SCOTT Addict 10G: Mule Hill To Black Canyon

Today's Route: Mule Hill to Black Canyon

After checking out the Cervelo C-5 gravel bike last June (Mule Hill - Cervelo C5 Test Ride), I felt spry enough for another test ride. After talking to Joe Morgan at Nytro, he suggested the new SCOTT Addict 10 Gravel Bike. I went over to the shop yesterday and he pulled one out of stock. Medium size it was. Took some time to get it set up matching my Fuji seat & stem height. It wasn't perfect, but real close. I'd have to make the final adjustments at home later.

SCOTT Addict 10G ready to roll!

Riding back to San Marcos, I noticed quite a difference in the comfort. Could be the 35mm Schwalbe G-ONE tires, carbon rims, frame geometry or perhaps a combination of all the above? This ride was fast. Yes, even with the mini-knobby tires, I was flying along. Took a few shifts to get used to the SRAM Force 1 vs my Shimano. Also liked the 1x set up with no front derailleur. Carbon rail seat was a bit too hard for me. We added a shortie stem, but it wasn't high enough resulting in a long "reach".


Back home, I added my front bag, a couple of bottle cages from the MTB, seat bag, rear light, GoPro Camera and my 2 bottles. This brought the weight up, but it still was smooth and fast. Monday was Presidents Day and several randos wanted to ride out to Mesa Grande. Can do, let's go.

Dave, Sam & Mike check out SCOTT at JIB

The Mule Hill to Black Canyon route is an interesting randonneur route. There are several sections of dirt in it's 74 miles with about 5000' of climbing, the tough stuff just after the start. Add in the Rail Trail from San Marcos and I'd be hitting close to the century mark today.

Clicked on my Garmin 500 as I rolled away from home and soon found the Inland Rail Trail. Sections of the trail were littered with tree branches and root heaves. No problem for the 35mm G-ONEs at 45/55 psi. Some road travel before I ventured onto the El Ku dirt path and I added a little more dirt by jumping on the San Dieguito River Trail on the way to the start at Mule Hill. Scheduled start time was 0800, but Mike Shaw and Keith Olsen planned on starting early.

Kevin McNulty & Sam on Black Cyn Rd

Met Sam Thomas and we decided to chase down Mike & Keith, who were going via the full Highland Valley Road. As we  looped around under I-15, met up with David Horwitt riding in. Joining up, we kept on a steady course toward HVRd. Following the river bottom, we soon started climbing eastward. It pitches up to double digit here and no grabbing the smaller chain-ring on the SCOTT. There isn't one. Seems the 44T x 44cog was up to the task for this section. Up ahead we spotted Keith and Mike on the 14% climb. Keith bailed part way up on his fixie. Said his gearing wasn't up to this climb. I grabbed the 44 cog and labored up. No problem after that. Easy to reduce the gearing, just add a smaller chain-ring up front!

Dude dries clothes near nudie pool

Sam, Mike, Dave and I made our way over to Ramona. Dave noticed the Hwy. 67 construction sign and kept going straight on Dye Rd., around Ramona. We opted for the "Construction Zone" on Hwy. 67, which amounted to 100 yards of nothing! Regrouped at JIB/7-Eleven. After refueling, noted the ride options from here. Take the dirt up Black Canyon Rd to Mesa Grande OR hard-surfaced via Old Julian Hwy., Santa Ysabel and on to Mesa Grande. We all headed for dirt first.

Last June on the Cervelo C-5, Black Canyon was soft, washboard and dusty. Today it was hard and fairly smooth from the recent rains. This offered multiple stops for the camera: Indian town in the valley, nudie pool and numerous cattle shots. A few mile in, a MTB rider came up and was chatting with us. Kevin McNulty. He used to ride with the randos in the mid-2000's. Also a RAAM 2-Man Team Rider and HooDoo finisher! Kevin has some nerve damage in his feet now and does only short rides. He turned at the old bridge and headed for Sutherland Reservoir.

SCOTT, Sam & Mike at Mesa Grande

Ride was smooth with the lower air pressure and comfy SCOTT carbon frame. After a regroup at the old Store, we were back to a higher speed run on Mesa Grande Road to Hwy. 79. No problem keeping the pace with the roadie bikes. The big, fast, curvy downhill was handled well with the Schwalbe G-ONE tires. We paced-lined into Santa Ysabel for a favorite Rando stop at Don's Market. Busy place today and NO ice cream sandwiches!

The traffic on Hwy. 78 was horrific. We hadn't figured on all the Presidents Day RV traffic from the desert back to the city today. Time to crank it up on the curves down to Old Julian Highway. Once there, it was the usual no traffic ride into Ramona. No stop this time and we paced it up thru town and back onto Highland Valley Road. Dave kept going straight down Hwy. 67 toward Lakeside and the traffic.

Near horse kick on Mule Hill Trail

Only a few steepish rollers on HVR, and the SCOTT gearing made easy work of those. After flying down the last downhill, I turned off onto Mule Hill Trail. The others rode straight on the hard-surfaced HVRd. I hooked up with a rider on a new Yeti Niner. Lots of horse traffic today and it made for careful trail riding. Stopped and let them pass, but still nearly got a kick from a audacious horse! Several mud holes were no problem and the SCOTT handled the soft sand with ease. Dropped the Yeti dude with a 19mph burst and soon rolled into the finish. Handed the Yeti a rando card and soon met the guys at the Chevron Station.

After a few short stories and water refill, I was headed home via the Inland Rail Trail again.

Weather was excellent after a cool start. SCOTT handled well, single chain-ring worked perfectly and the ride was comfy on the dirt and road sections. After fine-tuning the fit, adding a 40T ring and a softer saddle, this bike would be Randos dream!

SCOTT Addict 10 Gravel Walkaround/Test Ride Video

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Lazy Lizard Brevet

Lazy Lizard: Ocotillo to Ranchita

I hadn't said much to my riding buddy, John Mestemacher, since we talked about this ride last month. This is one of his favorites, but due to lack of bike time, he had been a little hesitant about riding a 200 route. He finally emailed me a few days before and we decided on a early depart time from San Marcos. John has a nice, older, little grey/grey Honda Element set up to lock down 2 bikes inside. Used it for years on a whole bunch of rando rides and it works really well. 2 bikes, space for gear and comfy!

0430 rolled around and John arrived for my pick-up right on time. On the 2 hour drive out, we had time to catch up on his job, riding and family stuff too. Didn't get the wrong turn this time and made it to Ocotillo at 0630. Plenty of time to take some pre-ride pictures for the Lazy Lizard Video I was hoping to do of the event. 

Randonneur group at Ocotillo start

After a little chat-chat and pre-ride instruction from the RBA, Dave Danovsky, we were off at 0700 sharp. 18-20 riders on all different rigs, but mostly carbon racer set-ups. I hung around doing GoPro of the last riders and was soon sucking wind to catch up. The racer grouppo was long gone done the straight road, thru the wind farm, as our group of 7 motored along. John had a new PowerTap wheel set and was playing around with the wattage thing. 

Group soon split up as we hit the first double digit climb. Toughest of the route. I did manage to max-out and get up and take pics of other riders climbing. Later, after Box Canyon climb, riders were all over the place. I rode with ex-RBA Mike Berry offering a chance to talk a bit. Soon six of us were at the Stagecoach Trails Store, loading up on water and other goodies. New rider Hanna, had a headache and went hunting for Excedrin. She was riding with Molly Cook today. 

Harley's and beer at RD's Log Cabin

Leaving Shelter Valley was a blast, with a slight tailwind and a mini downhill to Scissor Crossing. Met a team group pace-lining southward in fast mode. Managed a few shots at Scissor Crossing before the long haul up Road S-2 to Ranchita. Climb starts out very nice with a few low grade rollers and slowly increases pitch as you climb to Teofulio Summit. Not much of a summit really, but there is RD's Log Cabin at the pseudo-imaginary town of San Felipe nearby.  RV traffic was horrendous today... all the desert rats heading back to LA with their motor-homes and trailers behind.

Before the summit, met riders on the return leg of this round-trip route. Ben Hain, Dean Dobberteen and Liz Tenuto in the first group. Sergio Sandoval couldn't quit make the bridge to join up. Jerald Cook was in hot pursuit.. I managed to sneak across the road and take some action pics of them. Stopped by DJ's Log Cabin for a few snaps, then staged up near the Summit sign for some video clips. Keith Olsen stopped at the top and was having stomach troubles. After a brief chat, he continued on to Ranchita. I soon rolled down the hill a bit and saw David Nakai stopped in the shade.

Hanna & Sasquatch

Dave said he couldn't keep with the fast riders and didn't eat enough. Looked like a mild bonk to me. RBA David D. soon rolled up southbound and stopped to see if all was well. Off he went, closely followed by David Nicola[, Tim Sullivan and Andi Ramer. I was soon over to Montezuma Road/S-22 and the last few miles to Ranchita. Met Bill Stevenson, Sam Thomas, John Fry and James Robinson on the return trip. Took a few interesting pictures and then followed Keith O. in to the store.

Napa Tom at Ranchita

John, Mike Berry, Hanna, Molly Cook and Tom (guy from Napa, CA) were at the store lazing about. I grabbed a drink, took a few pictures of riders in front of the Sasquatch statue and was ready to go, when Mike noticed his tire was low. As the others rolled out, I waited for Mike to finish up the tube change. 

Real fast leaving Ranchita back to S-2... in fact you don't have to turn the cranks at all! After the short climb up to Teofulio Summit, I rode with Mike back to Scissor Crossing and on to the Stagecoach Trails Store. The ladies had just left, but John and Keith were stretched out there. Water refill, a few pictures and we were on the last leg back to Ocotillo. Weather was super all day. I was dressed perfectly with 2 light layers under by SDrando jersey.

David Nakai looking for shade: "Cooked"

Down the road Mike had his second flat tire. John stayed with him as Keith and I continue on southward at a mild pace. I went on ahead and staged up at the top of Sweeny Pass. When the last three riders went thru, it was only a slight downhill dash to Ocotillo. Road was rough in spots, but we found good riding on the center-line. Reflective vests and lights on, we finally rolled into the finish at Chevron. 

Randos Keith, John & Mike at Alpine Carl's

RBA Dave and buddy Dave Nicolai were there waiting for the card signing. I wasn't riding the official Brevet, but instead opted for the same route as the " Lazy Lizard Lodown" Permanent. John and I usually stop is Alpine at Carl's Jr. for a shake on the way home. Today was no exception. Mike and Keith heard of our endeavor and joined up in Alpine too. Mike & John opted for fries with their shakes (must be the salt?) Keith and I just the shakes. After some small talk, we were off back to San Diego after another great ride.

Lazy Lizard Video



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