Tour De Los Padres

[ec_duz_it]

Its been a few years in the making, but I finally have figured out this route in the Southern Los Padres National forest.  I have rode the entire route and got GPS data for all the tricky and confusing sections. I originally called this the "Los Padres 300", but I think the name I ended up with suits the route much better. 

I will keep this short and sweet.  All the GPX, ques sheets, blog, etc. and other information can be found on the website:   www.tourdelospadres.com

I really hope to get a good turn out for the inaugural tour and race in spring of 2014.  This project has truly been a labor of love!  Contact me with questions/ comments/ etc. 

Cheers!   Erin

[verve825]

Super stoked about this! The route looks amazing, and I want to offer my sincere thanks to Erin for putting in all the time, energy, effort, gas, etc. involved in developing a route such as this- well done! Now, I just need to go train for the Tour!

Regards,

jb

[EricB]

Sweet! Looks like a great course! Hoping the date doesn't overlap with the Stagecoach so I can do both.

Thanks for organizing!

[JRA]

Looks great!
Thanks for all your efforts.

[ec_duz_it]

bikeroutetoaster.com was not working well and I have noticed that their website has been having problems lately.  I am now providing ridewithgps.com links on the www.tourdelospadres.com website for the GPX information.  You have to create a free account to download the GPX files, but its a much more stable site for hosting the GPX files (although I think their elevation gain and loss calculations are greatly overestimated).  

Or you can email me and I can send GPX files to you directly.   Cheers,

-Erin

[Buttermilk]

nice work. i like these cali options that are popping up!
two questions: 1) any good track that you have to link back to the start for a full loop? 2) why are bells mandatory?
I look forward to getting on it. Thanks

[ec_duz_it]

Bells are only mandatory for the Santa Barbara front country area (last day) because of the amount of hikers on some of the trails. 

I will have a loop option (actually 2 different loop options) released soon.  There is not a lot of downhill singletrack (there will be some uphill singletrack though) involved with the loop options so the point to point ride which is on the website is by far the most fun route because you will not be skipping the Santa Barbara front country singletrack.

-Erin

[ec_duz_it]

I have a had quite a few requests to make this into a full loop, and after hiking a 6 mile section of singletrack this past weekend that I had never been on, I think its definitely possible. So thanks to those of you who gave me a good kick in the ass to make this into a full loop!  

Pros of The Full Loop:

-You will see the entire southern Los Padres. The point to point route skips some very scenic sections.
-The route will go by one nice town with food, hotels and bike shops (Ojai).
-No shuttling.
-More remote.
-More singletrack.  
-Could connect with future routes in the Angeles National Forest via Liebre Mountain area.

Cons:
-The fun front country section of singletrack in Santa Barbara is skipped.  
-Full loop will reduce the rideability of the route from a 9, to a 7. Definitely more walk a bike, and a little more bush-wacking.
-If the hikers around here get their way, some of the trails could potentially become wilderness areas which means no bikes. As of 2013 though, the route is 100% legal.
-Some of the singletrack is very narrow on the full loop (but most all these narrow sections are downhill).

Pro or Con?  The loop route is way more massive!  

[Buttermilk]

That loop sweetened the deal. Looks like I got a new route to scheduled in. Nice work Erin.

[Buttermilk]

Quick question...why the out & back on Agua Caliente Rd? hot tubs??

[ec_duz_it]

Yes you guessed it. Aqua Caliente road is to get to Big Caliente Hot Springs.  But for the full loop, you would want to camp at Little Caliente Hot Springs instead.  I revised the full loop GPX file to reflect this.  

-Erin

[ec_duz_it]

I updated the loop route again based on the rides and hiking I have done over the past two weekends behind Ojai.  Photos of these areas will be up on the tourdelospadres.com blog soon.  Here is the revised loop route:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3791766

There are two sections of singletrack (Boulder Canyon Trail and Middle Sespe Trail) that really need some bush trimming to make it fun.  The good news is the dirt is in pretty good shape, but the trails are overgrown in some areas. Both trails have two trailheads at each end, and start off awesome at each trailhead and then get bushy in the middle portions of trail furthest from the trailheads (not surprising).  It should not be that much work to get these trails back in order- probably about 4-5 miles of trail that really needs some love between these two trails. 

[Roland Sturm]

Another very exciting new option for California, so thanks for doing all the scout work.

Both options are interesting, but I think the point-to-point is actually more attractive than the loop.

I don't know the trails, but I think the point-to-point also wins by avoiding a stretch of pavement that I expect to be bad: Starting at mile 302, there are 10 miles on 33, uphill,  and they could be unpleasant and dangerous (heavy, very fast traffic, no room). The fact that Highway 33 is the only available route to connect north-south corridor (wilderness areas on both sides) is what has deterred me in the past to tour longer.
The other additional pavement on the loop seems to be 20 miles on Lockwood Valley road. That actually could be welcome pavement after the climb towards Reyes Peak. I don't know that area at all, I suspect there is going to be some pushing involved. In any event, Lockwood Valley doesn't have much traffic, fairly quiet and pretty road.  

Both point-to-point and loop have some pavement is at the beginning (Cuddy Valley and Mil Potrero) that is fine. Later in the morning 12 miles or so on Highway 33 and 166, but this is further north and flat, those stretches have a shoulder. I've ridden my road bike there, functional. 33 is ok north of Ozena. However, 33 in the mountains is likely to be iffier.

[ec_duz_it]

I generally agree with your assessment of the point to point route being a better route. You are correct, the last 2 miles up Chorro Grande Trail to Reyes Peak will be a hike (not nearly as hard as Coconino's Mingus mountain though).The pavement sections were unavoidable for various reasons.  However most stretches of pavement are pretty scenic riding and are popular road biking routes (highway 33 and lockwood valley road).  The most unscenic stretch of pavement is between Ventucopa and the Carrizo Plain entrance along highway 166.  There a bunch of dirt roads on the north side of highway 166 in that area that would be a more direct connection to the Carrizo Plain, but all would require trespassing across agricultural dirt roads. 

Here is another option that bypasses Ojai, but it eliminates a lot of singletrack and adds a lot of fire road. Also finding water along this section is pretty difficult.  I figured the stop in Ojai would be essential for resupplying food and maybe hitting up the bike shop there. 

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3797104

[evdog]

-Could connect with future routes in the Angeles National Forest via Liebre Mountain area

That would be huge being able to connect over in that direction.  From Liebre you could take forest roads most of the way to Acton, and from there to the top of the Gabes.  It could be possible to connect even further to Big Bear.  That would be a hell of a point to point!  Will give people something to think about, for sure....

Thanks for all the work you put in on this.  I'll be pouring over maps when I get home from the holidays!

[ScottyJ]

Thanks for all the work Erin,
I'm heading out for a loop through Santa Barbara canyon on 'cross bikes in a couple weeks and I'm stoked to have your recon. maybe we'll loop in a bit of singletrack too.

[ec_duz_it]

I uploaded cues and updated gpx info for the "tour" route on the tourdelospadres.com website.  Also there is some info and photos on the loop option on the blog page.

I finally got around to calculating stats for the point to point race route: 60% dirt/fire road/ 20% singletrack/ 20% pavement. 

I will try to get cues for the loop route up soon.  Enjoy. 

[Mini Bear]

Not sure if anything has changed in the past couple years (I haven't lived in SB for a solid 5 years), but if I remember correctly, Rattlesnake Canyon is closed to bikes. It's the section in the SB front country that connects Gibraltar Rd to Los Canoas. I had heard of cyclists getting tickets for riding any section of Rattlesnake. Have bikes been allowed recently?

[ec_duz_it]

The unnamed trail connecting Gibraltar road with Rattlesnake trail is open to bikes to my knowledge (no signage stating otherwise going either way). The route is on Rattlesnake Trail for only 2 tenths of a mile.  The cue sheets direct riders to walk this section to comply with Santa Barbara County Parks Department rules. 

-Erin

[KIK ROX]

Seeing as how this has been a dry year out there so far (I'm posting this from snowy MD), would it be safe to say the point to point route is more or less rideable?