AustinBike

Used to drive through there on our way to fishing trips in Canada. Beautiful.

It is an inconvenient 2 day day (2x11 hours) or, if you are stupid, you do it in 3 days. Did 3 out and 2 back both times. Both suck. But the problem with 3 days is bringing the bikes in and out each night and getting to the hotel early and then having wasted hours in the hotel. Did the math and in the month we were there I rode ~560 miles and did ~60,000 feet of climbing.

Temps were generally in the 80's most days. They had a "heat wave" and I think it got up to ~95F at the peak. But it was back down in the upper 70's by 7PM every night. Trails were really safe. Saw 3 rattlesnakes, 2 coyotes and 0 cougars or bears. I did have dinner with a friend and she said an acquaintance up north saw a cougar grab a pit bull and take off with it. That is pretty hard core. I rode solo 95% of the time and never had a single issue.

Last ride out here before heading home. Hit Wildwood Park for the second time. Keep getting messed up on the routes. There is a TON of climbing here and it is literally located right in the center of the town. Think of it as BCGB with lots of elevation. Plenty of chunky downhill and switchbacks as well.

Decided to to an urban/gravel loop around town, nothing fancy. Still managed to pick up some massive climbing even though, for the most part, I never left the city limits.

Met up with old Austin Rider Bart to do a ride in the Encinal Canyon area. The Backbone Trails run the full distance of the Santa Monica Mountains, probably over 200 miles of trails. We were treated to some singletrack that wraps along the mountains for miles with incredible views of the ocean. On the way back we had a phenomenal 3+ mile downhill run back to the trailhead.

If you are a fan of the old TV show M*A*S*H you can take a gravel ride around the area that takes you through the Malibu Creek State Park where the series was filmed. Having biked in Korea I can understand why they filmed here, the mountains and trails are very similar to the actual locations in Korea. As a bonus, they also filmed Planet of the Apes here. And when we went to the beach we were sitting in the location where the beach scenes for that movie were filmed; the Statue of Liberty was long gone.

I have a granite strap on my top tube with a MTB tube. I used the seat pack for urban rides with my wife, it held a gravel tube for me (I swapped wheels for urban/gravel) as well as a 26" tube for her cruiser and a couple tools. I also brought a Dakine fanny pack and everything is in there now. While the seat pack was more convenient, the fanny pack is a better choice when constantly reconfiguring the bike for whatever ride is happening that day.

This was on my ride from the rental house. Nothing like stopping ~6 miles into the ride to look at the Pacific Ocean. Was just pissed that I left the saddle bag on from the gravel ride and every time I tried to use the dropper it would not go the full way down.

This is really sad. Wes made so many people happy in Austin with great bikes at great prices.

Third one in 3 weeks.

A friend recommended this as a "recovery" ride so I put the gravel wheels on my mountain bike and took it for a spin. It's funny to think that for them recovery is still a pretty intensive experience. This drops down a massively long twisting road section that was pretty harrowing, a quick jaunt through the CSU Channel Islands campus (go Dolphins!) and then a long gravel stretch along the Camarillo farm fields. Eventually you pop out on the PCH and after you jump through the traffic, you're sandwiched between high speed PCH traffic on your left and incredible ocean views on your right. Eventually you get to Sycamore Canyon and ride the gravel trail back up to the top of Point Mugu State Park.

Totally decided that the drop bars are not for me. First off, with the exception of today's beach cruise, everything has been MTB, so no need for gravel at this point. I did start with older Ergon grips on my bike but brought along some Ergon's with the stubby handles for climbing. I put those on after 2-3 rides and never looked back. Gonna get an extra sets for my other bikes when we get out here. GREAT for climbing leverage.

The Dos Vientos open space is nestled right in the middle of Newbury Park and extends out toward the Pacific. It was an easy 1 mile ride from the house and there are plenty of long miles to ride. The climbs are not as long as others so it is a good place to ride if you are looking to spin your wheels after work. I have ridden this with a guy out here that I met online after his work day. We were able to get a greenbelt-length ride in right from his house and still be back before dark. The sections all fit together nicely with a few street crossings to get from one section to another. It's nice to stop mid ride and see the ocean or look out over the agriculture of Camarillo.

Point Mugu is a state park. There is a long (paved) park road down to the trails, and after you have all your fun on the stuff down there which is locally called "Sycamore Canyon", you still need to climb back out. There are some great long downhills and on one of the rides with an old Austin friend, we made a wrong turn and were treated to a great ocean view.