Archipelago explained:
ar·chi·pel·a·go: [ahr-kuh-pel-uh-goh] – noun, plural -gos, -goes.
1. a large group or chain of islands:
2. any large body of water with many islands.
An Archipelago ride is basically a concept of connecting several "small islands" of trail networks and open space throughout the region/county. Each little island of open space on its own has a network of trails but nothing that gets into the “epic” range. Connecting several of them makes for a truly awesome experience and sense of accomplishment.
And now, the ride report...
Today I busted out a pretty unreal epic ride with James (Queastionis on STR). It involved linking no less than 5 different trails. After hearing and reading other riders talking about it, James decided to put one in the works. He put in a lot of work mapping and pre-riding the route. I'm impressed at his commitment to making the ride happen. A few weeks ago, he was kind enough to ask me if I was interested in riding it with him. I was excited at the prospect of it and honored that he asked me. He said he wanted to keep it small and not invite too many people. Seeing as the route was pieced together and he was hesitant to invite people who would really push the pace. I understand his viewpoint. Pace can make or break a ride. You could be on an easy trail, but if the pace is beyond your threshold, it can ruin the whole ride. I was kind of glad that I wouldn't feel pressured to hammer a fast pace all day. I also knew that we could bang out the entire ride -- going at our own pace.
James was on his new Intense Spyder. I was on my Niner--I FINALLY got it back. It has been out of service since early September due to a rear hub warranty issue. I also just converted it to tubeless tires. I decided on Bontrager Jones ACX tubeless ready tires. Nothing like an all day epic to break them in (insert sarcasm here--I was nervous about that).
We started at James' house in 4S Ranch around 8:15. We could see our first goal right away--the top of Black Mountain--cool sidenote: the antennae towers at the top of Black Mountain were visible through most of the ride. It was cool because we could almost always see them and know that we had been there earlier in the day. At some points of the ride, they looked REALLY far away and it was cool to have that perspective of accomplishment.
The beginning of Black Mt:
I had never ridden Black Mt. before and the climb up was brutal. We climbed up Miner's Loop and cut over a short stretch of singletrack to jump on the fireroad that takes you to the top. Once at the top, we kept right on going and descended the other side. It was super steep and loose. We ended up HAB'ing part of it because we didn't want to risk a crash that early in the ride. We ended up at the Glider Port trailhead, crossed Carmel Valley Road and cut around some soccer fields at Black Mountain Community Park.
HAB'ing down:
Looking down to the fields at Black Mountain Community Park:
Here's a pic of Black Mountain, looking back from the soccer fields. The towers on the far right is the peak we had climbed to, from the other side. Of the two DH trails on the left side of the pic, we descended the one on the right.
After the descent, we cut through a park and rode a little bit of pavement to LPQ. We dropped in by the Camino Del Sur trailhead, but I made sure to stop at the Mobil gas station there and force myself to down a 32 ounce Gatorade and refill my Camelbak with water and ice. I knew staying on top of my hydration would be important. That would really come into play later!! We rode a portion of Tunnels -- down Tunnel 4 and out 3. From there we exited on the Northwest side. It included a couple of short but steep climbs and I was beginning to feel some fatigue at this point, even though we were only 12 miles in.
Long fireroad climbing:
We jumped on a dirt utility road from there and I was glad to have a relatively flat section to rest a little. After a few twists and turns on some very lightly used singletrack, we ended up at the Santa Luz trail. There was some fun singletrack at first, but it quickly turned into fire/utilty road. More steep ups followed by steep down. About 3 in total. It was hard work and we both ended up HAB'ing the last half of the last hill.
Very lightly used singletrack:
No more singletrack, just up and down fire road:
Fortunately, James had parked his truck at the bottom of that hill, on San Dieguito Rd, just outside of Fairbanks Ranch. This was about the halfway point from what he figured. My GPS read 19.55 miles, so it turned out it wasn't quite the halfway mark, but pretty darn close. He had parked the truck there earlier in the morning, loaded with a cooler full of water and food for lunch. I also left some bottles of Powerbar Energy drink at his house, along with my lunch in the morning and his wife was kind enough to run them over and put them in the cooler while we were riding. James had also put a lawn chair inside the truck and was kind enough to let me use it.
Sitting in the shade -- off the bike!! -- and relaxing felt oh so very good. My wife had packed me a small lunch -- a roast beef sandwich, pretzels and an apple. I chowed down vigorously. I had never tasted a sandwich so good in all my life, LOL. It's amazing how your perspective changes given the circumstances.
We rested for about 20 minutes. During that time, I downed another bottle of Powerbar energy drink. I had already finished the bottle I had brought with me on the bike, in a bottle cage. Plus the 32 ounces of Gatorade earlier, made for about 80 ounces of energy drink and about 100 ounces of water so far. I was glad I continued to force myself to take in fluids and it paid off later in the ride. I was a bit worried for James. I didn't think he was drinking enough liquids, but figured he knew his body well enough so I didn't say anything.
The rest break was over too soon and we shoved off. From there we plodded on and I was feeling good. The rest break and food sure helped. We rode through Lusardi Canyon and up to the mesa onto the Artesian frontage road for awhile. Then we hit some downhill switchbacks that marked the beginning of our adventure on the San Dieguito River Park trail.
The switchbacks were pretty fun and I cleaned all but one -- which was good seeing as I was on a 29er. Then immediately after, we hit a couple of uphill switchbacks. The trail was covered in crumbled, flaky granite debris and I started feeling VERY fatigued -- just like that. I went from feeling good to feeling really lousy in a snap. We got to the top and I had to stop and rest. I knew we had a long way to go and I started to get a little worried. I was hoping I would start feeling better. We still had a long way to go and it was going to be a long day if I was that tired the rest of the way. We continued on and hit more switchbacks. Fortunately they were of the downhill variety and we coasted through them fairly easily.
We then entered a flat part of the San Dieguito River Park trail. We had to HAB through five small washes. It's a shame too--the SDRP Rangers had built bridges over all of them, just weeks before the fires last year. They were all completely destroyed and going down one side of the washes and up the other started to take it's toll on me a little. I was glad the trail was pretty flat throughout. Aided by the ease of the trail through this section, I gradually started felling better.
SDRP trail, with one of the burned out bridges:
Nice and flat--perfect for recovery:
I was feeling out of sorts though. Except for the ride through LPQ, I was on unfamiliar trail. For just about the entire day at that point, I had no idea where I was and had absolutely no experience on any of the trails we were riding on. I was looking forward to getting this long section over with and getting to the familiarity and easy trails of Lake Hodges.
The SDRP trail eventually came to a bridge:
After we crossed it, the trail dumped us out onto Del Dios highway. This next stretch would be the part I think I was dreading the most -- a 2 mile, uphill climb up Del Dios Hwy to Lake Hodges. The shoulder is about three feet wide, which isn't bad, but I was still dreading being that close to cars for that long of a stretch. We hit the pavement, eager to get this section over with.
It was here that James started to cramp. His quads and hamstrings in both legs started to seize up and give him trouble. He pulled over and stepped onto the other other side of the guard rail where it was more safe to stretch them out. As I got up to him he told me he'd be fine and to continue on. I continued slogging up Del Dios and actually was able to turn a pretty high gear. I was starting to feel pretty bad and just wanted to get it over with. I didn't want to keep scanning too far ahead and have the uninspiring view of a long pavement climb staring back at me. So, I kept my head down and concentrated on staying as close to the guard rail as possible. I was passed by two different roadies while I was climbing. I was envious of the fact that their bikes were suited for the road and wished I could go as fast. It wasn't to bad though. I was also proud of the way I was starting to block out the fatigue and just hammer. When I saw the Lake Hodges dam, I was encouraged. I knew I was finally close to familiar trails.
Cool train tracks along the West side of Del Dios Hwy:
Before I knew it, I was making the right hand turn on Rancho Rd. and pulling into the Hernandez Hideaway parking lot, across the street from the southern Lake Hodges trailhead.
I went inside and the bartender was nice enough to fill my Camelbak with water and ice. The smell of Mexican food was making my mouth water. Wow, I didn't need to deal with that at that moment, LOL. I would've loved to sit down for a Carne Asada burrito and a few Margaritas. I knew if I did that though, the ride would be over for me. So I stepped back outside into the sunlight where I saw that James had caught up and was resting on the benches outside.
Instead of Carne Asada, I dined on food I had in my Camelbak: a baked potato and a strawberry jelly Uncrustable (oh yeah!!). We were both glad for the rest in the shade. My GPS read 27.55 miles and a bit over 3,000' of climbing. Wow -- at least our fatigue was well earned. Two mountain bikers rode over from the trailhead parking lot across the street to eat at HH. They looked at James and I and asked if we were having a good ride -- I'm sure we looked like quite a pair!! I could tell by looking at James that he was tired, so I know I looked the same. Our legs were VERY dirty and our jerseys were sweaty and covered in the salty residue of dried sweat. We looked way to wiped out for a ride at Hodges. We said we were having a pretty good ride and they asked if we had just ridden the Hodges trail. We told them not yet and they looked a little confused. We then proceeded to lay out where we had started, what we had ridden so far and what we still had to go. They looked surprised and couldn't believe the ride we were doing. We talked for a few minutes and they wished us luck and went inside.
I'm not going to lie -- the look of surprise they got on their faces when we told them what we were doing made me feel good. They actually shook their heads in awe and said "Wow, that's huge." It made me feel pretty good and I finished up my snack and we were on our way.
And then the pain started. My "sit bones" (Definition: Anatomically part of your pelvis, the ischial tuberosity to be exact, the sit bones are quite literally the bones under the flesh of the butt that you sit on) were on fire. Every pedal stroke burned and powering up even the slightest hill was painful. I tried to ignore the pain and tried to comfort myself with the fact that I was now in familiar territory and the fact that we were nearly done with the ride -- I was wrong about nearly being done. I was under the impression that we had North and South Hodges to go and then James' house was not far from there. That wasn't exactly accurate as we still had a lot of riding to go after South Hodges, but I digress...
We finished the singletrack between Hernandez Hideaway and the marina and James was really setting a good pace. I started to feel better too. Either my sit bones got stretched relaxed a little or had gone numb. Either way I was starting to feel pretty good.
I started to get a much needed second wind and we started on the climb up to the upper singletrack from the marina road when James started to cramp up again. I railed the bowls and actually cleaned the climb up to the upper ridge while James walked off the cramps. We continued on and I was thankful for the newfound energy. I pushed a surprisingly fast pace all the way out to I-15 and was again, comforted by the fact that I was in familiar territory.
We had to jump on the right hand shoulder/bike lane section of I-15 over the lake to the Pomerado Rd. off-ramp so we could make the jump onto the South Lake Hodges trails. I wasn't too stoked about having to do it but we had no choice.
We made it off the interstate with no issues and were soon on the South Hodges trails. My second wind was a distant memory and fatigue started to set in. Again, I thought we were really close to being done and I pedaled on.
I made sure to be cautious on the more narrow singletrack that makes up the north edge of the South Hodges network. It's barely a foot wide in places and the penalty for going off the side is severe in some places. I know from previous experience that fatigue breeds mistakes so I played it safe. I still rode all the technical chunk, just with extra caution.
I was out front pushing a decent pace. I was surprised I had it in me to do at this point. I was getting pretty good at blocking out the pain and just hammering along and was proud I was able to do so. I was really starting to feel a lot of pain on my sit bones and blocking it out was essential.
James' cramping really started to become an issue and we had to take a break at the ball fields by the Rancho Bernardo Sports Complex so he could refill his Camelbak with water and stretch out. He needed some fuel so I gave him my second Uncrustable and I ate my last apple. He got the cramps worked out and we continued on.
There's a couple small climbs on the south side and I was actually able to clean them all. I don't know what got into me. I suppose it was a little bit of just wanting to be done and also a little bit of my ability to block out the pain. Again, I was proud of the fact I was able to HTFU at that point and grind it out.
We came to a fireroad "cut-over" that would take us over a hill and eventually into 4S Ranch and back home. We had to hop a fence and then we were on our way. This stretch seemed like it went on forever. Thankfully it was mostly flat. About a half mile in, James started to cramp again. Both legs locked up this time and he had to sit down for awhile. I could tell he was in pain and I felt bad for him. I think it may have been his lack of fluid intake that led to it. I was glad I had been so pro-active in taking in fluids -- all in all I took in close to 300 ounces of fluid and only "answered nature's call" 1 time!! -- and even though my legs were tired and felt heavy, I wasn't even close to cramping. Seeing James' misery, I felt fortunate.
"James' Windmill" (the site of his dual leg cramp):
We finally linked the fireroads to a paved road and low and behold, we were in civilization again!! We had nothing but pavement to James' house and I was uplifted by that fact. My lower back had been tightening for the last few hours. My sit bones/butt/groin area was on fire and sore and I desperately wanted to be off the bike. The mileage from South Hodges to this point was a lot more than I had thought it would be. I guess I had just misunderstood James' description of the route. No harm, no foul, but I was glad it was done.
Sweet, flat pavement for the last mile!!
We cut through some residential streets and a shopping center in downtown 4S Ranch. Then as we crossed Camino Del Norte and crested a small rise, I could see my car parked in front of James' house a couple hundred yards away!!! I got a jolt of excitement and started to hammer down the homestretch and the end of this epic ride. I don't know what got into me exactly. I passed James, shifting into bigger gears all the while. The closer I got to my car the better I felt. And then, the car, James' house. THE END!! Sweet victory, it was over.
I wheeled my bike up James' front steps and collapsed onto the soft grass of his front lawn. Wow it felt good to be done. I rested there for a few minutes, just looking up at the sky, relieved to be done. I finally got up and pulled my GPS out of my Camelbak. The totals surprised me a little:
Total mileage: 41.88
Elevation: 4,572'
Ride time: 7 hours, 17 minutes
Estimated calories burned: 3,818
To date it is the longest ride I have ever been on. The full Tour de Noble is very close in mileage and total elevation, but this had it beat by about 6 miles and by about 100' of climbing. Of course, the Noble ride sits at about 4,000-6,000 feet above sea level. Today's ride was just about at sea level.
I gotta give MAD props to James for mapping it out and pre-riding the route in sections to make sure it was doable. It was quite an undertaking and he deserves all the credit for that. I was just glad to be along for the ride. I'm also glad that I had it in me to finish such a ride. It was super hard and I wished many times for it to be over. But, I did it and I'm very proud of that.
I'm thankful we had no crashes. We had the obligatory scrapes and James tipped over a time or two. But we had no crashes and no mechanicals -- not even so much as a flat tire. Granted we both run a Tubeless wheel set-up with Stan's sealant, but still. I was SO very thankful we had no issues with the bikes. The new Bonty ACX tires did good too. They hooked up well and rolled pretty fast. So far I'm glad I got them.
If anyone is interested in doing this ride, I'm sure James wouldn't mind leading another. I'd like to do it again too. Just not too soon.
