I’d only been here in the winter previously (which I loved) and the summer is also amazing. Really great riding, seems easy to be a bike tourist here.
What I remember from riding my bike there back when I thought 32mm tires were wide was that the dirt roads were often too rough. Would love to go back and head inland with knobby tires.
Plz report back on the current quality & vibe of Reykjavik roasters.
We talkin hotdogs here?
Yeah, I’m going to need that info too. Be there in a week!
Not sure I’ll be able to be of much use there, but I’ll let you know!
(one) more pics when i get at my flat kit that only had one half of a master link. 2.5 miles and as many hundred feet of descending this became my new low gear
50 miles and 5000’ we left early to beat the heat and thank god we did. learning that eating every 45 minutes or so when it’s this hot is the way to go. no bonks! vermont has made me way more heat averse
First ride back since crashing a few weeks ago and having covid more recently. Went out to the Santa Monicas by Malibu with a new friend, bumped into one of his frequent ride partners/friends (both of whom are Tarck adjacent, but not actually on here) and did some fun climbs, caught some good cars at the coffee stop, then some little pizzas for post-ride snack. Started in the cool fog, climbed up over the marine layer into the sun, then absolutely melted the rest of the ride. Took a salt pill for the first time and oh boy what a life saver that was in the heat. Glad my shoulder didn’t feel at all fucky while riding (aside from some discomfort while bunny hopping/weird body english). Fitness definitely suffered from a few weeks off as well as that whole covid thing.
Love those two and miss them and have mega mega FOMO
You’re making me miss LA with this and the Baldy post. Glendora road was magical every time I drove it.
I started keeping gatorade singles in my diddy pouch for days when I consume 6-10 bottles yet haven’t peed once. I think it makes a difference but it’s hard to tell because the heat is just heat is just heat…
GMR is real special, for sure. Particularly that weekend, when it was closed to traffic (though, it doesn’t get heavily trafficked otherwise, but still). Def gonna start keeping salt tabs around for emergencies.
i did the ride that @amy recommended over here https://tarck.cc/t/i-ma-be-in-yr-city/21607/649?u=beeutiful_wednesday
it was amazing. probably best or second best mtb ride i’ve ever had. it was also very hard because it summits at 10588 feet and i live at 500 feet.
i actually took pictures!
any trail called the sourdough trail is bound to be good
view from gross and bad dirt road climb to get to the sourdough
this is the sourdough. it’s like 8 miles of this:
and for a rest, you can recover on stuff like this
but then you get THIS
and you get to cross the river:
as an aside, the tires that come stock on this bike are absolutely incredible. i usually ride them on rooty and sandy stuff back home. i just dropped a few psi (also dropped fork psi by 10%) and they were amazing on all these rocks. any issues i had were user error, not lack of tire grip.
the only crash i had was at the end of a bridge such as this, where i fell off right at the end and endo’d onto a rock:
then you get to this lake:
it’s got a big rock in it
i didn’t take very many photos of the descent because it was about 5 miles of this:
i did stop at the descent multiple times to catch my breath and attempt to regain some strength in my arms.
one time, however, i stopped here:
but the reason is because i clipped that tree on rider’s left. which sent me wobbling towards the right side of the trail (you can see the skid mark). and then i took this photo where the bike landed
which was particularly not cool because had i NOT “saved” it, i would have been down at the bottom of this. or i guess i might have gotten a limb stuck in one of those clusters of downed trees.
overall 10/10 ride, great views. NO people (except for at that lake i only saw 3 people the entire ride). well marked trails. very scary and hard. some of the downhill sections were terrifying.
exquisite
no worries about falling off the bench cut. speaking from experience, that timber is more than enough to catch you.
You seemed like you enjoy a bit of suffering, so I’m glad you enjoyed it! That’s not a ride id recommend to just any out of towner as it has the potential to be miserable, but i love the rocks. Really keeps you on your toes.
Where the hell is that? It looks dreamy!
oh you absolutely nailed it, i also love rocks and have been telling everyone i know about it since yesterday