Exploring Saddleback Mountain - Goes South

[Marty Backe]

My exploration of Saddleback Mountain, in Southern California, did not go as planned 

 

[Toshio Uemura]

2 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

My exploration of Saddleback Mountain, in Southern California, did not go as planned 

 

Are you all right Marty? This doesn’t look good. Did you have an accident with your new wheel? The video does not play.

[Marty Backe]

19 minutes ago, Toshio Uemura said:

Are you all right Marty? This doesn’t look good. Did you have an accident with your new wheel? The video does not play.

It's a YouTube Premiere. You have to wait ~14-hours

[Toshio Uemura]

19 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

It's a YouTube Premiere. You have to wait ~14-hours

14 hrs. That’s 6 AM tomorrow. No problem. Now at least I know you are not in a hospital. They would not allow you to use the internet. 😂 

[meepmeepmayer]

Was a crane involved? Looking forward to the video.

[Dave Frear]

Can't wait to see your adventure.    You were in my neck of the woods, but I didn't think you'd go after finding out the forest was closed.  Did you or Chris do a GPS recording of your route?  (please post) I've ridden my mt bike up to 4 corners (Maple Springs), that is a hard ride.  I knew my Z10 wasn't up to it and the Monster doesn't have enough power.

Glad to hear you didn't get tickets, and are alive to tell your stories.

[Marty Backe]

1 hour ago, Dave Frear said:

Can't wait to see your adventure.    You were in my neck of the woods, but I didn't think you'd go after finding out the forest was closed.  Did you or Chris do a GPS recording of your route?  (please post) I've ridden my mt bike up to 4 corners (Maple Springs), that is a hard ride.  I knew my Z10 wasn't up to it and the Monster doesn't have enough power.

Glad to hear you didn't get tickets, and are alive to tell your stories.

I do have the GPS route. I'll post it in my Telegram group. Turns out that where we started (County Park) it was opened but after a handful of miles it enters the Forest Service and was closed, but we didn't know it. Fortunately the ranger didn't fine us considering the condition that we were in.

[Toshio Uemura]

15 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

My exploration of Saddleback Mountain, in Southern California, did not go as planned 

 

Riding with you is SPARTA pure!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 🌗
5 stars for dramaturgy, suspense and film making
5 stars for recklessness 

5 stars for taking just enough water with you on this trip

5 stars for the guts to call 911 in time

5 stars for the California emergency services 🚁 and the ranger

5 stars for your wife’s patience (hope she hit you with the rolling pin upon return!)

5 stars for the both of you to have survived this.

... and the half moon is for your orientation skills, planning skills and other missing Boy Scout skills 🤣 

Enjoyed this one a lot! 

[meepmeepmayer]

Hmm I think a proper backpack with real food and much more water (and maybe some collapsible sunshade for breaks) is in order for these kind of rides. You seemed a bit underprepared/underequipped.

[Toshio Uemura]

18 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

It's a YouTube Premiere. You have to wait ~14-hours

Reminds me a bit of the release of the Ninebot Z10. Keep people waiting, the longer the better. They will be desperate. 😝 

[Toshio Uemura]

1 hour ago, meepmeepmayer said:

a bit

“a bit ...”?!
This had the potential to end differently ...! But @Marty Backe is a real pioneer. Let this be an important lesson to all of us, so that these two didn’t put their lives on the line for nothing.

[Toshio Uemura]

6 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

I do have the GPS route. I'll post it in my Telegram group. Turns out that where we started (County Park) it was opened but after a handful of miles it enters the Forest Service and was closed, but we didn't know it. Fortunately the ranger didn't fine us considering the condition that we were in.

Backcountry Essentials

Anyone traveling in the wild with his EUC should always have the following:

• The willingness to complete the total ride well within 70% of the wheels battery capacity.
• A topographical map of the area, preferably with compass or GPS.
• Information about recent weather conditions.
• The knowledge to use and apply the above.
• Proper riding gear and first aid kit (Chooch Tech has a good video on that on his channel)
• Some extra protection against heat/cold and rain.
• Enough food and water.
• Friends to ride with, and preferably someone who knows exactly where you’ll be going. 😝 
• Cell phone (with battery power) or other means of communication; extra battery.
• The ability to say no when conditions look bad — people are often more difficult to handle than weather, wheel or terrain.

[Tazarinho]

Wow. Hope you are both feeling better by now! Glad it worked out in the end. 

However just curious about one thing. Why didn't  you swap wheels with Chris? Say when you were about 60% and he about 40%. You would likely both have made it to the downhill section with much less risk of overexertion for Chris. It also would have allowed you to stay together which would have meant much less risk for either of you to end very badly. 

[Marty Backe]

5 hours ago, Tazarinho said:

Wow. Hope you are both feeling better by now! Glad it worked out in the end. 

However just curious about one thing. Why didn't  you swap wheels with Chris? Say when you were about 60% and he about 40%. You would likely both have made it to the downhill section with much less risk of overexertion for Chris. It also would have allowed you to stay together which would have meant much less risk for either of you to end very badly. 

Never occurred to me (us). Nothing like hindsight 

[Marty Backe]

16 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Hmm I think a proper backpack with real food and much more water (and maybe some collapsible sunshade for breaks) is in order for these kind of rides. You seemed a bit underprepared/underequipped.

I did not run out of water. My mistake was not using it.

[Dragonfly EUC]

HOLY COW!!!  That was quite an adventure!  It was like a movie!

Glad you two are OK!

[Dragonfly EUC]

5 hours ago, Tazarinho said:

However just curious about one thing. Why didn't  you swap wheels with Chris? Say when you were about 60% and he about 40%. You would likely both have made it to the downhill section with much less risk of overexertion for Chris. It also would have allowed you to stay together which would have meant much less risk for either of you to end very badly. 

Fantastic idea!

[.....]

Damn bro... and you think I'M dangerous? Trekking off into the desert on a wheel with finite battery power. Aren't you Cali boys good for heat and dry? I dont carry phones, as some calls just cost too much damn money. Sorry you fell out, glad you made it back! Not sure I'd have split up. Enter together, die together...

Edited September 22, 2020 by ShanesPlanet

[meepmeepmayer]

57 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

I did not run out of water. My mistake was not using it.

If you didn't use it because you were rationing it, you didn't have enough water

If you merely didn't think of drinking it, well then I guess more water won't help

These three small bottles don't look much for this kind of heat to me as well. Seems like the minimum should be one of these huge cola bottles (1/2 gal or what that is in non-liters).

1 hour ago, Marty Backe said:

Never occurred to me (us). Nothing like hindsight 

I wondered too as it seemed obvious, but figured you knew you had enough range even after the detour to not worry about switching wheels. Maybe it was too hot to think clearly, that happens quickly as I've learned.

-

Anyways, the point is not to bash on you Marty Keep adventuring! But I think for this kind of ride in remote places, you should have enough stores to walk out (on foot) at any point, and maybe spend a thought on "I crash and break my leg, what then?" just to be sure.

And focus on your legs in the gym That seems to be the weak point of your endurance (Cogswell was similar, wasn't it? Maybe I remember wrong.).

16 minutes ago, ShanesPlanet said:

Damn bro... and you think I'M dangerous? Trekking off into the desert on a wheel with finite battery power. Aren't you Cali boys good for heat and dry? I dont carry phones, as some calls just cost too much damn money. Sorry you fell out, glad you made it back!

It's not an adventure if you're always 100% in your comfort zone

[fryman]

Don't understand the free helicopter ride @Marty Backe?  They charged me $1200 for a 5 minute ambulance ride from Griffith Park to the hospital.

[Toshio Uemura]

2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

It's not an adventure if you're always 100% in your comfort zone

Does that mean it is an adventure when you have a 50:50 chance to get home unharmed or better even alive? Or at what survival rate exactly does the “adventure” start for us EUC enthusiasts?
I always thought of EUC riding with all its potential hazards and its well-temperate danger as a kind of “extreme sport”. I wonder: Do we really have to make it even more extreme than it already is by having a couple of helicopters on stand-by? I thought that’s what only back-country snow boarders were doing!

But the lesson I learned from this is to have at least one friend or family member be aware of where exactly I am planning to go and give him a call all 3 hours or so. And if this call does not come, have him search for me and pick me up (with a crane 😝) or call for help.

[Toshio Uemura]

1 hour ago, fryman said:

Don't understand the free helicopter ride @Marty Backe?  They charged me $1200 for a 5 minute ambulance ride from Griffith Park to the hospital.

It’s probably a California thing! In Japan the snow boarders do this a lot: get themselves lost in the mountains and valleys, then call the helicopter in for their free ride home.

[.....]

 

36 minutes ago, Toshio Uemura said:

Does that mean it is an adventure when you have a 50:50 chance to get home unharmed or better even alive? Or at what survival rate exactly does the “adventure” start for us EUC enthusiasts?

I use the 50/50 rule. If odds are 50/50 or better, its an adventure and NOT suicide. I usually ponder on how many days it would take to crawl to civilization, if I fall off a mountain and barely survive it.  If the odds are too good in your favor, its still an adventure, but usually doesnt make for as good a story in the end...

[RetroThruster]

My goodness, what an adventure, so glad you guys are okay!!  We're only human and though we feel like we can handle whatever adventures we get ourselves into, there's always a risk, no advice here on what to do in this situation but again, glad you guys are okay.  I think double portions of donuts before the trip, where's Dunkin Donuts?:)

Edited September 22, 2020 by RetroThruster

[Jia Liu]

I enjoy exploring new route very much. I always check satellite image to exam if the trail is ridable. But it just cannot be always judged by low res pics. Like yesterday, the trail all looks nice, but in reality, it has a long uphill section covered by fine gravel/sand. I had to push the wheel up for almost 1000 ft in elevation, and doing that in sand is not very fun.  

I don't know if there is app for it, but on my Garmin watch, if I set it to navigate planed route, it will vibrate whenever I am off track. This feature has saved me multiple times when I went astray by not paying attention to GPS location.