60 miler w/ some big hills! Happy Turkey Ride! On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 12:10 PM, franklyn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > My girlfriend and I started early for a ride from Ukiah toward > Comptche. The main portion of the ride is on Orr Springs Road. This > road used to be one of the stagecoast road between inland and coastal > Mendocino county. The road is fairly narrow and has a few houses and > ranches along it. One can take ths same road all the way to Comptche-- > a former logging town--then further to Mendocino on the coast. M. and > I did an out-and-back from Ukiah to Mendocino last year when we were > training for the 1-day version of STP, and it still is the most > challenging ride we did. Today we are not going as far, the plan is to > start as early as we did, go all the way to Comptche, then turn > around. > > Soon after we made the turn onto Orr Springs, we began a very long and > steep climb to the summit. According to the elevation profile for our > route on Bikely, we started the climb on mile 6.5 or so at about 600 > ft above sea level. At mile 10 or so, our elevation reached about 2400 > ft (that's almost 10% the entire time!). Then after a drop to about > 2000 ft at mile 11, we climbed again to reach close to 2600 ft at mile > 13. Even though it's a challenging climb, it was quite pleasant. It > was cool in the morning so climbing helped to warm us up. We stopped > at a moment to peel off some layers and got to enjoy the view of the > Ukiah valley. The traffic level is very low, the scenery is great, and > pavement is pretty good. All one needs is some legs (or low gears) and > some patience. There is a ranch called "Wonder" at the top. It's a > very satisfying climb. > > A little on our equipments for the day. I took my Rivendell Romulus > with Baggins Little Joe saddle bag. Because there is no services on > the road until Comptche (even then, the store there doesn't open > everyday), I carried a Nalgene water pouch that can fit 125 ml (4 of > our stainless steel water bottles) of water in the saddle bag. The > weight of the water (almost 10 lbs) certainly added the difficulty on > the first climb. The Romulus performed wonderfully, it didn't tend to > tip over, and stayed in a straightline without too much effort. I was > able to alternate on and off the saddle going over the top. On > descent, it took me a couple of turns to get used to the handling with > added weight on the saddle, but it wasn't difficult and compromised > the bike's handling only slightly. As we transferred water from the > pouch to our bottles, obviously the weight of the bike/bag returned to > normal. I really like having the little joe on my bike and will keep > it there for a while. > > M. took her 650b Serotta CRT with matching Acorn Bags--a small saddle > bag as a handlebar bag in the front and a medium/large saddle bag in > the back. She didn't carry water (since I was the mule) but carried > energy bars, sunscreens, and her fleece jacket. Her bike also > performed well for her. The lightweight tubes suited her very well, as > she is light. The stiff frame also helped her on climbs as she is more > of a masher than spinner on the climbs. And the grand bois cypres > tires provided her more comfort on some patches of bad pavement than > 25mm Panaracer Pasela TGs on her Torelli. She also felt more confident > on descent with those tires. Her speed on flat has not suffer because > of the 650b wheel size. We both wore reflective hi-vis vest for safety > and both have bells from Jitensha Studio. > > Between mile 10 and 13 when we were at the top, the road winds > slightly and rolls a little. Here the vista is pretty open, looking > over unincorporated regions of the Ukiah valley, with what must be new- > growth forests. At mile 13, the road took a fast and winding dives, > with many switchbacks for the next 4 miles. I stopped at a switch back > to enjoy the view, give my hands some rest and allow M. to catch up. > At mile 17, we got to the edge of the forest. The next 6 miles we will > be in Montgomery Woods. We passed by Orr Hot Springs Resort along the > way. This stretch of the ride is probably my favorite, as is M.'s. We > rode under the tall canopy of several different kinds of trees-- > redwood, pines, oaks--and there is a creek running next to the road. I > tried to take some picture but it was pretty dark in the forest to > take good pictures while on a bike. It felt magical! The pavement is > decent, but bad at a few spots, and the traffic is very low, with most > of the cars going to and from the hot spring resort. We both remarked > that this is probably our favorite place to ride. > > We climbed one more significant hill before comptche. Before a 4-mile > descent into town, we decided that we didn't want to climb back on the > return trip and turned around there at mile 30. > > It was a wonderful ride! For complete write-up, see here: > > http://bikegarage.blogspot.com/2008/12/ukiah-comptche-ride-on-thanksgiving.html > > Photos are here: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/franklyn/sets/72157610579847635/ > > Bikely route map is here: > http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ukiah-Comptche-on-Orr-Springs-Road > > Franklyn > Berkeley, CA > > > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
