This past weekend I was able to coax a couple of buddies out for a quick s24o camping trip up in the mountains behind Ojai. Not an easy feat for most of us to pull off as life gets too busy, but a few emails, a month of lead time and I had two out of 6 invites along for the ride, thanks Mike and Mike. We headed out Saturday afternoon towards the Murietta Camp near the end of Matilija Creek Rd.
Weather down on the coast was foggy all day, and I was looking forward to getting some time in the sun. About 6 miles in we could see the end of the clouds, and then it was clear all the way to camp.
Up around Lake Casitas and through Miner's Oaks we stopped in at the Farmer and the Cook to pick up some last-minute energy snacks (peanut butter cookies) and then it was out of town an up HWY 33 into the Santa Ynez mountains
The turn off for Matilija Canyon Rd comes up quickly. Mostly uphill to get past
the most useless damn in the region, and then down into the canyon. This is some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever been through.
Just over 5 miles of empty rolling hills heading back to some dirt and creek crossings. The sun would be giving us light until 7:30 or 8, so we were taking our time getting to the trail head
I theory we were almost there. The campground should be less than a mile up and easy to spot. Twenty minutes of single track, and a creek crossing and it was becoming painfully evident that Plan A was not going to be as easy as we thought
The trail was well marked, and a heck of a lot of fun, but the campsite was a bit elusive. Plan B was to head back towards Matilija camp, and or the first workable flat spot before it got too dark. Two miles back the other direction, one dry riverbed, 3 creek crossings and a whole lot of hike a bike and we found our home for the night
Tired, hungry and needing a rinse in the creek the camera went away until morning. While the Matilija camp sees a fair amount of traffic, it was fairly quiet this summer Saturday, there were a couple of other camps to the south, but by no means crowded. The night was clear with bright stars and no moon. Sleep came easy. Fog had rolled into the valleys by morning, bringing some chill with it.
Dinner Had made it evident that I had left my spoon at home. There is a good bit of humor to be found in that in consideration of all the camera gear and other stuff I had dragged along. It was not that big of a deal, by morning I had thought of a work around for my oatmeal. Have I mentioned how much I like my
Soma tire levers?
The sun was starting to break through, it was time to break camp and enjoy the ride out. A mix of single track, and hike a bike, with creek crossings, plenty of poison oak, and did I mention poison oak?
The time in the sun was short lived and we were flirting with the edge of the fog the rest of the way back towards home and the ocean.
After a look back we crested out of the valley and back out on the HWY 33, tempting us to head north for a bit.
At least it was tempting me. The rest of the afternoon committed for all three of us though, it was back to town. Trips further North will have to wait for another time.
The trip was a success, even had a little adventure thrown in. Total time away was under 19 hours with about 60 miles of riding. All of this is just to the North of the comforts of home. Everybody wants to do it again. Time to start planning the next round.
It has been a busy run here, and this week had some more incoming tools I want to test out.
The easy one is the new silicone folding coffee cone. I have been looking for something a bit more portable that does not weigh a ton, and can squeeze into my cook kit. we will see how it goes.
The other tool is a bit more interesting. The
Fix it Sticks are an interesting twist that I hope to have replace my long carried Alien tool.
They ran a successful Kick starter campaign to get these things out into the world. They have even more tool options, but I stuck with the basic 4/5/6 since that is what I needed. Hopes are high for these. The tool bits are press fit with an epoxy as backup. the body of the tool is aluminum and lighter than you night expect. For the range of torques needed on the bike they should be more than robust enough, time will tell. They take up about as much room as a set of tire levers and pack up neatly and rattle free in a upcycled tube
Thinking about how light they felt, and how heavy my decades old Alien tool felt I decided to pull out the scale (a task reserved only for shipping around here most of the time)
Comparing the pile of tools to the alien it looks like I will shave about 38 grams. While that is just a little bit, there were a ton of redundancies between the Alien and the rest of the tools in that pile I often carried any way. Whey these neat little sticks will really do is convince me to jettison the 305g multi tool and eventually the backup allen keys, shaving almost 3/4 of a pound in the long run.
While that may sound like no big deal in a world of weight be damned bike touring, it means that I can effectively add my camp stove and cooking kit to the bar bag at all times with no weight penalty. That is the point of counting the grams! it is possible to carry the things you want and need without massive panniers and or a super stout bike. With careful selection of your gear you can quite possibly have you comforts and not need a sherpa (or a car) to haul it around. I am not cutting the handles off of my tooth brush, yet, but I am starting to think more about the stuff I haul, and what it weighs.
Enter the Rambler, light weight touring, and some fun.
I recently picked up a new
stove to lighten my outdoor cooking load a bit. I have been wanting a Trail Designs Ti-Tri Caldera cone for years now, but prefer a wider pot, and it is primarily meant to work with mugs. In the last year or so, the TD guys came out with the sidewinder and a was back to dreaming. With a bit of extra cash I splurged and bought myself the Sidewinder kit.
The kit comes with the alcohol stove, windscreen / cone, tent stake / pot supports, fuel bottle, fuel measuring cup, pot lifter and a basic aluminum 2qt pot. The whole package fits neatly into the pot.
The cone acts as both a windscreen and pot support with the ventilation optimized to get the most from their stove. It is in credibly simple to use. load the measured amount of denatured alcohol into the stove, light with a match, set the cone over and then set the pot on top.
I headed out early this morning to start putting it to good use. I was able to bring about 1qt of water to boil with 35ml of alcohol in a little over 15 minutes. This was with the sea breeze just starting to pick up.
I brewed up a bottle of tea for the road and enough left over to enjoy while things cooled off. I am impressed with what is really their most basic stove kit designed to boil at least a quart of water. Simple to use, quiet, clean, light weight and efficient with the fuel. The stove will also work well with Esbit fuel tabs. For a bit of a bump in price their titanium kits can burn wood as well.
The only down side to this kit is the size. While quite clearly described on their website, it is bigger than I envisioned. That is not really a problem, just what it is. I am sure that this stove is going to see a ton of use.
Low Tide January 10 2013, 0 Comments
Yesterday was starting off pretty normal, the task list was more than a day could hold, but the plan as always was to bite off as much as possible. One thing I was not giving up was my regularly scheduled errands ride around own. With all the short stops I can usually get it all done in the same amount of time as the car, and the bike is just a hell of a lot more fun.
The skies went gray for the first time in few days and the fog was rolling in on the coast. With temps in the 50's it was crisp, but still pretty perfect to ride and barely break a sweat. Everything was going pretty close to routine, and I decided to swing by the beach on my way home.
The tide was super low and dropping fast. I knew this was going to happen, but not so early in the day. This was a perfect chance to seize the moment, do something not on the schedule and grab back 30 minutes of pure fun, and yes you can almost see the idea forming in my mind above.
And so the diversion started, I figured it would just be a quick toodle on the sand. It turned out I had over a mile of beach for an out and back. Even with 20lbs in the panniers the 38mm tires did just fine on the hard packed sand. I found a few small pieces of green beach glass, crossed paths with dogs and their owners reveling in the extra playground space, and had a fantastic time
As always, getting there by bike is highly recommended, and always make a little time for the detours, you will never regret it!
I will admit it, I am a pedal snob. I have big feet, like to ride in Keens, and hate little tiny pedals that only support out to my middle toe. It always feels like my foot is about to roll off of the ends. When I am looking at a new pedals the distance from the crank arm to the outer edge of the pedal is a big deal for me. I have tried clipless systems, but found that the gains were not worth the need for an extra pair of shoes in most of the ways and places that I ride. Most modern platform pedals are not really that wide, and off I went into the depths of vintage pedals. My bread and butter has been the Sakae Low Fat, wider than the current MKS touring it has been a good pedal for me. It works easily with clips and straps or naked for shorter rides with lots of stops and starts. The downsides are weight, bulk and the general in-elegance of the clunky pedals on classically styled road bikes. Enter my latest acquisition along this quest:
I recently scored a near new set of Specialized touring pedals. Their MKS lineage is pretty clear. They are as wide as my Low Fat MTB pedals, 30g lighter each, and look a whole lot prettier than most of today's pedal offerings. While nice they had some shortcomings out of the box. The toe strap arrangement, appears ingenious, but does not really work in the real world. The strap makes its upward turn at the outer edge right into the bottom of my foot. Off to the drawing board, I came back and turned my MKS large/deep toe clips into a new set of half clips. This is my first set of half clips, so time will tell how they work out. I made each a little different to see if, well if it makes any difference in function.
For now these will be going on my Roadeo, to get me motivated to put some miles on it while I am waiting for the Masu production samples. I will let you know how it is going in a week or so.
We spent the first part of the 4th of July weekend with family up in Atascadero, Ca and it was beautiful but HOT. The highs were over 100 deg F most days, so most riding was done as early as possible. Saturday morning I was up well before the sun,
to head out on a 108 km loop that had been recommended by Big Blue Toe from bikeforums.net. The route would take me through the ranches and coastal range south of Paso Robles, down to the coast from Cayucos to Morrow Bay, through San Luis Obispo and back up the Cuesta grade to Atascadero. Here is the map and stats:
The first third of this ride through the hills along mostly dirt roads was hands down the most beautiful ride I have ever done along the central coast. I look forward to incorporating it into other loops in the area.
On the stretch between Atascadero and the coast I think I saw no more than ten cars. The time of day may have had somethng to do with it, but I will take it where I can get it. The hills have transitionioned from spring green to summer gold, while the trees are green and thick providing welcome shade in many areas.
Twenty miles of country back roads with fourteen miles of well mainteined gravel made for a wonderful morning of riding. For most of the gravel section there was a creek runnng alongside the road with the occasional mini waterfall
After a few hours I had my first glimpse of the coast and ocean:
It looked like there may be a bit of welcome fog hanging on which would help keep the day's temperatures in check. The drop down to the coast was incredible, with ony a short climb along Old Creek Road,
and then down hill the rest of the way.
Once on the coast the temp had dropped almost 10 degrees thanks to the sea breeze. Traffic was still light on the Hwy 1 into Morro Bay, you can just see Morro Rock through the fog.
Once in town it was time for a coffee break. I had been on the saddle for a little over four hours at this point. Morro has no shortage of coffe shopes these days. My Aunt nad Uncle have some friends that own the best IMO, Top Dog, and is well worth a stop if you ar pssing along on this stretch of coast.
Keeping a comfortable pace, fat tires and having you bike well set up makes it much easier to smile like this after 4 hours of non stop riding. The 20 minute break was welcome, but I knew I would regret it as the day was heating up. Back on the road I headed out through the state park and estuary to Los Osos..
From there it was hot and uphill for the long ride home through SLO and back up the grade.
Things were heating up incredibly fast and I knew it was going to be a tough hot ride up the Cuesta grade. Once out of SLO the next 5 miles has a gain of almost 1000 feet. The planned route kept me off of the highway shoulder and on the old Stage Coach Rd, with more gravel. At the start of the way out of town spirits were high, and things were looking good.
An hour and 1000 feet later I was still moving, but thiking this was a much better idea on paper.
In 20/20 hind-sight, and post ride review of the map I realised that many of the bike walking sectoins were pushing 20%. This is still very ridable if you have appropriate gearing and the legs for it. I had both, but had not fully planned for the temps creeping closer to 100 deg. Once over the crest the ride was all downhill.
What an incredible day. Things were going very well untill the climb out of SLO. I slipped on my water intake thinking I was "almost there" and paid the price with some serious cramps setting in 5 miles from home. I have been using a watch to remind me to drink a bottle an hour, but should have been drinking a bit more in anticipation of the rising temps. My usual blend of Hammer Nutrition HEED and Perpetuem was not enough this day. Luckily I was able to lounge in the pool and rest through the rehydration phase.
I look forward to rdiding every leg of this loop in different combinations in the future.
At least most things, and maybe new twists on old themes. I was at the local used book store the other day. Every now and then I stop in to see if something new has shown up in the areas I like, and ran across Gail Heilman's bicycle touring book. While skimming through this one I ran into a line of bags from Velocipac I had not seen before.
It seems they had made full triangle frame bags for a while.
This really shows the limitations of the internet as a catalog of all things. Today there are a few companies out there making bags like this for Lightweight MTN Bike touring, and me taking the canvas approach. But when you search the history of the things there is a big jump from the Swiss Army bike bags to the modern jumping right past things like this. Some other interesting bags of the era were made by MountainSmith under a BikeSmith label, and a local Ventura company was making bags under the Kangaroo label. It is near impossible to find good information on either company's lines.
There were other bags that were quite interesting too, maybe a few good ideas I could incorporate into other bags. Nothing new, just recombining old ideas to suit my needs.
I was on my way to get the vegetables when I decided to pull into McGrath State Park and explore some of the trails along the south side of the Santa Clara
The winter rains have kept things flowing, the estuary is drained out a bit and everything nearby is green and blooming.
Explored some of the trails through the canopy
Then back to the mission at hand, well stocked for the week and heading home.
This years rains, with the now warmer weather is bringing out our short window of green and Flowers.
Canada Larga Rd is an oasis of beauty unbelievably close to the city. My favorite micro-tour.
Weather down on the coast was foggy all day, and I was looking forward to getting some time in the sun. About 6 miles in we could see the end of the clouds, and then it was clear all the way to camp.
Up around Lake Casitas and through Miner's Oaks we stopped in at the Farmer and the Cook to pick up some last-minute energy snacks (peanut butter cookies) and then it was out of town an up HWY 33 into the Santa Ynez mountains
The turn off for Matilija Canyon Rd comes up quickly. Mostly uphill to get past the most useless damn in the region, and then down into the canyon. This is some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever been through.
Just over 5 miles of empty rolling hills heading back to some dirt and creek crossings. The sun would be giving us light until 7:30 or 8, so we were taking our time getting to the trail head
I theory we were almost there. The campground should be less than a mile up and easy to spot. Twenty minutes of single track, and a creek crossing and it was becoming painfully evident that Plan A was not going to be as easy as we thought
The trail was well marked, and a heck of a lot of fun, but the campsite was a bit elusive. Plan B was to head back towards Matilija camp, and or the first workable flat spot before it got too dark. Two miles back the other direction, one dry riverbed, 3 creek crossings and a whole lot of hike a bike and we found our home for the night
Tired, hungry and needing a rinse in the creek the camera went away until morning. While the Matilija camp sees a fair amount of traffic, it was fairly quiet this summer Saturday, there were a couple of other camps to the south, but by no means crowded. The night was clear with bright stars and no moon. Sleep came easy. Fog had rolled into the valleys by morning, bringing some chill with it.
Dinner Had made it evident that I had left my spoon at home. There is a good bit of humor to be found in that in consideration of all the camera gear and other stuff I had dragged along. It was not that big of a deal, by morning I had thought of a work around for my oatmeal. Have I mentioned how much I like my Soma tire levers?
The sun was starting to break through, it was time to break camp and enjoy the ride out. A mix of single track, and hike a bike, with creek crossings, plenty of poison oak, and did I mention poison oak?
The time in the sun was short lived and we were flirting with the edge of the fog the rest of the way back towards home and the ocean.
After a look back we crested out of the valley and back out on the HWY 33, tempting us to head north for a bit.
At least it was tempting me. The rest of the afternoon committed for all three of us though, it was back to town. Trips further North will have to wait for another time.
The trip was a success, even had a little adventure thrown in. Total time away was under 19 hours with about 60 miles of riding. All of this is just to the North of the comforts of home. Everybody wants to do it again. Time to start planning the next round.
