diphthong

Next time, let me know in advance and smile at the camera. I visit this channel for fun from time to time. lol

first time utilizing that station. usually hit irvine or oceanside station vs sjc. if my memory serves correctly....that camera is facing westwards so you'd just have seen
my frumpy, overstuffed pockets and back. long *ss walk from train disembarking to riding area. d-town sjc is cute and scenic tho and i've hit it before on day trips but never riding
(situationally bad for century rides to san diego).

hoping the aq is better for you and everyone else up in the bay area.

diphthong

flattish 37-miler in metro san diego and the silver strand/coronado areas. supposedly was 98 degrees in my neighborhood at the start and 95 degrees at the finish.
possibly. do know that it was 7-8 degrees cooler three miles away and closer to the coast...maybe another degree cooler. took it easy for the most part and just pushed
the low and slow gear vs the spin to win philosophy. not a lot of other idiots out...i did start just before 12:30pm. aq seemed decent enough and grabbed a tri-tip sando
and draft beer at a new fave bbq place enroute.

Nachoman

Big day. Nice job.

CAT7RDR

Over Turnbull Cyn, down SGRT, PCH South to SART north and found my way back through La Habra Heights and home. 85 miles and 3700 ft of climb. This ride lacked scenery and next time I'll make the trip out to Santiago/Silverado et al since the San Gabriels are still smoky.

I cannot wait for first storm to clean the air.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34336782

diphthong

ditto but thinking it's going to be a lean rain year, we may hafta wait till early february. this year is setting up like a few years ago when it stayed in the low 70's
until the first week of february.

2seven0

Yeah the forecasts I've seen are calling for "La Nina" conditions meaning little rain.

stuff shredman

w the San Gabriels being smoky and partially closed, I headed out to the Santa Monica mountains
From PCH, climbed Latigo, down Encinal/Decker, up Mulholland, down Kanan
53mi/ 6,400ft climb

Both Latigo and Mulholland from PCH are really nice climbs. Few cars on Latigo, and none on Mulholland since it's closed to cars right now

diphthong

yah...the western end of mully is a real treat without cars. a must-do ascending or descending right now.

burritos

Wait. I've been wanting to do mullholland from PCH, but it says it's closed. Are bikes allowed on it? If it's closed I'm assuming it's probably a repair issue.

diphthong

last time I did it-on july 26th-there were mobile, trailer style caltrans signs at the bottom by pch and near the top at the mully/little sycamore intersection/stop sign saying “road closed.” there were several spots along the roughly 6 mile stretch on mully with the giant plastic barriers that had been pushed aside and a giant crane parked on a shoulder maybe 1.5 miles north of pch and no work crews on that stretch that day, cars could have gotten through but i didn’t see any. did see two motorcycles and did see approx 50 cyclists climbing as i was descending which was awesome. pavement is great currently but road width got taken out here and there with erosion/mudslides after the nov 2018 woolsey fire. i normally don’t do rides in the sammos on the weekends because of work sched and traffic but doing lower/western mully just might be the ticket on weekends...potentially w/o work crews and total closure.

worst case scenario? road is closed closed and you bounce westward to yerba buena or deer creek or eastward to latigo. boo hoo.

burritos

I don't want to get ticketed. But sounds like that's a non issue. Been doing sammos climbs for the first time in my life since covid. I see that there are super humans that do multiple climbs in one ride. I feel like I can work one climb per ride. Started with Decker, then Deer Creek, then YB, then Encinal(my favorite cause it's the easiest), then Latigo(that was the hardest for me). Been eyeing Mully but sounds like we can just jump the gate without consequence.

diphthong

there wasn't a "gate" or fencing per se. things could have changed. hope to groundtruth it in the next few days and will report back. ime...the road crews will let a cyclist through if it is at all
possible vs a standard, just because "no,"

if you can do deer creek and decker, then you should be able to handle anything in the sammos. the two hardest, imho, are las flores and corral canyon. deer creek, decker, north side of the 23,
fernwood, portola, cotharin all qualify as "why am i doing this?" climbs.

stuff shredman

Yeah, there's no gate, but rather a movable sign/barrier blocking the eastbound lane that you can just simply ride around

The road itself is in great condition and no obstructions exist. There are a few sections that narrow to a single lane, but w no cars, that's a non-issue

As far as ticketing: technically the road is closed to cars and bikes, except for residents. I won't go into too much detail, but have it on pretty good authority that it's highly unlikely a cyclist would be ticketed and that it's probably preferable (from a safety standpoint) that you ride on Mulholland w no cars than on PCH.

Of course, I can't guarantee anything

burritos

That sounds reassuring. Based on the last 2 posts, I'm going to do the pch-mully-decker loop(with the full understanding that it is my decision). I would love details. I doubt that voicing them on an anonymous biking board would result in any consequence. Please divulge.

Nachoman

Swami's.

diphthong

don't forget the dedicated water fountain outside of the fire station near the top of decker (just down the hill from that short, little connector road-lechusa rd-between decker and encinal cyn) if you need to
refill bottle(s) and/or soak cap/bandanna/jersey/underliner. gets pretty toasty up there.

burritos

Thanks for the info. Doesn't it also have bike repair station, or am I thinking of another fire station? I usually bring an 8 oz can of water, but I generally try to complete my rides without drinking or eating anything. So long as the rides don't go beyond 4 1/2-5 hours, it's not a problem.

diphthong

unaware of a bike repair station anywhere up in the sammos but if there is one, that's awesome.

diphthong

a quickie, 23-spot in the local mountains along with a 30-spot in the metro san diego area. a little cooler today with some thin clouds but humidity was up.

diphthong

another ride in the local mountains. 32-miler on mostly quiet back roads around julian, ca. san diego backcountry along the ca hwy 76/78/79 corridor
my second fave area in socal to ride...just behind the sammos. really nice day up there. sampled engineers rd, boulder creek rd, eagle peak rd, pine hills rd, wynola rd
along with a bit of ca hwys 78 and 79. road quality either top-notch or stay vigilant. wynola rd really nice but pavement not the best. that's countered by the ascent being
mostly in the shade. can only think of two other ascents mostly in the shade in all of socal.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4165556914

joesch

Cycling options from the Temecula area ?
Wondering about riding options since considering relocating from East OC to Temecula.
Like having SART and all the local hills in East OC.
Looks like there maybe challenging routes to Palomar Mt and maybe Mt San Jacinto as well ?

Probably should have been a new thread but I know many of the higher level cyclist post in the thread. Did add as another new thread.

TIA for any advice

diphthong

hit you up in your new thread.

nesdog

38 miles today, mostly a ramble through Thousand Oaks, eventually climbing and descending into Hidden Valley from the Newbury Park side and exiting in Westlake.
Saw my usual Saturday shop ride friends riding together but I'm avoiding these groups and staying solo until virus infections hit a much lower level. What is it with all of these groups??

Then, ran out of battery for the Di2 seven miles from home. Should have checked before I left...it's been three months since the last charge.

CAT7RDR

Just trying to get a little stronger in the Whittier-Puente Hills, 50 miles and 6400 feet of climb according to ridewithgps. Garmin likes to give me more but I think 8.8K+ is inflated. Typical Sunday with dozens of riders out and the first time my chest did not ache from smoke in a couple of months.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34396165

calamarichris

From Carlsbad to Torrey Pines and back. 35 miles, which is the longest ride I've managed since June.
Either I had undiagnosed Covid back in Late Feb, or I'm just too goddam fat to take a full breath anymore. Just have to back off until my HR gets below 164, though it feels like I'm breathing through a straw. Or maybe my FUBARed heart valve is about to give up the ghost.
Still a lovely day and a lovely place to ride. Got up to 95 degrees at one point and had a water emergency, but hopefully the "heat stress" will help melt a little butter off this slug.
Will rest tomorrow and get up early Sunday for another go at er.

Spent the rest of the day tearing down this dogbike frame to have it powder coated seafoam, (which I hope won't be confused with Bianchi Celeste.)

My little Biscuitbutt was too tired to join me on this ride, so I had no excuse for averaging only 17mph.