Tour de Los Padres 2021 – Day 1

Pre-Ride

I found a turnoff in the hills just above Santa Barbara and parked for an overnight stay. I had Google-Earthed it prior to leaving, and it turned out to be five star truck accommodation.

Just as I was starting to fall asleep, I realized that I forgot to bring mounts for my lights! The ride had not even begun, and I’m already in problem-solving mode. I thought of a solution using zip ties and hair bands, then fell asleep.

In the morning, my pre-dream-state zip tie/hair band design was not a success. The zip ties were too small and there were too few of them. I remembered from my route research that there was a hardware store in Ojai just off route, next to the grocery store where I was going to get water anyway. So, shopping for zip ties was now added to the plan. 

I got to the East Mesa neighborhood street where I left my truck, and rode over to the starting point at the wharf. Luckily there were bathrooms on the way!

TdLP 2021: Day 1

At 6:00 am I was off! The nerves were firing from the excitement of all of the preparation for this moment. I had a navigational hiccup and also needed another pit stop. This section was mostly road, except for Fearing trail, where I opted to hike up the steep pitches to keep the heart rate down. I finally arrived at Romero canyon, last year’s start, 15 minutes slower than expected. Romero is a pretty enjoyable yet long climb, with pretty views all the way up.

Along the Matilija Divide I noticed things were looking way drier and yellower than last year. Trails were dustier, and even in the cool morning I could tell it was a lot hotter. But I arrived in Ojai around 11:45am, 15 minutes faster than expected, despite my earlier delays! Familiarity with the course really helps.

I went to the hardware, got the zip ties and made a very unsatisfying handlebar mount. I figured that I would just use my headlamp tonight. It should last. (Foreshadowing…)

My water carrying strategy was one bladder in the frame bag and one on my back. I filled one bladder with 3L of water. Then put 1.5L in the other bladder with my pre-measured ziploc baggy of Skratch Superfuel. That gave me 800 calories of easy drinking pure carbohydrate! Yeah, buddy. I also had a variety of Clif Bloks and other snacks. I was trying a new product called Muir Energy, which is gel packets made only from dried fruit or nut butters mixed with blackstrap molasses and coconut nectar. It’s an acquired taste, but they were easy on the stomach and they gave me a satisfying, steady energy.

I carried all of the calories I would need for the entire trip. Yes, it was heavy, but worth it for peace of mind. I find it hard to find enough vegan snacks at little convenience stores in small towns, and I have had more than my share of stale Clif bars.

The trails out of Ojai to Nordhoff Ridge were steep and unrelenting. It is just over 4000′ of climbing in about 11 miles in the full afternoon sun. On Gridley trail, my Garmin showed it was 93 degrees. I was moving more slowly than last year. I needed to keep the effort low or risk overheating.

After that grueling climb, it was time to descend on Howard creek trail. It’s a burn area with tons of pretty purple wildflowers.

This trail was no place to relax and recover as it’s mostly a dangerously narrow bench with some loose scree and a steep drop to one side.

Finally the course comes to a pretty section of highway 33 through a rocky canyon and I could relax. I saw some rock climbers staging on one of the towering walls. I refilled water in the Sespe creek here, which was still flowing, although quite low. 

The next trail, Chorro Grande, is another grueling climb, but the final one of the day. The whole upper half is mostly rocky hike-a-bike. You can ride some of it, but getting on/off drains energy. Plus my butt needed a break from the saddle. Here I ditched the chamois for the day. On the upper part of this trail, I passed the place where I bashed my derailleur last year, causing my wheel to seize up and stop spinning freely. I had to camp there last time, but not today! Yay. I finally reached the top of Chorro Grande just about at sunset, and put on my headlamp.

I overshot the entrance to Boulder Canyon trail a little bit on a fast road descent. My Garmin had a brain fart, and started re-routing me to highway 33. I stopped to fix that. Then I was constantly losing the overgrown trail at the top of Boulder Canyon. It was dark and spooky, as the moon would not come up until early in the morning. I saw yellow animal eyes peering out at me from the trees. Here, my headlamp dimmed itself to a trickle! I shuffled around for my spare batteries, but neither of my spare sets had a full charge, either. (Hm, weren’t these new?) I finally tried again to zip tie a light to my helmet, and it worked perfectly! Phew.

I eventually found the trail again, my Garmin was back on track, and made it down the extremely narrow, primitive trail in the dark. The forest service seems to not like to cut benches, and sections of otherwise fun trail are always falling down the side of the hill.

I had planned to refill water in Reyes Creek just off Lockwood Rd. I had checked with Gregg before the ride, and it was flowing when he was there just a few weeks ago. It was a big enough creek that I thought surely it would have water, but there wasn’t any flowing. I tromped into the tall reeds and mud in search of something, anything! 

I found a stagnant puddle with bugs and algae. That would have to do. I found that the Katadyn Be Free filter dealt with this situation like a champ! I love that thing.

It was finally time to stop at a forest road off of Lockwood. I found a cozy patch of dirt next to a giant juniper bush and threw down the bivvy. It was 1:30 AM.

This was a hard day. It was only 86 miles, but 15,000′ of climbing, with quite a bit of hiking and heat.

I had some ramen noodles on the menu from Noodlist, which I really enjoyed on the AZT. But I just couldn’t stomach the idea of it. I opted to try one of my bars instead, but couldn’t finish it. I could feel a slight headache coming on. Uh oh. So I drank lots of water. 

I had allowed myself 3.5 hours of sleeping, but woke up 3 times to pee! It was better than being dehydrated though. Tomorrow’s ride is definitely gonna be interesting!