Thursday, May 19, 2022
Tour de Los Padres
So, for the first time ever I will be doing the Tour de Los Padres. It's a local ride on mostly dirt roads here in the Los Padres National Forest. I've been following this ride for many years now, doing day-rides all winter/sping of the route in little bits. But FINALLY...
This years route is different than the prior years...it's longer for one (the "Proper" route in pre-covid years was around 275 miles, this one is around 440). But this years edition has over 100 miles of pavement, so it's not as horrible as it sounds.
Anyway, I start riding this Saturday morning, and hope to complete the route in 7 days, and if I am really strong 6 (or I might not make it at all...I'm only bringing food for 7 days...6 dinners, 6 breakfasts and snacks for lunch as I ride.
Jeannie is dropping me off at the start (it's a 1-way ride) and picking me up in Santa Barbara at the finish.
I've attached a link to the rides tracking map (I added my Satelite Position Tracker to the ride last night, so on this map you can see where I am anywhere on the map...and my position updates every 10 minutes).
I am listed down under the "Route: Proper Loop Route - ITT"
At the bottom you can see the Altitude Profile...the "Proper" route is the purplish color under the more blue higher altitude start...that's becasue the blue is the "Tour" route (much shorter)...they both end at the same place.
OK...I need to get some sleep, tomorrow night I'll finish packing my gear and load the bike and gear in the car, ready for a 5am departure for the 2 hour or so drive to the start. I'm riding my new Salsa Cutthroat, which is an Ultra Gravel Bike...I've not ridden it loaded with gear yet, but it's made for it so should be fun.
Later gators, have a great week! Here is the link:
https://tourdelospadres2022.maprogress.com/
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Good luck! I'll be starting Saturday as well, probably around noon. Hope to see you out there!
ReplyDeleteHow did it go?! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Susie...well, it went fantastic the first 2 days...did 61 miles and 9400' of climbing on day 1, then 94.5 miles and 6950' of climbing on day 2. Day 3 started off swimingly, but as I rolled into the tiny village of Santa Margarita (stopped for a wonderful breakfast and loaded up on a bunch of water) it was getting warm. By the time I rolled out the temp climbed to over 100 as I was heading to the singletrack climb (ie: push the heavy loaded bike) and I knew I was in trouble...I don't do well when it gets HOT. So I stayed on the pavement skipping a really neat part of the ride, hoping when I got to Pozo I could hide out somewhere and continue later. Well, my two Garmins (riding with a running backup) agreed my temp on the pavement was 109. I was done. Toast. Finished. I crawled the last few miles to Pozo going from shade spot to shade spot, no power, barely able to make the bike go forward. And knowing that after Pozo is where the route starts to get hard. The next 2 days would be the hottest as I get to nowhere that I can bail out from. So I called Jeannie to come and get me...my trip was done. The weather forecast when I left wasn't that...it changed to "record inland temps over the next several days". Just what I was praying wouldn't happen...just another few days of moderate temps...but Nooooooo. It was a risk to ride it so late...that's why the official TDLP goes off at the end of March or 1st week of April, to avoid such weather. So it goes...I still did 35 miles that day and another 3250' of climbing...taking me to just at the 200 mile point of the 438 mile route...so it's still the farthest I've ever gone on dirt 'bikepacking'. Next year for sure! (if I'm retired next year then my job won't interfere like it did this year). I figure you need to make good decisions, especially when riding alone...you have to know when to ask for help. So it killed me to NOT finish, but I knew it was the right call. And I live to ride another day.
DeleteI just visited to see if you were still "radio silent". Sorry I missed the start, but thanks for the update! When I read the post I was wondering about heat - we've had an unusually hot spring so far this year and I thought your area was also. Yes, wise to listen to your body, and bail out before you got into trouble. Next year for sure! IF you retire???
DeleteHey, SusieB, glad to see you post! What are you up to?
Hey Rae! Nice to hear from you...yep...I've been pretty 'quiet' suddenly...don't know why. Need to do better. Still hoping to retire next year, will see how the economy goes...if my 401k takes a beating I might stay a bit longer to see if it recovers...we shall see at that time. So much to do, so little time!
ReplyDeleteMy savings have really taken a beating! even though I reduced my equity holdings and upped the fixed income last year, both have dropped - just when I have had to help a family member with a lot of expenses, too, so I've been withdrawing far more than my planning called for and have pretty much gone through the cash equivalents in 4 years that were supposed to last me 6-7.
DeleteAt least, this is a good opportunity to convert more of my IRA to my Roth IRA & save on the tax hit for that.
I'm not holding my breath for a complete recovery of value any time soon, though, because it had seemed to me that much of the market was overvalued - a bit of a bubble like we saw back in 1989 or so. Of course I hope I'm wrong!
Sorry to hear that...life is full of unexpected things...it's got to be much tougher to manage once you've retired and are truly fixed income...right up until I actually retire, if my 401k is hurting then I can stay a bit longer...I'm still hopeful this isn't a real recession...there are TONS Of jobs available...people just don't want to do them...as long as the gov keeps paying people to stay home that won't get any better. I stayed in the market pretty huge (aerospace stocks) and yes I"m down, but I'm hopeful it will recover much quicker than if it were a true recession. We shall soon see I guess.
DeleteAnd HEY HEY HEY!! Guess what time it almost is again...WOO HOO!!!