Trail riding in Riverside, County
The above video shows some of the fun that we’ve been having each afternoon, that is, fun if you consider trail riding in the hot sun to be enjoyable. We’ve been fortunate in that there are a lot of great trails in this area. We have a lot of choices about where to ride, as long as we don’t mind climbing hills. Yesterday was the first time that we had the opportunity to ride some of the ones featured in clip, and not knowing where the trails lead just adds to the fun. Of course, our rides are much longer than the five minutes of footage included in this video, but I edited out all of the boring uphill stuff.
A few other firsts took place yesterday too:
- It was the first time we have had the chance to record footage with the GoPro mounted on the handlebars. I think it worked out OK.
- It was the first time that we rode with our handlebar bags fully loaded (they contain all of our sleeping kit, and our rain gear).
- It was also the first time that we tested out the charging capabilities of our dynamo front hubs. During normal usage we’ll likely have them plugged into a cache battery, this time I had it plugged directly into my iPhone. I fount that the magic number for charging was around 5 MPH. Once the bike reached that speed, the iPhone would begin to charge.
It looks bone dry, i got thirsty ,just watching!, looks like prime wildfire fuel, be safe!
Very desert like here.
Wow, that track seems a bit off the beaten path. Reminds me how rural parts of this County can be, even out here on the western end. The east ?’s of the County is largely desert and even more barren.
Back in the 80’s and 90’s it wouldn’t be surprising to run into the odd meth-lab-in-a-camper out in those hills. Luckily those days are long gone.
Are they gone? 🙂
Well, as best I can tell they are. I was the meth lab prosecutor for that area and watched the decline of the local lab “industry” in the early 2000s. Now I defend folks and labs just aren’t a thing anymore.
That said, in my experience folks live out there for their own reasons. Some are pretty protective of their privacy. But mostly I’ve run into nice people out in the hills, if a bit wary at first.
Very interesting!
Reminds me of the mountain biking I did during college in San Diego. It definitely gets your heart rate up. Have you tested your camping gear on an overnight ride? Wondering how you will find places to camp each night and is your route mostly offroad? I would imagine California has more restrictions on where you can camp vs. Mexico and further south. May be a good subject for a post.
The US has more restrictions on EVERYTHING*! 🙂
You’re right, once we get south of the border camping will not be an issue. We’ll only have about three or four nights to contend with in Cali before we get in to Mexico. We don’t have a definite plan but we’ll figure it out.
*Except gun ownership.
Amazingly smooth footage from your handlebars!
I was quite surprised at that too.
Great video. Kind of have to stay on your toes with those dried up hard pan surface with here a there rocks, slanted short slopes and the branches to contend with. I too am surprised at the GoPro mounted on the handle bar, no jitters or bounce. Hiking around in back country is just that. Have to be aware of your surroundings especially with wild life/creatures of the location. Scorpions come to mind. Check the inside of your shoes after an overnight. Know your locale. People wise, for the most part are fellow travelers. The one’s out there want to be out there, away. Mostly friendly though. They will meet if they want to meet.
I’ve never seen a scorpion in the wild, but I bet we eventually will. And tarantulas!