Tour de los Padres 2017

[ec_duz_it]

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. 

[Salsa_Dawg]

Why the Cuddy Valley Revision?

[ec_duz_it]

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.

[adegoede]

Erin, trying to decide riding proper route weekend before or riding tour route or proper on group start weekend. Couple of questions:
1. Shuttle Schedule? Thursday afternoon or Friday morning?
2. When checking out Cuddy Valley re-route I noticed in the Mt. Pinos area, proper route goes to nordic base and tour route skips nordic base? Is that intended? Last year both routes skipped the nordic base.

How do you insert images?

Thank you
Art

[adegoede]

Proper 2017

[ec_duz_it]

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. 

[ec_duz_it]

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. 

[whatirideby]

Hey Erin, put me down for the shuttle! I rode from Hwy 166 to Painted Rock campground this weekend. Nice weather, water in livestock troughs, chunky road up until that gate.

Lynne

[roadhouse]

Wow so a lot of challenging stuff for Day 1 let me sum it up. Ill post a proper report when I have a computer...
Pinos is just hard and I raced a gravel race yesterday so legs didn't wanna work at all for a while. That single track climb is really fun though! I somehow lost the trail after McGill (thought it was after) and ended up going back country but got into trouble from snow. Still a ton on the north face so hopefullly there's some heat in the next few days for you guys.. once on track the snow was still an issue as well as downed trees. I love riding pinos but had never imagined it taking me that long to do.

The fire road down to 33 is super fun but has its fair share of big washouts.

I screwed up the ventucopa reroute but backtracked to it. Contemplated going across the wash at night but thought better of it

There's a lot of water in the canyon right now and lots of really big washouts so be careful. I'm camped just shy of the saddle and every creek side camp is totally gone from the bottom up that I could tell.

Stoked to be here and thanks so much Erin for putting this all together! Time for dreams and more shredding tomorrow!!

[ec_duz_it]

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! 

[roadhouse]

Thanks Erin for the beers at the finish that was so rad of you to bring those up the mountain! Really good to meet you and share notes on the route. Definitely a tough few days and great prep for azt!

As mentioned I definitely didn't plan on Tuesday being such a long day but things are pretty rough back there especially on those lower sections from the rain.

We're on the way to as now but should be able to post pics later. Last 24 hours has been so much sleep, food, and recovery!

E

[NickRuiz]

Hey all!
I have been planning on joining all of this fun for quite some time now... but never realized there was a forum... oops!
Thank you Erin for putting in the effort to make this such an amazing ride!

You can count me in for the shuttle on the 13th! Sorry if I should have said something earlier.
I will also be linking my inreach to the track leaders site in the next few days.
I am very excited to be doing this!

Quick question; the link to the proper route on the website is the updated one, right?
Just want to make sure I am downloading the right one.

On a side note, as far as mono campground goes, I hiked out there for an overnight about 3 weeks ago and it was definitely covered in 3-4 feet of dirt but it worked fine for the night. East cold springs trail leading up to the campsite from east camino was COMPLETELY gone as soon as you cross the san Ynez river. We had to walk through knee deep silt/mud for almost 2 miles. It looks like a swamp down there.

See you all soon!

[sportsmd]

Hey Erin...saw that there are cue sheets for the Tour route on the website...are there any available for the Proper route? ... Thanks

[ec_duz_it]

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 :-)

[ec_duz_it]

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

[greggd]

I'm in for the shuttle...

[RunRig]

Hey Erin,

The sign up at trackleaders says (or implies) you will have the GPS trackers...just want to confirm if that's the case.

[ec_duz_it]

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). 

[RunRig]

Sorry, if I needed the shuttle, I would have said so early on...but just to be clear, I do not need the shuttle. I hope to make the happy hour, if we get on the road early enough and traffic from OC isn't too bad.

[jeffkerkove]

Group start at 7 or 7:30?  Just confirming as website says 7:30 and TL.com says 7.

Thanks!