Getting into trouble
The “Slab of Death”. Avg grade 44.5% according to Strava. Sub 30s records held by people on e-bikes obviously.
HIKE-A-BIKE
~64
STREAMS CROSSED
~31
ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS
~12
This is a compilation of weird places, awkward situations, impossible to ride trails, or generally not recommended segments. My major motivation for riding is the desire to explore, so many times despite my best research efforts, the path is blocked or unridable. Sometimes that ends up being its own kind of fun. You got the idea if you read my post on the Hollywood sign. I’ve added context and stories to the images below.
Low visibility can be a problem. If the temperature swings drastically in the morning we can get some serious fog.
Looked inviting enough.
After attempting to find a way through this, it got too deep and I decided to turn back.
When I lived in West LA, my “easy ride” was about 7 miles up to Will Rogers State Park, around Inspiration Loop Trail, then back home. It was about 1000ft of elevation and mostly paved. On one ride exploring other routes connected to the park, I ended up in the middle of this “trail.”.
The below videos are also Will Rodgers park, on the back entrance that’s usually closed to car traffic. Dodge the wildlife and unleashed dogs.
Sometimes it's just too steep and rocky. The above was a narrow, loose, steep, rocky hiking path; totally not worth revisiting on my bike. The trails below I still take regularly and just hike the offending portion since there’s plenty of nice riding around those parts. If I had some suspension these would be rideable; my friend has navigated the madness below on a full-squish downhill bike no problem.
Despite how crazy the trails can get, the mountain bike doesn’t seem like a good tradeoff to me. The trails are too far apart and too short usually, connected by paved paths and proper roads. Sometimes I spend hours on the pavement, and a mountain bike is not the tool for that. I actually enjoy road riding. So I ride my gravel bike to the trail and ride back. We have one car in the family so it’s usually not possible to tie up the vehicle for that long anyway.
These adventures come with some technical trouble. Trails this rocky can cause punctures and compression flats, so tubeless tires are a must in my opinion. You can see what would have been a compression flat at the very bottom of the image to the left, where the sealant came out between the tire and the rim. These heal up automatically with tubeless tires.
On the far left, that dirty looking thing on the tire is a patch. With a puncture that won’t seal automatically, the patch is a spike with some sticky “hair” on it. The spike is pushed through the puncture and the hairy end hangs out, helping the sealant harden around it. Pretty cool.
I still cross these streams all the time.