Best of Both Worlds or Complete Hype? My 650b Experience So Far...

Back in September of last year I bought my first new bike since the I built up the Spider in 2008. Our second child was due a couple months later, and with him would come a lifestyle switch to a single-income family with two kids.  So I knew this was probably my last chance to make a major bike-related purchase and pulled the trigger on an Ibis Mojo SL from Competitive Cyclist.

The Special Blend build was within my already diminishing budget, and I planned to swap out some of the shadier components (brakes, wheelset, seatpost, saddle) with high end parts from my Spider.  At the end of the day, I was thrilled with my choice.  Here it is before it ever touched dirt:

And here it is on its first trail ride on my local loop at Black Mountain:

It was love at first ride.  It climbed just as well as the 4" travel Spider, but the extra 1.5" of travel made the rocky downhills of Black Mountain a ton more fun.

In addition to the price and the timing, another motivating factor for buying this particular bike was that I had read online that I could retrofit it at some point to accommodate 650b wheels.  That versatility intrigued me, but for eight months I simply enjoyed riding it with the 26" hoops and had no complaints.

Then early this year 650b-mania began sweeping the nation.  Virtually every major bike manufacturer announced plans to release a 650b bike, and the internet hype began to really build.  Since I already had an interest in the issue, I was far from immune to the growing demand for this purported "best of both worlds" wheel size.

My curiosity was tempered significantly by my extremely tight budget, but that didn't stop me from dreaming (or scheming).  Then in late May a Craigslist alert I had set notified me of a guy selling a brand new 650b wheelset not far from my house.  It was an OEM wheelset from Focus bikes, and included brad new Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires and a 10 speed cassette that just happened to match the drivetrain I was currently running.  The price was very reasonable and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to see what all the excitement was about.

After doing a ton of internet research I confirmed that with the right size tires and a small shim to the rear shock, running the bigger wheels wouldn't be a problem.  I enlisted the help of my buddy Billy ( great guy and wrench extraordinaire) with the shock shim.  He installed a small rubber plumbing washer in the X-Fusion shock, reducing travel about 5 mm to ensure that the larger rear wheel wouldn't rub against the seatstay when the shock was fully compressed.

He also asked permission to spray a thin coating of plastic-like protectant over the back of the lower rear triangle and bottom of the frame to protect the carbon from damage if any rubbing should occur.  I signed off, and I think it was a good idea in the long run.  The protectant itself is underneath and virtually invisible, but provides a great additional layer of protection against scratches and rubbing on the carbon.

Front tire clearance with the X-Fusion Velvet fork was a non-issue.  There was plenty of room.  Rear tire clearance was another story, with only 2-3mm of clearance between the 2.25 Racing Ralph tire and the rear triangle.

As tight as it was, I decided to give it a shot and set about getting some rides in.  My first ride with the new wheelset came after a six-week period of time where I had been completely off the bike because of a spate of family illnesses.  So I wasn't expecting much in terms of improvement in my actual riding times, but was very curious to see if I noticed a significant difference in feel as I rode my local Black Mountain loop.

Here it is before that first ride.  Not noticeably different visually save the larger wheels...

Whether it was psycho-somatic, the result of giving my body some rest, or actually new hoops, my first ride with the 650b's was a PR fiesta. Climbs, descents, flats I set personal bests on virtually all of the important segments of the trails that I had been riding regularly for years.  And I had a blast.

There were a couple of times where I did notice a tangible difference with the larger wheels, both positively and (perceived) negatively.  On the rocky technical climbs and flats of the Knoll loop in Santa Luz it felt like the 650b wheels rolled significantly better through the chunk.  Same thing on the rocky descents of Miner's Loop at Black Mountain.

At the same time, I felt a bit of a penalty as I grinded up the fire road toward the summit of Black Mountain on that first ride, since the gearing of the bike hadn't been changed to accommodate the larger wheels.  With that being said, I posted my third best time on that climb during that first ride, despite having been off the bike for six weeks and having diminished fitness.  (Also, I subsequently set a PR on that climb with the bigger wheels less than a week later, so despite having to work harder I think the 650b's actually helped overall rather than hurt.  I just needed my fitness to fill the gap created by the more difficult gearing caused by the bigger wheels.)

Over the next few weeks I began to really enjoy riding with the 650b's.  Rear tire clearance was never a problem, and I really enjoyed the improved roll-ability in technical situations.  At the same time I couldn't really discern any negatives to the larger hoops.  I'm not a huge jumper, so the oft-mentioned "flickability" concern was a non factor for me.  I still enjoyed getting air off the little drops on Miner's Ridge at Black Mountain and actually felt more confident in my handling overall.  Cornering and accelerating felt the same or better than with 26" tires, in fact I actually felt the 650b's gripped somewhat better than my old wheels.  (That could partly be due to the tires as well, as the Schwalbe Racing Ralphs were a huge improvement over the Kenda Nevegals I was running on the 26" wheels.)

As I examine my Strava times over the last two months of riding with the bigger wheels, they've consistently been better than those with the 26" ones. So the proof is somewhat in the results.  I'm a fan, and don't see myself going back to the smaller wheels anytime soon.

My only real problem with the new wheelset had nothing to do with its size.  The 650b rims I purchased were not tubeless, and I had been accustomed to running tubeless tires for the last five years.  Over those five years I had gotten exactly zero flats.  All hail Stans sealant I guess.  I also ran those tubeless tires at about 22-25 psi most of the time, which I believe gave me a better feel for the trail beneath me and improved traction.

On my first 7 rides with the tube-utilizing 650b wheelset I got five flats.  Two were from goat heads or artichoke spines over near Black Mountain and three were pinch flats from running them at too low a pressure.  It was brutal. So I started running them at 38-40 psi because I was so afraid of more flats and my budget for tubes was shot.  But that made them feel squirrely and resulted in poorer traction which I didn't appreciate.

So about a week or so ago I finally converted the 650b rims to ghetto tubeless with the help and counsel of a new friend, Geoffrey.  Amusingly, I converted the front tire first and then ran out of time and Stans, so I waited a couple days to do the rear.  Before getting around to converting the rear tire I went for a ride, and surprise surprise, pinch flatted. After a dumpster fire of three destroyed tubes, I actually ended up walking about two miles home pushing the stupid bike the whole way.  I converted the rear tire to tubeless the next day.

That little episode also illuminated another potential shortcoming of the 650b wheels, at least in my specific situation.  I don't know whether it was the hard bump that caused the pinch flat or walking the flat tire home over two miles over asphalt and concrete, but when I fixed the tire and put it back on the bike I realized that the wheel was slightly out of true.  Under normal circumstances it wouldn't have been anything to worry about, but since I have such a small amount of rear tire clearance on my converted Mojo, that little bit of wheel wobble was enough to cause the tire to rub slightly against the rear triangle on every rotation.

I had the wheel trued by Chris over at Black Mountain Bicycles, who did it quickly and well, so now there's no more wobble and no more frame contact.  But if that had occurred in the middle of a long ride and the damage had made the wheel even more out of true, I can envision a situation where I could be in a little trouble.  As I mentioned above I have that spray-on protectant on the area of the bike where the contact occurred, so no damage was done to the carbon frame itself.  But it gave me something to think about in any event.

So that's the saga of my 650b conversion.  The bottom line is that I'm a fan and plan to continue running the bigger wheels indefinitely.  The only drawbacks in my case are derived from the fact that I'm riding a converted Mojo SL rather than a bike specifically designed around the 650b wheels, but so far I think I've mitigated those issues as well as I can and am enjoying the advantages enough to keep using them.

Feel free to post any questions or thoughts in the comments.

RR: Black Mountain w/Miner's and Summit

I have no recollection of this ride.

Looks like a pretty standard local ride, with Miner's Ridge to the cutover to the summit to Miner's to Lilac. Took the road down from Lilac though, which is rare. Hmm.

Total Distance: 10.88 miles
Total Time: 1:36:41
Ascent: 1877 feet
Average Speed: 6.8 mph
Top Speed: 36.5 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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TR: Black Mountain Trail Work

[Editor's note: The summary below was taken from the SDMBA website.]

On Saturday, February 21, eighteen SDMBA volunteers opened a new stretch of single-track at Black Mountain Open Space Park. The new connector links Miner’s Ridge Loop Trail to the north with the Nighthawk trail system to the south. Although the trail technically existed before this volunteer event, its sightlines, signage, and tread were inadequate for mountain biking.

The new connector trail has been a long time in coming. Aerial photos showed the trail existed when the arsenic mine was active. After the mine closed, the mountain reclaimed the trail. In 2002, Ranger John Barone and I discussed cutting a new trail near the site of the old trail. After John left Black Mountain Park, Ranger Tom Miller (with support from city trail manager Rick Thompson) continued to push for the construction of the new trail. Tom managed to bypass some of the bureaucracy of building a new trail by showing that the old trail had once existed and aligning the new connector over the old one. In 2007, Tom led a group that re-cut the connector, but final approval to complete construction (widen, mark, build the puncheon bridge, etc.) and officially open it didn’t come until earlier this year. Our group of 18 volunteers completed that construction.

For the seventh year in a row, Black Mountain Bicycles donated swag – including a rear derailleur and hydration pack – to raffle off to volunteers after trail work concluded around 12:30pm. Everyone went home with something.

Thanks go to all of our volunteers for helping to open yet another trail in Black Mountain Park (our second in the past 3 years) – now go ride it! (A map to the new Connector Trail can be found on the second page of the event announcement.) Special thanks to Rich, Gardner, Everett, Michael, John, Kim, Tom, and Evan for being trail bosses and Sr. Ranger Ed Christensen for providing tools, logistics, materials, and support.

I was on Evan's trail crew, and had a great time doing work and chatting with Ranger Ed on the way back down the mountain. I've ridden this connector trail dozens of times, and have some ambivalence about the work that was done, but appreciate that a local ride of mine is getting some love.

Several pictures, including a couple of me, are available here.

RR: Local Ride w/Miner's Loop and Lilac Canyon

This afternoon was a quick local ride, just to trying to keep my momentum going. I rode Miner's loop from home.

Total Distance: 9.55 miles
Total Time: 1:19:39
Ascent: 1457 feet
Average Speed: 7.2 mph
Top Speed: 33.6 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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RR: Black Mountain

I had an interesting ride this morning that started out rough and only got worse, yet by the end I was still in a better mood than when I started. I must be making some progress in my approach to life.

I had a fairly limited window in which to ride this morning because of some home improvement projects and Christmas shopping that I had to do, so I was conflicted about where to ride. I'm a little bored with all of the regular stuff that I've been riding, and wanted something new. Doug invited me to go with him to explore some Ramona trails which I've wanted to do for a while, but he couldn't start until 10:00 a.m. and I didn't have the whole day available. I had also gone through another unfortunate two week layoff since my last ride and wasn't sure where my fitness would be.

My indecision led to laziness, and I elected to just stay near home and ride my local route to Black Mountain, with maybe a trip to the summit tacked on for good measure. As I started out and pedaled through the 4S trails towards the mountain, I figured that the least I could do to shake things up was to try to climb the rocky trail up the north face of the mountain to Miner's instead of riding Carmel Valley road to the paved climb up to the trailhead.

As I started the dirt climb things weren't too bad, but they deteriorated rapidly. My two weeks of 12 hour work days and no exercise exacted their toll about a third of the way up, and I was off the bike and huffing way earlier than I should have been. The dirt climb was a poor choice for me today, but would have been quicker and more fun than the two road climbs if I was in the right condition. I'll definitely try it again sometime soon, but need to get back on the stupid stationary bike beforehand.

I eventually reached the top and made my way over to Miner's. I was once again beset by more HAB than usual, and I was questioning my decision to even go for a ride this morning. I had done so well on Miner's just a few weeks ago, and it was particularly frustrating to be performing so badly today after having some great success back on November 30th. I was also unable to clean that fun techy section today that I had made a couple weeks ago, which was demoralizing.

As I essentially pushed my bike up Miner's clockwise, I considered just doing the loop and skipping the ride to the summit like I had tentatively planned. I felt like crap, and didn't want to continue to suffer during the limited down-time that I had available today. As I neared the cut-over trail that would mark my decision point, I looked back toward the north and was treated to an amazing view of the snow-capped Palomar mountains.

As I turned toward the east, I could see that the Cuyamaca mountains also had significant snowfall visible from where I was.

The views immediately changed my whole demeanor and attitude, and I decided to make the trek to the summit to see if I could get an even better view.

I rode pretty well through the cut-over, even cleaning the tricky G-out near the end, and then made the HAB up to the main fire road. I spun along the fire road happily toward the summit, where indeed the view were spectacular. I stopped near the top to enjoy the views to the east before continuing to the summit to check out the mountains to the north as well.

As I made it to the summit, I rode toward the edge of the road and planned to stop for a minute to take in the views. As I stopped and tried to unclip my left pedal, my shoe rotated outward but the cleat remained stationary, stuck in the pedal. I unclipped my right shoe quickly before I fell over, and realized that the left cleat was rotating underneath the sole of the shoe while still attached to the pedal.

I played with it for a minute or two, rotating my ankle around trying the get the cleat to unclip, but with no success. I eventually was forced to take the shoe off my foot while the shoe was still attached to the pedal, and spent about 10 minutes trying to dislodge the cleat and shoe from the pedal, frustrated but amused at the situation.

I tried all kinds of tricks, but eventually had to just put the shoe back on try to wrench it free by twisting my ankle. That method finally worked, and after the shoe came unclipped, I discovered the culprit that caused the problem: I had lost one of the screws that held the cleat in place, which caused the cleat to rotate on the bottom of the shoe instead of disengaging from the pedal.

The screw was apparently long gone, so I tightened down the remaining screw and clipped back in, hoping that tightening the one screw down very tight would keep the cleat from rotating. I put the shoe back on and clipped in. I then tried to unclip to test it out, and the cleat rotated inside the pedal and stayed clipped. Crap. I wrenched the shoe free again, and this time elected to remove the cleat entirely, meaning that I would be unable to clip in my left shoe at all. The Shimano M505 cleats that I was using have almost no platform, so pedaling was going to be a little rough, but I figured that was better than being stuck to the pedal during the entire descent down Black Mountain.

Time was also a factor at this point. I had things to do today and my mechanical issues had cost me about 25 minutes that I had not factored in when planning out this ride. I made it down the Gorge Trail without dabbing, but did stop to snap a picture on the way down so that I could illustrate why I have dubbed it the Gorge Trail.

I also almost made it up the steep climb at the end of Gorge but my left foot slipped off the pedal during my final lunge and I stalled briefly, forcing a dab.

I cleaned all the switches going down Miner's, and because of my pedal issues and time concerns, elected to just ride the main trail down the north face of the mountain back to the 4S trails to home. Even with all the pedal nonsense I made it home in less than two hours, which was nice. With the rough start fitness-wise and mechanical issues I would have expected myself to be frustrated at the end of the ride, but the views of those snow-capped mountains really had an effect on me, and I was in a great mood the rest of the day.

One thing that is becoming clear is that my occasional two week gaps between rides really hurts my endurance and sets back my fitness considerably. I need to do something during the week to make sure my fitness doesn't drop as dramatically as it did these last two weeks when I was unable to ride. It looks like the stationary bike may be the only option...

Here are the stats from today:

Total Distance: 8.57 miles
Total Time: 1:59:51
Ascent: 1702 feet
Average Speed: 4.3 mph
Top Speed: 31.6 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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RR: Local Ride w/Miner's Loop and Canyon Rim

I had a chance to work in a bonus ride this weekend this afternoon, which is always nice. After church and some household chores were done, Rach had some project she wanted to work on and I found myself with a free hour and decided to just do a local ride to get some bonus miles in.

I headed from home over to Black Mountain, intending to just do the Miner's Loop and head back. The trail conditions were absolutely amazing thanks to some light showers we had experienced a few days earlier, and I found myself cleaning sections up the clockwise side of Miner's that I never make. It felt awesome, and I was maintaining a pretty brisk pace through the entire first part of the ride.

I still did have some HAB on Miner's, but it was much, much less than usual. I even cleaned a fun, techy spot with several big rocks in the middle of the climb that I have always fumbled in the past. It also helped that I remembered to lock-out my front fork on most of the climb, which made some the the steep rock-ups much easier.

I bypassed the cut-over and decided to just ride the entire Miner's Loop clockwise. At the top of the loop I ran into a hiker and his three kids, one of whom was in a regular small-wheeled stroller. I said hello as I stopped to let them pass, and laughed as the Dad pushed the stroller up and over several large rocks in the trail.

After they passed, I continued the descent and managed to clean all of the switchbacks at the end of Miner's, something that usually feels more difficult than it was today. The trail conditions were simply amazing.

From the end of Miner's I headed over to Canyon Rim, where I cleaned the whole descent except for one usually easy spot that was not as packed down as I expected. It was right at the apex of a tight turn that looked solid enough as I approached, but when I rode over it and started to turn, the soil beneath my tire shifted and I was forced to dab in order to keep from sliding off the trail into the bush.

From there I headed down the crazy fire road and up the short climb near the pond, then down the hill near the houses and through the 4S trails to home. I noticed at the end of the ride that today's ride was a little longer than yesterday's, but right outside my back door and in an hour less time. The exploration yesterday was worth the drive, but the contrast was amusing considering the very similar mileage and climbing statistics.

It felt good to get in a final ride in November, and heading into the final month of 2008 I'm not sure how much I'll be able to ride, so the bonus miles were nice. Also, my fitness seems to be improving, particularly since I've been hitting the stationary bike for a half hour or so three times per week. It makes a big difference that I can really recognize on days like today.

It was a last minute local ride, and I forgot my camera, so no pictures unfortunately. But I did have the GPS, so here are the stats:

Total Distance: 9.60 miles
Total Time: 1:19:408
Ascent: 1539 feet
Average Speed: 7.3 mph
Top Speed: 35.7 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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Archipelago Ride

After more than three and a half months of planning, scouting, pre-riding, and (some) conditioning, this morning was the day of my Archipelago Ride.

By way of some brief history, the name and concept of the ride are not my own, though the route I rode today certainly was. The name and idea for this ride came from San Diego MTB legend Mountainbike Bill, who had hatched the concept of connecting several North San Diego County trails together in a huge loop that he called "The Archipelago Ride." More information on his version, the route, and some exciting future plans he has can be found here.

Since I lived almost directly in the middle of most of the trails included in Bill's ride, I began thinking several months ago about doing my own version. I wanted to start from home and see how many of the nearby trail networks I could link together, Archipelago-style. I began in early July by looking at GPS routes of some of my previous rides at Santa Luz, LPQ, and Lake Hodges on Google Earth. I attempted to locate connector trails that would link those areas together, and even emailed Bill for some suggestions, which he graciously provided.

After mapping out what I thought was a realistic route, a plan began to form. Initially I wanted to connect from my home in 4S Ranch, to South Hodges, to North Hodges, to Santa Luz, to LPQ, to Black Mountain, to home. I decided to pre-ride my suggested loop in at least three sections. This would allow me to scout any problems I was likely to encounter as well and ensure that the connector trails that I thought existed really did.

My first pre-ride was in mid-July, and the ride review can be read here. I started from home and rode through a private (but open) fire road over to South Hodges, to North Hodges, down Del Dios Highway, and through the San Dieguito River Park trails toward Santa Luz. Because this was my first pre-ride, I got lost at one point right before I found the connector from SDRP Trails to Santa Luz, and ended the ride frustrated, discouraged, and exhausted.

That night after my first pre-ride, I got back on google earth with my GPS route plotted and saw where I went wrong. Four days later I rode that same route again, but this time I made the connector. Part I was complete.

Ten days later I found time to pre-ride the second part of my planned Archipelago route. I rode from the Santa Luz/SDRP connector that I had found, through part of the Santa Luz Loop, through a connector to the north side of LPQ, through the LPQ tunnels, up Camino del Sur, and up the Santa Luz singletracks to Black Mountain Community Park. It was a grueling ride, with several nasty climbs, and I was having some serious doubts about whether I would be able to actually do the full ride all together someday.

Life intervened soon after I completed my pre-ride of Part II, and it was more than two and a half months before I found time to attempt Part III of my planned Archipelago route. I had spent some time after Part II looking for a solution to the problem of connecting from Black Mountain Community Park to the top of Black Mountain. The most direct route involved riding a fire road that paralleled Black Mountain Road over to the Laurentian Trailhead, then climbing the main fire road to the summit of Black Mountain and riding down the north side to home. The problem was that the fire road that parallelled Black Mountain Road was an absolute beast, with two massive climbs that I didn't think I could handle after thirty-some miles of riding beforehand.

After mulling over my options for a while, I was struck by a thought: Maybe I could ride the whole route in reverse, starting with Black Mountain and then connecting to the Santa Luz singletracks and riding over to LPQ in that direction, instead of the way I had pre-ridden it. This seemed like an attractive option because I thought I knew of a trail down the west face of Black Mountain that would dump me right next to the entrance to Black Mountain Community Park and the trialhead for the Santa Luz singletracks. The more I thought about it, the more sense that approach made, and I set out in mid October to do Part III of my Archipelago route, the final pre-ride.

It went off without a hitch, and I found that I could ride the Gliderport Trail down the west face of Black Mountain asI had thought. With the pre-riding complete, all I had to do was pick a date for the ride and make it happen.

Normally I would have probably put it off for a least a few weeks to work on my conditioning and try to make everything perfect. But when I heard that the LPQ tunnels were in jeopardy of closing and some changes were being made over at Hodges that could make the connection between the North and South side more difficult, I decided that I needed to suck it up and ride ASAP.

I had also intended initially to ride the whole route solo so that I could go at my own pace and not worry about group ride dynamics, but when Doug mentioned he was looking to be invited on some rides more often, I jumped at the chance to have some company. November 1 worked out for both of us and the date was set.

All of this backstory leads me back to this morning and the review of today's ride itself. Rachel and I were up early, and went and dropped my Tahoe over at what I believed to be the midpoint of the ride. We parked the truck at a trailhead just off San Dieguito Road in the middle of the Santa Luz loop so that we would have provisions during the ride. Doug arrived at my place a little before 8:00 a.m., and after after a few minutes of gearing up we started out from Heritage Park, which is close to my house.

We rode from Heritage over to the 4S trail system which overlooks Lusardi Canyon, heading for Black Mountain.

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[Some pictures I'm using in this RR are from previous Archipelago pre-rides, and are marked with an asterisk to show they were not taken on today's ride.]

The morning was beautiful and the weather was already warming up a bit, even at 8:30. It sure didn't feel like November.

We left the 4S Ranch trails pretty quickly and headed up Carmel Valley Road for a short road-ride toward the main Black Mountain trailhead.

At the trailhead for Black Mountain we noticed that there were already several people on the trails, though we didn't see any other bikes the whole time we were up there. Beneath us the community of 4S Ranch was just waking up.

We climbed up the main trail towards the Miner's Ridge Loop, and made a left to ride it clockwise. I had ridden this section of trail a couple of times in the past, but was already struggling slightly with the moderately technical climb and rising heat. There was some early HAB for me where there shouldn't have been, but I was hurting and didn't want to spin out and wreck myself this early in the ride.

As we plodded along up Miner's, I began to get concerned that I had missed the singletrack cut-over to the main Black Mountain fire road. I stopped, tried to get my bearings, and became convinced that we had missed it. Doug doubled back a little way and didn't see anything, so I volunteered to ride up a ways and see if it was still ahead. I rode up another few hundred yards and the scenery didn't look familiar, so I doubled back to where Doug was waiting and we started to backtrack. After several hundred yards of backtracking, it became clear that I am an idiot. We hadn't missed the cut-over, I had just gotten jumpy. So we trudged back up the trail for another half mile or so until we found the cut-over, and we were back on track. I sincerely hoped this would not be an omen for the rest of the day.

At the end of the cut-over trail, we did the short HAB section up to the main Black Mountain fire road, and enjoyed an easy spin up to the summit. During that section Doug and I had a really neat time of conversation, and I began to start really enjoying myself.

From the summit of Black Mountain, we rode down the Gorge Trail toward the northwest. The picture below shows the section we rode from the summit, which I have named the Gorge trail because of the massive rut that bisects the bottom. (For some reason the trail does not have an official name, and does not appear on the official Black Mountain Trail Map. So I get to call it whatever I want.)

From there we made our way over to the Gliderport via some fun singletrack. After surveying the scene, we elected to HAB a short distance down the Gliderport trail that descends off the west face of the mountain. It was crazy loose and extremely steep and I wasn't feeling up to giving it a shot this morning. As it was I still had a small fall as I tried to ride down a portion of the top against my better judgment.

At the bottom of the Gliderport trail we crossed Carmel Valley road and rode up into Black Mountain Community Park. We cut through the Park, saw some kids score a goal in their soccer game as we rode by, and then started into the entrance to the Santa Luz singletrack. The major climbing was over for the time being, and I had been looking forward to the Santa Luz singletrack descent for a while. So was Doug, even if he didn't show it.

We railed the fun, mostly downhill singletrack descent and crossed through a portion of the meadow in the middle of Santa Luz. From there we hooked back up briefly with Carmel Valley road, then had a relatively short road ride down Camino del Sur to the trailhead into LPQ. Before entering LPQ, we stopped at the Mobil station and Doug grabbed some additional fluids and filled up his bottles.

We then rode into LPQ via the Camino del Sur trailhead, and elected to take Tunnel 4 over to the main trail.
*
*
We rode through the tunnels pretty quickly, even though it was crazy crowded in there. We hooked up with the main tunnel trail and rode that back up to the mesa, where we headed northwest toward the fire road that would take us out the backside of LPQ. We paused for a minute up on the mesa for Doug to get his seat adjusted, and I had the chance to take a picture of where we were headed.

We rode down the first section of fire road that took us toward the northwest side of LPQ and then had two short, steep fire road climbs that I managed to clean without stopping. At the next mesa I stopped and took another picture, this time of Black Mountain off in the distance.

One neat aspect of this ride was that for much of it, Black Mountain was visible from wherever we were. Being able to see where we had started provided a cool perspective on our progress and also served as a beacon as the ride went on.

We had another fire road climb and descent to finish before we left LPQ and started on the trail that would connect us back over to Santa Luz. This picture is taken looking back the direction we had come from.

We left LPQ and began the ride along the connector. We passed under the 56 freeway and saw a couple of interesting sights along the way:

Eventually we climbed a short distance up to Black Mountain Road, crossed over, and hit another fun section of trail that would provide the final link to Santa Luz. In the picture below, you can see the bridge that is on Camino del Sur in the distance.

We rode the connector until it hit Camino del Sur and made a left. This is another shot back the direction we had come from.

We rode northwest on Camino del Sur for a few hundred yards, and then hooked back up with the official Santa Luz Loop going clockwise.

We rode down the fire road, past the horse park, through the DG trails that run through the neighborhood, and over toward the last difficult section of the first half of our ride: the twin *itches.
The twin *itches are two steep fireroad climbs back-to-back that compose the worst part of the Santa Luz Loop. Doug and I were able to actually ride the entire first one, but halfway up the second it was HAB time for both of us. We slogged to the top and then coasted down the last section to my waiting Tahoe, which was beckoning me like a beacon in the night.

We dove into our sandwiches and Gatorade, and enjoyed an about 15-20 minute break at the car. I warned Doug that the most difficult portion of the ride was yet to come, and I think he believed me. I refilled my 3L Camelback (which I had totally drained during the first half of the ride) and ate as much as I could before I started to feel sick from being full. We had ridden about 19 and a half miles at that point, and while we were feeling pretty good, we knew there was a lot of ride left.

After our rest, we left the Tahoe, crossed San Dieguito Road, and climbed another fire road. From there we descended into Lusardi Canyon, and began a sustained climb up Artesian Road toward the San Dieguito River Park (SDRP) Trails.

The climb up Artesian wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though it was no picnic. It was paved, which made it easier, and the grade was significant but not brutal. I middle ringed it as long as I could and then spun along until I reached the top. Doug was right behind me, and we rode another short fire road section until we reached the beginning of the SDRP trail.

[This picture is taken facing back the direction we were coming from.]

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From there we descended the series of tight switchbacks that marked the beginning/end of the SDRP trail. They were extremely tight, and the fires had burned up all of the guard rails, so I found myself dabbing at almost every one.

We descended the first set of switchbacks, rode a short but steep singletrack climb, and then descended another series of more manageable switchbacks before hitting level ground.

At that point we began riding the main portion of the SDRP trail which had been badly burned in the October 2007 wildfires. Several beautiful bridges which had been constructed just before the fires hit were destroyed by the flames. For today's ride, that meant dismounting and hiking across each of the six or seven spots where the charred remains of the bridge were all that were left.
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After we negotiated the last of the burned out bridge crossings, we were forced to buswhack through a 100 yard section of trail where weeds and bushes had begun to encroach significantly. From there we continued along the SDRP trail as it headed toward Del Dios Highway.

As we rode along, I noticed this new sign that had been posted, and there were new trail markers as well. That was an encouraging sight.

I experienced my first series of leg cramps along this section at the end of the SDRP trail, and they were rough. My hamstrings and quads both tightened up without warning, and I was forced to hop off the bike and stretch them out. It took a few minutes for me to get both legs to stop cramping, and I ate some Cola Clif Shot Bloks and drank as much water as I could.

I was able to continue fairly quickly, and we rode down a short fire road and over toward the bridge that crossed the gorge next to Del Dios Highway.
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We crossed the bridge and made our way up to the longest stretch of road-riding we would do today. We rode up onto Del Dios Highway and began to make our way toward north Hodges. About a quarter mile in, my legs began to cramp again agonizingly, and I was forced to hop over the guardrail and try to walk them off as traffic whizzed by. They were even worse now than before, and I was hurting. I drank more of my water and tried to stretch, and after several more minutes got back on the bike and began to climb again.

I kept the bike in the middle ring for the most part up Del Dios which I think helped some, but as I continued to ride I began to cramp in not only my hamstrings and quads, but my groin and calves as well. I gritted my teeth and powered through it, and was able to make it to the dam without stopping again.
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Seeing the dam helped me orient myself with respect to how much longer I had to go along Del Dios, and I started feeling a little better. Doug had ridden on ahead (with my blessing) during my first fit of cramps, but I could still see him off in the distance. Eventually the roadie death march was over, and I turned right on Rancho Drive and headed for the singletrack on the north side of Hodges.

As I reached the beginning of the trail, however, I didn't see Doug. Looking around I noticed his Niner sitting outside the entrance to Hernandez Hideaway. He had apparently gone inside for a re-fill of his camelback, and I waited for a few minutes for him before he came out. I was anxious to keep going, largely because I was a wreck and didn't want to stop for too long for fear of not being able to keep going. I did try to do some stretching while I waited, and continued to drink as much as I could.

After about 10 minutes we were back underway, and headed for the trail.

We rode fairly quickly through the singletrack along the northwest side of the lake, and along the trail that paralleled the road to the dock.

The lake looked beautiful off to our right as we rode by.

As we got closer to the dock and boat rental area, I headed toward the fire road that I usually ride along the north side. Doug, however, had other ideas. He suggested that we ride the section of trail up to the ridge and take that route instead. I was not excited about riding the short steep section up to the ridge, and favored the more gradual (but admittedly longer) fire road route. Doug was insistent, and I caved.

Just as we were riding the singletrack toward the climb to the ridge, I had my worst set of leg cramps yet, and was off the bike howling for several minutes. I said some things about Doug, his lineage, and maybe his mother that I regret right now, but at the time I was delerious with pain. More stretching, more water, and a short HAB up the steepest part of the climb to the ridge trail, and I was feeling slightly better.

Here's what we had ridden up:

We rode along the ridge, spinning away and trying to conserve energy for the final section of this epic ride. We eventually re-joined the main Hodges trail, crossed the stream, and rode the trail toward the freeway.

They have been doing some significant construction along that part of Hodges, and the dirt area I had previously ridden underneath the freeway to connect North and South Hodges no longer existed. We stopped for a minute to evaluate our options, and I experienced still more leg cramps. Doug did not.

We decided that the direct route would be best at that point, and elected to ride on the freeway (in the designated bike lane) for a short stretch in order to connect over to South Hodges. Doug was on board, but not pleased.

We rode as fast as our tired legs would go along the freeway and over the bridge, then jumped off at the West Bernardo Drive exit, and rode up the road to the singletrack that runs along the north side of South Hodges. That section of trail is usually one of my favorites because its so scenic, has a few fun rocky sections, and is extremely narrow. Today I was trying to survive it, not enjoy it. I dabbed a few times from leg cramps and fatigue, and stopped once to work out a particularly nasty hamstring knot that paralyzed me. While waiting for the pain to subside, I took this picture:

Doug, who had been hydrating sufficiently and was not suffering from debilitating cramps like some people, rode ahead and waited for me around the bend. I stopped about three times in a quarter-mile to stretch and work out the constant cramping in my legs, and even walked the bike a bit as I tried to get my legs loose. I reached where Doug was waiting and we rested a bit. If nothing else, our views were pretty.

We dragged ourselves to our feet and rode on along the south side singletrack. As we crested a small hill, Doug pulled away and I coasted down the other side. Suddenly, both of my legs seized up, and my left leg actually locked in the extended position. I threw myself off the bike, desparately trying to bend my leg as the cramps seized it. I had to physically grab my foot and push on the back of my knee to get myleg to bend, and I sat there on the trail writhing in agony.

Doug was far enough ahead that he couldnt see me, and for the first time I wondered if I was going to be able to finish. I was out of water at this point, and couldn't really even pedal with any force because when I did my legs cramped. After several minutes I got up, tested my legs, and coasted down the rest of the small hill with my right foot clipped in and my left leg stretched straight out.

At the bottom of the hill Doug was waiting, and I told him as I coasted by that I was heading for the area near the dog park where I knew there was water. He followed me over, and I refilled my camelback and stretched for a few minutes. Doug also gave me his last Uncrustable, which had a healthy dose of sodium, and we got back underway.

We rode the bypass over to the other section of the south side of Hodges by riding past the dog park, down West Bernardo Road, and picking up the trail as it wound behind the houses. Eventually the trail contined past the closed bridge and we headed toward the waterfall. As we approached the climb near the waterfall, I had yet another bout with cramps, and walked the switchbacks up to the top. This portion of my ride was strangely reminicent of my Tour de Hodges ride back in May. Doug cleaned all of the switchbacks like a hero.

I took a break at the top to snap a photo:

From there we rode past the trail to the Poblado trailhead and up a short fire road to an SDG&E access road that would take us over the last section of the ride to home. Here is a picture of where we turned, taken during one of the pre-rides:

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From there we began the spin along the fire road toward home. I continued to battle some leg cramps, and even had to stop once to work them out along that stretch. While I was sitting there in the middle of the trail, trying to work out the cramps, I noticed a windmill standing just off the trail. It helped take my mind off the cramps and made me happy for a minute. I love windmills.

I dragged myself up and and rallied, knowing the end was in sight. Doug was waiting a little ways ahead, and we crested a small rise and headed toward the paved road that would take us home.

We hit the streets a few minutes later, pedaled through the neighborhood, cut through the 4S Commons, and made the last short pavement climb up toward Heritage Park. As we pulled into the park (and eventually my nearby home,) we had done it: my Archipelago Ride was over.

We were tired and a little punchy, and Rach brought us some Gatorade as we sat on the front porch and relived the ride. I had a strong sense of accomplishment, though the leg cramps had dimmed some of my actual enjoyment of the last several miles of the ride. That was clearly a lesson learned, and I'll definitely drink much more and eat more salt the next time I do anything close to an epic ride.

Doug was a tremendous ride companion, and I'm so glad he was there. He was encouraging but not too "rah rah," social but not chatty, extremely thoughtful, and our pace seemed compatible. I was hugely impressed at not only how strong he finished, but that he hung in all day while having no idea where we were going or what was ahead. At least I had pre-ridden the route and knew what to expect. Even though almost every turn was a surprise to him, Doug didn't complain or stress a bit. Impressive. His RR is available on his blog here.

I was thrilled with the Spider's performance, and can't imagine having done this whole thing on the Enduro. My climbing was actually well above average over the first two-thirds of the ride, but the cramping killed any climbing efforts I had near the finish.

I am also very thankful to Rachel for her role in making the ride a success. She didn't bat an eye when I told her I wanted to spend an entire precious Saturday riding. She helped me drop the Tahoe at the midpoint, and also went and dropped Doug's supplies at the truck after we started the ride. She made me a great lunch, which I would have been dead without, and a great dinner when I got home as well. I have a great wife.

So the Archipelago ride is in the books. It satisfies one of my 2008 Goal List items (Do an All Day/~50 Mile Ride), leaving me with only two goals left to accomplish before the end of the year. It felt great to finish, even with adversity, and I'm glad I did it. I don't want to give away anything from my 2009 Goal List, but I think doing this ride in reverse (counterclockwise) is going to be on it. I may be crazy, but I need something to work for, right?

Here are the final stats:

Total Distance: 42.23 miles
Total Time: 7:57:48
Ascent: 5662 feet (Doug's Edge 305 put us at 4,572 feet, which is apparently more accurate because it uses a barometric altimeter.)
Average Speed: 5.3 mph
Top Speed: 32.8mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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Archipelago Ride Part III (Final Pre-Ride)

After a few weeks of trying to find time to pre-ride the final leg of my Archipelago ride, I finally made it out today. I headed out from home around 8 in the morning and started over to Black Mountain. I had been vacillating about what route to do, and had decided to ride this route clockwise because I was leaning toward doing the Archipelago route that direction as well.

I rode through the 4S trails and stopped for a minute to take some pictures of Lusardi Canyon. It was beautiful that morning.

Ahead I could see my destination: Black Mountain.

From there I rode up Carmel Valley road to the paved road that goes up to the Black Mountain trailhead. From there I rode up the trail to the beginning of the Miner's Ridge Loop, and decided to try riding it counterclockwise for once. Bad call.

The switchbacks at the beginning of Miner's (going clockwise) are brutal to climb, and I ended up HABing almost all of them. From there it’s still pretty steep going until you reach the top of the main climb, then it’s up and down as the loop heads east. Around the midpoint of the loop, I stopped yield to another rider coming the other direction. As we passed each other and said hello, the other rider asked if I lived on “XXXXX” street. Surprised, I responded in the affirmative, and learned that he lived just a few doors down from me. Apparently he recognized my bike from the times I’ve had it on the workstand outside my garage when I was cleaning it and doing repairs. His name was Scott, and he is apparently an avid rider with ties to the MTB industry, which is cool. We chatted for several minutes, and he gave me his email address. Hopefully we’ll be able to ride together soon.

On a side note, he mentioned that he’s watched my progression of bikes over the last year as I went from the FSR to the Enduro to the Spider. Since I am constantly outside my garage working on my bikes, it shouldn’t have surprised me to hear that people have seen me and noticed, but it was still eye opening to hear that my neighbors have noted my succession of bikes. It makes me wonder if I shouldn’t move my wrenching to the backyard, just to be cautious. I have no problem talking bikes with Scott, but what if a less-scrupulous neighbor takes a shine to one of my bikes and decides to help himself someday…

In any event Scott and I rode together for a little bit, until I split off to ride the cutover to the main Black Mountain fire road and he continued down Miner’s. I rode almost all of the cutover without dabbing, including the tricky G-out that I had flubbed on Wednesday with Dave G. I made it over to the Nighthawk Trail, and instead of immediately doing the HAB up to the main fire road, I headed southeast to check out one of the trails I hadn’t ridden before. I only rode it a little way, and when I could tell that it dropped down into Mount Carmel High School, backtracked and made my way up the fire road to the summit.

At the top, I paused for a minute to take some pictures of my community beneath me.


From there I rode down the Gorge Trail, and cleaned the entire short climb that followed the rutted downhill. At that point, instead of taking the singletrack connector back to Miner’s like I had on Wednesday, I did some exploring to the west on some singletrack. I was hoping to find a trail that would take me down the west face of the mountain and spit me out near the paved road leading into Black Mountain Community Park. As I explored, I found myself at the glider port where hang gliders take off on windy days. There was a narrow singletrack trail that spun away from the glider port launch area, and as I rode it I realized I had found my western-face route off the mountain. The problem was the trail down the mountain was extremely steep and loose.

Here's a picture of the launch area:

I was also able to take in the views to the northwest:

At that point I was faced with two parallel trails down the mountain to choose from, and I initially chose the one to the right. Just a few feet down I realized it was too steep and loose to ride, and decided to try the other one. As I started down the trail on the left, I started to skid and slide sideways, and elected to HAB down several yards to a more ridable section. I eventually re-mounted the bike and proceeded to skid and slide the rest of the way down the side of the mountain, arriving safely at the bottom in one piece.

From there I rode a short fire road out to Carmel Valley Road, then crossed the street and rode up to Black Mountain Community Park and the entrance to the Santa Luz singletrack, marking the entrance point for the next leg of the Archipelago Ride. After that I rode up to the park to refill my water bottle, then took the paved road back to the 4S trails and home. As a side note, going down the Gliderport Trail was the first time I’ve missed the Enduro since I started riding the Spider. The more slack geometry of the Enduro would have helped on that steep downhill, as would the extra travel. But the penalty for climbing the mountain on the Enduro would not have been worth it.

I took this picture from across the street at Black Mountain Community Park. The trail on the right in the picture is the one I rode down.

After completing this ride, I have pre-ridden each leg of the Archipelago Ride. I’ve definitely decided to ride it clockwise from home, which should be much more fun now that I think about it. Going counterclockwise, I have two significant climbs up the switchbacks at the end of the SDRP section, as well as a climb up the fire road at the end of Artesian and two rough climbs across Santa Luz. I then have the brutal climb up the back entrance to LPQ, and then the climb up the Santa Luz singletracks. If I was to continue counterclockwise, I’d have two monster climbs to get to the base of Black Mountain, then the fire road climb up Black Mountain to finish off the majority of the ride.

Going clockwise, I start with the Black Mountain climb, which is a little tough but manageable, as I proved today. I then ride down the Santa Luz singletracks, down the biggest hill at LPQ, and have a much easier time going that direction in the Santa Luz loop. I’ll have to climb Artesian, but will be able to now ride down the switchbacks near Crosby. I will also have to climb Del Dios, as well as the SDG&E road that’s now at the end of the ride, but I think this direction is definitely better overall.

I’m hoping to do the full Archipelago ride sometime in the next few weeks. I’m not sure I’m in peak conditioning, but it was never intended to be a race anyway. I know it will be taxing, and there will be parts that are very challenging, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Here are the stats for today’s ride:

Total Distance: 12.39 miles
Total Time: 2:20:39
Ascent: 1979 feet
Average Speed: 5.3 mph
Top Speed: 35.8mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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