Winter training / vacation ideas?

[LegendRider]

Three friends and I want to do a week-long trip to a warm destination for guys' getaway (riding, hanging out, drinking beer, etc.) sometime in January or February. We're all Southerners, so we'd like to go west (i.e., no Florida) - perhaps Sand Diego or Tucson. Any recommendations?

[Peter B]

Fly to San Francisco. Ride the coast highway 1 to Santa Barbara or San Diego. SF to Seaside, to Morro Bay, to SB, to LA to SD. 3-5 days. Typical weather pattern is clear skies, cold mornings and warm afternoons w/ a tailwind. ~135 miles per day and beautiful scenery. There's a group of 25-40 folks who do this each year in the middle of January. Come join us.

[LegendRider]

Fly to San Francisco. Ride the coast highway 1 to Santa Barbara or San Diego. SF to Seaside, to Morro Bay, to SB, to LA to SD. 3-5 days. Typical weather pattern is clear skies, cold mornings and warm afternoons w/ a tailwind. ~135 miles per day and beautiful scenery. There's a group of 25-40 folks who do this each year in the middle of January. Come join us.

One of my friends knows an elite triathlete who organizes that exact trip. We were all excited about it until we learned he wanted $2,400 - $2,800 for the logistics and hotel. Add in meals and flight from the east and it's way too pricey.

I'd love to know more about your trip.

[Peter B]

This one is an annual event, mostly triatheletes, known as The Ride. Been going on about 15 years. It's 'self supported', though sometimes folks mail stuff to their hotel ahead of time or have an SO shuttle it. Lodging is ~$60-$90 night, cheaper for double occ. Meals as cheap or spendy as you like. I rented a car for the retun once, took the train another. Total cost ~$350-$500 (food, lodging, return transport). PM your email address and I'll get you on the distribution once organizing starts.

Peter

[93legendti]

http://www.redrocklasvegas.com/adventure_spa/adventure_spa_specials.php

http://www.redrocklasvegas.com/adventure_spa/adventure_activities.pdf

[dogdriver]

Moab.

Easy, cheap in the winter, all the mtb riding you can stand, epic road riding (Arches and Canyonlands Nat'l Parks, La Sal Loop--though it won't go if there's snow up high, Dead Horse Point, etc) if the wx is warm enough.

Friuta is even better, 100 miles down the road. I assume that the weather would be the same (same latitude), but recommended Moab first 'cus I haven't done Fruita in the winter.

Real beer in Fruita.

Tucson could also work-- lived there for a couple years and don't remember a whole lot about the riding, except that the loop of the East unit of Saguaro (?sp) National Monument is still 8 of my favorite road miles anywhere. Mt. Lemmon is an epic climb-- don't know how high you can ride it in the winter-- I'd suppose it would go to the top much of the year. GREAT bike group--GABA organized rides just about every day-- I hope they're still alive and kicking.


Cheers, Chris

[Bill Bove]

I've been in love with Tucson ever since visiting ten years ago. A great riding community, great group rides (love "The Shootout"), great bike shops AND GREAT MEXICAN FOOD :banana: :banana:

[Ken Robb]

Well that is the rainy season in SoCal. You might not see any and it might drizzle every day. A safe bet would be to come to San Diego or Orange County because the farther south you are the more storms you miss with Point Conception near Santa Barbara being the cut-off fairly frequently. If you do hit rain near the coast you can drive over the mountains to Borrego D Springs, Palm Springs, La Quinta, etc and probably have lots of sunshine.

[Pete Serotta]

and stay with KEN, drink his wine, and get track lessons..... :)


Well that is the rainy season in SoCal. You might not see any and it might drizzle every day. A safe bet would be to come to San Diego or Orange County because the farther south you are the more storms you miss with Point Conception near Santa Barbara being the cut-off fairly frequently. If you do hit rain near the coast you can drive over the mountains to Borrego D Springs, Palm Springs, La Quinta, etc and probably have lots of sunshine.

[Ken Robb]

and stay with KEN, drink his wine, and get track lessons..... :)

Jeez, thanks Pete but I can get in enough trouble on my own. Just ask Leslie.
Not too close but friends of mine who own Driving Concepts have a one-day school at Laguna Seca every 12/31 and then party in Monterey for New Years Eve. I could go and instruct but it's about 400 miles from SD.

Neat area and a neat track. Might be wet though.

[rspecker]

Fly to San Francisco. Ride the coast highway 1 to Santa Barbara or San Diego. SF to Seaside, to Morro Bay, to SB, to LA to SD. 3-5 days. Typical weather pattern is clear skies, cold mornings and warm afternoons w/ a tailwind. ~135 miles per day and beautiful scenery. There's a group of 25-40 folks who do this each year in the middle of January. Come join us.

+1. I just finshed this ride (Palo Alto to Santa Barbara) with 7 buddies. It was excellent. The tailwinds are impressive, and at times you will be +25mph and hardly pedaling with incredible scenery. A couple nice climbs. We hired Central Coast Outdoors to scope the routes and drive a van in support and haul us back to Palo Alto on day 5. They were really good and I'd highly recommend them.

Cindi Patterson, Guide & Office Manager
Central Coast Outdoors
Cindi@CentralCoastOutdoors.com
805.528.1080
CentralCoastOutdoors.com

[rspecker]

+1. I just finshed this ride (Palo Alto to Santa Barbara) with 7 buddies. It was excellent. The tailwinds are impressive, and at times you will be +25mph and hardly pedaling with incredible scenery. A couple nice climbs. We hired Central Coast Outdoors to scope the routes and drive a van in support and haul us back to Palo Alto on day 5. They were really good and I'd highly recommend them.

Cindi Patterson, Guide & Office Manager
Central Coast Outdoors
Cindi@CentralCoastOutdoors.com
805.528.1080
CentralCoastOutdoors.com

By the way Legend Rider, we did it for WAY WAY less than the price you quoted. It was an incredible deal.

[WadePatton]

The 53x11 folks are associated with a cycling retreat in AZ.

Looks like 255-295 per day, depending on length of stay. details: http://www.thecyclinghouse.com/default.asp

[adampaiva]

piggybacking onto this thread with a similar but slightly different question. I'm looking at some time off in December / January. For reasons I don't want to publish on the internet, I will not know exactly how much time off until then, but looking at between 1 - 4 weeks. I'd like to fly somewhere with my rando bike, rent a cheap little house or apartment for most of that time, and have a home base from which I just do a lot of (really good) riding. Don't want to do a bike tour for this trip. At the most, I think maybe split the trip into two places which either I cycle between, or train/bus between.

I want it to be :
-warm
-not in the USA
-not terribly expensive to rent an accommodation
-have good food
-ideally a smallish city or town. Not a big city. Some restaurants/nightlife would be nice but is not the focus of the trip. But don't particularly want to hunker down in the middle of nowhere for this trip either.
-have spectacular cycling accessible. Road riding and gravel type stuff. Enough to keep me occupied with day rides for 2+ weeks. Maybe an overnight or two either camping or credit card touring style. I will take my 650B L'Avecaise.
-If there's fly fishing too, that would be a plus.

I'm willing to splurge on the airfare but hopefully its somewhere I can rent a flat for a few weeks not too expensively ie not paying for 4 weeks of nightly hotel or b&b rates. Given the unknown timing part of it, it may end up all being confirmed at the last minute, but want to have a location or two researched and in mind so I can jump right on it, book a flight and be gone the next day when the time comes. I'm pretty used to spontaneous figure-it-out-as-I-go travel.

I was thinking maybe Argentina to the Mendoza area or further down into Patagonia. New Zealand also is an idea.

[etu]

not warm, but not super cold, but for amazing, mind-blowing views, I'd go to Death Valley.
Stay at Furace Creek Inn or set up car camping.

[adampaiva]

I specifically want to get out of the country for this trip and go somewhere that would be harder for me to visit on a shorter timeframe

[Thrillho]

One could do a nice training camp in Maui. There are several rides that you could do--and each one would be truly spectacular. Showing a photo of my climb up 10,000 feet to the summit of Mt. Haleakala earlier this year (as compared to Tuscon, for example, its like 3 Mt. Lemmons in a row). Plus in January and February you could still go surfing and snorkeling when not riding and the whales should be there.

[John H.]

Were you out there on January? Did I meet you by my condo in Kehei?


One could do a nice training camp in Maui. There are several rides that you could do--and each one would be truly spectacular. Showing a photo of my climb up 10,000 feet to the summit of Mt. Haleakala earlier this year (as compared to Tuscon, for example, its like 3 Mt. Lemmons in a row). Plus in January and February you could still go surfing and snorkeling when not riding and the whales should be there.

[Thrillho]

Not this January. But I go once or twice a year. Its not as expensive as it sounds with Hawaiian airline miles and wise hotel/condo shopping.

[Idris Icabod]

Showing a photo of my climb up 10,000 feet to the summit of Mt. Haleakala earlier this year (as compared to Tuscon, for example, its like 3 Mt. Lemmons in a row)

Just to defend my climb in TuCSon:

Mt. Haleakala: 36 miles; 10,000 ft gain; average gradient 5%
Mt. Lemmon: 29 miles; 7,080 ft gain; average gradient 4.3%

[Drmojo]

Just to defend my climb in TuCSon:

Mt. Haleakala: 36 miles; 10,000 ft gain; average gradient 5%
Mt. Lemmon: 29 miles; 7,080 ft gain; average gradient 4.3%

Haleakala feels much longer--never too steep, but higher elevation, I have done it twice--the descent should be more fun--but lots of riding brakes--as I suck at descending:no:

[John H.]

Haleakala is kind of a boring grind- especially in 2nd half.

There are better climbs on Maui- Taking the back way up to the saddle is nicer (Pulehu rd.), and also the climb over by Proflyght paragliding (Waipoli rd).

Haleakala feels much longer--never too steep, but higher elevation, I have done it twice--the descent should be more fun--but lots of riding brakes--as I suck at descending:no:

[Idris Icabod]

Haleakala feels much longer--never too steep, but higher elevation, I have done it twice--the descent should be more fun--but lots of riding brakes--as I suck at descending:no:

The elevation is almost identical. Lemmon is 9,157 ft, Haleakala is 10,023 ft.

[adampaiva]

Hawaii would I'm sure be a great destination, but not quite what I'm looking for.

Anyone done Mendoza or Patagonia? My googling is turning up lots of hits for leisurely winery to winery riding or bike trekking the length of Patagonia information. Not sure if it would work well for the sort of trip I have in mind yet. As a reference point I did a similar trip in a little village outside of Girona Spain called Madremanya and that was perfect for this sort of trip.

[54ny77]

go to los angeles west side, find affordable accomodations via airbnb or vrbo in santa monica and hit pch to go ride every day in the santa monica mountains. leave after weekday rush hour and you'll be golden. if you rent a condo that has a kitchen you can make your own meals and save (or spend) as much as you want.

the riding options are pretty much endless.

[trener1]

Have you thought about the Andalucia region of Spain? Maybe Granada? or maybe cheaper in a smaller town.
You would be right next the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, loads of good riding in the area, good food, good nightlife, still relatively cheap compared to other parts of Europe, and of course great weather and beaches.

[ltwtsculler91]

Have you thought about the Andalucia region of Spain? Maybe Granada? or maybe cheaper in a smaller town.
You would be right next the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, loads of good riding in the area, good food, good nightlife, still relatively cheap compared to other parts of Europe, and of course great weather and beaches.

Fly east and head to Spain!
We do a Mallorca trip each February through Trek Travel and it is amazing. Just show up with kit/pedals/saddle and ride, they take care of the rest.

I've also heard Girona is an amazing trip, but haven't been in that area. My family is from Asturias in northern Spain (think last week of this year's Vuelta), but the weather there isn't great for early season training.

[Heisenberg]

piggybacking onto this thread with a similar but slightly different question. I'm looking at some time off in December / January. For reasons I don't want to publish on the internet, I will not know exactly how much time off until then, but looking at between 1 - 4 weeks. I'd like to fly somewhere with my rando bike, rent a cheap little house or apartment for most of that time, and have a home base from which I just do a lot of (really good) riding. Don't want to do a bike tour for this trip. At the most, I think maybe split the trip into two places which either I cycle between, or train/bus between.

I want it to be :
-warm
-not in the USA
-not terribly expensive to rent an accommodation
-have good food
-ideally a smallish city or town. Not a big city. Some restaurants/nightlife would be nice but is not the focus of the trip. But don't particularly want to hunker down in the middle of nowhere for this trip either.
-have spectacular cycling accessible. Road riding and gravel type stuff. Enough to keep me occupied with day rides for 2+ weeks. Maybe an overnight or two either camping or credit card touring style. I will take my 650B L'Avecaise.
-If there's fly fishing too, that would be a plus.

I'm willing to splurge on the airfare but hopefully its somewhere I can rent a flat for a few weeks not too expensively ie not paying for 4 weeks of nightly hotel or b&b rates. Given the unknown timing part of it, it may end up all being confirmed at the last minute, but want to have a location or two researched and in mind so I can jump right on it, book a flight and be gone the next day when the time comes. I'm pretty used to spontaneous figure-it-out-as-I-go travel.

I was thinking maybe Argentina to the Mendoza area or further down into Patagonia. New Zealand also is an idea.

Manizales, Colombia.

Warm, cheap (to get to, too), friendly, great food, great riding, cycling-crazed country, safe, and in****ingsanely beautiful.

Thank me later.

[adampaiva]

OK now you guys are getting it.

I did do a similar trip to Madremanya outside of Girona. I essentially want to recreate that trip experience in a different location this time. I thought about just going back, but the weather won't be ideal. Not bad, but just not ideal. Maybe Andalucia is better being farther south. I'll check into it some.

Manizales - I've heard mention of Colombia as an epic cycling destination. I'll do some more research and keep this area as one of my options to seriously consider.

thanks! Keep em coming.

[BobO]

Just to defend my climb in TuCSon:

Mt. Haleakala: 36 miles; 10,000 ft gain; average gradient 5%
Mt. Lemmon: 29 miles; 7,080 ft gain; average gradient 4.3%

Mt. Lemmon is an amazing way to spend a day in the saddle. It's a great road, the climb is as challenging as you want to make it, the viewpoints are spectacular, there are always new friends to make along the way, the decent is exhilarating but not exceptionally dangerous. And, there are well earned cookies in Summerhaven. As a cyclist, it's worth taking a trip here just to do that ride.

[572cv]

If you don't care about being overly warm.... Mallorca was very good for some friends doing a winter training trip a few years ago. I would suggest as well Corsica. I was on the north end of the island (the Cap Corse) one year, and it was similarly great for riding. Southern France can be just fabulous riding and very reasonable to rent a place for a few weeks, but maybe worth checking out the conditions on the weather sites and perhaps find a few places where you can learn about the local riding. The rides described here are some of the good ones around Nice:

https://www.cafeducycliste.com/where-we-ride/

Just to give a flavor. I've taken a few trips to the area, and the riding around there is wonderful.

At least this checks the out-of-the-country box for you. Cheers!