Looks like really gorgeous course, nice work!  From what I am reading on the internet, there are no Grizzlies in this area?  Just black bears?     

Results are up in the usual location. Let me know of any errors. As usual, only the fastest male and female for each route are recorded.  All other finishers are listed in the order they finished.  Art had a pretty darn fast ride on the tour route!

Just out of my own curiosity, I tried to compare Jeff's time this year with Erik's time from 2014 and Blake's time from 2015: 

I calculated that the 2014 route (it was a hard one!) was about 11 to 13 hours slower than the 2017 route.  That would put Jeff's time from this year around 2 to 4 hours faster than Erik's 2014 time.  Yes this is debatable since the routes were quite different in difficulty. Erik's ride in 2014 is still one of the most impressive, that route was sooo hard (at least 7k more climbing), and Blake was ahead the entire time and he only passed him the last 30 miles.

I calculated that the 2015 route (harder than 2017, but way easier than 2014) was about 7 hours slower than the 2017 route. That puts Blake's time and Jeff's time within 1 hour of each other (too close to call for me)  

I have never seen a bear or a mountain lion on route in all my years out there. I once heard a bear in the bushes while on a backpacking trip near Ojai, and that is about as close as I have come to a bear in the Los Padres.  Consider yourself lucky if you see a bear! (from a good distance of course). 

Back in 2014, I wasn't entirely sure why I started this ride. I was inspired by my Coconino Loop tour in Arizona thought it was a beautiful route that represented bikepacking at its best and I wanted to share it with other people.  I don't have a career in the bike industry, and I don't have any $ to gain from this.  But now I know why I started it.  Because of all of the truly awesome people over the past 4 years who have shown up to ride this event, many of which I am friends with.  That is worth so much more to me than anything else I could gain from this experience.  Hanging out at the Brewhouse with Tommy and Lynne last night waiting for Shelly and Angela to finish was a great way to cap off the long weekend. Big congrats to everyone whether you finished or not

A few of my favorite pics:

Very impressive ride by Jeff K.  He absolutely killed it out there!  Solid ride by Gregg D. as well.  Congrats to all the tour route finishers as well. A 3 day pace was really hard for me.  My ass hurts and my fingers are numb

Looks like Marin S. is backtracking and is going to bail. That is too bad. I know she has already ridden the Sierra Madre Ridge before, I wonder what happened, maybe she ran out of water.

The remaining 4 riders are looking strong

Conditions were tough this year.  As expected lots of wash outs, ruts, and sections of dirt roads that were destroyed by the big 7-inch storm back in February. That storm was a monster.  The wildflowers were amazing though and there was a good amount of water along the course.  You just have to take the good with the bad and keep moving forward. 

The Trackleaders Map is now updated. Fire up your SPOTs and check to make sure you are on the map. 

And I almost forgot- if you are parking a car in Santa Barbara here are streets that are free to park on (until Wednesday street sweeping):

200 and 300 block of West Cota Street

500 and 600 block of Bath Street

400 and 500 block of De La Vina Street

There are other streets too, just read all posted signs carefully.  Each block and each side of the street has different parking rules. 

If you want covered paid parking here is a list of parking structures downtown: http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/pw/dtp/

It is going to be a cold start on Friday. Please gear up accordingly! Also another small storm system predicted for Monday too. 

Frazier Park:
Thursday Night -A 20 percent chance of snow showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 28. Wind chill values as low as zero. Northwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Friday - A 20 percent chance of snow showers before 11am. Sunny, with a high near 43. North northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Friday Night -Mostly clear, with a low around 32. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph.

Santa Barbara:
Saturday - Sunny, with a high near 66.
Saturday Night - Partly cloudy, with a low around 53.Sunday - Partly sunny, with a high near 65.
Partly sunny - with a high near 65.
Sunday Night - A slight chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53.
Monday - A slight chance of rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 65.
Monday Night - A slight chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53.
Tuesday - A slight chance of rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 65.

Yes 7:30 am start.  Big John's does not open until 7 am, so hopefully 30 mins is enough time for everyone to grab a hot coffee and a bite to eat.  

I sent an email to everyone I thought might need a shuttle ride. Most of you have got back to me.  If you did not receive an email for some reason and you want in on the shuttle, please private message me your email so I can forward the email to you.  

If you are not taking the shuttle, but are coming up on Thursday evening and want to join in on the happy hour it is at Jeremy and Michelle's House (starting at approximately 5:30 pm) - 1174 Dusty Road, Frazier Park CA, 93225.   It is BYOB and we can order pizza delivery to their house from the local pizza place.

Looks like Megan had a bad knee and had to quit at Toad Springs.  But the 4-some ITT on the tour route just finished now, good work guys!

Wow, day #3 and roughly a 30% scratch rate already.  Kaitlyn had such a good start. She was leaving most of the dudes in the dust.  That would have been cool to see a lady take first place on the 750 course.

Best of luck to all the riders still out on the course! Hang in there!

For the group start, Trackleaders will mail me all SPOT rental units and I will hand them out on April 13 (if you are taking the shuttle) or before the start on April 14 (if you are not on the shuttle). 

All current cue sheets, routes, waypoints etc. are now up on the website.  These files are final, no changes. 

Good morning yall, looks like the weather has cleared and there is an ITT five-some just starting right now-- http://trackleaders.com/lospadres17

Just a reminder, anyone renting a SPOT must sign up by today- http://trackleaders.com/lospadres-signup

Riders using their own SPOTs have until April 12 to sign up.  

The deadline to reserve a seat on the shuttle is this Tuesday, April 11th.  I will send an email to those who are on the shuttle.  

Updating the proper route cue sheets right now, and I will have them posted later today.  Yes, the proper route on the website is current. 

Looks like a small storm coming on Thursday April 13th. Current predictions show it at less than 1/10th of an inch of precipitation, so hopefully not a big deal, but a bivy or other shelter, warm clothing, and a good water-resistant jacket will be a very good idea to pack.

I thought I might skip riding this year, but I am getting the itch to get out there so I will ride with the group again this year.  I am undecided on which route though. I might just wait until I get to Ventucopa to decide on which route :-)

Congrats to Eric 'Road House' for making quick work of the tour route and being the first finisher of 2017.  I was able to catch up with him on Romero Trail this evening and I just happened to have a few cold beers in my bike bag. 
Two days of rest for him then off to the AZT300 this Friday.  What a Beast! 

Looks like Mr. "Road House" (aka Eric) began his ITT today!  Nice and cool temps out there today. 

You can track his progress here:  http://trackleaders.com/lospadres17

On a unrelated note, my friends Michelle and Jeremy who live in Cuddy Valley near the start have offered to host happy hour at their house on the evening of April 13 for the group riders.  We can pick up some beer on the way and order pizza delivery to their house before heading back to the motel.  Should be a fun way to kick off the weekend. 

On another unrelated note, I was out at the Carrizo Plain the past few days, and the wildflowers are starting to really come on.  Pretty beautiful out there. 

Hey Art, The proper route goes up to the Nordic Base this year and descends the entire McGill Trail.  Since Santa Cruz Trail (Little Pine) is in shambles right now due to the Rey Fire damage (and not a part of this years proper route unfortunately) I figured a little more climbing and singletrack needed to be added to the proper route to make up for that. 

The shuttle will be the day before on April 13.  Tentative shuttle departure time is 2:30 pm, but that time can be somewhat flexible, just trying to beat the southbound 101 traffic that gets pretty bad by 4 pm.  If anyone can't shuttle until Friday early morning, Himalayan Taxi can still shuttle you to the start on early Friday morning if you call them. 

Someone put up a low cable barrier on the dirt road just before last years entry point/trailhead to the singletrack.  Not sure if they are allowed to block a trailhead like that or not, but the new entry point (just down the road) is great and is not blocked by anything.

Hey all, a couple of minor revisions to the routes. 

Cuddy Valley revision (both routes):  Access to the first singletrack is now at a different forest access gate than last year. No real change in difficulty here.  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19909793

Ventucopa/ Cuyama River Crossing (tour route only):  Route now takes Foothill Road to SB Canyon Road instead of just crossing the river.  With all the rain this year crossing the river "trail" would be confusing and is not a good idea.  Adds a few more miles, but no big change in difficulty.  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19910900

The routes and waypoints were all updated on the website.  Note that the Spring at Middle Camuesa Camp burned in the fire, so that is no longer a viable water source for tour route riders.  The creeks in that area should be flowing though.  The road in that area is pretty washed out and chunky from the fire and the storms.  Walk your bike through the washed out sections of that road.  Generally speaking, there will likely be more chunky and washed out sections of fireroads and trails.  7 inches of rain over a 24 hour time frame can do some damage.

Will have the cue sheets up hopefully by tomorrow. 

You could use Bates Canyon Road,  Soda Lake Road or Aliso Trail (I hear this trail is not in great shape right now, but might be ok downhill) to create some sort of loop using the long and the short courses.  Or you could do the Ojai Rim Loop or the Front to Back Country Loop if you are looking for a pure loop--tourdelospadres.weebly.com/other-bikepacking-routes.html

Gregg D. just did a loop in the Ojai and SB backcountry.  Maybe he has a trip report and route he can share.   

Photos from a friend from last weekend at the Carrizo Plain National Monument.  The wildflowers are not quite peaking yet, but they are just starting to come on.  Late March to mid/late April this year should be the best wildflower displays for the Carrizo Plain since 2010.   

I think they will send them to you, but if Trackleaders wants to send them to me that is fine. I can meet up with you guys and give them to you since you live in SB right?

Sign up is up and running: 

http://trackleaders.com/lospadres-signup

I went to Big Caliente Hot Springs in January and the first spring was nice.  The two in the creek were broken due to a broken pipe, but I thought my friend Ted fixed it.  But I guess he did not.  This was before the monster storm in February.