The Helmet Cam Is A Harsh Mistress

So I did this wicked awesome ride down Mount Wilson with Linnea and my brother last Friday. We climbed for three hours and then dropped over 4000 feet in 45 minutes, with 2600 of those feet coming on an awesome sidehill singletrack run, full of crazy-tight switchbacks and steep drops on the low side. Obviously we totally ripped, and I was only scared a few times, when there was a hundred-foot precipice to the left and the trail was only six inches wide.

Then I watched the helmet cam, and it turns out I'm kind of a wuss.

Hoegee Trail Mt Wilson Helmet Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo.
I was just complaining about how cameras don't adequately convey pitch and speed, or maybe it's just that by 2009 we've all seen so many insane bike videos that every time we shred the tiniest bit of gnar we think it's gonna come out like this.

In other words, I feel Thom's pain, but here is a video with some stuff I did set to some music I like, I hope you like it too.

King of Burlingame is coming up fast and only has 13 spots left at the time of this writing. Several 'cross nemeses/victims are on the prereg list so I'm hoping this whole vacation-to-business-trip-(to-50/50-grind-to-fakie) thing works as a surrogate for doing real base training.

Comments

mike said…
4000 feet in 45 minutes. Please. I can get down 4000 feet in, let's see,

4000 / Vt
4000 / 200 mph
4000 / 293 fps

13.65 seconds!
3/31/2009 5:16 PM
Julia said…
I liked it; too bad the vegetation hides the steep drop offs. I like the Brit street rider better tho'. Sorry, Col.
3/31/2009 5:27 PM
Hill Junkie said…
So was that the "Gab" you took down? I've climbed Mt Wilson multiple times, taking different singletrack routes down each time. It's mind blowing how good the singletrack is right from the LA basin. If you climbed the toll road the whole way, it's just about like Mt Washington except all dirt.
4/01/2009 12:39 PM
Big Bikes said…
Helmet Cam always looks better while following another rider.

We should go riding with dueling helmet cams and do a cross post.

That would be so uber-nerdedly awesome!
4/01/2009 4:26 PM
G-ride said…
dude, i would so shuttle that.

shuttle rides RULE.

even though you are mental for riding up, that is still pretty sweet. almost makes me want to ride my bike...almost. dont get CRAZY, bishes!
4/01/2009 4:40 PM
Colin R said…
HJ, not sure if it was the "Gab" or what -- it was some trail connecting the dirt road down the front of Mt Wilson (that goes by Mt Harvard) to Chantry Flat. I think the second half was maybe called the Upper Winter Creek trail or something? I dunno.

We climbed up via the Echo Peak trail and then the Mt Howe old railroad/fire road. "Mt Washington" does sound like the right amount of vertical though.

G-ride - I would also shuttle that one. But I would feel dirty.

Thom - King of Burlingame! Just wait for me.
4/02/2009 7:29 AM
G-ride said…
shuttle rides = guilty pleasures

we all need some. you cant be Saint Colin all the time.
4/02/2009 9:20 AM
linnea said…
I'd rather shuttle dead moose alley/moose alley at Kingdom trails. The decent off Mt Wilson had a little too much exposure to be fun - couldn't let it rip for fear of not making the next switchback... but maybe I'm just being a wimp
4/02/2009 11:27 AM
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