Category: Rides

More Load Testing

The joys of a grocery ride in perfect weather, summer is making an early appearance without the months of fog that usually precede it.

A load of undisclosed weight, but more than I would ever suggest,  hiding in the panniers down low.  The less scientific aspects of prototype testing, yet equally as important as the lab testing that will start in the next week or so.  I will say that No.1 still handles quite well with loads in excess of my intended design parameters.

An added bonus to today’s  ride was crossing paths with a reader from LA who had come up on the train to explore some of our local back country.

Thanks for making the time to chase me down.  I look forward to crossing paths again soon.

Sulphur Mtn Ride Report

Yesterday was incredible!  I was able to pull together a group of seven guys, most who had never met each other to head out and ride 50 miles and 4000 feet of climbing on one of my favorite mixed terrain routes.   Four guys on 650b, one sporting 26″ and only two of us on 700c,  all “road” bikes and not what you usually see out on the dirt in this area.

The weather was perfect, warm not hot, light breezes and not a cloud in the sky.  The hills had some green thanks to the recent late season rains.  And the dirt conditions were perfect.  There is an 8 mile warm up on the Ventura river trail before we set into the work of the 10 miles or so of dirt road climbing through the cattle ranches and countryside.  While only about 1/5 of the mileage, this is where we spent the largest percentage of the time.

Here is a shot of the whole group;

Here is Mike F rocking the Trek I had converted to 650b a few months back with some downhill pedals and sanuk sandal shoes.  With a low gear ratio of 40/32 he was still leading the pack throughout the whole day.

The fog was well offshore, obscuring the islands, but there were still full panoramic views of the entire Santa Clara and Ventura river valleys.

With the time spent on the dirt, the road sections went pretty fast by comparison.

For me the ride had a few highlights.  First and foremost was sharing the loop with friends.  I have done this ride a bunch alone over the years, and hands down it is better with a few buddies.  Everybody had a good time, not too much suffering on the steep sections and the closest thing we had to a mechanical was a couple of slow tire leaks that needed topping up along the way, and Errin hit some gum.  A giant Thank You to all who were able to come out for the ride.  I am looking forward to doing this again soon.

Mike’s trek was flawless, not a squeak or rattle on a bike that has seen months of use since I restored it for him.  My Rambler No1 met and exceeded all of my performance expectations, both climbing and descending.  My friend Aaron was on Rambler No3.  He had never ridden it before that morning, never ridden a bike with drop bars, never ridden more than 30 miles or so and surely not with 4K feet of total climbing and  two wicked fast twisty descents.  He was able to hold strong with all of us, the whole time, excepting a slight bonk, but that was right before our planned lunch stop.  While riding a bike of my own design and having it go well was rewarding, having it go that well for your friend is far greater.

 

Weekend Wrap Up and News

As always things have been busy around here.  The work of getting the business fully legit has been more work and taken more time than I had planned.  Things are 90% there.  I have still been making a bit of time to ride.  Saturday we were able to squeeze in a quick ride on the coast with another couple.

The weather has been pretty nice since the last round of storms.  It is hard not to get out an play a bit when the weather is this nice.  Getting out there with your wife and friends sweetens the deal.  The cherry on top was spotting some whales a couple hundred yards off shore near Emma Wood State beach.

The first round of t-shirts made it in Friday night.  I am really happy with how they turned out.  The job was turned around in four days by a local Santa Barbara contractor who was fantastic to work with.

The shirts are 100% cotton sewn in the US by Anvil with Us cotton that they have knit overseas.  I liked the fact that Anvil was doing their best to be transparent about the process.  The could have just called it made in the USA and left it at that.

The OAC logo is printed with a water based (non-PVC) ink using a discharge method, resulting in a very nice feel and solid color.  I have run a few through the wash, they came out fine, as you would hope.

This morning I made my usual ride to the Farmer’s Market in a red XL.  The fit is spot on and I liked the high vis, yet tasteful  aspect of the red.  I thought the red may not be that popular, but while on the ride I would have needed 5 hands and my toes to could all of the riders I saw wearing red.

I am in the process of setting up my E-commerce site and should have the shirts up for sale no later than Wednesday.  I may put something up here earlier with a paypal cart, but we will see on that one. There will definitely be a dedicated post to announce when they are available.

The ride to market was great, the weather has been fantastic.  Tons of cyclists out on the road, all sorts of charity events and such passing through town this weekend.  The highlight of todays ride had to be this:

This is something you would likely have missed if traveling at the speed of a car, locked in the metal and glass box.  Tillamook was tearing it up, cutting turns, re-starting after wipe-outs, the whole deal, and I had to stop and grab a shot.  One of those fantastic sinppits in your day that you will remember for a long time.

One last business note, the production sample frame sets shipped last week, and should be here on the second, or sooner.  I am so damn excited.  This week as always is going to be crazy busy, and that is a good thing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you made time to play outside, there is still some time left!

Appeteaser

Last night I got a call from a buddy who was looking to ride this morning.  It only took a second to confirm that the schedule was open to go.  The target was a local fire road, part fun, part scouting mission for an up coming longer ride.

Things at the coast were cool and foggy, but a few miles inland the thick fog was just a memory. The dirt starts about 8 miles from my door, and you can keep going up for another 9 miles or so.  With the recent rains I was worried it might be a bit muddy, but things were just green, with the road dry.  Conditions were pretty good on the first 4 miles or so that we went up, before enjoying the ride back down.

I have a small group getting together for a no-host ride on the morning of May 5th to ride a bit bigger loop that includes this section. The group started as the Southern California Rivendell Appreciation Society, But is open to anybody really who is like-minded and not afraid to ride “road” bikes on the dirt.  Here is a map of the proposed route:

This is a fun mixed terrain ride through the hills of Ventura and Ojai.  The ride is a paved mixed use (mostly Bike) trail to sulphur mtn., then dirt fire road climb. Note, the fire road is the climb. This is the lions share of the climbing, it is beautiful, but I am thankful at times for the gears, usually 32:28 is enough, but it keeps me honest, and I have been known to use the granny if the bike of choice for the day has one.

The road quality is mixed at the top of the mtn for a bit, then there is a very nice paved/long/fast as you want decent. I was able to get the vents on a helmet to hum here once. A few flatish miles to another fun decent into Lower Ojai. Mixed gentle hills over to lake Casitas, a decent but short climb up from the lake, and then gentle downhills home.

I have been asked in the past if this would be a good single speed ride, personally I am thankful for the gears in this area of California. I have ridden everything from Exiwolf to 32mm passellas here, and 32-42 mm anything seems to make for a really fun day.

As always this is a comfortably quick ride, with the no man left behind group ride ethos.  There will be plenty of time to stop for breaks.  Bring plenty of water for the climb, at least three bottles, and I would recommend a snack of sorts.  There are a couple of good places to stop for a lunch in Ojai that will not weigh you down too bad for the last leg home.  It would be good to get things going by 9:30, earlier would be better if we can swing it, last time I think the tail end of the group made it back by 2:30 or so.  Saturday traffic will be easier on those of you making the trek up from down south.  Also, Ventura and our surrounding cities like Ojai and Santa Barbara can make for good times if you have the rest of the family in tow for the weekend, just saying, it may help sweeten the pot to get up here for the ride.

I know quite a few of my readers are local, and I may have even seen you once or more out on the road.  Consider this an open invitation, if you think you have the legs for the climb and can keep up with a 10-15 mile an hour average pace, drop me a line and let me know if you want to come along.

Fog Back Already

Today I made my now usual mid day escape from work to ride to a meeting and some errands.  The blue skies earlier in the week had given way to the coastal fog for just a couple of days now.

Blue skies prevailed a mile inland from the coast, but the cool temperatures and lack of sun were the bulk of the ride.  Looks like the Bi-Polar swings from winter storms to summer fog continue, it has been a crazy year for weather.