Good advice that I appreciate.
Areas without reliable cell connection and easy to lose bearings are really a challenge.
Deluz sounds really interesting and I will try to tackle later than sooner in my explorations of this area.

50 miles on Sunday on a great December 20 day! Not normal for Minneapolis.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4e65d0aead.jpg
https://www.strava.com/activities/4497874760

65 miles on a windy day heading out (headwind), and would've been alright if I'd had the tailwind coming back. But none to speak of after dark. Go figure. :rolleyes:

52-spot locally. 74 degrees along the coast here in san diego. ridiculous but i'll take it.

Swapped tires from Gatorskins to Conti 5000s and rode the same climb I did two days ago and set 3 PRs without even trying. If I had been putting out the same energy as with the Gatorskins, I would have really smashed the previous ride. And the conditions were identical but this time I had more miles beforehand. I am sold on these tires.

26 miles, 1,700’ climbing.

totally. threw another set about 10 days ago on my oldest and slowest steel bike and that's all I've been riding since the change.
first pair went on a vintage steel covid build in late may. still on that bike with 2,600+ miles logged and looking good. have resisted
the many temptations to take these tires on a short dirt/gravel path here and there and that's likely helped. have ridden the michelin pro series
(various ones) over the years as my pricey tires and still like the michelin pro 4's or whatever they're called these days. looking to pick up
another pair of conti gp5k's tho just to have in stock when i need 'em or do a new build.

I have another set of tubeless 5000 on my new bike (above is on my vintage steel) and I ride them on trails quite a bit. They are rail/trail conversions but have done a couple of forest roads with them and they work fine.

Agree that Conti's out perform Gatorskins, which are better for sloppy conditions training and gravel rides.
Maybe better choice for Eroica California?
I was entered for the cancelled 2020 and hope that 2021 can be safely held?
ref: https://eroica.cc/en/california

Did not get out early due to projects at home and working on a bike.
Did still manage to do about 30 on the nice bike trail in Oceanside along the 76.
Was a beautiful beach day and sunset and not too busy at that north coast area.

14.2 easy miles in 36F temperature. I'm just easing into building a winter base after a planned 3-week break. I am hoping to ride more this winter than I have in the past - either riding in the cold (which I don't like to do) or on the trainer (which I also don't like to do :)) in an effort to be fit for long rides when the weather turns nice again.

trained 24 miles, not to be confused with 24 hour le mans.

20-spot. really nice when i started but got cloudy and colder faster than expected so cut things short by about an hour.

8 miles in Tempus Fugit. :)

36 miles. I think this was probably the last ride of the season. Todays forecast calls for 4-6 inches of snow and temps in the tens and teens following.
https://www.strava.com/activities/4506074183https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e67bc991f8.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...17b5d95e57.jpg

Yes was glad to have warmer jersey with sleeves for last hours before sundown yesterday.

Wondering how 56 from 15 compares to 76 to coast, at least bike trail part?
76 has not been very busy nor has the Oceanside and Carlsbad coastal routes the last few days.

Never rode the 56 and thinking about taking 15S to good spot to take 56 west to coast and maybe some Carmel Valley / Torrey Pines routes.
Any recommendations?

the 56 bike path stays exclusively on the south side of the 56 fwy. sightlines are not as good as those on the path north of the 76 fwy. there is a
mile stretch on the western end of the path that gets narrower visually and tends to have more walkers/joggers traffic than the middle of eastern
end of the trail so reduce speed accordingly. there are a couple of tree root bumps along this stretch too. there is also a stream crossing closer
to the western end that can be intimidating if it has been raining recently. otherwise, it's not an issue. east to west, it's mostly downhill.

i usually access the eastern end of the trail from the intersection of black mountain rd and the 56. there is neighborhood parking on either side of
the freeway. north of the intersection (about a quarter-mile), there is a little shopping center on black mtn rd if you forgot to fill your water bottle(s)
or need a snack.

the western part of the trail starts/ends at el camino real. from there, it's relatively simple to head west along carmel valley rd, pass under the 5 fwy,
and head towards torrey pines state reserve/beach (1-1.5 miles away). the area sees a lot of traffic but it's fairly well managed with bike lanes, frequent
cyclists and traffic lights. still with multiple freeway on/offramps, best to stay aware and signal early and often. torrey pines state reserve (the part you can
(only) ride uphill through the park has been closed on and off due to the state's covid responses...it was closed when i last rode past but if open
(no charge for cyclists) is definitely worth doing. if closed, torrey pines grade (1.5 miles at 6%) is super steady, scenic as well and has a double (!?!?) uphill bike lane.
lots of people are content to do hill repeats with that. the "inner" climb is steep for the better part of a mile, then tapers down. i prefer the inner/park ascent and
descending the outer/public road vs just up/down the outer rd if the park is open. both options are a win-win tho.

heading north along the coastal highway from torrey pines is quintessential socal beach riding. easy enough to roll to solana beach, cardiff, encinitas, leucadia or carlsbad
(or even oceanside and do a big bike path connector ride-50 miles?) but i think you're familiar with that stretch and have ridden it before. plenty of bike shops and
grub/grog along the coast.

if you want more on the way back to the car, you can always continue south on el camino real (vs reentering the 56 bike path), and follow the road as it turns into
carmel mountain rd, then hang a left on carmel country rd back to the 56 bike path.

Awesome advice and descriptions as usual. Thanks!

So the 56 bike path with either or both the Torrey Pines climbs and the El Camino Real | Carmel mtn | Carmel country loop is a nice route plan.

The other day I did the 56 down to the harbor roll around and then a south coast roll to the end of S.Carlsbad and back and it was slightly over 40. Would be cool to "do a big bike path connector ride" but doubling back to start would be much more than 50?

yah, you're right...it's actually closer to 70 miles once i sketched it out. i guess i wasn't counting the totally flat miles ;)

70, then I crashed

Easy and scenic way to get in a metric century or stretch out even more with some of those 56 options for closer to a classic century.

With wind yesterday and late start I just did some local loops for approx 20.
My neighborhood loop is approx 4 miles and 250' of climbing and I can often loop without stopping (most of the time) or just take an inner right turn variant for a red light.

35.5 before 05:00 on the trainer.

34 miles while out to lunch yesterday. SUPER WINDY!

Zero.
Alarm went off. Got out of bed. Had a cup of coffee. Changed my mind. And went to work instead.

quickie 13-spot.

Day 1: 374 miles, 6,000’ climbing at 78 MPH
Day 2: 324 miles, 4,300’ climbing, average speed 75 MPH. Yeah, the bike more rode with me than vice versa, but it made it home with no flats.

And to think in an an average year my bike mileage Would be the equivalent of riding from Seattle to Sacramento and back, four times.

59 miles in-doors, waiting on Santa.

15-spot.

49-spot. flat tire, front der jamfest/chainsuck situation along with a complete delamination of left cycling shoe bottom (including cleat).
last 5 miles were...interesting. such a 2020 ride.

Murphy's law kinda day. Hope flat not on your new conti tire.