California Sierra Trail Race?

[Sean Allan]

My best guess is the route would be open from July 15th up until late Sept. I may go ahead and drop it back into mid to late July so it won't conflict with CTR coverage as it would be cool to get a Trackleaders page at some point, I'll get with Scott and discuss that option. That would work better for most summer vacations as well.

[caseygreene]

This looks awesome!

We (ACA) too look at mapping a dirt route to compliment our Sierra Cascades road route, and might still in the future, but unfortunately our next big route will be another road route, Route 66.

[Done]

This sounds like the coolest ride since, well, the CTR! I originally planned on doing the AZT 700 in 2012, but now I'm thinking that this might be more fun! Decisions, decisions, decisions. Fortunately, you're not making me decide until 2012!

Thanks for your hard work, Sean. I really admire visionaries like you who put stuff like this together for everyone to enjoy!

[Aslan]

Sean,

No problem.  I had been looking at building a similar route that went through to Downieville.  Some of the interconnect issues are the same.  I will keep an eye on the thread and see about having a few students work on a map once you have the track built.  I will ride some of it this August since it is close to home but I am not competitive for ultras. Thanks for all your work on this.  I suspect that once part of a Sierra route is built others will tack on more sections.

[ActionJackson]

Awesome - I even have relatives to shuttle and pre/post lodging!

Great work, the Sierra's are beautiful.

[Kevin Montgomery]

This looks awesome, definitely interested in racing (or at least riding it).  My personal preference would be late-August, but that's merely because the the beginning and middle of the summer are already packed.

Another good question: how do we get some early season races in CA?  The coast is ridable all year round, and the past two Januarys have been clear, blue skies almost the entire month.

The Enduros are mighty fine, but I wouldn't mind getting my multiday, Grand Depart whistle wet while half of the continent is buried in snow.

[protijy]

I'm really looking for a multi day stage race to do in 2012.... I was looking at trans rockies or trans-sivania but I'd rather do a CTR style race less supported more adventure!

I'm in! just show me the logistics/route and a date

[protijy]

Another good question: how do we get some early season races in CA?  The coast is ridable all year round, and the past two Januarys have been clear, blue skies almost the entire month.

The Enduros are mighty fine, but I wouldn't mind getting my multiday, Grand Depart whistle wet while half of the continent is buried in snow.

check out http://www.socalendurance.com/ Jason puts on a great race in january ea year! after that its March or April till VQ or JDM

[EMathy]

I have been thinking of something in central California, running south out of Carmel by the Sea, to Greenfield and beyond. Part of this is based on a ride some of us did in October from Greenfield to Santa Barbara. It was awesome and featured some tremendously difficult climbing.

[GregMB]

I never post, but I have to say I'm excited about this route. What's the current progress/status, Sean?

[Sean Allan]

There is zero progress, the Sierra has 600" of snow right now, it's only a few feet short of  the record, like Donner Party record. I've done most everything I can do from the comfort of my computer, the rest has to be done on the ground to get accurate tracks in a complete loop.

Don't worry, this will happen and I'll have a complete course by the end of summer, but it's likely going to take that long for things to clear off enough for me to spend some time up there. For those of you that want to do sections of the route, or even a large percentage of it, I'd be happy to hook you up with the data. I really only need to get tracks on about 45 miles right now. I'll update as I go along.

The look from my back deck at 2,800' this morning, 11" of rain the past 6 days. I can't even ride from my house, yet alone anywhere up the hill, sucks......

[OurManInTheNorth]

Hey Sean - is Late Oct/Early Nov going to be too late in the year (in terms of snow, I guess) for the route to work? Am currently deciding between an ITT of this, the AZT300 route (which would be logistically more difficult) or something else while I'm over in the US for work and to see relations... Any news on the full tracks etc?

Thanks!

[zenoiz]

Can't talk for Sean but that would be rolling the dice a bit. The first big storms tend to hit the Sierra's around that time. If you're lucky, it could be great - the perfect timing would be right after a smaller storm that renders the trails nice and tacky but doesn't dump a big load of snow yet (in late fall, before the storms, many trails will be very dusty/sandy).
But it may as well be nearly impossible, unless you bring skis or snowshoes. The highest elevations on the route are on the Tahoe Rim Trail section east of the lake, at 9,000-10,000 ft. I'd say your chances are (slightly) better than 50%; you can trust a weather forecast probably a week ahead.

[OurManInTheNorth]

Thanks for the info, I think that's a bit risky considering I'd be planning the trip from Europe months in advance, I think I'll stick to AZ and the AZT300 or Coconino 250 routes... Good luck to anyone making a go of this later in the year!

[Sean Allan]

Yeah I would totally agree. Although some of my best rides have been in Oct after some rain, there is no way I would plan a vacation around them, too hit or miss. It's been a really strange winter/spring here in Northern California. We had a significant amount of snow at our house on May 25th, we're at 2800'! There were chain controls on all the passes on June 6th. The weather also has been unseasonably cool, like 25 degrees below normal.

 My last trip up the road out of Foresthill netted snow at the 5000' level. You need to get to 7000' before you descend into the Truckee/Tahoe Basin and from there you hover between 8000-10,000' so I'm not even thinking about riding the route right now, it just isn't even close to being possible. I've done all I can do from the warmth of my house, maps have been laid out, GPS routes plotted and stories gathered from others. I just have to wait to get on the ground.

I could send you all out right now no problem, I just want to run one continuous loop myself and get it right first. At the very least I want to run the sections I haven't run in years and get some tracks on those, from there I can certainly paste it together and turn you loose.

I'm training for CTR in addition to a very full time job so it's been hard to devote a bunch of time to the race, not much else I can do right now anyways. If the weather had co-operated I would have been able to combine the training and route mapping together. It looks like late July is the likely opening of the higher reaches so I'll likely dive into it heavy when I return from CTR. It will happen next year, but right now it's just not possible to give any updates.

As I am able to run sections of the course I'll post up the days. I'll also either set up a website or at least a blog for you guys to keep up to date.

Thanks for the interest, it's gonna be an epic journey and well worth the wait!

[OurManInTheNorth]

Hey thanks for the reply Sean, I appreciate the time setting something like this up on top of work and entering other events, good on you for creating something new! Good luck, I look forwards to seeing the pics and maybe making an attempt next year (July is good, huh? My brother is getting married near LA around then, hmm I sense a plan...!)

[1noahdimit]

do you have a race date in mind, I am very excited about a California ultra!

[DaveH]

Bump!

How has the final scouting gone?  Did the snow ever melt out or are we looking at the start of the next ice age??

Interest level is rising

[Pawel]

I am interested too. I will be in California for one year starting from October. I will be happy to help with the course mapping.

[goldenboy]

I just got back from a week's vacation with the family in Lake Tahoe.  It was my first time there and what a fantastic place to ride.  We only managed to get out for about four rides, but the possibilities are awesome.  The best ride we did was called 'Hole in the Ground', but we were warned against doing it because of the snow and downed trees.  There was some route guessing across the snow feilds and tree scrambling that increased the travel time but it wasn't like the TDR this year - no snowshoes required.  Anyway I would guess that the snow has socked in a lot of the trails there and it may take a little extra work to map it out.

I kept thinking about this race idea while out there and am excited to look at the profiles with a little more insight now.  The interest is definitely growing.

Oh, and I would definitely put DEET high on the gear list.