The Trans Santa Ana is a grassroots, unofficial enduro race hosted by Jacob Downey. In true Trans spirit, the route is created and only announced a few weeks prior to the event and timing is pulled from Strava. The full route holds nothing back, creating a huge day on the bike that covers 10,500ft of climbing and descending. With all the descending pointing you down some of the most rough and steep trails in the area. The raw nature of the trails keeps you on your toes and has a backcountry feel to them.
Myself (Liam), Tydeman, Ben and Trevor headed out together to tackle this big day on the bikes. All of us except Ben were doing this truly blind, having never ridden any of these trails or even done the climbs. Riding trails this long and challenging while blind puts you in a different mindset than your typical riding. My goal was to ride solid, stay within my limits but have fun, not worry about my downhill times.
Overall, the day was amazing. It was the biggest day I have ever done on an enduro bike, with 7.5 hours of moving time and 9.5 hours elapsed time. It’s a heavy day and there were 28 total finishers, I was very impressed that many riders were also out of their minds to tackle such a big day and making it down some serious trails.
With 5 stages (descents), the trails were all unique and I would say 1-4 were all amazing and I would 100% go ride those again. Stage 5 wasn’t my full cup of tea but still a great trail and had a big drop of over 2k of descending.
A heavy day in the big bikes, but definitely one for the books. I would be stoked to do it again or find other events that offer a similar grassroots feel while covering good trails and combined into a huge day on the rigs.
