about a new ride is the unknown. I knew this was going to be a long one but didn't know what kind of calorie burn to expect. That being said I took it pretty easy going into this "Epic" because the last thing I wanted to do was blow up somewhere in the middle of the desert. I did pack along extra water and a good amount of consumable calories (Zone Bars and E-gels). This turned out to be a very good thing. What I didn't do was listen to Brad's advise about bringing along arm and leg protection. This was a very bad thing.

The ride starts out nicely with gentle rollers but soon, very soon, turns into cactus and thorn bush lined single-track. My arms and legs were bleeding already and there were only a few miles passed. I'm trying to enjoy the absolute beauty that surrounds me but the damn razor bushes and cactus conspire to thwart my romantic overtures with nature. I guess I was leaving enough blood on the bushes that a rider behind me was getting pretty freaked out. I later assured her that I didn't have AIDS or Hepatitis C and that seemed to calm her down.

Speaking of Nature, this ride was a Scatologists' dream. There was the widest variety of shit laid down on the length of the trail that I had ever seen. And I didn't take a single picture of the stuff. Next time I do this ride I will document the stuff and share with everyone! You're welcome in advance.

So on and on we go, narrow single track broken up with unrideable stream bottom sand and points where the trail just seems to disappear into heavy brush; Brad called it "bushwhacking time." Right, thanks Brad. And there are many hike-a-bike sections...everywhere. Trey and I keep asking ourselves when the "payback" begins; that part of every ride when all of the suffering is rewarded by an awesome single-track downhill section...or something like that. I'm here to tell you right now exactly where that payback section is: The Vons parking lot with a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as the sun sets. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The good news was that the bushwhacking finally ended. The bad news was that was now it was time for a three mile section of deep sand river bottom riding. A few of the guys could actually ride the stuff but Dave and I walked a good mile of it. It is hereby christened the "March of Death" section of Pinyon Flats.

We finally ended the sugar sand portion of the ride but not before I managed to knock the wind out of myself while trying to blast down the sand at full speed only to lose the front end and get spit off over the bars. The river bed finally ended at Dunn Road, the first piece of fire road on the ride. A quick blast down Dunn Road and we came across Mike Dunn's Desert Riders Oasis marked by a rusting International Harvester crawler. Trey was all over that baby trying to see if it would start and get us back to our car...and put an end to the suffering once and for all. We were now at mile 18 and we still had 10 miles of riding to do. What struck me the most was how slowly the miles were accumulating here. We're talking a nightmarish geologic timeframe. And it was getting late. Skip had said that it seemed like you were always chasing sunlight on this ride and he was right.

The good news was that we were now at Hahn Trail which provided a fantastic bit of single-track downhill that lasted for about four miles. The bad news was that I was too exhausted to really enjoy this otherwise enjoyable bit of downhill section. I kept telling myself to be careful and get down without getting hurt. And this of course makes for a slow and careful pick through the rocks...not the best way to enjoy downhill.

So that was it for Pinyon Flats for us. We wound through the streets and back to Hwy. 111 and back to the car. Charlie took Trey up the hill to fetch our car while Dave and I lamented our old age over a few bottles of beer in the parking lot. The three of us had dinner at a fabulous brew house a couple of miles up 111 and drove home. We arrived exactly at 9:00pm. Long day!

I have links to the elevations for the ride as well as a plotted Topo Map and a Google Earth KMZ file. Also click here to see all of the pictures that I took along the way and next time I promise scads of Scat photos. Enjoy. (Notice I said next time; I will definitely do this epic ride again.)