Note: I apologize that I have no photos from this day! At some point I went to charge my phone and realized I had the wrong charger cable. So I was conserving battery by not taking pics. Any photos here are from last year. I do have photos for tomorrow!
Lockwood
I awoke at 5am, made a coffee, and started cleaning up camp and doing morning tasks. I took a small nibble of a blackberry pie fruit bar, but the stomach said no.
By 5:50 a.m. it was back to the pavement! Thank goodness I hit this road in the morning, as it was already getting warm. I was glad I had Skratch Superfuel, Clif Bloks and some Muir energy as solids were not working.
Next up was a fun moto singletrack called Yellowjacket trail. Last year this section was much greener and had water crossings. This year, it was pretty dry. There are really cool dried up vernal pools all through this valley. Here is a photo from last year of one:
Getting out of this valley requires a ridiculously steep push up an OHV dirt road followed by a steep downhill full of loose rock about the size of softballs. At the bottom was the gloriously flowing, cool Lockwood Creek!
There were quite a few campers here. Who new, it is a popular spot! Here a nice lady offered me water but I didn’t need it. People were really sweet.
I took the time to clean off and cool off. The cool water felt so so good! Then along came a huge procession of Jeeps! I was glad I got down before they arrived. One started blasting that guitar lick at the beginning of Sweet Child O’ Mine as he chugged up the black diamond OHV road.
Somewhat revived, I continued on. The dirt road pops out onto the pavement again, and it was a long climb then a long fast downhill to the Mountain View Mini Mart to get water and see if there was anything that I could stomach to eat.
They had a 9+ ph alkaline water station. I saw some fruit in a refrigerator case and THAT was what I wanted. That and something salty. I bought an orange, apple and a bag of Fritos. I devoured the orange, which was good on my stomach and in hindsight I should have gotten a few more.
By now it was really getting hot! The max temperature recorded by my Garmin for the day was 111 degrees! 🥵
Mt. Pinos
I rode up more pavement heading to the next big climb up Mt. Pinos. The trail skirts around the base of the mountain through thick stands of chemise bushes. It’s really hard to find the trail through here. But eventually there is a flowy flat trail that connects to the dirt road up the mountain.
This is a decent climb for a 45 pound bike in the best of weather, but today it was an inferno! I passed through a swarm of lady bugs and got coated in them. After that, there was no wind at all. Luckily there were patches of trees, and I had to stop in the shade several times on the way up. A passing car offered me ice cold protein drinks. That was very nice, but I had to refuse, (probably whey-based) but I should have asked for some ice! I had to hike rideable sections because I was overheating. Things were looking bad – I was inching along in survival mode.
I remembered something that Rebecca Rusch said. Whether things are going great or going badly, just know that it is not going to last. Reminded of the transient nature of everything, I was able to keep going. Of course, towards the top there was way more breeze.
I finally arrived at the start of the downhill, McGill trail. Here I felt an intense sleep pressure. There was a bed of pine needles in the shade right next to the trail. I quickly plopped the bivvy down as a ground sheet for a nap, set the alarm for 20 minutes and blissfully dozed off. When I woke up I was feeling a little better. My stomach was coming around and I felt a wave of intense hunger! I decided this was as good a time as any to make a packet of noodles. While it was cooking, I ate some Fritos and the apple. I couldn’t really finish all of the noodles, so I had to bury them. Revived, I headed down flowy McGill trail. It was in great shape, although a little dusty.
Pine Mountain Club
After McGill, the pavement is steep up and down to the little forested community called Pine Mountain Club. They have a golf course and small network of trails. The fire danger must be intense for the residents here. I thought I would go in to the store and get a gatorade but the line was too long. I just got water from their outdoor faucet.
Finally it was time for a descent on Qatal Canyon! Parallel to the dirt road is a dry, sandy creek bed that has moto trails weaving in and out of it. To my chagrin, the course turned onto the moto trails, rather than sticking to the road like last year. It was intense getting through some of the sandy washes. I was fish tailing and almost falling off the bike, having to hike through deep sand. It was reminiscent of the Stagecoach 400 desert washes that made me crazy a few years back. In addition, I kept heading off course through here and having to backtrack. I think I even cried a little bit. In the right time of year, it could be fun riding but by the end of May in a drought year, it was pretty awful. A moto passed by me and said “Now, I thought I was crazy!” This gave us both a good laugh. I must have looked ridiculously out of place out there in the heat! I finally got out of there and onto the fast hard-packed dirt road as the sun was getting low in the sky.
New Cuyama
After popping out on the pavement again, it was time to review the light situation. The light I had on my helmet had died the night before, so I needed to somehow cut through the zip ties with my tiny pocket knife, and then cut off my other light from the bars so that I could attach it to the helmet. It was tricky surgery and I ended up stabbing my thumb! Ow. I had to go dig for my first aid kit and bandage that up. It took forever, but finally I got the light on, and was good to go.
Now it was the start of a long flat road section through a fertile farming valley. There was so much bird life here! I got water at the Pistachio farm spigot. They do have a filtered water station here, but it wasn’t working. Maybe it’s only on during business hours. There was nothing to do now but enjoy the sun going down, the return of some cooler air, a breeze and much higher speeds on flat road! Woohoo. One thing a heavy bike does well is go fast on the flats. I put on some tunes and let my mind wander.
I heard some chains clanking off to the side of the road. I looked and saw a long row of glowing eyes peering out in the darkness. It was cows, their heads inside some metal contraption. I wondered if they were aware of the fate awaiting them, and if they were suffering. It felt like they were.
Aliso
The night was so dark up Aliso Canyon Road, and the stars were gorgeous. Somewhere off in the distance I heard someone playing some heavy metal. (Or maybe it was an auditory hallucination?) I enjoyed it for a little bit. Then I went through Aliso campground, and at the back of the campground was the trail, so I kept going. Here I started looking for a camp spot. It was after midnight, and my plan was to get going by 3:30AM so that I could do less riding in the heat of the day.
I was unsuccessful finding the five star accommodation, so just took the next flat clearing off of the side of the trail. The stars were still amazing and it was cool and peaceful. I sat just listening to the crickets as I tucked into my bivvy and started making more noodles. I was super hungry, but again, the noodles just weren’t going down as well as expected. I left them in the pot for another try in the morning. I set the alarm for 2:30AM, then it was off to la-la land!
Today’s stats:
- 103.15 miles
- 9,678 ft el gain
- 10,436 ft el loss
- 7,394 ft max elevation
- 2,044 ft min elevation
- 3,989 calories burned
- 17:33:08 total time
- 13:27:15 moving time
- 37.4 °F min temp
- 111.2 °F max temp
