Ouch! Heal up Tom!

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"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

Nice thread resurrection Tom!

Yeah that culvert got "upgraded" when Caltrans built the trolly line. There is now a sheer 6 ft drop down to the channel at the bottom of the slope, so the fencing is probably a good thing. We pressured them in comment periods for an official connector under there. Officially, according to Caltrans that concrete sidewalk is only for wildlife and not for trail users. But the city is treating it as a trail. The main thing missing is still a connection to the bike path on the west side of the tracks. It is all fenced off now so there is no good way to cross from Santa Fe St. You have to go all the way up past Gilman beyond the trolley line to be able to cross.

Back in the mid ‘80s I honed my skill at riding steep high-traction grades riding up and down the west slope of that culvert (we called it “Elvira”). Never the east slope, though- that side always had a trickle of water and algae at the bottom.

I got so I could ride straight up the banking, or at any side-angle I wanted. It only cost me a bit of skin and some rashes up shorts!

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It’s 7:09 California time

I had my first experience with really bad Poison Oak trying to get from the Marion Bear side to the Rose Canyon side back in 2003.

I unknowingly fell into it and a few days later my legs were one giant weeping mess. Took 3 months and a major steroid treatment to get it to go away.