Failed Rides

[hairylegs]

Here's mine.

Decided to try a gravel ride up here in SB. Took my AWOL down through Montecito and up Romero Canyon. Steep and rocky from the get-go. Way more than in LA. Then it goes single track a few miles up. Brutal. Walked a lot. Thought of turning around. Mountain bikers coming down convinced me it'd be a very difficult task to make it to the top. I turn around, broke a spoke in the rear, taped it to another spoke and shortly after end up eating it (soft landing but knee hit a rock) and limped back to the street. Then my chain locks up about 2 miles from home and I almost eat it in the street again. Looks like the B-screw is bent in the RD. Somehow manage popping it back on and made it home. Ouch!

[cp43]

In my book, that's not a failure. A detour, maybe. A changed plan.

But, you explored somewhere new to you, and made it home under your own power, that's a success!

I hope your knee isn't hurting too much, and you can get out and try again soon.

Chris

[echappist]

Sorry to hear that, wish you a speedy recovery from the crash

[Waldo62]

Sounds like my typical gravel ride. My commiserations.

[reuben]

Here's mine.

Decided to try a gravel ride up here in SB. Took my AWOL down through Montecito and up Romero Canyon. Steep and rocky from the get-go. Way more than in LA. Then it goes single track a few miles up. Brutal. Walked a lot. Thought of turning around. Mountain bikers coming down convinced me it'd be a very difficult task to make it to the top. I turn around, broke a spoke in the rear, taped it to another spoke and shortly after end up eating it (soft landing but knee hit a rock) and limped back to the street. Then my chain locks up about 2 miles from home and I almost eat it in the street again. Looks like the B-screw is bent in the RD. Somehow manage popping it back on and made it home. Ouch!

It's not an adventure until something goes wrong.

[weisan]

Must shave legs next time.

[Mike Bryant]

So I went on a late evening gravel ride on a rail-to-trails with a few friends and had five flats! The first three, I thought okay, old tubes. (Yeah, I know, should be doing tubeless, but none of the flats were from low pressure pinches.) Anyway, used up my two spares, borrowed one, and on the way in had a double flat! Luckily near a road, but had to wait in the dark for a buddy to finish the ride and come back to pick me up. Inspection today and I found five through tread and casing punctures. Three on the rear, two on the front. Brand spanking new tires too! A couple of others had tire leak issues too, but riding tubeless, they sealed enough for them to get in.
Go figure...


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[dgauthier]

I hope you recover quickly after your crash.

That ride definitely sucked, but there is no such thing as failure.

It sounds like the terrain was too technical for a gravel bike. Maybe a mountain bike is in your future.

[jasonification]

Bummer! I tried mtb-ing for the first time in SB a few weeks ago and took a spill. My wrists haven't felt the same since. Things will happen!

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[Jaybee]

It's not an adventure until something goes wrong.

Came here to post this. You ( and YC) beat me to it.

Hope everything is good with you, hairylegs

[windsurfer]

Gravel bike on Romero canyon trail? Why? At least it was fun the the first couple hundred yards...

[hairylegs]

Thanks y'all! I mean, I think I'll stick to hiking/trail running trails here. For me gravel was almost to get away from cars in LA. But here the cars are pretty nice overall! Knee is just a little scraped. It was one of those brake harder and go down on my own terms or try to go over at speed and risk going airborne...I chose the first and only have a few scrapes. Next time...I think I'll stick to Gibralter! :)

[fkslksj]

Jasonification above and I live pretty close to each other. We decided to drive down to Ventura from SB and do the Ventura to Ojai ride. "try my bike" he says. "Steel is real" he says. So I get the pleasure of riding his Serotta. Actually maybe steel IS real. Bike was light, fast, comfortable.

It's about a 30 mile round trip. 10 miles in, we stop by the bike trail to take some pictures and eat snacks. My wife's pace is a bit slower so he goes on ahead. Literally as soon as I get on the bike, I break a spoke. Felt really bad breaking a spoke on a bike that's not mine, and now I'm 10 miles in from the start of the trail and I'm hiking my way back down. Luckily wife was able to ride back to the car and pick me up by the time I had walked 3 miles.

Failed ride, but dinner at Spencer Makenzie's was amazing.

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[Spaghetti Legs]

Lots of times, those tend to be the “rides” that you remember. Glad you weren’t dinged up too bad and I hope the bike recovers OK.

About a month ago, I planned an epic ride in the Blue Ridge. Ride up Jarman Gap road, a steep gravel climb up to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah NP. Ride along Skyline and then descend back into the valley on Simmons Gap road, another steep gravel road. Ride back home along the paved rollers in the valley. Gravel on those roads isn’t generally too rough, so I took my Ciöcc with Open Pave 25’s.

First I fell off navigating around the hiker gate at the little connector trail to Skyline. I fell off again 100 ft later when my wheel got stuck in a grass covered rut. Bumps and bruises, but OK and pressed on. Progress was slow, heat was increasing, water running low. There was no guaranteed resupply and I was worried about slogging through 25 miles of tough riding in the heat of the valley, so on a whim, I decided to explore a “shortcut”, Browns Gap road. I’d seen this snaking off into the woods while riding its paved portion in the valley.

I headed out, soon pulled over to let a couple of ladies on horses pass by. They confirmed that the “road” went all the way to the valley, but later I got to an intersection and had to guesstimate which way based on a vague and faded Park Service sign. The trail narrowed, became more rocky, trees lying across it and after about 45 minutes I wondered if I was going to have to hike my bike all the way back up the mountain. There was a lot of 2 foot gear used on that ride and I was cooked at the end, but it will always stand out amongst my solo bike rides. And I will never go on Browns Gap road without hiking boots again.

[chismog]

Here's mine.

Decided to try a gravel ride up here in SB. Took my AWOL down through Montecito and up Romero Canyon. Steep and rocky from the get-go. Way more than in LA. Then it goes single track a few miles up. Brutal. Walked a lot. Thought of turning around. Mountain bikers coming down convinced me it'd be a very difficult task to make it to the top. I turn around, broke a spoke in the rear, taped it to another spoke and shortly after end up eating it (soft landing but knee hit a rock) and limped back to the street. Then my chain locks up about 2 miles from home and I almost eat it in the street again. Looks like the B-screw is bent in the RD. Somehow manage popping it back on and made it home. Ouch!

Here's mine.

Decided to try a gravel ride up here in SB. Took my AWOL down through Montecito and up Romero Canyon. Steep and rocky from the get-go. Way more than in LA. Then it goes single track a few miles up. Brutal. Walked a lot. Thought of turning around. Mountain bikers coming down convinced me it'd be a very difficult task to make it to the top. I turn around, broke a spoke in the rear, taped it to another spoke and shortly after end up eating it (soft landing but knee hit a rock) and limped back to the street. Then my chain locks up about 2 miles from home and I almost eat it in the street again. Looks like the B-screw is bent in the RD. Somehow manage popping it back on and made it home. Ouch!

Glad you're OK.

If you're fine doing Gib, you could make it a *lot* easier on yourself while maintaining the epic nature of the ride. Go up Gib, then right at the top to head east on Camino Cielo. About 8 miles out, where the pavement ends, you can access a saddle trail to the very top of Romero and enjoy it as a downhill. At the bottom, come back to SB via Bella Vista + Mtn Drive.

The bottom of Romero is the worst, but the trail is pretty smooth above the turnoff for the forest singletrack. I've definitely seen gravel guys up higher. The hardest section for sure is the forest (surely you didn't try this) and the first section getting up to the singletrack turnoff.

[fkslksj]

Do you guys know if Romero has changed a lot since the Montecito mudslides happened a couple of years ago? Cold Springs Trail I heard is very different but haven't had the chance to get out towards that end of SB since the flooding.

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