We got rain on Dec 30 so most of the trails were still wet. One of the only trails in So Cal that gets better after the rain is Mt Wilson. This is because the terrain is decomposed granite, when the trails get wet it soaks up the water and becomes so tacky, the trails are not muddy at all and you will not have any mud or dirt stuck on your tire, its amazing.
I met Spencer at the Crankbrothers Christmas ride and he lives at the base of Mt Wilson and we talked about going for a ride after the next rain so it worked out perfectly to go on New Years Day.
To save time we decided to climb up instead of shuttle. To climb up it takes a little over an hour and to shuttle up in a car it would take about 50 min but the time saving is when your done, because if you climb up you can just head home but if you take a shuttle up you have to take a 2nd car up to fetch the shuttle. Thats another 1 hr up and 1 hr down.
Our climb took longer than normal because we took a few stops so Spencer could show me history of the mountain. It was dope and the climb is not as bad as I thought. If you want to save time and have a full fat E bike I highly recommend it.
I havent ridden Mt Wilson for a long time and I forgot how scary the exposure is, I kept catching myself looking over the edge and not feeling comfortable. This was also my first time riding the Timp Peak here and the switchbacks were way too tight for my dual crown. I was probably only able to make 5 switch backs and had to get off my bike for the other 30. But I still had a blast, it was a great way to start off the year!