The arrival to the Aliso Creek / Woods Canyon (often shortened to just Aliso Woods) was without incident, although when we got out of the car we noticed that the air was a bit chilly due to the morning overcast. Here you see my brother's 4+ inch-travel full-suspension geared Titus Motolite. He's a bigger fella at 220lbs and 6' 2" so is pretty much stuck with riding such rigs. Next to his bike is my recently-built SS machine. It's a Matt Chester titanium chassis mated to various SS-friendly goodies, including a rigid McMahon Racing fork.

  Arrival at parking lot.

The ride in to Dripping Cave was chilly as expected. The overcast also made it not too ideal for picture taking as everything will turn out a little dark.

  Dripping Cave trail entrance.

The initial steep section of Dripping Cave seemed tougher than usual, and I couldn't make it all the way to the top clean.

  My brother on the initial climb.

  SS power cranking along.

At around the highest point of Dripping Cave is a little rock section that we usually mess around with. Depending on the direction you're coming from, we'd either jump it or try to hop up on. Today we were jumping it.

  My brother on the full-suspension.

  Me on my rigid.

On the back side of Dripping Cave is a nice series of switchbacks. They're often rutted due to people skidding around them. Today they were in pretty decent shape, though.

  My brother coming around.

  Coyote Run along the creek.

It turned out to be a great day to climb Rock-It as we encountered only four people coming down along the way. Rock-It is normally a downhill run, but a lot of people are also enjoying climbing it nowadays. It's a breeze to climb cleanly on a geared bike, but with SS I have yet to make it all the way to the top without dabbing. The rocky surfaces make it extremely challenging, especially since it occasionally gets pretty steep. My SS gearing is 34x20, and I can't imagine that anybody could succeed with the whole climb using any tougher setup. 2x1 would probably be out of the question, and you'd likely be pushing the bike a lot.

  Rock-It in all its glory.

  SS, struggling along up the climb.

  My brother on a wide section of Rock-it.

  Me, further up the climb.

  Me, on a steep section.

  Yes, that's all rock.