Gravel Route with Brevet Start

650b Diverge: WTB tires didn't like loose gravel downhills

Hi,

Another classic gravel ride... A few of us needed a little rando gravel action, so we thought it would be nice to offer some unison and start with the Sunday Brevet group in San Marcos.

Start with roadies: Only 4 riders showed up for the Populaire today. David Nakai looked like he just woke up from hibernation. RBA Dave had new Fuji racer. Keith had Sam-like matching jersey/socks, shoes/bike color, bag/helmet ! Nice! Mike Shaw back to more riding again.Great! I think Mac wanted to do the Populaire, but decided to ride the gravel route since he had his Ibis cross bike today. We all started at 0700 and the gravel group rode only a few blocks en-route before turning off for some gravel work.

Gravel

Mini recap of the days events:

- Troy started at the wrong place, we realized something was up and hooked up with him in a bit. Sam jumped on his cell and left a message.

- Slip slide downhill trail above San Marcos had been graded! Good thing. My 650b WTB Byway tires don't like downhill braking on loose gravel. Specialized Diverge 650b Conversion Video

- Sam was traction-less on the first Gardinia Trail loose gravel uphill!

- Troy took off and beat everyone to Swami's.. Why? Urgent bathroom break!

- Massive dogs on the Del Mar trail

- Troy did lead out on Coast to Crest Trail.. wrong turn again. Wahoo error? Caught up later and walked up a short short-cut dirt climb due to large rock!

- Saw Dr. Dan Marks as we were climbing El Camino Real. I think Sam must have went over to visit, because we didn't see him in a long time.

- So. Penesquitos Trail was light family day today. John took off like he was after a coffee!

- Race up Black Mtn. road climb. Mac was full-out here. I pulled a sneaky Kelly-cut on him! Sorry Mac, wait for you at the top!

- Sam & Paul missed the SR-56 Bike Path turn to Circle K. Sam said he couldn't find the .tcx file to download. Troy cell-located them and suggested to keep riding on the route.

- We found them chatting with some hot-chiks on MTB's. Of course, I handed out a handy RANDO CARD.

- Sam disappeared again. Said he went back to check out the hard-bodies!! Really?

- All climbing now. John was off to the races... Mac went by yelling: "come on, boys!!!

- Lago Linda side dirt trail.We followed John M. Sam had disappeared for good by now. Maybe a shortcut back?

- Massive 20%+ v. rough concrete climb up to Escondido Trail. Mac was off to the races, followed by Troy, me and John. Mac was hi on gearing and started a "mailman" This ended badly for him with a bad-form side mount, 2-roll & 1/2 twist later he took out Troys front wheel and rotor with some sign of skin!

- Blood-drop later, Kelly tools and John re-align quickie with Troys direction, we were off up the Escondido Creek Trail. For some reason, I had Mac's blood on my fingers and glove!

- Met Rando Jim Robinson, waiting up the Trail. He rode back with us.

- Mac's legs were mush after the minute blood loss and gazing around for 20 minutes.

- All climbing as we grouped up for the final push. Troys wheel kept true enough.

- Troy, me & Jim all pushed the light button at the top of Twin Oaks... Weeeeeee downhill

- All back nice and safe before 1:30 PM. No Sam yet! We chatted around about Mac paying for Troy's total wheel rebuild! Happy Birthday Mac (July)

- Waited till almost 2:00 PM. No Sam yet. 

- Later found out Sam made it in before 2:30. Seems Paul had a cable break before leaving Sam to finish off the route.

- randorides

Dark-Early Ride Down -Walkin' The Dog

Dog Beach: First leash-free dog beach in the US!

Seems the SD Randonneurs were having a Ocean Beach Mini-Brevet today starting at 0600. Sounds like time for a unusual ride down opportunity. Sent out a few last minute emails to local randos and planned a 0230 start from San Marcos. Populaire "Walkin' The Dog" would work OK.

I rolled out with light blazing at 800 lumen at 0215, forgot something and returned home again. Bill Stevenson was waiting as I arrived at the Twin Oaks 7-Eleven at 2:40! No arm warmers for me, but Bill was talking about going home and getting his jacket! Not to be as we were a bit late on starting. No traffic on San Marcos Blvd and the turn to So Rancho Santa Fe brought more of the same. Different story as we plunged down by Melrose Dr. John Fry couldn't join us here due to foot pain. Heavy fog as we climbed up to LaCosta Ave. and I luckily found John M. house thru a maze of fogged out turns.

Sandcastle Bruce missed the hook-up

Now the three of us needed a short cut to the coast. Bill had his usual ideas so we followed him. After a big climb, we were on Vulcan Ave to no traffic. No fog along the coast as we approached Solana Beach. Saw a light approaching... it was Mac Imacseng to join up. Bruce Phillips was supposed to show up also, but misread the email and was in chase mode on his Salsa Cutthroat~!

Mac was in race mode as we pulled ahead for a short break at the top of Torrey Pines. Easy riding thru UCSD and down the Rose Canyon Bike Path for our small group of four. We were ahead of schedule and arrived at Dog Beach 7-Eleven with 20 minutes extra. Time for some chit-chat and bottle refill. Guy at 7-Eleven was nice enough to let us use his bathroom, only after I mentioned "Dr. Bill...". Soon a few other rando arrived for the 0600 Brevet start.

Old Mel Cutler and Keith showed.. I call Keith "Stormy" after well, you know! Robert Abraham from Escondido and "Neon Dion" was there too. Neon had some recent heart problems and would ride only 10 miles today, which was excellent. Some short, older guy form New Zealand via Irvine shwoed. John M. and I sat on the sidewalk as RBA Dave gave a few instructions. Maybe 5 or 6 riders for the 200 K Brevet. One guy from Yuma, Oliver, was a doctor. Soon the 4 of us and the few 200K riders were off on the bike path eastwards, full chat in order.

Not a difficult route as the group rode past Miramar Base and cut over on Pomerado toward Poway. Mac and I were far off the front on the climb and waited up at Scripps Poway Road. Soon the full group was there as we made our way over the pedestrian bridge over Lake Hodges and to the control at the Mule Hill Chevron. Ice refill and more chit-chat here. Our group of four broke off and headed westward as the others proceded northward thru Escondido to Rainbow.

We hit the Escondido Channel bike path as Mac soon cut off for Del Dios Highway and home in Solana Beach. John cut off at Harmony Grove for the ride thru San Elijo as Bill and I went to the finish in San Marcos. Nice little ride and we got home early!

- randorides

Diverge Gravel Bike: Tires & 27.5 Wheels?

Stock 700 x 38 Trigger Pro are a good gravel tire & roll well

Rando rides continue this month at the normal 3x per week. I've been replacing 1x per week with one of the local gravel routes. The Specialized Diverge Expert Gravel bike came with Specialized Trigger Pro 38mm tires. These roll very well on the pavement and work good on the gravel also. The extra width proved itself time after time on the soft stuff (Cauhilla Mtn. Recon, 9-City Gravel, Mixed Emotions, etc.).

My 2018 plan was to have a "road" wheelset with 700 x 35mm tires and a "gravel" set with 27.5" wheels and 47-50mm tires. New full set of rotors and a SRAM XD cassette to make swapping easy. I got things moving by ordering a set of 35mm Schwalbe G-ONE tires via eBay. Joe Morgan from The Bike Shop ordered in my matching SRAM rotors, SRAM 10-42 cassette and a set of WTB 47mm tires. Things were moving along under budget.

2018 Mavic CrossMax Pro: Dream wheelset but $$$$

In keeping with my overall theme this year: "one bike to do it all", I had researched the heck out of
27.5" wheels for the Diverge. This would enable fitting much wider tires on for those often "knarly" mtb/gravel routes of late. My ultimate answer was the Mavic CrossMax Pro, latest 2018 edition. Joe Morgan worked on this via his dealer connections and found: very limited production, none in the CA chain of distributors and only a slight discount (not deep discount I needed). These were out. Others that popped out were the FSA wheelsets, Stan's No Tubes and a few others. Looking to keep the wheel switching as smooth as possible, I spec'd in center-lock rotors, 100mm front thru axle, SRAM XD driver and 142mm rear thru axle. ( Same as came on the Diverge). Tough order.

Bad eBAY buy from Oregon Bicycle Works

After several months of probing, eBay had Oregon Bicycling Works. Specs looked great, ratings good, so I ordered a set that met all my parameters. Custom build would take 3 weeks and delivered to my door for $484. Not so. After various emails via eBay and broken delivery dates, I finally turned to eBay to resolve the dilemma thru customer service. Bingo! Money returned and I left a true-v. poor rating on eBay. After all was finished up, Oregon Bicycling Works sent me a email offering me $100 off the "already built" wheelset thru PayPal. I replied: "Yes, send me the wheelset and I'll pay after I receive them"! Can't figure out why they didn't take me up on the offer! (I think they were a Chinese front company under diecastmodels).

Schwalbe 35mm tires were delivered... but I never got them. Tracking showed that USPS delivered them. No signature or delivery photo on that. Either USPS slipped up (likely) or someone ripped them off (unlikely-because I was right there that day). Oh, well. Time for eBay to step in again. Had to file a police incident report and finally got my money refunded. Thanks to eBay again.

Joe Morgan @ The Bike Shop-Temecula, CA

So got another set of Schwalbe G-ONE 700 x 35mm from Joe @ The Bike Shop, saved a few bucks. Installed them on the Diverge using my last Stan's Sealant for the tubeless fix. Went right on with by homemade booster tank. After several hundred miles, seem to roll about the same as the wider Trigger Pros (38mm). Also offer a little "gravel recon" when necessary. Usually run 45/55psi for road riding. Nice and comfy.

Have all the goodies for my 27.5 wheelset, except the wheels! Finally opted to build my own and ordered all the spec'd parts from Joe @ The Bike Shop:
27.5" Wheel Build:

Front:
-    28 H Stans No tubes Crest MK3 Disc Brake 27.5" Black Rim 650B
-    Bitex BX 106 Front Red Centerlock Disc Hub, 100 x 12mm
-    SAPIM CX Ray J bend Black Bladed 14x21x14 ?
-    Two Cross Lacing
-    SAPIM Polyax 14mm 14 Gauge Black Brass Nipple
-    Weight 642 gm

Rear:
-    28 H Stans No tubes Crest MK3 Disc Brake 27.5" Black Rim 650B
-    Bitex BX 106 Rear  Red Centerlock Disc Hub, 12 x 142, SRAM XD
-    SAPIM CX Ray J bend Black Bladed 14x21x14 ?
-    Two Cross Lacing
-    SAPIM Polyax 14mm 14 Gauge Black Brass Nipple
-    Weight 744 gm

-    Lockrings




More next month
-randorides

SIDI Lug Replacement

New SIDI Dominator shoes

6 year later... same shoes

Many years ago, I happened on a pair of SDID Dominator MTB shoes at Performance Bike Shop in Oceanside. These were good shoes and I beat them up for years. The uppers didn't wear out, only the sole lugs.

SIDI didn't offer their replacement policy anymore, so over the years, I hacked together different ways to add lugs to the soles. (Story Here).

New SIDI Dragon Carbon Megas

3-years later: Easy sole/lug replacement

Fast forward to several years ago, when I rounded up a deal on some new SIDI Dragon Carbon Mega shoes. These had the replaceable lugs on the soles. Super deal included a set of lugs/bolt kit. Now 3 years later, it was time to replace the right side lugs. These were ground down, with my right foot being the "foot on the ground". Left side looked quite good and clipped in and out well.

While replacing the lugs, I learned again just how well these shoes are made:
- Heel lugs have two bolts from the outside and one screw from the INSIDE. After loosing the bolts, the old worn lugs don't just fall off. They have little "ears" that clip into the sole itself. Ditto with the side lugs.
- The super worn front lug plate was as simple 3-bolts and you're off ! The front bolt seemed to be stripped out some, so I used red-Loctite when reinstalling a new bolt that come with the kit?

My next project is to use a SIDI kit to upgrade my old SIDI Dominator shoes! Wouldn't that be great?

- randorides

Airport In The Sky

Full route from San Marcos to Catalina Island

About time for a real "official" video of the Randonneur Route #3497, Airport In The Sky. Been out to Catalina multiple times of late, once solo, one time with several randos riding in from San Marcos and another with rando buddy John M., when we rode in from San Marcos. Also followed up with several videos, including "Rando Rides Catalina Island" and "Dana Point XP-Catalina" These videos had parts of the Airport route, one included the gravel Divide Road section and not the Airport Road from the top to the airport itself. About time I fixed that, still attempting to have an informational video for each of my listed randonneuring routes.

Early April and it started out with low overcast following the on/off again rain of the last few days. Almost like the "June Gloom" as they call the early AM fog from the coast. I had changed the route from the usual San Marcos starting places and the Dana Point XP start point on San Marcos Blvd. This time it was the 7-Eleven on N. Twin Oaks Valley Road, across from the Post Office. Water inside and bathrooms across the street at a park. In addition, this 7-Eleven was "owned" by our local ride buddy Najib Assam. He's got a new rando jersey, but hasn't signed up yet!

Route goes north on Twin Oaks Valley Road. If you leave before 0700, traffic is sparse. After that time, most heavy commuter traffic is southbound. Instead of going onto Deer Springs Road, Twin Oaks turns left and winds and climbs thru a valley. Filled with horse ranches and nurseries, the only bugger is a active quarry at the far north end. This brings occasional truck traffic.

Stop-sign artwork is where you can get it!

Gentle climbing brings a real fast downhill onto a private road. Sometimes the gate is closed, but offers a step-over on the left side. One short 14% climb to the top and a rocket downhill to Gopher Canyon Road. This is usually a moderate traffic road with mostly OK bike lanes. Can't wait for the right turn to Little Gopher Cyn. Road. Much different as it winds past more country homes, each with several horses. Consider this a very lite traffic area. The turn onto Old River Road had no traffic. With the Elementary School, and busy intersections, Camino del Rey was another matter. Time for a short McDonald's break.

Fill the bottles, grab a cookie and off I flew down Hwy. 76. Usually a big tailwind push toward Oceanside early. Several bikers on the San Luis Rey Bike Trail to Oceanside. Even a few skateboarders at the trail-side Park. No one friendly to ride with, so I managed to pass a few riders.

Still low overcast as Harbor Drive approached the Marine Base Gate. Cars/trucks were lined up 20 deep, so time for the alternate route we usually take on I-5. Yes it's legal to Las Pulgas Road. Fast it was... with the tailwind and traffic push, 25-mph was the cruise speed! A quick required exit thru the Rest Area with re-entry back onto I-5 again.

No riders lurking around the Las Pulgas parking lot, so off northward on the old Hwy. 101, into the Campground and a brief stop at Bathroom #1. This is usually always open, even when they shut down overnight camping. Clouds were still low as a few surfers were walking to Trestles Beach today.

Catalina Express spec sheet. Departs from Dana Point, CA

Sam Clemente town was the usual quiet in the early morning and the downhill was fast and little traffic. Of late, I've been catching the new bikeway at Avenida Estacion. Even if you wait for the red light a bit, it's still safer and faster than trying to cross further up the road. Protected Bikeway launches you to Dohney State Beach. One nice bathroom there with water! Following the route on with the turn onto Golden Lantern, you then ride thru the parking lot and straight into the Ferry Landing. If you've purchased tickets online, you'll just need to pick them up at the window. Coupons are easily available for up to 20% off the round-trip ferry price.

Ferry loads early and leaves on time. There are 3 or 4 different ferry schedules, depending on the time of year. Today it left the dock at 09:45 sharp to overcast skies. A low speed idle out of the harbor, allows the captain to brief passengers on safety procedures. Once clear of the jetty, 4600 horsepower cranks the speed up to 30-knots, leaving Dana Point far behind in the overcast.

Bikes are kept in the fantail. Suggest bringing a bungee cord to strap the bike in. Mild vibration sets in as the passage was calm. Ferry looked to be almost filled up. Capacity of 150 passengers. One brief dolphin display and a few fishing boats today. Catalina was looming far ahead, in which looked to be clearing skies. Sunshine!

Permit needed to ride inland to the Airport

A brief stop at the dockside bathrooms, water refill at the fountain and I was off to the hills. The route time constraints allow no leeway for "hanging around". I already had my permit from previous trips, so it was up, up and away. Avalon has the main waterfront street closed to cyclists, so a jog around a few blocks before the real climbing begins.

The first few hills are in the mid-double digit region and then slowly slackens off. The steepest part is up to the Zip-Line turn. After passing around the "permit only" gate. The road gets a little bumpy and the grade eases off to the 8-9% range. A few twists and turns, several overlooks and bumpy climbing at the top is reached. There is a nice overlook on the right and our other route (Divide Road-gravel) is on the left.

This big boy blocked my entrance to the Overlook

Up and down riding over mixed surface to Middle Road. It's the half-way point to the Airport. Sections of smoother gravel past the buffalo park, as the road winds around, up and down toward the Airport. Some great views on both sides along the road. Slight climb up to the Airport.

Very nice tiled island map outside the mini-store and restaurant. Overpriced everything for a finish receipt as proof of passage. Relax. No reason to hurry back, since the return ferry is at 5:40 PM. Always time to return via the gravel Divide Road or just linger around Avalon Harbor. Of note is the return trip is really bumpy and at the Zip-Line you turn left on a one-way down to Avalon with great views (different route from the way up).

Airport In The Sky: DC Bar & Grill

Several options for the return trip and still get in some more Randonneur riding.
- Hang around the Airport and start a full return "Airport In The Sky" (need good timing here)
- After the return Ferry arrives in Dana Point, grab a start receipt and do a reverse of "Dana Point XP #3392, ending in San Marcos.
- Several other options also available

Airport In The Sky Video

- randorides

9-City Gravel Recon

New Rando Route called: "9-City Gravel"

Been working on this new "gravel" rando route for some time and never really got all the footage and images together for a route video. With a few days break in the rain showers over the last few weeks, today was it.

This rando route was designed to start in North County at Ralph's in San Marcos. After further mods and reviews, I changed the start location over to Albertsons store on Woodland Pkwy to meet RUSA distance specs. Not as good of start location with the extra road traffic to get to the first gravel section.

Left after 0900 and rode over to the Mulberry 7-Eleven. Chatted with pseudo-randonneur owner Najib. Talked about his sore back and lack of cycling. Finally made my way over to the Albertsons start before 10:00.

Rolled the video and still pics as I made my way to Lakeview Park (Discovery Lake) for the first gravel section. Managed to pick up some bushes as I picked a new line down to the first gravel path. OK, take#2 on that video entry. Went back and re-rode with cameras rolling again. Perhaps this was a omen for the day?

Guard Shack INFO Control. Trail starts just behind shack.

Around mile 11, decided to swing by my buddy John Mestemacher's house and see what was up. Persuaded him to ride along today, taking a break from his "work from home effort". Chatted wit his wife Gabbie while John was getting ready. He'd ride his Charge "Cooker" steel MTB today. Matching my Scott Scale 710 hard-tail.

Route videos are much better when you can capture riders ahead following the route. Such was the case as we made our way over to Swami's on the coast. Low clouds meant lo-quality images today. Didn't spend much time at the Coast To Crest Trail Mc'Donald's for sure as the sun was out full force now. Los Penasquitos Canyon South Trail was muddy in places, but we managed to use the single-trak trails around these spots. Met only a hand-full of hikers today and no bikers!

ECTConservancy Jeff Swenerton & Rando John on Trail

Short break on the route at Circle K, where John grabbed a drink and I a IC Sandwich. More trails followed, including some single trak, which was is near dry condition. Took a few snaps and chatted with the Security Guards at the "Guard Shack" INFO Control around mile 55. Just after entering Escondido Creek Trail, met ECTConservancy volunteer Jeff Swenerton. He chatted with us on the Conservancy purpose and handed us some information.

Slow slog up Questhaven and said our goodbyes at the top of Twin Oaks, as John was heading home from there. After the 35mph plunge down Twin Oaks Valley Road and a peaceful ride thru CSUSM Campus, I was finished for the day. Now for long hours putting together a informational route video.

- randorides

9-City Gravel Video

Temecula Stampede Gravel Training

Temecula Stampede Route Map

I've spent some time in the last few rides up in the Temecula area, doing route recon for this ride. One time on the SCOTT+ modified MTB and the last time on my aging Fuji road bike. This route was based on the recent SPNDX Stampede route, with added gravel miles from local rides and a few mile I threw in there to bring it up to Rando specs. These recon rides also offered me some time to chat with Joe Morgan, x-Nytro manager, who was now bringing back to life a Temecula bike shop as manager and founder of new ideas.

Wolf Creek Park: Jim, John, Sam & Troy on cool, blistery day

I was slightly familiar with the route, but not the cool starting temps. John M. picked me up in San
Marcos around 0700 for the drive up to Wolf Creek Park. Nice little park we use on several rando routes up this way. The Phillips brothers couldn't make it this trip. Both were preparing their sand rigs for next week out in the dunes. Sun City Sam brought his new updated NORCO gravel bike. Troy Buss displayed his new Specialized Diverge Force 1 gravel bike he just got several days ago. Jim Robinson was bundled up for the cool start as was I, with 3 layers up top, but opted for no leg warmers today. Woolie cap should be warm enough for the next several hours till temps warm up.

We were off after 0800, as Troy was scurrying around getting his new bike ready. Good thing for Redhawk Pkwy. climbing to warm us up. Verde Trail and Anza gravel offered our first dirt, as I baited the others into some soft sand walking after floating over on my 3" tires. Several climbs and more gravel brought us to the official 2017 winery start of Stampede route.

Real nasty climb up Los Altos Road

Gravel riding on quick Buck Road, where we stopped to chat with a hunter in orange vest. Seems French Valley Preserve has small-game hunting now. Long road ride up to Washington Park, where at mile 20, it was our only refuel stop today. Another mile or two and we turned to Rawson Road, the real hi-lite of today's ride. This wanders thru French Valley, over to Crown Valley and then up knarly Black Mtn. Road before we on solid De Portoloa Road.

A whole lot of gravel climbing followed as the route took us thru Oak Hills to the route hi-point. Nice place to take pics and Troy captured some good pano shots here. As we wandered NE'ward, more climbing and a chance for several hike-a-bikes on rutted roads. After a jaunt thru "dog-town", we finally got some easy downhill roadie action on Benton Rd., before another turn up the soft De Portola and down into wine country. Sam was remembering his jogging days as we finished up along  dirty Temecula Creek Bike Path.

Nice view shot by Troy: John, Sam & Kelly

Cool, blistery weather all day today made for an interesting clothing day too! John & I stopped off at Carl's Jr. for fries and shakes to top off the day. Back home well before early darkness crept in. Tough day on the bike today, well worth it!


Temecula Stampede Video


- randorides