Tour De Los Padres

[ec_duz_it]

This is the driest winter on record that I can remember.  The entire Los Padres NF has basically no snow right now.  We got a little back in early December and that was it.  To answer your question- yes, the route is 100% rideable right now.  This could change in a day though if we get a winter storm. 

A good web cam to check on real time snow conditions in the higher elevations is this-  http://www.frazmtn.com/mount_abel_cam/

[KIK ROX]

Yeah, no snow there. Good for my trip, bad for fire season. Thanks for the help.

[velograph]

First off, thanks for putting this together Erin. I've spent time in the Los Padres, but it's been many years since then and I'm looking forward to spending a week getting lost.

I've been looking over the GPS files and cue sheets and thinking about water mostly. It sounds like a lot of the possible water spots are hit or miss depending on the season, and with the drought we're having this year it's probably going to be even more intense.

What are your recommendations for water capacity? I have plans for a bladder and three bottles currently. Does this sound sufficient?

[trebor]

Hey Erin
Did you pull down your full loop GPX file? I don't see it any longer on the site.

[ec_duz_it]

Hello all, I made one last change to the point to point race route, which is the addition of Blue Canyon singletrack, which I decided to add to the route after riding it a few weeks ago. Blue Canyon trail was very fun and remote.  

The pluses- more singletrack, less miles, less fireroad, more water, and 3 more backcountry campsites.  

The only minus is that Blue Canyon bypasses Big Caliente Hot Springs, but the route already goes very close to Little Caliente Hot Springs at Mono Campground, so I did not see the point in the route needing to go past two hot springs that are so close to each other.  

New GPX can be found here (revised cue sheets will come soon):

http://www.tourdelospadres.com/event-and-route-info.html

The Tour Route and Loop Route remain the same. If you want the gpx and cues for the loop route, just contact me. I don't really want to release them until the trail maintenance needed is complete on middle Sespe Trail and Boulder Canyon Trail, which is not a ton of maintenance, but it needs to get done.

To answer the question about water, I ride with 55 oz of water on my bike, and a 64 oz water bladder, which I rarely keep full.  The only water shortage on the route is between mile 134 and mile 182, but with the one support campground (Miranda Pines Camp) we are offering for the race, this be so much of an issue. Water supply along the rest of the route is solid, particularly after our 8" rain storm we just had last weekend. See Cue sheets for more info on water sources.

Anyone who wants to ITT the route should fill up as much water as humanly possible at mile 134!

Go Clipper Nation!  

[joeuser]

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....

You haven't by any chance figured out a cool route for this connection yet? I might need it next week... ie start in Santa Barbara with half of tour de los padres and then simply continue east.

[ec_duz_it]

No, but mountain bike bill has some info on the Liebre Mountain area. 

www.mountainbikebill.com/GoldenEagle.htm‎

I still have yet to ride over in that area.  Too many rides out there and too little time. PCT guidebooks might be able to point you to water sources.  Some of the PCT is open to bikes in that area. 

[evdog]

I haven't looked into a connector route specifically but but I have done a bit of riding in the area.  Erin's route gets you close to the 5.  I have done Golden Eagle Trail/Liebre Mountain which starts just east of 5.  You can either climb up the trail or climb up a forest road to the top.  I took the trail but I know that road traverses the range over to near Hughes Lake.  From there you can take more forest roads which cross some additional ridges until you get just W of Acton near Soledad Canyon.  I haven't been on all these roads so can't comment on condition, but they are National Forest so they should be ok to ride. 

Once you are at Acton you are at the base of the San Gabriel Mtns. There is a road which climbs up to the crest which you may be able to follow past Messenger Flats, Mt Gleason and Pacifico Mtn.  I say "may" because part of this area could still be closed due to the Station Fire.  I know some singletracks are still closed, not sure about fire roads - I doubt you'd have any trouble though.  Beyond Pacifico you can drop down to Hwy 2 and may have to ride pavement for some miles to Blue Ridge or drop down to the desert and bypass the Wilderness areas before climbing up near South Ridge campground.  From Blue Ridge I think you can take dirt roads along that ridge which eventually dump you out near Hwy 15 / 138.  Across 15 there are plenty of OHV / dirt roads that can take you to Lake Arrowhead and/or Big Bear.  I haven't explored them just looked at them on the map. 

I know its possible to do this connection but will require some pavement.   The more pavement you are willing to endure the more direct a route you can take.  At some point I'll look at this more closely.  Could be worth it, imagine riding from SD to the Lagunas, up perhaps the Stagecoach route to Idyllwild, cross over to Big Bear, the Gabes and on to Santa Barbara.  Now that would be a ride!

[ec_duz_it]

Great info.

Remember there are a quite a few dirt OHV trails/ roads  that are mostly rideable that take you between Lockwood Valley Road and Gorman.  These mostly not part of the TDLP, but they would be of great use if you are continuing east towards the ANF. 

[trebor]

evdog and Erin - I've studied the maps and dream about making that corridor work. I live in Burbank and ride from home to the ANF regularly. With a tentative loop I'm piecing together around the entire San Fernando Valley I see 450-500 miles of bike packing when linking in the TdLP route.

I'm missing the necessary time to actually pull off the exploration needed to get it mapped.

[Flaskback]

 I've ridden everything between Devils Punch bowl area to Silverwood Lake.  It can be done with minimal pavement.  Let me know if I can help put your monster loop together.

[ec_duz_it]

I don't think this connection would be a loop. Probably a point to point.

[ec_duz_it]

The map and sign up are up and running. We are just two weeks out!
So far on ITT attempts, one failed attempt at the tour route, and one failed attempt at the
Point to point route.

http://trackleaders.com/lospadres-signup

http://trackleaders.com/lospadres14

[alpenzorro]

I am in Frazier Park right now and it just about started to rain in earnest, mixed with snow, even down here in the village. Good luck to those already on route... it does not look pleasant atm.

[Roland Sturm]

That's why it isn't a good idea to start on April Fool's day, the weather is going to be a joke...... So those two guys had rougher conditions, perfect training for TD, just like Canada in June.

I'm looking forward to riding next week and it'll be largely melted by then. Maybe a bit muddier than otherwise, but pretty much mild California spring conditions.

[forest_on_bike]

I posted four questions on another thread. I'm not sure which forum veterans of this route are watching, so I'll post the link here too: http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=10374.msg61941#msg61941

Please chime in with any advice.

Much appreciated!

Forest

[ec_duz_it]

Here are the starts of two blogs about the ride from a few weeks ago.  One is mine, one is Rolands:

http://www.tourdelospadres.com/blog.html

http://rolandsturm.blogspot.com/

[ShawnP]

Greetings.  I stumbled upon the tour de los padres website and am intrigued.  I'm new to bike packing, and have only done small road tours.  I'm curious as whether or not my Salsa Vaya would be capable of this route.  I believe its capable of 42cm tires.  With more of a road geometry, I think it would have trouble on technical single track.  (A part of me is hoping you'll say no, so I can justify a new Salsa Fargo ) Looking forward to learning more about this cycling niche, as I am growing bored with road cycling.  BTW I'm in Camarillo, and would love to catch a ride with anyone local so I can pick your brains on local routes and setups.  Thanks!
Shawn

[ec_duz_it]

A Salsa Vaya?  No I would not recommend that even for the easier "tour" route which is much less technical than the proper point to point route.  That bike looks like it would only work on well graded dirt roads.  Good luck getting your setup in order.  Lots of good info here on gear.