2009-07-03 Hollenbeck Canyon

I met Gardner at the parking lot and we waited a considerable amount of time for Bryan to show up. In the mean time, we watched a couple of moderately out-of-shape riders get on their bikes and ride away. Within about 10 minutes they were back, and approached us asking us for help. It seems the woman had fallen and done something to her thumb. I took a look at the thumb, which didn't look broken or bruised, but the woman started to puke. I let her finish, then we got out the phones and tried to find the nearest medical facility. I called 411, but of course they are absolutely no help if you don't know the address. The couple went on their way to find the medical facility at Palm and I-805 and Gardner and I continued to wait.

Bryan finally showed up about 45 minutes late and we got ourselves ready. Bryan was riding his new bike for the first time, a Pivot. We took off and rode the singletrack until we came to the road at which point we continued upward. We finally got to a spot where I suggested we turn around because the road was taking us away from where we wanted to go.

We then found another turn off on the road and continued to follow that as it approached some houses. These houses had BIG dogs and the dogs weren't on leashes or penned in, and Bryan got a little scared. I don't think we would have had any problems, but we chose to go back down the way we came. The funny thing is that the way back was so fast and furious and yet, I didn't recall climbing so much.

We explored a bit more and then finally headed back to the cars. Gardner and I went to dinner at the nasty sushi place. Afterwards, I bid him fairwell and headed off to Skydive San Diego to set up my tent and start drinking.