Nice bike. I rode a hardtail for years here ( I am in San Diego too) Works great. But man when I moved to a FS I really appreciate it, I am less beat up after rides we have allot of trail chatter here. Had my FS in the shop for a major service and rode my 26 hardtail and it was a blast, nothing wrong with that style. The XT brakes are awesome. On thing I would suggest if you are not setup tubeless to go that route and Ardents have a great reputation. And with the hardtail maybe some quality carbon bars would be sweet. And a dropper post is the best thing I ever bought for my MTB. I think the radio tower you hit might be double peak? A relatively new trail on Black Mountain called Lilac. It is connected to the old miners loop and crosses into the Lusardi loop. Good luck and have fun on the new rig looks sweet