I was a sittin’ ‘roun the house one afternoon lookin’ fer a place to go a ridin’ ‘er werk on trails when the phone started ta a ringin’. Well wouldn’t you know, it was Chipperamma. I’d already missed Jimbo’s call an’ I was lookin’ fer something ta do. Chip an’ I figured to go over to Pablos’ chute an’ cut down some of dem branch that’s always a wackin’ ya when float down that sweet E-ticket. Fer some of you pups out there that was a thing that was at Disneyland. The best bodacious rides at the ‘Land you had to buy a ticket book, an’ them ticket books had a buncho E-tickets. They were always the best rides, you know the kind that makes yer gut get the butterflies in it. Well anyway that’s the way I feel on the ‘Chute. The sad part is there used to be many things like the ‘chute in the south bay, mainly my stompin’ grounds that we’re ridin’ now.
You see years ago we usta ride a whole bunch of these. There was a series of hills over by Telegraph Canyon Rd. It was called the Roller Coaster. It was like this: you’d come flyin’ down from Rabbit Hill goin’ south, fast as you go, an’ dodge the big barrel cactus on the right then jump over the downed barbed wire fence hook a right an’ literally float down the first hill at ‘bout 40 ‘er so. Right Carroll? Seein’ he an’ Donny was always the fastest even back then. You didn’t even need ’ta pedal fer the next ‘un. You would just coast right up. Then get back on the gas an’ do the same thing fer three hills. The fun was overwhelmin’. ‘Nother place was triple step. That’s the same one we have now, ‘cept it was alot more rutted, but back then I remember hittin’ 30 one day. That ‘asn’t happened again. Ever. Hell, I reckon if some yahoo downhiller wants the record they can get one us over there to witness it. Looky here. If’n you don’t have witness it don’t count.
How ‘bout The Power Line Hill. Now that place would make ya pucker. At da top you slip ‘er in the big hole an’ hit ‘er hard. ‘jus ‘bout the white part of the hill you’d be at ‘bout 40. If you could still hang on an’ pedal you could get a scary 50 ‘er so. I recall doin’ it at night an’ missin’ the turn at the bottom with Carroll an’ endin’ up in a tree. Ah, the good ol’ days.
Then there was Carroll’s Corner an’ Chair Hill. Chair Hill useta have an’ ol’ recliner ‘jus at the top. Now Chair Hill holds a special place in my ridin’ history. See, you would haul ass down to Carroll’s Corner from the green water tank on H then turn left an’ float down chair. That’s right you could actually fly all the way down the hill. Then motor up the next side hell bent fer leather. If a body went fast ‘nuff down chair the you almost could coast up the side. One day I came aroun’ the corner leadin’ to Chair, haulin’ enough ass fer two people, when the front wheel washed out. That one cost a shit load of skin. It was one of ’em E-ticket rides I was a speakin ‘bout earlier. Whoowee that was some fun. On the other side of the water tank there was a fast downhill called Rattlesnake Trial. ‘Fore I ‘came informed ‘bout snakes an’ other such critters I was a fearful of them. Ignorance will do that to you. I was plum ignerant back then ‘bout ecology an’ such things that make the hill an’ hollers what they be today. I killed a six an’ half foot long rattler there. Now I know what yer all sayin now ‘bout the snake an’ such an’ I done learned the error’s of my way’s. Well any ways back ta my story, that hill you could hit an’ honest 30 ‘er so. Carroll’s bike store, the Chula Vista Cycle Sport, made mucho dinero at the bottom of the hill. See, ya had ta jump a cement ditch. See back in the ol’ days when most of the stuff we did was technical an’ we didn’t have bridges an’ such things, not that there’s wrong with that. I can ‘member VanGundy toastin’ a rim ‘er two on that there one like it was yesterday.
The most recent loss is the Brown-Boot, now that one is sorely missed. Man you could fly on that single track. Out to the Otay Lake Touch the Fence an’ be back ta my Casa in a hour an’ twelve if ya believe Carroll, as he had no witnesses. Night ‘er day that ‘un was some punkin’s. Construction has takin’ that ‘un also.
I know I ‘m a soundin’ like some ol’ timer lookin’ back. The times are a changin’. I reckon I am too, but because of the loss of the good ol’ trails we get New Mexico, Church, Vancouver, Death, Dead Car an’ lets not ferget Black Beauty. Then there’s Liars Revenge an’ Hardest Hill Aroun. See, change can be good as long as we don’t ferget what we’re out there fer. Adventure ‘an ridin’ is still why we go to these places. It could be ta commune with nature an’ enjoy the quite of the trail in the mornin’ ‘er it might be ta get a good romp in ‘fore the sun set.
Now you’ll here this an’ that, a lie ‘er two will be spoke of this subject, but that’s how I ‘member it.
Hoserr
HoserrSays 