I just capped off a pretty Epic Labor day weekend that include some good riding, good friends and great food.

The weekend started off Saturday with a local bunch ride that leaves out of Fullerton at 8am. I'm just getting my Tarmac Pro SL dialed in, and I'm feeling more comfortable every week I spend on it. The acceleration and handling on this bike is really crisp. As my fitness comes around, I'm able to play a more active roll at the front of the group which is always fun.

After laying down some good attacks and getting in a 3 man break that stayed away from the main group, I was back home ready to do my "Honey Do's" around the house.

From there it was a quick trip up to LA for a afternoon BBQ with some friends we hadn't seen in a while. I chowed down on some tasty Turkey burgers, threw back a couple of Bass beers and put the feet up on the couch to take a load off from the mornings bunch ride.

We got home at a decent time on Saturday evening to begin packing for our departure on Sunday morning for the mountains. I figured Davy and I would get a room up in Big Bear for the night and do some riding and hanging out, plus I wanted to get out of the smoke filled air.

With all the fires we've had recently, the air quality has been less than desirable for any kind of activity, plus its been "Africa" hot the past few weeks and we wanted to get away and beat the heat. The only good (if any) I guess, is the sunsets have been amazing as the light refracts off all the particles sent into the atmosphere from the roaring blazes, which leads me to thinking about the Fixx and there song "Red Skies"-

Red skies at night, red skies at night

Wo oh, wo oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Red skies at night, red skies at night

Wo oh, wo oh oh oh oh oh

Had to throw in some classic 80's riffs for ya!

We got a good jump on Sunday morning and split for the Mountains. You know its going to be a good weekend, when your up in the mountains and its 75 degrees and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. And the air was crisp and clean…..ahh Heaven!

We quickly unloaded the car and prepped our bikes and were off for an afternoon ride of exploring. I took Davy through downtown Big Bear and then off Pine Knott Ave. into some of the local trails. We road some of the old NORBA course sections from back in the day as we made our way over to Snow Summit. From there we took a mixture of fire roads, jeep trails and single track to the other side of the resort and made a 2 hour loop out of it.

After the ride, we cleaned up and hit the town for some dinner, drinks and ice cream. Downtown was hopping with a labor day festival and street market that was pretty cool. After walking around doing some window shopping and browsing, we called it a day.

Monday morning, I hooked up with some Big Bear Locals-Larry Longo, Derrick Hermon and Tommy Spiegel. These guys know every inch of the surrounding trails in Big Bear, so I knew they wouldn't disappoint. They said they had a ride they wanted to do….so with my Specialized Carbon 29'er I was all game.

The guys turned me onto the PCT loop, which turned out to be some of the most Epic single track I have ridden anywhere in So. Cal. It turned into a good 3 hour plus ride, with some really cool guys and some really fun terrain. My 29'er was loving every inch of this fast, flowy, and punchy single track loop!

I couldn't have asked for a much better weekend. I got in some really good ride days, met up with friends we haven't seen for in a while, and rode some of the best single track trails I can remember with some good friends.

Until next time,

The Red cowboy