What a day and what a ride, let’s dive right into it.
I’d checked the weather a few days before and it appeared the temperature wouldn’t get into the 70s. Talking with Dave and Joy the night before it was forecast to get much warmer up near Ojai. Checking the forecast for Ojai be damned mid- to high- 70s. Just lovely. I had planned on it being cooler and had packed accordingly. Boots and Dave were lucky to have long sleeve summer jerseys with sun sleeves to get them through until it started getting warmer. I had a thermal long sleeve jersey with wool base layer which is my standard fare when the temperatures stay below 70. Nothing I could do about it short of finding a cycling store at the last minute and buying all new kit.
Boots, Dave, and I got out to an early start, leaving the hotel around 5:00 a.m. Before we rolled out Tiger hit us up and introduced us to a young guy named Nick who was out for his first DC. She said that we were a fast bunch and that we’d make sure he was taken care of. The three of us welcomed him with open arms and set out to get this ride done.
Unfortunately, less than 20 miles in, Nick took a nail to the tire and suffered a massive flat. He was running tubeless, but it failed to seal and went completely flat. We pulled into a parking lot to get to work trying to get him fixed up despite Nick telling us to go on without him. Of course we weren’t having any of that! It took us just over 30 minutes to get his tire fixed to a point where he could continue.
Things got worse when we lost him some four miles later. The three of us pulled in to stop and Boots said he had to stop for some reason. He got up a short time later and shared that even though his tire was holding pressure, the tire was seated on the bead funny leading to an awful ride. Nick again professed we didn’t need to wait for him, but that he would nurse his bike back to the hotel where he could inflate the tire anew with his floor pump.
As we looped into the hotel at mile 40, we took the time to get some sweet sweet hotel breakfast. They had these amazing cinnamon rolls which I think I had one too many of, but I blame Dave for that. Now, the biscuit and gravy, yeah that was all me. We spent about 20 minutes hanging out before we finally set out to conquer the last 160.
Dave and I kept exchanging pulls out front until the climb along Santa Rosa Rd. Him and Boots did end up gapping me, but they were nice enough to wait at the summit. We rolled into Peach Hill Park (stop 2) and were absolutely on fire. Both Dave and I proceeded to strip off as much as we could while remaining decent. I took off my leg warmers and wool base layer. Unfortunately, that was all I could really do. Nick had decided to take off to get a lead on us insisting we’d catch up to him later. We left a short time later, and as we left I was feeling much better and cooler without the additional layers.
The ride to the next stop, Juanamaria Park, was more of the same. At this point I’m pretty sure Dave was taking more pulls than I was. I could certainly feel my core temperature starting to rise. As we made the turn onto Telegraph Road I was looking forward to stop three for a break. Thankfully, it wasn’t too much longer.
At Juanamaria Park we had a nice light lunch break. They had Cokes which I was over the moon about. Also, more importantly, they had ice. I asked Dave if I could borrow one of his sun sleeves and proceeded to make an ice pack out of it ala a tip from Stuart. I tucked it into my neck gaiter to help moderate my temperature a little before the climbs around and after Ojai.
The next checkpoint was at the Summit Drive In which involved some climbing to get to. Riding along CA-33 to Creek Road I could start feeling worse for wear. Toughed it out, but I lost both Boots and Dave on the climb out of the Ojai valley. I was really feeling the heat as I came to the turn around and checkpoint just short of the Summit Drive In. Unfortunately, there was no ice at this stop, but I knew we were in for a bit of a descent which I’d hoped would cool me off some.
Thankfully the descent back into the Ojai valley and stop at The Mob Shop worked to give me some relief. The stop was a short one as we set out to catch Ferdie who had left the hotel an hour before us and who we had been chasing the entire time.
The three of us were cruising right along until we started the climbs up to Lake Casistas and Casistas Pass. There was absolutely nothing I could do but watch as Boots and Dave rode off and up without me. Looking back on the overall ride, this was certainly the low point for me and the point where I was feeling the absolute worst. The sun was beating down on me, relatively speaking, there was no breeze to speak of, and I was just cooking. It was a struggle to keep the power above 200 watts. I was feeling so bad.
Thankfully, Boots was nice enough to stop and wait for me at the top of the first climb. Then both Boots and Dave stopped at the top of the second climb because that’s where they had run into Ferdie. Ferdie had stopped to put a jacket back on before the descent to the beach and they had all decided to wait for me to catch up. We also picked up Kevin who had taken a tumble, bent his rear derailleur hanger, but was die hard on finishing the ride out.
Us four Adobos all descended together, more or less, and stopped at the intersection with US-101 to take a nice picture of us with the sunset in the background. After a short trek along US-101 we stopped near Rincon Lagoon for the final checkpoint.
Leaving for Port Hueneme, we stayed together for the most part, but at some point we eventually lost Ferdie. Boots, Dave, Kevin, and I rolled together the remainder of the way. There were certainly a few sketchy parts! We nearly hit three separate people walking aimlessly along the bike lanes in the pitch black darkness. Then the entire group nearly went down when we struck some awful pot holes. They were so huge my right shifter got tweaked out of place! I’m so surprised none of us went down. It would have been awful if we had.
Back at the hotel everyone quickly jumped in a shower and got ready to go get some dinner at Yardhouse. I went with the fish and chips, several Sprites to drink, and the bread pudding for dessert. As I joked at the time, “Hey I’m fueling for tomorrow!”
Overall, the ride went extremely well all things considered. I had kinda thought the course would be more urban sprawl similar to Hemet, but I was pleasantly surprised. The area up near Ojai and Lake Casistas was awesome. I would love to ride up there again just for the fun of it.
New bike fund: $76.62 (+$0.00)
💪 144.91 new miles
🏘 Completed 50% of San Buenaventura State Beach
— From Wandrer.earth
1280 vehicles @ 6.7 per mile, 1.9 per minute, Speeds: 38.7 mph (avg), 82.0 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Clear-Mostly clear, 57°F-57°F, Feels like 56°F-58°F, Humidity 22%-84%, Wind NE 5mph-WNW 3mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: 5.3%
Headwind: 52% @ 2.3 – 19.5 mph
Longest Headwind: 01h 27m 4s
Air Speed: 17.7 mph
Temp: 54-77.1 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —
Max elevation: 1579 ft
Min elevation: -12 ft
Total climbing: 7455 ft
Total descent: -7422 ft
Total time: 13:36:46
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