Gear Review: 2016 Scott Solace 20 Disc

2016 Scott Solace 20 Disc

Purchase Date: Spring 2016

Use: Training/Exercise

Short

4/5 stars as a training/mileage road bike with wide breadth. This bike is ideal for the cyclist who puts in a lot of training mileage on pavement, and/or variable mixes of rough pavement and gravel, but puts in their strongest efforts in some other activity besides pavement-based bike racing (mountain biking, running, skiing, etc). This bike is also ideal for the weekend warrior just wants to do long rides peppered with big climbs, potentially on less-traveled roads, but doesn’t care about winning the town-line sprint.

Cyclist seeking a more casual form of adventure riding, touring, or all-gravel adventures may want to look for something a little more touring or off-road specific, and a little less flashy; while cyclist planning to do more than a handful of competitive road racing events where they are striving to get their best results and upgrade points, should stay with a more traditional road bike.

 

Photo: L.M.

The long

The Solace replaced my 5-season old Scott CR1. One of Anchorage’s best kept secrets is its road biking. No, the road biking in Alaska’s biggest metro can’t compete with the rural Northeast, but considering where we live, it’s phenomenal for what it is, and will make any rider stronger.

The CR1 had a more relaxed geometry and gear range compared to a traditional road bike, but it was still far closer to the former than to an exercise or adventure bike.

In the years since I bought the CR1, manufactures have sought expanded their narrow-tire bike lineups to take on more varying surfaces and riding types. In that time, road bikes have also started to adopt some mountain bike technology, including disc brakes, thru axels, and wider tires.

The truth is, for many cyclists both in Alaska and outside, unless you are a dedicated road racer, there is no reason to buy a traditional road bike anymore; there are so many better options.

Five years ago I knew this, and I thought my next road bike would actually be a nice cyclocross bike, set up with a road-worthy drive train and at least two sets of tires, so I would have a bike for many purposes and rides.

On that front, I’d say, if you do only a moderate amount of pavement riding or less, but you do race cyclocross, then you should still just get a CX bike, and buy it a pair of slicks. Even if with a 1x crank, you could still seasonally gear a CX bike for road riding through spring and early summer, and gear it back down for CX in the fall.

If you ride a lot of road though, I’d get a bike for each.

Cross bikes are still designed for racing, and retain more of a drawn out and power-focused geometry, potentially making them less ideal for long hard miles on pavement. Additionally, a good cross bike will have a drive train designed for the rigors of a cyclocross course. As noted, you could switch out chain rings and/or cassettes between seasons if needed, but if you don’t, a CX gear ratio may prove to be too low-range for pavement, unless all you do is hill repeats.

For me, it’s an easy choice: I ride a lot of pavement, I don’t race CX, and only do a occasional entirely gravel rides – which my hard tail mountain bike is just fine for.

For everything else I do, the Solace delivers.

Ride

The Solace features a very similar geometry to the CR1, so “out of the box,” it felt pretty good, though it was actually a tad more relaxed. That only made it easier to ride.

For a rider used to a traditional road bike, however, the bike will probably feel more upright. On the CR1, the upright positioning left me wanting on fast descents. For the Solace, a slacker head tube angle and wider tires alleviates that issue, and the Solace descends much better than the CR1 did in my opinion.

New meets old.

Thru axels

The benefits of thru axels for mountain bikes are just as apparent on the road. Gone are the days of wheels flexing from one side of the bike to the other on hard climbs and corners. It’s almost comical to grab a wheel on a non-thru axel bike and push it from side to side. How is it possible such a weakness was/is just accepted?

Disc brakes

This was perhaps the second biggest reason I was thrilled to pick up a new bike that otherwise plays such a utilitarian role in the stable. Rim brakes are terrible. Mountain bikers have been running disc brakes since the early 2000s.

Arguably, there were some engineering hurdles that needed to be overcome to adapt discs to slender road frames, and I was happy to not be an early adopter on this front. Now, disc brakes are becoming ever more common on road bikes.

For me, I think the most telling factor about having disc brakes on this bike is how little I notice them at all, compared to how much time I spent thinking about braking with rim brakes.

Two downfalls I’ve noticed though: heavy handlebars and chattering levers. The hydraulic levers are a good bit heftier than their mechanical counterparts, putting a lot of swing-weight on the hoods. I don’t notice this too much on the ride, but I certainly notice it wheeling the bike about. What I do notice on the ride: the brake levers chatter on bumpy roads. This is common for Shimano 105 hydraulic levers.

Wide tire clearance

If you live in road bike paradise, a land without traffic, potholes, pavement cracks, loose gravel, or rain, you should totally run 23c road tires at 120PSI.

I had always used 25c tires, which fit rather snugly in both my previous road frames. The Solace comes with 28c tires. I think the fair question to ask is: why did Scott feel the need to limit the tire size on this frame to just 28? Why not give the frame the clearance to run up to 35 and let the user decide? I will be happy to stick with 28c tires for 95% of the riding this bike will do, but it’d be great to have the option to toss on something meatier and take this bike on an all-out nasty gravel ramble. I suspect that bike makers don’t want to undercut their wallet-draining gravel-specific builds.

I would not be surprised to see future evolutions of the Solace or its like expand tire clearance in response to being undercut by other bike makers who respond to consumer demand for a more all-purpose rig.

As far as performance, the wider tires add drag on climbs, and I do feel it. That being said, when I ride this bike, it’s for the workout, so bluntly, I don’t care. Meanwhile, the 28s bite into fast switchback descents and chewed up pavement with amazing confidence. Don’t even get me started on loose gravel over pavement. These tires make it so you don’t even know it’s there.

I was really comfy on 25c tires. Now, very little fazes me. I’ve blasted this bike along single track trails more than once just because I can.

Again, if I was really into racing, these big tires could be a problem, but I can’t see any reason to slim back down. On the other end of the spectrum, if all I was doing was gravel, or I had some epic gravel trip planned, I would probably just ride my hard tail, as endless miles of loose gravel would eventually be pretty harsh.

 

Early season riding in Anchorage can be a mix of sloppy snow and loose gravel.

Drive train

The bike came stock with a Shimano 105 34-50 crank and an 11-32 cassette. I ride a lot of hills, so one would think the 32T ring in the back would be nice, but I switched to a 11-28T cassette. Overall, the gear range was too easy for my goals/preferences (it’s supposed to be hard), and further, I found the jumps between the cogs made for an unsteady cadence.

Weight

By carbon frame road bike standards, this bike will feel hefty. If you are buying this bike though, weight shouldn’t really be in your top deciding criteria. Nonetheless, it is still a carbon frame and rides like one, absorbing chatter and reacting quickly.

My biggest fear

My biggest fear about this bike, is that the industry has really diversified the road bike compared to just 5 years ago, and this has essentially resulted in my ability to purchase a near perfect bike for my needs at a standard cost, right off the shelf.

The bike industry works in mysterious ways though, contracting and expanding line ups and offerings. Only a couple years ago, a bike similar to this was still fetching a premium price due to limited options.

Given how very little separates the Solace from a more traditional road bike, and the limited additional R&D that Scott probably had to put into it, it’s probably unlikely that in another 5 years, the industry will fully contract and only offer traditional bikes, but, again, it’s the bike industry, things are often two steps forward, one step back.

On Disc Brakes: An Open Letter to the UCI and the Inergalctic Federation of Cyclitesesis-ers

A Note:

It has recently come to my attention that coincendtal to my publication of an open letter to the UCI on the use of disc brakes on the road bicycles, another cyclist has also submitted a similar letter found here: LINK. I would like to clarify that while I believe these instance to be mere chance, I also fear that the timing could reflect the potential collision of two parallel universes that are soon to join as one as a result of the UCI's egregious oversight in allowing disc brakes to be used on road bikes so carelessly.

Another note (4/21/2016): Apparently there was some confusion about whether this was a serious post or not...so let me clarify. Disc brakes are good. UCI needs to focus on things like, cleaning up the sport, for example. UCI finds it easier to remain backwards and reactionary. Dante makes joke post making fun of this on blog. Dante goes to ride on bike with disc brakes. Dante uses disc brakes and inadvertently starts a war with galaxy 5RAM, then realizes the true horror of disc brakes by nebulizing the entire solar system.

On disc brakes
I’ve spent 10 years in the road cycling peloton and another 10 riding mountain bikes making fun of road bikers for their goofy unitard suits and stupid-looking handle bars in my naïve youth. That makes it 20 years on my bike, training, if you can call it that, enjoying what I like most, my passion. Since I was six, I’ve enjoyed biking, it got harder when they took the training wheels off, I continue to do so, but I wish to use them again.

Just like in any other sport, cycling has evolved in many technical aspects. However, it has not done so in others in a way we’d all have liked.

Through all these years, I’ve witnessed many improvements on different parts of the bike and cycling apparel. Well, the apparel hasn’t improved because it still makes you look like a doof to outsiders, but I guess I’ve really just lowered my standards is what it boils down to. Anyway, we started off with 6 speeds, then 7 speeds, then 8 speeds, then 9 speeds, then 10 speeds, and then 11 speeds. That last one came here to stay; oh crap, never mind, SRAM just released 12 speeds last week.

We use presta valves to fill up our tires with air now. For decades the Schrader valve was king of the road, but riders needed greater flexibility when changing a flat, so the inventors, and the engineers, and the smartest people the bike industry could find in the bars brought us the simple and elegant beauty of presta. I was loathe to adopt but I admit now it is superior!

We’ve also stopped using bar ends on skinny handlebars, and now use huge wide bars with 100 variations of angled rise. The days are long gone too when we used stanchion boots to cover our suspension forks, them things were whack!

My point is: two years ago, we started seeing disc brakes put on cyclocross bikes; well, actually, they’ve been on mountain bikes for like 15 years, and cars and motorcycles probably since we invented fire; and the rumor was that there could be a chance that they be tested in road cycling events!

Beforehand, I want to make this clear: I’m in favor that all the other weak and stupid bike riders: the cyclocrossers, and the sucky amateurs who can’t pedal at an average rate of 300 watts for 5 hours straight, enjoy the immense pleasure of disc brakes during rides, because the rest of their life must totally suck.

But then, there’s road cycling. Was there really anyone who thought things like Monday night’s after work ride wouldn’t happen? Really, nobody thought disc brakes were dangerous? Nobody realized they can cut, or that they could get flung from a rider's bike and become giant inter-orbital saucers, possibly launching into inter-stellar flight, reaching another world, slicing open the thorax section of the giant insect mother queen ant of the planet Shimargoux-XT, resulting in a cross-galaxy fight for survival where the inhabitants of Earth were ultimately doomed to become enslaved by the RoboShock bots? Common UCI, use your head.

At the top of the big spiral railroad overpass bridge on the Anchorage Ship Creek Bike Path, only one rider used them. With 2 riders, that makes it 1 rider, carrying a total 2 disc brakes into the peloton, minus the square root of 1, plus one, so this still equals 1, right?

Let me take you there: to a wooden bridge, a steep 3 percent descent, handrails, a muddy brook nearby, with comets, and meteors falling, and the world imploding. I’ve got to brake, so I squeeze the levers. The bike slows at a really predictable rate. The wooded planks bounce me around, my teeth chatter together, but basically, I’m doing that because I’m a moron and should not have downed that double mocha shot gu. My brakes don’t squelch and squeal, I feel totally under control; I’m not worried about the fact that I’m using the same technology to slow my bike that Fausto Coppi was 60 years ago, that in a few seasons I will not have worn down my nice rims, heck, I won’t even have to put new cables or housing on my brakes next year. In fact, to be totally honest, I’m basically not even thinking about the brakes at all, because they're just working, normally.

At the bottom of the spiral bridge, I get off my bike, throw myself against the right-hand side of the path, cover my face with my hands in shock and disbelief, start to feel sick… I could only wait for my mom to come get me, while a lot of things come through my mind.
Mom never arrives, she's in Mexico stupid, but a guy named Bob comes by and lets me have a few swigs from his half-finished Colt 45. It’s warm.

Eventually, I get back on my bike, a little tipsy still. The world is flying by, but you know, I guess we can adapt.

Improved stopping power? Ya, like stopping the entire world as we know it and causing the destruction of all humanity!

 

AK Fall: Best if Enjoyed in Moderation

Psst. I have a secret. I kind of like fall in Southcentral Ak.
It’s an acquired taste for sure. Perhaps not the sweetest of autumn vintages – can anything compete with Indian summer during peak foliage in New England?
Alaska fall is not something that can, or should be consumed in any great quantity, but it is sweet, even if not long to be savored.
Sometime during the endless daylight of the summer the solstice, I awake from sleep – already a scarce commodity – and lay awake in the burning light of 4 am, having just dreamt that the short summer had already ended, and darkness was returning. It’s part a horror, part a wish.
This summer was hot, dry, and awesome. I got a lot of time in the saddle. Too much? As the day’s waned, and nights grew, I had to admit, I was looking forward to a break, and a change in pace.

Res-Devils

I caught two great rides on the Kenai with Nathan A. First on the list was the Res-Devils Loop on the last weekend and the last Sunday of August. Both of us had just wrapped up from the Trifecta races, so the legs were tired, and some very light overnight showers Saturday put a dusting of snow on the ridgelines and provided plenty of inspiration.
Despite this, the trail was still dry, and while there wasn’t much foliage to speak of down low, colors in the passes were approaching peak.

 

Overlooking Kenai Lake.

Juneau Lake.

Love this section.

Swan Lake

Bone dry, blue skies, bright color.

Snow on the ridges.

Looking back to the Pass from Hope overlook.

Russian Loop

I expected to spend a bit more time on Russian this fall than I ended up realizing, so in retrospect, I’m really glad we snagged this ride over Labor Day. The weather wasn’t particularly stunning, and admittedly colors weren’t quite peaking yet, but with this trail fully brushed out, it was hard to complain.

Kenai Lake break.

Cloudy reflections.

Burning fireweed below Cooper Peak.

 

Running
The fact that I run is a well-kept secret. I actually run quite a bit for someone who identifies as a cyclist. That doesn’t mean I’m strong, or fast, but there are some great over-land runs to be had in AK, and this is my time of year to branch out. I hadn’t been on Summit Creek Trail since 2013, and hadn’t been over the Summit Creek/East Creek Pass since 2009. Adam was an awesome sport and joined me for a run to the col between East Creek and Resurrection Pass. From there, we turned southward and followed the ridgeline upward and eventually back around to a high col the leads to a hidden tarn just a bit below and east of the East Creek/Summit Creek Pass.

 

Looking down to East Creek/Summit Creek Pass.

Looking for goats. None sighted.

An after work run on McHugh Peak with Lee. Photo L.M.

Crow Pass Skiing

A typical wet fall storm parked over the region early in September delivering rain for 13 days straight. Somehwere toward the end of that deluge, temps dropped and snow started stacking up above Hatcher Pass and Crow Pass. I knew the window might open, and on Friday the 18^th, I slid my bedroom shades back, planning to go to work, only to be greeted by blue skies and an incredibly low snow line.
I was grateful I’d put my ski gear away ready to go, and quickly packed my bag and went down to the garage to scrape the off-season storage wax from my bases while scarfing down eggs and bacon.
There were a few inches of sopping-wet snow clinging to the leafy alders at the Crow Pass Trail Head, and I needed my storm shell to keep dry as the warm morning sun turned the trail into a cold, wet, collapsed alder obstacle course. I was stupid enough to beat anyone else up to the pass, and from the waterfalls upward, ended up breaking the skinner in about 2 feet or more heavy fresh, underlain by a solid but saturated base. Clouds moved in as I climbed, but moved in and out at rapid intervals, providing easy windows to ski through. A few others showed up later, and I ended up doing two runs. A third would have been nice, but I didn’t have confidence the clouds would keep up their intervals. I skied all the way back to the top of the falls without tagging a single rock: Easily the deepest skiing I’ve done in September or October.

 

Looks more like winter than mid-September.

The Summit Glacier has suffered in the heat. The cracks are big.

Burma Road Loop

I really enjoy road riding in the Valley during the shoulder seasons, but I’ve stuck to Palmer and Butte on these rides. I’d wanted to check out a loop in the Knik/Point Mackenzie/Big Lake area that included a long chunk of dirt on Burma Road. I’d Burma was a good road, and Phil was up for an adventure. As with most other Valley riding, it was really pleasant. We parked at the Wal-Mart, and traffic was pretty light, and generally very respectful. A lot of the main roads in the valley have parallel bike paths, but unlike Anchorage, where these paths cross hundreds of driveways and side streets where the right-of-way is ambiguous, in the Valley these intersections are far less frequent. That being said, theese paths also tend to be covered in loose rocks kicked up by ATVs and quads, so they can be a mixed blessing. Burma Road itself though was excellent: good flow, narrow, rolling, winding, and well packed. There were two very large puddles at the south end. Phil, on his cross bike, rode through both. I was on the road bike with its 25C slick tires, I made it through the first but portaged the second. Other than that, both bikes were equally adept at this ride, though it was pavement heavy, and I think slicks and taller gears were optimal.

Knik Arm.

Burma Road.

For real?

 

Cyclocross

I’ve been helping out with the Arctic Cross cyclocross race series the past few falls. I don’t have a burning desire to race cross for a number of reasons excuses, starting with the fact that I’m a wuss; but I do like watching cross racing since you can often see a good chunk of the course from a single point, and more importantly, I like hanging out with my friends. We added an event this year so we now have three adult races, plus a short kids race, and cross has gone from being a half-day event with maybe 50 people to basically a full-day activity with 125-200 entrants!
One day, for giggles, I stuck my Garmin in my pocket and let it run while I, umm, ran around, setting up the course, timing, and taking the course back down: I logged about 6 miles over 6-7 hours. It was neat to see. Fortunately, a lot of people pitch in, otherwise that number would be a lot higher!
Photos from the season: LINK

 

CX T-REX.

Do nothing

As winter turns into spring, the days get longer, and so with it, the activity list. Some of the biggest ski missions of the year come by a defacto in March-May thanks to better weather, deeper snow, and the need to chase that cold and deep snow into the higher elevations. At the same time, road riding, and soon enough, mountain biking ramp up and there’s a pressing need to start putting in more time on the saddle. Suffice to say, the spring shoulder season isn’t really a shoulder season at all. I’m OK with that, but I’m a firm believer in doing a big-block recovery, and I’m not talking about a recovery ride or mellow day, I’m talking about a real block. Some folks fret about how boring fall is here and how there’s nothing to do. I say: embrace it, take a rest.

Get out

The leaves have dropped, the sun is noticeably lower, but the snow line seems stagnant. Get out of town, get out of state, get out of country…more on that later:

6:30am in LAX Ted Bradley...

Summer Gear Wrap Up

Maxxis Ardent Race Review

I loaded these front and rear on my Santa Cruz Solo for Kenai backcountry riding. These are an ideal middle-of-the-road trail tire: light, sturdy, with medium-sized knobs. They’re a good step up from the Ikons if you need something a bit more meaty, but don’t want to give up too much weight or rolling resistance. These would only make sense as XC race tires for the burliest of courses, and even than I imagine they would still be overkill. For endurance racing or XC/trail riding though, they’re a great do-it-all.

While these tires have some meat, they will demand a little more precision and cadence control when the trails start to get wet. Had this year been drier, my plan was to run swap out the rear AR with an Ikon. Had this turned out to be a wetter year, or for the shoulder seasons, I’d just go with an Ardent.
The only problem I encountered with these was likely an operator error issue. I belched the rear tire one ride and incidentally created a small slit as long as a fingernail is wide, just above the bead. The slit killed the tubeless capability of the tire. I used a patch on the inside of the tire and ran a tube in it for the rest of the season. I blame myself; I think my tire pressure was too low. That being said, my related concern was durability. The lighter nature of the tire made me wonder how it would hold up if our trails featured more rock gardens and shark fins. Maxxis is known for making durable tires, so its probably a non-issue.

 

Maxxis Ikon Review

I had these tires mounted front and rear to Mavic Crossmax on my Scott Scale. Their primary purpose was ripping around the trails in town and XC racing, and they were awesome. I was continually impressed by these treads all season. The smaller knobs didn’t inspire any confidence, but they hooked up reliably, from loose over hard pack to slick roots, to soft sandy corners. Obviously, as with other small knob treads, in wet or loamy conditions, they will start to show their weakness.

In late September I purchased a Yeti SB95 that came with an Ikon 2.2 in the back and an Ardent 2.4 in the front. This was a pretty goofy combo, and after taking it on a couple rides in Anchorage and the Kenai in classic fall riding conditions, the best analogy I could make was a 350-pound guy walking a yip-yap dog…I think it’s clear which tire is which here.
I’m not sure what the logic was there, but it was an unfair assessment of the Ikon’s abilities as a trail tire given the pairing and season. I soon swapped the Ikon with a 2.3 Ardent.
A big plus in my view, was that for a light tire, the Ikons held up great. I was looking for a more reliable, but still light, XC racing tread, after an unsatisfactory performance from the over-prized Schwalbe Rocket Rons last season. By late summer last year, the former tires were literally unraveling with each ride. The Ikons cost slightly less than the Schwalbes and don’t charge a hefty weight penalty. Mine should be good to go next year.

Clothing:

 

Halo Headbands Review

Headbands? Really? Review?

This is one of those, if you ever thought this was a good idea, go invest $25 and stop being a moron…like me.
I should have got on board with these ages ago. I never really liked the idea of riding with a headband as it seemed, stifling.
My most recent helmet, a Bell Volt, the same helmet I’ve bought every other year for the past 6 year, seems to drain a lot of sweat down my forehead. I have no idea what changed, but I finally got tired of having streaky glasses within 20 minutes of riding.
I expected the band’s forehead gasket to simply divert copious sweat down the sides of my face to my temples. Instead, the band wicks the sweat circumferentially around the skull, and helps to act a bit like a radiator. Except for in the hottest conditions, very little sweat actually runs down my face now. I did notice a bit of “stifling” discomfort the first ride or two, but that fades fast.

West Half

The west half of the October escape plan started October 22 when I left the colorful northeast for bone dry Southern California.
The next morning, the Yeti arrived courtesy of Bernie, highlighting an additional benefit of the versatile EVOC bag: you can ship them just as easy as you can take them through the airport.

 

A few hours later, Tom pulled into Castle Miramar.

The last time I saw Tom was riding – of course – Kingdom in May of 2008, a few days before I loaded the Suby and headed north.

Tom and I reunite after my return to the states in July 2007. Tom was living in Santa Monica at the time and had just taken a spill on his road bike in Topanga Canyon going 50 MPH.

The last time I rode with Tom at Kingdom in May 2008. Can't remember if this is Sidewinder or Tap'n'Die.

We’ve kept in touch, despite Tom’s best efforts to live in some pretty far flung and remote corners of the west lacking cell or Internet coverage.

We assembled his bike and headed down CA1 to Sycamore Canyon.

Sycamore was great warm up ride, we knocked out what has become the standard loop I like to hit there, ending with brews and a sunset back at the beach. Sweet!

Reunited, Fall 2014.

The next morning, we headed to Ojai to take advantage of having two cars and plenty of motivation to do the Sisar Canyon-Gridley trail point-to-point.

Oh, ya, this was my birthday ride, and hitting Gridley seemed perfect.

LET'S RIDE BIKES!

Temps were pretty scorching, I think the computer registered 102 and we were guzzling through our water.

 

The descent was sweet nonetheless, though in some of the south-facing traverses, it felt like a blast furnace.

A quick text to Narva, who we missed on this great ride, told us to hit up the Ojai Beverage Company for post-ride brews and eats. Thanks buddy!

Good suggestion Narv!

Saturday we again headed to the mouth of sycamore Canyon, but this time straight-lined up and out to Potrero Road and over to my favorite trail in the area: Los Robles.

A side note: Tom had been riding his 26” Santa Cruz Chameleon hard tail the past few days, and so I thought we might trade bikes for the day. In spring 2005, I loaned Tom my Marin quad-link for a ride one day, his first fully-suspendered. Not long after, he went full-sus himself.
It seemed somehow fitting, that I do the same, almost a decade and so many advancements later.
He was not disappointed by the Yeti’s ride to say the least!
Meanwhile, I hopped back on the TranceX, the first time I’ve been on that bike since last December.
If I was sipping the carbon or the 29r koolaide before our ride, I was guzzling it by the end.
Wow. There were times this summer, frustrated by the Solo, that I missed the Trance.
I still think it’s a descent bike, but it was simply no match for the Yeti. It felt like a kids bike from the get go. As I adapted, I found that I was treating it more like a BMX then a mountain bike. As I pushed it past its boundaries, I would forcefully rip it back into line to re-correct.

It didn’t matter though, Los Robles is a fun trail no matter what you’re on. We spent nearly 5 hours in the saddle before arriving back at the beach for cold brews next to the surf.

Cooler temps than Gridley but still hot.

All smiles.

Best way to end a ride: beers on a beach.

 

Starved, we pleased the owners of a local Korean BBQ joint when we devoured two platters stacked high with animal protein and a crazy assortment of side dishes they threw at us along the way (it was seriously ridiculous).

Sunday morning, Tom hit the road.

 

It was so good to get to hang out and ride. It was almost hard to believe that 6 years and change had gone by. We’ve both changed, grown up, a little bit, but the enthusiasm we share for railing trails, well, that’s just as strong as its always been.

Sunday through Thursday I actually did some work, taking a break to ride Sycamore or Los Robles at lunch.

Life at Castle Miramar.

Blimps and shrimp, things you might see on CA1 at lunch.

 Having some fun on Los Robles

 

Clouds moving in.

On Friday my mom and I went up to Santa Barbara so I could check out the Santa Cruz trail and she could catch up with a friend.

The SC trail, or Little Pine Loop, is accessed by a 12-mile fire road that gains 3,200 feet. Cloud cover helped to keep temps down on the long climb, and at times, there was even a very light misty rain. By the time I summited though, the skies were breaking back up.

"The wall." Though not the steepest section of the climb, it was daunting as hell to see.

After an intitial climb, the road mostly hugged the ridges.

Sorry. Where am I?

The Santa Cruz trail dumped about 3,000 feet in 5 miles of incredible single track that offered just about everything, often with descent exposure to boot.

Golden grass meadow at the top.

Sorry for the distracting trail markers, but check out the cliff. There were several no-fall sections, but mostly, the issue was less what would happen to the rider, but what would happen to the bike.

Serious stabilization in this section. The sound of the dry sand sliding down the ravines after I passed was strangely re-assuring, and reminded me of the sound of hoar-frost under a board or snow sloughing with each carve in a couloir.

My favorite section. Without warning, the rider comes around a corner and enters this definite no-fall section. This was the first place I could stop and take a pic looking back.

The trail is visible snaking it's way far below. The blue-ish clay was my second favorite section.

I pointed the rig back up the road for a much shorter climb to the Cameusa Road Connector trail.
The CRC had a bad rap on the Venturacountrytrails web page, but when I passed on the initial climb I saw lots of tire tracks, and had hope.
I was not disappointed. Though decidedly more XC compared to the SC, with a few short but steep climbs, this trail was banked and flowy, with no exposure to speak of. The road ride back was easy. In the future, I'd leave a car down near Lower Osso though.

Entrance to CRC.

Banked and flowy. It was much easier to open up.

The final descent into the Santa Ynez. The next mile or so was ridiculously fun.

Friday night, well-heralded rain came through. I would have complained, but the area is in desperate need, and it was pretty cool to see.
Saturday morning, the trails promised to be super muddy (it's mostly clay), so I rented a road bike and went out for a 3-4 hour ride in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Guess what? It did not suck.

I rented an aluminum Specialized Allez. Let's just say that I fogot how harsh aluminum road bikes are. Though most the roads of the SMs are smooth, I picked a few that had some character, and this bike bucked and bumped in rebellion.

After turning off CA1, I headed up, and up, and up. In less than 10 miles I'd logged 3,000 feet of climbing. Amazingly, I rode for over an hour after turning off, only getting passed by two motorcycles before the first car finally came by. Traffic was very light. Ridiculous.

Singletrack pavement.

Sandstone tors.

I actually got sprinkled on briefly. A few passing showers made for what is a rare scene here.

Artichoke fields heading back to the coast

Sunday I had to pack up, but I snuck off for a run on some trails closed to bikes in Sycamore. The flight back north turned into quite the fiasco when a computer glitch killed my ticket at the gate (it's a long story). United and Alaska both biffed, but they also fixed the issue, and I made it home 12 hours later than planned. Oh well.

One last time taking in this view after a run.

Back in Los Anchorage. AK Air spends a lot of money on custom paint jobs for their fleet.

Great. Trip.