Staying on track with my 52 in 2025 hiking and biking challenge I got out for a 16.5 mile mountain bike ride this past Friday. This is number 5 in the series, which is ok considering we are coming to the end of January, but I’d like to double up some weekends so I can have a week off here and there when I need to. Life can get in the way, you know!
I hit the trail near Creekside Elementary School that runs east/west under the 15 freeway, and over to Los Penasquitos canyon. It’s a pretty flat ride most of the way, rocky in places and a mixture of single track and slightly wider trail. Best part – no road biking! I love the safety of a long trail.
I tested out my new Timber Mountain bike bell along the way, on the winding single track sections. There were not many people out on the trail around the same time as me, so I didn’t capture any footage of it being helpful, but I did get some clips of how easy it is to turn it on/off that you can see below.
I really like this bell for a few reasons. The ability to disable it is the main reason I bought it. I really don’t like the sound of a bell ringing constantly, so being able to mute it suits me just fine.
Another reason that I really like this style of bell is that you don’t have to manually ring it with your hand. You just set it and let it for those stretches of trail where you think you’ll need it and it does the rest for you.
It’s loud, which is great to warn oncoming hikers, bikers and any potential wildlife. Hopefully I won’t have any mountain lions getting in my way 🙂 One thing I thought of as I biked along, is that if you ride trails that have very little texture to them, i.e. no rocks, heavy gravel etc, is that it may not be ideal for your needs. Here in San Diego, most trails are somewhat beat up with lots of ruts and rocks sticking out of the ground, so the bell makes a pretty constant sound while it’s activated. So keep that in mind should you choose to get one.
Thanks for reading. Come back next week for more trails tips and pix.