Crystal Lake Ride and Bike Talk
Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2021 5:51 pm
I'm writing this nearly a week later cause I am rarely behind a computer. Always on the bike and on the move. I've split this post up into a trip report, followed by me brainstorming about a fast and light race bike build for riding in the San Gabes (and elsewhere).
Last Sunday I left WC around 9am for a relatively chill ride up to crusty puddle. I figured I could maybe ride up South Mount Hawkins, but I gave myself turn around time limits, since I had to go to my lady's house that night, and then work the next morning. The ride up was chill, a bit much traffic (people going to "see the snow", as they say), but unremarkable. The SG OHV Area is being used as a heliport for Helicopter Linemen to work on the bigass powerlines that run right through where the Bobcat Fire burned, or so it seems. They have a cool white McDonnell Douglas MD500 which must be very fun to fly around the mountains, and a blue UH1 Huey. I didn't see dudes dangling, but I didn't stick around long. Might see more tomorrow as I plan on heading back up. Buncha electrical service trucks and dudes over there.
The snow level was down to the base of Rockbound Canyon, but very light. Once you get to around the 5,000ft level the snow was a couple inches thick. The 5,000ft elevation sign is missing my favorite sticker, which says ride bikes, drink beer, go fuck yourself. I hope whoever put it there sees this and replaces it. There were cars parked along the side of the road with people playing in the snow. Also the usual people driving down the hill with snow on their vehicles.
Traffic got heavier once I made the right turn to Crystal Lake. The turn by the lake had a lot of people parked nearby playing. Reckon I should ride past the lake tomorrow, as I haven't been there in a while. Used to drive up after work with one of my best buds to chill out and shoot the shit for a couple hours, enjoying the solitude. Good times. The traffic increased as you approached the cafe, with the first traffic jam I think I've ever seen up there. The road surface was an inch or more of compacted snow and a little ice, and I just put new tires on my bike the night before (Vittoria Graphene whatever Dry 650x47) so I wasn't sure if I'd eat shit and look like an idiot passing people. I waited a little and decided to move between vehicles and got lots of smiles and thumbs up from drivers who were at a standstill. Went in and ordered a Breakfast Burrito with chili and cheese from one of Adam's sons. Adam was too busy with the line out the door to chat, so I ate outside, changed into waterproof pants and socks, and continued onward. Talked to the USFS LEO up there with volunteer guys chilling out, and they closed the road into CL since it was a parking lot with people sliding a little (no collisions as far as I saw, everyone was cool). I chatted with em a lil and then passed the gate, riding/walking towards Deer Flat.
My bike did just fine pushing through the 6" deep powder, as long as I stayed out of footprints and compacted snow. I had a couple hours leeway time to go explore and chill, so I figured I'd just go until I didn't want to anymore, which meant riding to Snowslide Canyon just outside the campground. The snow was 6-8 inches deep, some drifts a foot or more, and very easy to ride through. I chilled out and had my Sancho Panza cigar at the lil concrete flood bridge thing, enjoying the quiet. Nobody was up there despite the crowds at the cafe, and it only being maybe a mile north. The wind and clouds started to roll in, so I packed up and slowly rode back to the cafe. I got to talk to Adam for a lil bit, then I headed down the hill around 330pm or so. Plenty of people still coming up, and the USFS folks were turning cars back and having people park at the Donut Tree at the end of 39 (so called cause people do donuts around it).
The ride down was cold but fun, and since the tires were brand new I wasn't sure how far I could lean in corners, so I took it fairly easily. Hands and feet were numb, but dry, cause I finally have waterproof socks and gloves, both from Showers Pass. It took me 30 something years of hiking, riding, and dicking around outside to put together a decent weather resistant action suit, and I'm digging it. They say there's no bad weather, just bad kit, so once it really gets shitty I'll get to see how good mine is. I also finally own a down jacket. What's this world coming to if I'm not freezing and wet?
The road was dry and clear all the way down from the top of 39. I didn't have a lot of people tailing me despite the traffic, so it was fun to bomb down at a decent pace without being paranoid. Saw some other cool bike dudes heading up, looking a bit cold. One of the benefits of having lots of storage space on my bike means I can bring enough clothing, food, and water to make it nearly anywhere. Fat tires really help a whole lot as well. Kinda like that adage about 4WD, about how it gets you stuck 50ft further than the 2WD guys.
Got down, rode to my lady's, made dinner, and chilled out. Work got cancelled cause of all the COVID stuff so I hung out. Total for the ride was 77 miles 7,200ft of gain. Top speed was about 40mph, which seems fair. I would like to build a light, fast bike to bomb down roads as fast as possible someday, but until then the practicality and comfort of my current heavier setup cannot be beat.
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Since I'm writing for once, I'll go off on a tangent about bikes. Here's generally what I'm thinking for a speedyboi bike for the mountains, for only pavement:
-60cm Aluminium, titanium, or carbon frame (in order of affordability): I would prefer titanium for longevity, as I'm afraid I may damage a carbon frame as I'm sometimes clumsy. Threaded bottom bracket, disc brakes, clearance for 700/32mm tires. I don't see why it would hurt to have 700x40 clearance, but then you've got an all-road bike, which might be a little less responsive. This might move the slider over from a tuned Mazda Miata/S2000 to a WRX, gnaw mean. I'd like the bike to ride like a well tuned aggressive street class S2000.
-2x10 Shimano groupset: Probably 105 with hydraulic brakes. 53/39 front, 11-XX rear, maybe 42. I like low gears for climbing, but the bike will be lighter and carry less than my current setup, so I won't need as much gearing, not that it matters a lot from an assembly and tuning perspective. My current setup is 46/30 11-46, and was previously 53/39 11-42. The 53-42 setup would probably work fine for the light and fast bike. It would likely need a Wolftooth Roadlink. I've had like 4 of those bad boys now.
-Hydraulic brakes: I don't know a ton about hydraulic brakes for bikes, so I just sorta see em as an adorable version of car brakes. I'd like the best setup I can build, so probably 4 pot front calipers, hopefully a 203mm front disc, and whatever the biggest I can fit in the back is, 180ish? Depends on frame. Current setup is 160 front and rear on my cable actuated hydraulics, and I really think it would be great to go bigger, but it's not worth the $$$ for my setup. I've found that when I ride my road bike with Shimano 105 rim brakes, it doesn't brake as well as my discs but I just initiate braking earlier and trail brake gently, so it's kind of a non-point. Initial braking force with a good sorta-wide modulation zone is what I'm aiming for, so I have tons of braking force upon corner entry, but I have 1/2 inch or so of travel before lockup, so I don't eat it super hard when I'm tired, ill-coordinated, or just normal. Anyway, maybe the Hope RX4 calipers will work, if they mate up with the brifters. Whatever, I'll research the best 'road' hydro brakes and optimize all the little bits like hoses and pads and shit like that.
-Wheels, 700c aluminium with Shimano 105 or whatever rear hub, and a Schmidt dyno up front: This is almost the same as my current setup, except 700c instead of 650b, and will be lighter. Current wheels are meant to survive anything and last forever with minimum maintenance. This wheelset will also fit my everyday bike, thru axle 12x100/142.
-Tires: A fast, light slick in 700x30-32. I have 28's on my road bike and 47's on my everyday bike. I don't think 28 is too skinny, but the confidence and traction I have leaning in corners on 47's is awesome, like velcro. They communicated very well so I know when my contact patch isn't optimal/I start slipping a bit. I've been looking at tires and maybe the WTB Exposure would be a good place to start. I had a set of Horizons, and they were great, so a smaller pair would probably be quite similar. A balance between durability and grip, and they're tubeless.
-Saddle: I use a Brooks B17 on my everyday bike, so I'm not sure what to do with this bike. I'd like a lighter synthetic saddle, but I haven't found one that my butt agrees with yet. Would need to be 175mm wide, not as easy to find. I've heard Specialized makes some good ones.
-Cockpit: Whatever stem works, nothing special, and probably a Ritchey Ergo whatever bar. I really wish I could make my own handlebars, since I'm taller than average and have large hands, I find most handlebars too small in diameter, and sometimes not wide enough. For this bike I think it'll be fine with the 46cm ergo model that doesn't have huge flare to it, just a little flare. The ergo sections in the drops helps hand comfort immensely, and also lets you control the bike much more easily and comfortably on long descents, as the bar fills your hands instead of creating pressure at the edges of your palms. I double and sometimes triple wrap my bar tape, so for this one I'd likely put squishy tape down and then wrap the basic Fizik black fake leather tape on top. That stuff lasts forever and doesn't stink, and it's not expensive.
-I would leave aerobars off except when doing coastal stuff. Almost never use em in the mountains so they're dead weight. I would just need to balance the bike's adjustments so I can put them on for flat terrain without screwing up my body after a couple hours of riding.
-I would probably put a half-frame bag on so I could keep two bottles in the frame, and use the bag to hold small stuff like a thin layer. Tools in little tiny seat bag. Usual handlebar and stem bags that I live with on a daily basis. I would also likely have a cage on the downtube, though I don't typically bring a bottle up GMR or Crystal Lake since there are places to reliably fill them, so I needn't more than two bottles unless it's hot.
Dunno what else there is to detail. I'm open to suggestions.
The thing is with all this bike and car and tool stuff is you can't spend a ton of money on something that's so specialized that you'll only use it occasionally. I could put some of that money into my everyday bike, changing the stock steel fork out for a carbon one, but then I'd have to be more careful with it and could no longer use a front rack and panniers. I don't think I'll build this speedy bike unless I have some insnane deal on a frame, and slowly build it up over time, or replace my current Surly Midnight Special frameset with a Kinesis Tripster ATR titanium/carbon frameset, which is quite expensive, but possible in the future if money isn't a big deal. This is mostly just a boy daydreaming about shit he wants to build and ride.
Anywho, thanks for suffering my bike rant. Cheers.
Last Sunday I left WC around 9am for a relatively chill ride up to crusty puddle. I figured I could maybe ride up South Mount Hawkins, but I gave myself turn around time limits, since I had to go to my lady's house that night, and then work the next morning. The ride up was chill, a bit much traffic (people going to "see the snow", as they say), but unremarkable. The SG OHV Area is being used as a heliport for Helicopter Linemen to work on the bigass powerlines that run right through where the Bobcat Fire burned, or so it seems. They have a cool white McDonnell Douglas MD500 which must be very fun to fly around the mountains, and a blue UH1 Huey. I didn't see dudes dangling, but I didn't stick around long. Might see more tomorrow as I plan on heading back up. Buncha electrical service trucks and dudes over there.
The snow level was down to the base of Rockbound Canyon, but very light. Once you get to around the 5,000ft level the snow was a couple inches thick. The 5,000ft elevation sign is missing my favorite sticker, which says ride bikes, drink beer, go fuck yourself. I hope whoever put it there sees this and replaces it. There were cars parked along the side of the road with people playing in the snow. Also the usual people driving down the hill with snow on their vehicles.
Traffic got heavier once I made the right turn to Crystal Lake. The turn by the lake had a lot of people parked nearby playing. Reckon I should ride past the lake tomorrow, as I haven't been there in a while. Used to drive up after work with one of my best buds to chill out and shoot the shit for a couple hours, enjoying the solitude. Good times. The traffic increased as you approached the cafe, with the first traffic jam I think I've ever seen up there. The road surface was an inch or more of compacted snow and a little ice, and I just put new tires on my bike the night before (Vittoria Graphene whatever Dry 650x47) so I wasn't sure if I'd eat shit and look like an idiot passing people. I waited a little and decided to move between vehicles and got lots of smiles and thumbs up from drivers who were at a standstill. Went in and ordered a Breakfast Burrito with chili and cheese from one of Adam's sons. Adam was too busy with the line out the door to chat, so I ate outside, changed into waterproof pants and socks, and continued onward. Talked to the USFS LEO up there with volunteer guys chilling out, and they closed the road into CL since it was a parking lot with people sliding a little (no collisions as far as I saw, everyone was cool). I chatted with em a lil and then passed the gate, riding/walking towards Deer Flat.
My bike did just fine pushing through the 6" deep powder, as long as I stayed out of footprints and compacted snow. I had a couple hours leeway time to go explore and chill, so I figured I'd just go until I didn't want to anymore, which meant riding to Snowslide Canyon just outside the campground. The snow was 6-8 inches deep, some drifts a foot or more, and very easy to ride through. I chilled out and had my Sancho Panza cigar at the lil concrete flood bridge thing, enjoying the quiet. Nobody was up there despite the crowds at the cafe, and it only being maybe a mile north. The wind and clouds started to roll in, so I packed up and slowly rode back to the cafe. I got to talk to Adam for a lil bit, then I headed down the hill around 330pm or so. Plenty of people still coming up, and the USFS folks were turning cars back and having people park at the Donut Tree at the end of 39 (so called cause people do donuts around it).
The ride down was cold but fun, and since the tires were brand new I wasn't sure how far I could lean in corners, so I took it fairly easily. Hands and feet were numb, but dry, cause I finally have waterproof socks and gloves, both from Showers Pass. It took me 30 something years of hiking, riding, and dicking around outside to put together a decent weather resistant action suit, and I'm digging it. They say there's no bad weather, just bad kit, so once it really gets shitty I'll get to see how good mine is. I also finally own a down jacket. What's this world coming to if I'm not freezing and wet?
The road was dry and clear all the way down from the top of 39. I didn't have a lot of people tailing me despite the traffic, so it was fun to bomb down at a decent pace without being paranoid. Saw some other cool bike dudes heading up, looking a bit cold. One of the benefits of having lots of storage space on my bike means I can bring enough clothing, food, and water to make it nearly anywhere. Fat tires really help a whole lot as well. Kinda like that adage about 4WD, about how it gets you stuck 50ft further than the 2WD guys.
Got down, rode to my lady's, made dinner, and chilled out. Work got cancelled cause of all the COVID stuff so I hung out. Total for the ride was 77 miles 7,200ft of gain. Top speed was about 40mph, which seems fair. I would like to build a light, fast bike to bomb down roads as fast as possible someday, but until then the practicality and comfort of my current heavier setup cannot be beat.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since I'm writing for once, I'll go off on a tangent about bikes. Here's generally what I'm thinking for a speedyboi bike for the mountains, for only pavement:
-60cm Aluminium, titanium, or carbon frame (in order of affordability): I would prefer titanium for longevity, as I'm afraid I may damage a carbon frame as I'm sometimes clumsy. Threaded bottom bracket, disc brakes, clearance for 700/32mm tires. I don't see why it would hurt to have 700x40 clearance, but then you've got an all-road bike, which might be a little less responsive. This might move the slider over from a tuned Mazda Miata/S2000 to a WRX, gnaw mean. I'd like the bike to ride like a well tuned aggressive street class S2000.
-2x10 Shimano groupset: Probably 105 with hydraulic brakes. 53/39 front, 11-XX rear, maybe 42. I like low gears for climbing, but the bike will be lighter and carry less than my current setup, so I won't need as much gearing, not that it matters a lot from an assembly and tuning perspective. My current setup is 46/30 11-46, and was previously 53/39 11-42. The 53-42 setup would probably work fine for the light and fast bike. It would likely need a Wolftooth Roadlink. I've had like 4 of those bad boys now.
-Hydraulic brakes: I don't know a ton about hydraulic brakes for bikes, so I just sorta see em as an adorable version of car brakes. I'd like the best setup I can build, so probably 4 pot front calipers, hopefully a 203mm front disc, and whatever the biggest I can fit in the back is, 180ish? Depends on frame. Current setup is 160 front and rear on my cable actuated hydraulics, and I really think it would be great to go bigger, but it's not worth the $$$ for my setup. I've found that when I ride my road bike with Shimano 105 rim brakes, it doesn't brake as well as my discs but I just initiate braking earlier and trail brake gently, so it's kind of a non-point. Initial braking force with a good sorta-wide modulation zone is what I'm aiming for, so I have tons of braking force upon corner entry, but I have 1/2 inch or so of travel before lockup, so I don't eat it super hard when I'm tired, ill-coordinated, or just normal. Anyway, maybe the Hope RX4 calipers will work, if they mate up with the brifters. Whatever, I'll research the best 'road' hydro brakes and optimize all the little bits like hoses and pads and shit like that.
-Wheels, 700c aluminium with Shimano 105 or whatever rear hub, and a Schmidt dyno up front: This is almost the same as my current setup, except 700c instead of 650b, and will be lighter. Current wheels are meant to survive anything and last forever with minimum maintenance. This wheelset will also fit my everyday bike, thru axle 12x100/142.
-Tires: A fast, light slick in 700x30-32. I have 28's on my road bike and 47's on my everyday bike. I don't think 28 is too skinny, but the confidence and traction I have leaning in corners on 47's is awesome, like velcro. They communicated very well so I know when my contact patch isn't optimal/I start slipping a bit. I've been looking at tires and maybe the WTB Exposure would be a good place to start. I had a set of Horizons, and they were great, so a smaller pair would probably be quite similar. A balance between durability and grip, and they're tubeless.
-Saddle: I use a Brooks B17 on my everyday bike, so I'm not sure what to do with this bike. I'd like a lighter synthetic saddle, but I haven't found one that my butt agrees with yet. Would need to be 175mm wide, not as easy to find. I've heard Specialized makes some good ones.
-Cockpit: Whatever stem works, nothing special, and probably a Ritchey Ergo whatever bar. I really wish I could make my own handlebars, since I'm taller than average and have large hands, I find most handlebars too small in diameter, and sometimes not wide enough. For this bike I think it'll be fine with the 46cm ergo model that doesn't have huge flare to it, just a little flare. The ergo sections in the drops helps hand comfort immensely, and also lets you control the bike much more easily and comfortably on long descents, as the bar fills your hands instead of creating pressure at the edges of your palms. I double and sometimes triple wrap my bar tape, so for this one I'd likely put squishy tape down and then wrap the basic Fizik black fake leather tape on top. That stuff lasts forever and doesn't stink, and it's not expensive.
-I would leave aerobars off except when doing coastal stuff. Almost never use em in the mountains so they're dead weight. I would just need to balance the bike's adjustments so I can put them on for flat terrain without screwing up my body after a couple hours of riding.
-I would probably put a half-frame bag on so I could keep two bottles in the frame, and use the bag to hold small stuff like a thin layer. Tools in little tiny seat bag. Usual handlebar and stem bags that I live with on a daily basis. I would also likely have a cage on the downtube, though I don't typically bring a bottle up GMR or Crystal Lake since there are places to reliably fill them, so I needn't more than two bottles unless it's hot.
Dunno what else there is to detail. I'm open to suggestions.
The thing is with all this bike and car and tool stuff is you can't spend a ton of money on something that's so specialized that you'll only use it occasionally. I could put some of that money into my everyday bike, changing the stock steel fork out for a carbon one, but then I'd have to be more careful with it and could no longer use a front rack and panniers. I don't think I'll build this speedy bike unless I have some insnane deal on a frame, and slowly build it up over time, or replace my current Surly Midnight Special frameset with a Kinesis Tripster ATR titanium/carbon frameset, which is quite expensive, but possible in the future if money isn't a big deal. This is mostly just a boy daydreaming about shit he wants to build and ride.
Anywho, thanks for suffering my bike rant. Cheers.
and Ibu for the headache.