SS stands for Singletrack Singletrack

Three of us took off at 0-dark-Thirty and drove a couple hours North to a trail I had been told about for a couple of years now, but had never made it to.  The Kern River trail offers 20 miles of singletrack goodness as it follows the contours of the hillsides above the Kern River in the Kern Cyn.

Well, I finally dipped my toe in the stream of dirt and it was good.  We sampled about 15-16 miles of it as an out and back so we could plan a longer ride later in the Spring.  Wanna' do 40 miles of singletrack?  Wow.  That would be a good day.

We, myself, Navy Mike, and Tony the Tiger, all were riding singlespeeds.  I had a new scoot to break in, the Carve SS Pro, all 23.25 pounds of it.  Speedy, yes?  Yes.

When we began, it was in the mid thirties and frost was all on the grass.  After one hour of climbing, we caught up with the sunrise and things warmed up nicely.  The trail was really nice for singlespeeds, although the grades took a toll.  A bit of pushing took care of the real soft, steep sections....pushing, the other SS gear...and we moved along smartly.  Only one crash that I wish I had a pic of.  Navy Mike ended up upside down and mousetrapped by his bike like a big bear trap on his leg, keeping him nicely wedged into a rock pile.  I would have snapped a pic, but I though he was hurt since he was not moving and I ran back up the trail to recover the body.  Not dead...just laughing and needing a helping hand.  Oh good.  No place to land a helicopter on this trail for an airlift.

We ran into a group of riders about half way back to the truck, three of them on singlespeeds too.  One straggler rode up to us as we were talking, looked at me and said, "Hey, I watch your videos on You Tube!  You are Grannygear!".  Wow, that was kinda odd.  I declined an autograph or picture opportunity and rode on, living legend that I am. 

Great day despite the cold start and yeah, we will be back for more.  I may even sign an autograph next time.