CAT7RDR

Another 0400 start to beat the heat. New light bit the dust before even leaving but had a reliable backup on the ready.
Headed out to Carbon Canyon and then onto Chino Hills State Park and the Bane Canyon road leading to the campground. Was hoping to see some wildlife before the gates opened but nada. What was probably a lush green landscape a few months ago looked liked a typical straw and brown drought year.

The good news is Woodview Rd in Chino Hills is repaved. Also, water fountains are available at the Campground at the end of Bane Canyon Rd.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/129024763


Bane Canyon Scenic Overlook

joesch

Nice ride! Seeing the map reminds me of all the riding I did in Chino Hills State Park when I lived in Yorba Linda. Had a mtn bike back then before gravel bikes got real popular.

jonathanf2

Last weekend I decided it was time to retire my alloy gravel frameset and use my old endurance road carbon frameset which was collecting dust (having since been replaced with a dedicated road frame). It took me about 2 days to complete the parts swap and re-build. I've been hesitant to do this swap mainly out of laziness, but decided to do it since my alloy bike was already partially disassembled from my Oregon trip. I replaced the original FSA PF bottom bracket which used fairly heavy alloy cups, to a much lighter Ultegra PF bottom bracket. I pressed the cups in using a vise and two flat wrenches! The bike already came with an alloy BB sleeve making the alignment a breeze. The frame came with post mount, but I used this adapter from AS Solutions to fit my GRX flat mount disc calipers. The original post fork was replaced with a carbon flat mount. I also swapped to a full steel cog 11-50t cassette with alloy spider that I bought during the Amazon Prime Day sale. Weight comes out to 454g, which I find acceptable for all steel cogs. I found my alloy/steel cassettes tend to wear faster. Total bike weight comes out to around 18.5 lbs. with computer mount, pedals and bottle cage holders attached.

Anyways, I took the bike on an 11 mile shakedown ride today. Everything runs great! I probably just need to do minor brake tuning, but other than that it feels just right!

jonathanf2

Day 2: 25 mile shakedown ride to my favorite climb. Tried heading out early to avoid the heat, but by the time I got home I was already fried! Everything is riding smooth now. Last night I adjusted the hydraulic brakes and fine tuned the shifting some more.

CAT7RDR

Your teal blue bar tape really pops out!

jonathanf2

Thanks! Maybe it pops out too much, because while on a fast descent, a wasp got caught in my jersey and stung my stomach! I'm still sore!

diphthong

37-miler southbound through national city and chula vista to the silver strand bike path. all the way up to the ferry landing. a wee stop at the imperial beach pizza port for whatever they are known for along the way. ferry from coronado over to dtown sd. up to balboa park and back home. pretty consistently humid by (low) socal standards until within a half mile of the water. relatively nice day out. did take a 7-8 min coldish shower to lower the body temp enuff to stop sweating. it's that time of year...especially starting after 1pm.

jonathanf2

On Thursday I did 22 miles through Elysian Park doing the last of fine tuning on my recent gravel build. I also climbed Stuck Truck Hill in Silver Lake with a claimed 22% grade, but my computer was registering 25% on the incline. I was able to stay seated for the climb without going out of saddle. Also I downsized my cassette to a Microshift 11-48t cassette (with my 40t front), but I'm not noticing much climbing difference between this and my old 11-50t cassette, except the shifting is a bit smoother. I think I'll stick with it. Also I'm really liking my Ultegra PF bottom bracket. I know people have issues with press fit, but my carbon frame comes with an alloy sleeve, so alignment feels spot on. In fact I think this is my smoothest BB amongst my 3 bikes. The bike is clocking in around 18.5 lbs., which I think is decent for a bike that can pretty much ride in any terrain.

The night before I put my bottles in the freezer to ice them, they pretty much melted within the first 15 minutes in the heat! Lol

BTW - Elysian is a good gravel ride area, you can mix both road and trail riding (the park rangers have other stuff to worry about there), though I recommend doing it in the morning due to less traffic. My only issue with Elysian is that they haven't safely connected the park via any dedicated bike lanes. For example, there's no way to get to Elysian via the LA River bike path without riding through some sketchy traffic. After riding through Portland, Oregon for a week, LA's bike infrastructure sucks in comparison.

Eric F 

Happy Hour!!...I usually start my quick, after-work MTB/gravel bike loop right about 5:00, but the heat of the day talked me into delaying my ride until 6:00. It was still pretty damn warm on the climb up to Brown Saddle, but at that hour, the shadows are starting to get very favorable, and things were tolerable. I also went at a very moderated pace. There were a few other folks on the hill, but it was definitely less than typical for an average weekday evening.

jonathanf2

I haven't been up there in awhile since I got back into town. The new tires and wheel setup looks nice! Have you weighed your bike since you installed them? Looks like you got a new climbing cassette as well.

Eric F 

Weight with my current setup is 19.2lbs. These wheels are a little heavier than the American Classic aluminum wheels I had been using, but they roll really nice. Same cassette (11-42) I've had since I made the switch to 1x earlier this year.

jonathanf2

I took the gravel bike out on Saturday for 26 miles in the muggy heat. I made sure to ice my bottles again the night before, but that only kept them cold for like 30 minutes! I think I've made all the final tweaks to this bike, so everything feels quite smooth now. My rear tire is beginning to wear out, so I need to decide what tires to put on next. I'm tempted to put big 38c slicks on, but those won't work very well on the rutted trails since this is my only off-road bike, but would be perfect for road and fire roads. Also I've been entertaining the idea of immersive waxing my drivetrain to make my chains cleaner and more efficient, but that's a whole other investment in equipment and I'm running out of bike equipment storage!

Eric F 

Where are these pics from? Is this the Arroyo behind JPL?

Eric F 

Thursday Happy Hour...I did my typical Brown Saddle loop (9mi, 1500'), and opted for my gravel bike. My legs felt decent but not great, but the bike - with new Challenge Getaway 36mm tires - felt very fast on the climb. Until yesterday, my fastest times on this climb have been on my MTB, mostly due to its advantages over the gravel bike in the rougher, rocky sections. Yesterday, however, the speed I was able to carry on the smoother sections made all the difference, and I ended up with a PR time almost a minute better than my pervious best.

jonathanf2

This is right pass the area where the heavy rain fall took out the trail towards Brown Mountain Dam. I was thinking of going all the way through, but I wasn't planning on a long ride and decided to head back after having to carry my bike through the water and hopping on a few rocks.

Eric F 

Okay. That's where was thinking it was. I'm curious if the trail is ridable (at least mostly) as far as Gould Mesa Campground. There's a loop I like doing that finishes coming down Gould Mesa Rd from ACH to the campground, and out to JPL. I've stayed away from it due to the trail conditions in the canyon.

jonathanf2

I saw a few MTB'er going through, so I'm sure it's doable. I've done that route in reverse from the campground, but I like descending on ACH.

jonathanf2

Thursday morning I did 23 miles around the Rose Bowl and finished climbing Glen Oaks in the Pasadena hills. I really have a tinkering problem, not only did I recently swap my gravel frame to a carbon setup, after finishing that build I also decided to swap my 1x road bike to a 2x setup with an Ultegra front derailleur and spare 2x chainring I had lying around.

Also while riding around the Rose Bowl, this fast roadie lady kept trying to drop me. I'm not sure if she was trying to do intervals, but she would go out of saddle every time I got close. I was seated the whole time just spinning at my regular pace, but I kept catching up. Eventually I think she emptied her tank, and I was riding way too close. At that point it was kind of awkward being behind her (even though she smelled nice), because she was going too fast to pass normally, but too slow that I would literally be right on her wheel. I decided to drop the hammer and go out of saddle and put as much distance between us!

Sometimes road cycling dynamics can be very weird!

2seven0

Wife & I spent a beautiful weekend in the mountains for the Tour de Big Bear. She rode the 50, I the 70. Perfect weather all 3 days. I didn't set any records going up Onyx summit but the several riders who passed me in the first mile or 2 I later passed in miles 3-5. Was able to keep a steady 7-9 mph up the hill & didn't get winded. Arriving on Thurs. afternoon really helps the acclimation. Went through almost 6 bottles & many pickle juice shots to stay hydrated!
West

sir_crash_alot

Usually in circumstances like this I've started just pulling over for 5 minutes and letting a good gap emerge so I don't have to keep bumping into the same person.

Also,
a little creepy sounding.

Eric F 

Saturday...Montrose Ride (8am, short route - 45mi, 1500'). It's been over a year since I've done this version of this ride. As expected, the pace on the flats was fast (30+mph in a few sections), and I was reminded of the magic of traveling that fast in a big group, with only a moderate amount of effort. Even in the fastest sections, I was not near the limits of my fitness, and felt pretty comfortable. I was expecting to get spit out the back of the group when we hit the first hill, but I was pleasantly surprised that I held my spot as we punched up the short Winston climb without going to my absolute limit. I made it to the bottom of the final climb into Sierra Madre with the lead group of about 12-15 riders, but when they accelerated, I drifted of the back and rolled up at my own pace. Overall, I felt pretty good.

MTB Sunday!...Top of Brown Mtn. Road, El Prieto, and some bonus miles in the Hahamonga basin (18mi, 2500'). Heading out the door, my motivation was pretty low, but that improved as I climbed. My legs felt pretty flat from Saturday's efforts, so I maintained a moderate tempo effort similar to how I would ride an endurance event. On the descent, I was just rolling smooth and easy, and enjoying being out in the dirt. I had not been intending to do El Prieto, but I'm glad I did. It's definitely a stretch of my comfort level for rocky/chunky stuff, but I took my time, and was able to ride more of the techy sections that I have on previous trips down the canyon. After El P, I wasn't ready to head home, so I did a lap around the perimeter of the Hahamonga basin to finish off the ride.

jonathanf2

I meant that as a jest comment describing how annoyingly close I got to someone who wasn't doing the drop properly. I'll refrain from bad humor since it doesn't translate well on the internet! Though I've been on many group rides with guys and as an art connoisseur, I can't help but admire salt stain artwork on the backside of cycling jerseys.

jonathanf2

Saturday my buddies and I did 30 miles and 2500 feet of climbing at Chino Hills State Park. It was hot with 100 degree temps and those 15-20% grade dirt climbs were not fun. All that work was for the glorious dirt downhill!

sir_crash_alot

But how do they smell?! This is the high-quality information the internet demands.

jonathanf2

I'm really sensitive to smell and I've been on group rides where some dudes really need take a salt bath and burn their cycling kit. There's nothing worst than being on a fast draft, catching a whiff of the guy in front of you, triggering the gag reflex and risking the rest of the group ride with a spray of vomit.

I'm thankful the female half of cyclist enthusiasts take much better care of their hygiene!