Riding Eroica route (sans-eroica), looking for bike recommendations?

[jasonification]

Was thinking of driving up to Cambria in a few weeks to ride one of the routes for my birthday weekend. I remembered hearing about gravel segments, and while my Bob Jackson my be able to handle it with 28mm tires, I wonder if my wife would enjoy it on her Klein with 23mm tires.

The other option is to take our full squish bikes out and just enjoy a slow paced ride, maybe a #coffeeoutside moment.

Wondering if those who have done the routes have any thoughts or suggestions?

TIA!

Edit: doh! Thanks autocorrect...


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[mhespenheide]

I've ridden the Eroica course a number of times, but with my wife already unhappy at times with my bike buying, I'm not riding Erotica any time soon. Riding it together with your wife might be okay...

[mhespenheide]

More seriously, I don't think it would be all that enjoyable on 23's. I think 32's are the sweet spot, 28's are good enough, and you can get through it with 25's. Can you borrow or rent another road bike with wider tires and not go full-squish?

[SlowPokePete]

Funny title.

SPP

[weaponsgrade]

Originally Posted by mhespenheide

More seriously, I don't think it would be all that enjoyable on 23's. I think 32's are the sweet spot, 28's are good enough, and you can get through it with 25's. Can you borrow or rent another road bike with wider tires and not go full-squish?

I've done the 80 mi route on 32s and agree with those tire recs. I did see people riding on 23s though and was glad I wasn't.

[jasonification]

Originally Posted by SlowPokePete

Funny title.



SPP

Haha! I just realized...maybe I need to modify the title a bit

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[Spaghetti Legs]

First time I did it on 26’s I believe (Panaracer Evo Race Gravel - great tires !) . 23’s can be done but it won’t be pleasant and requires a mindset of “I’m going to suffer today” . This particularly applies to the descent off Cypress, which is steep and rutted with coarse gravel and a stretch after descent of Santa Rita which has stretches of just plain ol’ embedded rocks which are real bone rattlers.

[jasonification]

Originally Posted by mhespenheide

More seriously, I don't think it would be all that enjoyable on 23's. I think 32's are the sweet spot, 28's are good enough, and you can get through it with 25's. Can you borrow or rent another road bike with wider tires and not go full-squish?

possibly. I'll take a look around! Good to know 32s are the sweet spot

[prototoast]

I agree with others. Unless your wife is an experienced cx racer with a kick for underbiking, she's going to be miserable on 23s. I've done some of those roads on 28s, and it was doable, but I would never ask that of my wife. For her, maybe it would be okay with 40mm tires.

[jasonification]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I agree with others. Unless your wife is an experienced cx racer with a kick for underbiking, she's going to be miserable on 23s. I've done some of those roads on 28s, and it was doable, but I would never ask that of my wife. For her, maybe it would be okay with 40mm tires.

Thanks. We might stay away from our road bikes and just use our full squish. Take it nice and easy, have a picnic, enjoy the scenery. Cheers!

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[cgolvin]

Both times I've done it on 25s. I'm sure it would be more enjoyable on 32s but I didn't find it that bad on 25s -- above comment about the descent from Cypress Mountain is spot on, that is by far the worst section. And, as others have previously noted, another big consideration in addition to tire size is braking — that descent was a lot more difficult with Nuovo Record calipers than with modern ones.

If you use the official Scalatore (~82 mile) route you'll need to devise an alternative to Kiler Canyon as that portion is private. When i did it last month I created two alternatives, a southern detour using Vineyard and a northern detour using Peachy Canyon, ended up using the former and it was lovely. I posted both routes in the Eroica meet-up thread, but if you want me to send or re-post here just let me know.

Additional consideration is hydration, since you won't have the support stops. After hitting Vineyard just west of Templeton I took a quick detour east toward town, there are a number of options including Trader Joe's, I stopped at the first coffee spot I saw and they were really accommodating.

[jasonification]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Both times I've done it on 25s. I'm sure it would be more enjoyable on 32s but I didn't find it that bad on 25s -- above comment about the descent from Cypress Mountain is spot on, that is by far the worst section. And, as others have previously noted, another big consideration in addition to tire size is braking — that descent was a lot more difficult with Nuovo Record calipers than with modern ones.

If you use the official Scalatore (~82 mile) route you'll need to devise an alternative to Kiler Canyon as that portion is private. When i did it last month I created two alternatives, a southern detour using Vineyard and a northern detour using Peachy Canyon, ended up using the former and it was lovely. I posted both routes in the Eroica meet-up thread, but if you want me to send or re-post here just let me know.

Additional consideration is hydration, since you won't have the support stops. After hitting Vineyard just west of Templeton I took a quick detour east toward town, there are a number of options including Trader Joe's, I stopped at the first coffee spot I saw and they were really accommodating.

Thanks! I think we are just going to keep it chill and do the Piedras Blancas route to the lighthouse. Cycle Central Coast has modified routes on Strava! Cheers

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[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by jasonification

Thanks! I think we are just going to keep it chill and do the Piedras Blancas route to the lighthouse. Cycle Central Coast has modified routes on Strava! Cheers

I haven't done that route but a quick peek tells me that neither tire size nor brakes are much of a consideration, you should be totally fine on your Bob Jackson with whatever tires are on there.

[jasonification]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

I haven't done that route but a quick peek tells me that neither tire size nor brakes are much of a consideration, you should be totally fine on your Bob Jackson with whatever tires are on there.

Now that I look at it....you're right. The gravel is minimal. Ride with GPS shows just a touch of gravel. We should be Gucci!

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[mtechnica]

An aluminum bike with 23c tires is not a great choice IMHO. At least for the full route.