20240217-19 Death Valley to Barstow

[Taco]

I'm gonna try something new that might not flow so great. I wrote the first part of this trip report on Strava right at the very end when I was waiting for Amanda to pick me up. I don't wanna go through it and modify it to fit where I am now (home), so I'll put it in here first in its entirety, followed by a second blurb with more detail on some aspects I've since thought of. Hope it doesn't suck!

Also I am getting used to the new editor so I don't know how to put images where I want to in the report just yet. Please help me, I am retarded.

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I had loosely planned on riding home from Swaneyfest, the annual canyoneering meetup in Death Valley. Amanda picked me up and we headed up to slabby acres. We decided to just go do touristy shit instead of canyoneering. She dropped me off at the bottom of Titus Canyon so I could ride through the valley and go climb Dante’s View, which was on my list. She headed off to Scotty’s Castle, which has been closed every time I’ve been there. She didn’t make it far, so she turned back and passed me later. Dante’s gets steep at the end and we both got to the summit at the same time, sunset. Praise be. Badwater basin is underwater. I had a Coke and enjoyed having one of my best friends act as a support dude. I then bombed down the hill and made a right on 190, heading back to Slabby for the party. A fun time. Some drunk kid from another camp stuck a 2x4 across our fire and tried to walk across, falling onto my legs and nearly hitting his head on the rocks. I enjoyed this party as I only had a single beer, but a comically large cigar. No hangover.


The next morning Amanda drove out of the park and I followed suit. Took 190 to Death Valley Junction. I was just about to say that means I’ve ridden all of 190 but I just realized I haven’t ridden from emigrant pass road to the 395 yet. That’s on the list. Darn.

It was about 100mi to Baker, which kinda took all day. The usual desert headwinds, which I’m now sick of, mixed with confused motorists and the desire to be left alone after being with my own thoughts for a day. I ate at the Greek place, and it was pretty tasty. Expensive though. I was kinda zonked so I probably sounded like a weirdo. Got water and some food, then crossed the 15 and began the long slow climb towards Kelso Junction in the dark. I was thinking I’d be strong and continue on towards Barstow but reality got the better of me and I was tired and not thinking very clearly. Eventually I pulled over not far from the summit and bivied in a nice sandy wash, sheltered from the cold wind. I knocked out a little after 10pm, and woke up a little after 3.

Got moving at 4am and finished the climb. The descent wasn’t as spectacular as the first time, since it was pitch black. The Providence range is off to the 11 o clock with big limestone cliffs, with tiny Kelso Junction slowly growing in size as you approach. This time it was just a series of lights. I stopped in to see if they had water, knowing the bathroom was under construction. They did not. No problem, as I had 5x 1 liter bottles and a regular bottle, plus another liter in a collapsy-bladder in the frame bag. I ate a sandwich and continued on. The climb up to granite pass is long and slow, and this would be my third time up there, the first coming from the north. Kelso dunes was on the right, the site of Danny becoming the worlds fastest man when he ran past me doing huge Mario jumps down the south face of the biggest dune. I’ve never seen a man go so fast on his own. Truly incredible. I didn’t have time to go there so I just kept riding. The winds picked up closer to the 4,000ft summit of granite pass, where I peed and took pictures of the crags. The descent is super long, going all the way down to the 66 towards Amboy. A strong headwind kept me from going too quickly, and there were sections of sand across the road from winter floods, which kept things fun. The road was coned off past the 40, as 66 is closed in both directions. I didn’t know this until I got to baker so I just kept on trucking, as I’d have no alternative. I waved to a dude in a work truck so I figured all was well. The descent was splendid despite the wind, with expansive views off towards the south and east, and the trilobite mountain region. We live on a massive planet with so much amazing stuff… feels good to be a human at these times, dreaming of moving over terrain and seeing cool shit.

I made the right turn at the 66 and passed the barricades. Some dudes did the same in trucks. I now had a tailwind and the run into Amboy was very fast, much faster than last time. This would mark the third time I’ve ridden to Amboy. I guess I’m the local legend now. Got a coke, Gatorade, and ice cream, then moved out on the 66 west. I’ve never done this section between Amboy and Barstow, having always taken Sheephole Pass and 29 Palms. Well, now I have. The other way is somewhat better. It makes more sense logistically for a cyclist. I had to take the 40 for a few miles to go around a Marine Corps logistics depot I’m glad I’m not stationed at, which is built ON the 66. No other choice than to take the freeway.

I had sections of this road to Barstow where I was going 28mph and barely exerting myself. The closer I got, the worse the incoming weather got. The headwinds became strong enough that I could barely break 10mph, and was often in the 6-7mph range. I turned my phone back on and Amanda texted me saying she could pick me up if I’d like since the weather was mega shitty in SoCal. I said yes. I have a black rain jacket I bought for racing, but that’s my only wet weather gear I brought, since my pants are trashed. Fuck it, I’m down. I crawled to Barstow and ate at Popeyes.

Wow, Barstow sucks meeeeeega hard. I talk a lot of shit on cities but damn, this place is the worst. One tweeker complained about my headlight, saying it could bother drivers, or ‘accidentally kill’ someone with seizures. I have only ever had negative comments about my headlight from tweekers. This is precisely why I call my Sinewave Beacon ‘the Tweeker Seeker’.

I watched a homeless man with a shopping cart break into an abandoned house with bolt cutters. More nefarious activities were observed downtown where the signals were in blinky mode. This place is super depressing. I think more people need to see it so we can maybe take better care of Americans instead of the alternative methods of wasting tax extortion money.

Anyway I’m now chilling at the outlets south of Barstow, where Amanda will pick me up and save me from a rough next day of freezing rain, snow, and greatly uncomfortable wet cold for 100+ miles over roads I dislike.



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Arright, now it's freehand time. So originally I figured I'd ride home from DV and roughly follow the tour Dima, Danny, and myself took a few years back. I wanted to do this route on the race bike to see how much faster it would go, but the bike isn't together yet, so I just did it on my usual bike, which I used last time on these roads.

I would deviate from the previous route by taking Route 66 west from Amboy to Barstow, having not ridden this stretch before. Now that I have, I'd say unless there's a practical reason to take that route, I would stick to riding up and over Sheephole Pass towards 29 Palms. There's less traffic this way (not much either way), you don't need to take I40 for a mile to avoid the USMC Logistics depot, it's quieter, and most importantly you don't go to Barstow. I shall no longer go to Barstow if I can ever help it.

On Saturday, I rode from where Titus Canyon hits the paved road south to Dante's View before returning to camp. I'm riding up and down all the high roads and whatnot I can, and Dante's was on my list. It's a long low angle climb up a valley for quite some time. It then turns right and heads up slightly steeper terrain, slowly closing in on the crest of the ridge. The road goes through some narrow sections, steepens, and hits a spur with a parking lot right before turning sharp right and steepening significantly. This marks the very short steep final climb to the top, and it's pretty cool. Real sharp corners with guardrails lead to a parking lot with expansive views of the valley, with Badwater below. The basin has a ton of water in it now, which I've never seen, and Telescope and the other high peaks are covered in snow directly across the valley. Really badass. There were a ton of tourists this weekend, more than I'd ever seen there, so it was a bit... less than ideal, gnawmean? I feel like the population of Earth has exploded since I was little and now some places nobody seemed to give a shit about have kids doing skateboard tricks for tiktok videos in the desert.

On the descent, I had to lean rearwards to get more weight over the rear tire, as it would lock up under braking on the steep corner entries of the hairpins. My brakes on this bike sorta suck and will be upgraded in the future. I had to use a lot of braking force to scrub enough speed for entry. There are only a few hairpins before the next parking lot, where the road turns left and goes down a small gully or canyon of sorts with short sightlines. I was stuck behind a VW crossover for a minute but was able to pass at speed on the left. This section has some interesting line choices and is pretty rewarding to ride. I don't recall any decreasing radius turns or other surprises, typical of a national park road. They tend to be predictable and with excellent tarmac. The gully section ends and then you've got long fast straights connected by easy wide turns. A fast descender on a road bike would haul ass here. I got back to the 190 as darkness fell, and I beat Amanda back to this point. I turned right and headed back to camp.

I've covered most of the rest above, so I'll just throw some details out there. The slow, long, low angle climb out of Baker took longer than anticipated. I had the thought in my head that I'd ride into the night and either continue towards Barstow, or perhaps camp down at Kelso Junction, neither of which would happen. Not too far from the summit before the drop in to Kelso, I has a little wobbly and not thinking as best as possible, so I started looking for somewhere to sleep. I eventually found a little drainage that was broad and sandy, with a 6ft high berm either side of it, acting as cover from wind and prying eyes. I slept very well for 4-5 hours, feeling very rested upon waking up. I brought my usual 30* Sea to Summit down bag, which compresses down small, wore my down jacket with hood, and long mid weight wool underpants. It's warmer than it needs to be but I am very comfortable and can withstand more cold should such a situation happen while I'm already sleeping.

For the next race, I plan on having my sleep setup roll into one compressible unit that can be slid into a handlebar bag. A lot of time and effort is lost in setting up and taking down my sleeping kit. For most events, I think a Tyvek bivy sack with a size zip or other fastening system will replace my ground sheet, with the mattress flattened inside and probably my 40* mini bag in there as well.

I didn't know the 66 was closed until I happened to look at google maps in Baker, where I had reception. There aren't any other logical options for getting out of the MNP for a cyclist heading to LA at that point, so I continued onward and would figure it out. There are usually options, such as dirt roads, or simply riding on the closed section. As time goes on and everything becomes more restrictive here, especially in California which loves controlling people while claiming otherwise (usually for 'safety'), ignoring closures becomes more appealing and in some cases is simply the practical way to move about on the surface of this planet, currently administered by a short sighted race of apes who, again, love controlling each other, often out of their lust for safetyism. Anywho, all that aside, it was very easy to pass the barriers and ride to Amboy. It would appear several of the bridges had some damage underneath. I have seen photos of the closed eastern section of the 66, which I'd like to ride, where there are big bites taken out of the road. I figured maybe something similar had happened on the western part.

That's about it, I think. I think next time I do something like this I will have finished the race bike, which I'm building to cover vast distances at greater speed, so that'll add a really big new dimension to adventuring that I'm excited to experience. These long slow climbs in the desert seem to take forever. You look at the numbers and they're not THAT long, and they often only go up a few thousand feet or so, but you get lost in a trance and it just seems to go on forever. That can be cool sometimes, but this time and the last I was feeling ready for something else, whether it's mountain riding or the coast.

This brings me to another idea I've been entertaining for a while, that of making a California tour route, that showcases all the amazing parts of the state by taking the best riding roads and so on. Something with the San Gabes, Mojave, Death Valley, Sierra Nevada, the coast with Big Sur, stuff like that. Avoiding all major cities and picking the most enjoyable, most challenging route, with the best quiet camping as far from crowds and civilization and all that as practically possible. I have vague ideas of what sections to add, but connecting them is hard. It would be best done on something such as a light road touring bike with say, 32mm tubeless slicks on it. Lots of uphill, lots of fast descents... a hard work positive memory factory.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Go ride your bike.

[dima]

Looks nice! It's the time to be over there. The images of the snow-covered Panamints towering over badwater basin with an actual lake in it are amazing. No photos of Barstow for contrast? And what's wrong with the road W of Amboy? Is it the same deal as E of Amboy?

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[Tom Kenney]

Nice stuff!

https://youtu.be/yOVNE0BJTcc?feature=shared - Huell Howser visits in spring, fulla water! I also have never seen this in person, but I've only visited the Valley proper in winter months...like any sensible human. EDIT: My desert winter is Nov-Jan, personal preference only.

RE: lights and 'chemically enhanced perception' problems, I've noticed that different LED headlights have fairly specific color temperatures, and at least one headlight that was emitting LED with a distinct frequency. Mostly, if you point the LED at a reflective road sign, the reflected light can be different than expected. With the frequency, I noticed this when I was doing a successful bike-night-blizzard summit of Josephine Peak. The snowflakes were strobing in the headlight beam.

[Taco]

Dima, the road west of amboy leads to Barstow, which suck enough to not bother with. Plus you have to take the freeway to avoid the USMC logistics depot... and then you exit the freeway into Barstow. It would be better to never be in Barstow. It's a terrible place.

The section east of Barstow is damaged, but quiet. Perfect for bike.

TK, interesting!