Every year for the past 5 years there is a little known 'local' bikepacking event called the "Tour de Los Padres". It's a beautiful little 'Tour' of the Los Padres National Forest. I've ridden much of the "Proper"route (roughly 275 miles) doing day-rides of sections, but I've never quite ridden all of it. Typically I go out on the route and ride on Saturday, allowing me to cross paths with the front-runners. (remember 3 years ago when I got hit by the BULL? That happened on the route a week before the race).
I've never been bikepacking (yet) but it's something I'm truly interested in! I just don't really have a bike capable of such a thing (my Cannondale Scalpel would NOT be a good bikepacking rig, and my ancient Santa Cruz Blur lives here in Colorado full time). One day I hope to have some reasonable steed to ride such an event in. The "Tour" route is shorter, roughly 150 miles, and is recommended for those who've never gone over 200 miles or don't have much experience bikepacking..
Anyway...the race (Tour) starts TOMORROW MORNING (Friday) in Frazier Park CA, and the route takes them right thru what I consider my backyard of Mt biking! Here is a link to the Trackleaders page where you can follow the riders by their SPOT (Satellite POsition Tracker) units (I carry one when I ride).:
2018 Tour de Los Padres trackleaders
I have met a few of the riders from previous editions. Maybe NEXT year I can do this? (I am in Colorado Springs AGAIN..so won't even be able to go out on route as usual). The FAST riders will finish the "Proper" route in around 3 days (HOLY COW!!!). A week would be fast IMO...and this is totally self supported btw.
Anyway...just thought I'd toss out the link...I'll be watching it after work seeing how it goes...looks to be a fast course this year...but we will see. Good luck racers!
Cheers!
Hey Matt, so good to see you're getting along ok. I just caught up on the last post & have so much I want to say but I'll have to be leaving work soon so will try to continue next week. (So sorry I haven't been commenting here for months, it's just been one thing after another. I HOPE to get back to chatting here again, as I miss it terribly). I'm glad your Mom has been able to visit her loved ones & that's she's doing well, considering. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that we (you & me) are both dealing with parental illness & death since we're fairly close in age, but did it hit you as it has me? My mom has just had to go into Assisted Living. I've been worried since Xmas with her living in the farmhouse all alone. She fell out in the yard & it's a miracle she was somehow able to eventually crawl into the house. It's fairly isolated on our farm & the house is old & horrible for those that can't maneuver up & down narrow staircases. My Mom also has some dementia. I'd noticed things the past 3 years when talking to her over the phone but it's gotten worse the past few months. Since she'd lived on the farm for over 65 years, I can't imagine how she'll handle it.
ReplyDeleteHow is your dad doing now? Do your parents still communicate at all? How long can one live with dementia? (I'm sorry about your step-mother's passing).
Congrats on your Final 4 picks, you got 2! And sorry that your team didn't win the championship. I didn't watch much. Since the best players all now leave after one ridiculous "year", I lost my passion for college basketball several years ago. And the shit's really hitting the fan now with the FEDERAL investigations into all the ROT that's been going on for quite some time.
I did catch the taped-delayed broadcast of P-R, & was happy for Sagan.
Hey, did you see that Lance settled with the fed govt today? He'll pay to $5 million & another $1.65 million to Piece of Shit Landis (plus who knows how many millions he's had to shell out to this lawyers the past 6 YEARS), but at least it's over.
And poor Abbey! How's she feeling now? What causes those blockages? Poor sweetie.
Hey Susie, glad to hear you're still out there and doing ok. I'm hanging in there but this year will surely go down as a tough one. Mom is doing pretty good (considering)...but obviously the writing is on the wall with her cancer and it's only a matter of time before things get really bad. I'll be heading out to Houston to stay with her for a week while my little bro and his family are out of town doing their kids speech tournaments (they both qualified for regionals...they're AMAZING!) My dad is doing ok, but his dementia has really progressed the last few years. He 'thinks' he had been talking to his wife (stepmom who passed away the day I flew to CO Sprgs) every day...however in reality he hadn't talked to or seen her in the 10 weeks she was in the rehab/hospital/hospice. He still says (every time I talk to him) that "we" took her to the hospital at 5 and she was dead by 6. He has no idea...that's just what he believes. Not sure how things will go from here now at his 'assisted living'...now that his wife is gone so is 2/3rds of their income (she had SS and pension, he's just got SS). So things are just going to get worse there. Everything is good at home tho...and as always, it's NICE to be back home after a few weeks travel. Living in a hotel gets old real quick. But it's part of the job and I'm happy to have it (my job)! And thanks for the notice on Lance...hadn't heard he settled...still pretty galling that he has to pay Floyd ANYTHING (it's like one convicted felon rats out another and then gets money for it!) I wonder if Floyd will use that to pay any of us back for our FFF donations we made so very long ago! And Abbey is doing very well thank you...the blockages are made when they swallow something too big to pass thru the system but small enough to start the voyage. Sydney had 3 of those surgeries in her life...and during each one the Dr. would pull out the stuff 'too big' to start the journey (such as half a tennis ball, toy squeakers, a big piece of rubber...stuff like that). The big stuff just sits in the stomach rattling around but not really causing any trouble. It's the stuff that can plug up the system that is the real (expensive) problem. And now that Abbey is on doggie-Prozac she is much better (much less explosive towards Sophie). Now we're down to maybe 1 or 2 full on 'fights' a day between them...almost always over food, or the prospect of food, or sometimes just a turf war. But they're BFF's the rest of the time...it's crazy! OK...I also gotta scoot (back from the Springs and back at work...so much to do, so little time!)
Delete(I figured I'd better 'break' my comment in 2 because of length, but when I tried to post the above 1st half, it kept telling me to select the squares with cars, bridges, etc & it didn't like my selection! I had to go thru 5 of them! :)
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, thanks Rae for your kind words about my dad in a previous comment section. His death still really hasn't sunk in. And hey, BIG NEWS for you! Less than half a month as a "working girl"! Very happy for you. I have some questions - when you said you couldn't do the job anymore, did you mean physically or mentally (as in burned out)? Could you get a less taxing or part-time nursing job? Would you want that? And I don't know what I'll do in retirement either. My original idea of moving to Florida is off the agenda. I must keep working until at LEAST 65 because I can't afford $1000/month for just the insurance which won't pay till some high deductible kicks in. I worry constantly about money for the future (in retirement) & the worry is almost ALL because of the cost of health care in this country & the impact of inflation over 20-30 years. Please keep us up to date on your "new life". Maybe you could even go to the TDF in person for some of the days! :)
Alrighty, I have to get on home soon & still have a bit of work. Have a great weekend everyone!