Thought I'd share a few photos <https://flic.kr/s/aHskLax1F9>, and some videos, of camping out in the Santa Cruz (CA) Mountains on a Quickbeam a few weeks ago.
The route was originally to incorporate more dirt than it did in the end; but there had just passed some rain and I didn't feel great about my rig on non-maintained and technically private dirt (mud) roads. Which is fine. Still a blast. About 55mi total and about 6500 ft of climbing. Sugino 40/32 and a WI 16/18 (which I need to switch out for a 16/19 because in the 32/18 the axle nuts just hang off the end of the drop-out, and while I've experience nigh-zero slippage, it still doesn't sit well with me), most of the ride was in the 32/18. I drove up from LA to SC, stocked up, and started up HWY 1 at the bottom of Gazos Creek Road and took it up to Big Basin, with a few meandering trails in-between. Much of Gazos is gravel and dirt, and steep, and wet and muddy and a whole lot of frustration and fun. Hiked a little, biked a little, drank a little wine. The Redwood canopy kept everything damp and wet all the way up the hill. Once out of the river valley slog, trees spread out slightly and things warmed up for a little until I dove back into wet and dark. The road is beautiful. There's a boy scout treehouse along the way. I was virtually alone at Jay Camp, and got the best hike-bike sight under a cluster of redwoods. Did a night hike to the waterfall (small) nearby, warmed up on mezcal and two layers of wool leggings, two wool socks, three thin wool baselayers, a down vest and a synthetic down pullover, neck garter and gloves, all wrapped up in a 20 deg (supposedly) bag with a ThermaRest inside. Much frost in the morning but I was snug all night. I've been in LA the past year and have already gotten soft! I love S24Os because it's not totally ridiculous to pack a burrito, which I lunched on the next day after climbing up the 236 to the 9 and across Skyline Boulevard to Horseshoe Lake, quaint, perfect, in the Skyline Open Space. The 236 is a really perfect winding climb and descent through the forests, along a ridge and back down. This time of year there was little traffic, and the views were epic. 9 and Skyline were a little less enjoyable; not a whole lot of shoulder and frequent fast-travelling cars. Still hard to complain though, really. The winding descent down Alpine is a beautiful pastoral, through rolling grass hills past cattle, down into forest and back up out and down again through Loma Mar to Pescadero. Decided to stay an extra night in Butano State Park (closed for the season, technically) before a mile or so back to the ice-encrusted car the next morning for a sunrise drive up HWY 1 to San Francisco and Oakland to for a holiday visit with friends, shiverin and grinnin and stinkin like all hell. Love, Patch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
