Ride

It’s frosty cold on the Town Green until the sun peeks up over the hill; sip a toasty macchiato from Amstrdm for some warmth as the crowd gathers. The bikes are impressive, riders ready to roll. Forecast had been wavering, but it looks like it’s going to be sunny with some hazy clouds… should be perfect once the sun pushes through that chill.

Ease into the rollout. New extended El Pomar / Chicago / Akron arc in the morning was a great warmup, a good long shakeout into the foggy mystery of the hidden valley. That rapid cut across the ancient coral pavé of Moss Lane the first chance to lean into the legs, fire up the bike skills, washboard and ruts ready to snap you to attention.

Kiler canyon’s various surfaces were all clean and sticky, the slot canyon packed down, even the upper section didn’t have the moon-dust chaos of past years. Knocked a few minutes off my pr through the Bovine’s first timed segment…

The reward comes in the flowing downhill after the first stop and through Peachy Canyon and the Willow Creek tree-tunnel section. Rapid and effortless, it’s such a vibe. That hump through and over Denner vineyards is still so cool. A hero pull out Vineyard to Hwy 46 stalls on that looming highway section. It’s a drag, the scale and gradient is main-road infrastructure grind rather than the topological cadence of the pitchy backroads. Hitched onto a group, hung on barely… I was hoping to keep some effort in the pocket ahead of the new Santa Rita ranch approach but had forgotten about the winding bonus climb up York Mountain to Epoch winery.

A new side-gate entry into the Land Conservancy and Santa Rita ranch land worked up to superb Finley-esque double-track rolling under the oaks. Up top is an expansive panorama from the ridge looking out across the remote foothills, then velvety red dirt winding down into the Santa Rita ranch. Watch out for the wandering tarantulas…

Great aid station with ham and cheese croissant, sugary cinnamon treats. So good, and just right ahead of the big climb to come.

Blasted the Old Creek decent, flowing and so fast. Biggish, rapid Schwalbe tires unflappable and stable. Then a patient but persistent effort as Santa Rita pitched up past the Pavement Ends sign. The climb didn’t have the leg-zapping stair-steps I remembered it having, it’s just kind of steady… Steady, but quite long. That vista through the trees where you can see the top, far away and above reveals just how much work you still have to do, how impossibly-far up still to ascend. It’s climb church; just stay present, patient. Comfortably knocked 5 minutes of my previous time.

Read the sketchy surface weaving down from the upper switchbacks properly and you’r rewarded with the superb flowing, dense-pack dirt road rolling along the creek. Amazing and super rapid; those aid-station Coca-cola shots kicked in just in time, legs spinning and punchy. Fast is fun, even if home is still some miles away.

Was nice heading back on a relatively straightforward route rather than wandering through more tangents and timed sections of past iterations. Still managed to clock PRs on most of the return segments; one last strong pull through the sweeping S turns of Templeton, press through the headwind over the bridge, and we’re home. That was superb. Perfection.

Gear notes

• Second big ride on the Schwalbe G One R Pro. These are the perfect tire, so long as things don’t get too funky.
• Found the secret approach to quieting the slightly complex and often creaky points on the Giant Revolt frame. Heavily-greased all the contact surfaces of the flip-flop rear-axle hardware. Was dead silent the whole ride.
• Ceramicspeed’s UFO kept the drivetrain humming despite all the dust.

What do you call a disappearing cow?

–

Moodini.