First Bikepacking Adventure of 2012: Stagecoach 400 Day 1:

The last week of April saw a new multi-day bikepacking adventure in Southern California - the Stagecoach 400. A great loop developed by Brendan and Mary Collier of Idyllwild that shows off some of the best mountain biking in Southern California.  Their website is here:
https://socalenduro.wordpress.com/stagecoach-400/
As I wrote on the bikepacking discussion board, it felt as if locals take you on their best neighborhood rides - for 400 miles. This was the inaugural event, so there was much uncertainty about how long it would take, but some fast riders who pre-rode the loop took 4-5 days and these were long days, although not in racing mode. So a time limit of 5 days was set.

We met Thursday evening at Brendan's bike shop in Idyllwild, probably about 40 people from all over the country, including Alaska, Florida, and exotic places like Kansas or Idaho. Jay Petervary from Idaho (who two years in a row set a new record on the Canada-Mexico Tour Divide) and Ezter Horanyi from Colorado (in the green puffy sweater below) were the expected front runners among men and women and lived up to their expectations, with Jay just needing 2 days and 2 hours to finish (eventually a dozen of us finished in under 3 days/72 hours, 14 more between 3 and 5 days).

The start the next morning was a bit delayed because the Spot trackers hadn't arrived yet. But more time to hang out in the town center and talk to other people. Check out how busily almost all of them are studying their spot trackers!

Jill Homer and Katherine Wallace, Katherine was preparing for Tour Divide later this year, which she finished faster than I was last year. At this point, Jill still held the women's record on Tour Divide, but Katherine was a few days faster (and Ezter did set a new women's record in under 20 days).

Here are Brendan and Mary shortly after we really started

The first day was mainly downhill, but not easy. In fact, by the time I hit 100 miles, I really couldn't go any further. From Idyllwild, you mainly go down into the Anza Borrego desert, a lot of sand and heat to deal with on day 1.

As you descend, there is a spectacular view (but also intimidating) of the desert, although the picture doesn't do it justice.

Much of the intial riding in Coyoto Canyon, once you really are at the bottom in the desert is not a trail, but finding your way across a wash. Deep sand, of course.

One of the biggest surprises: In the middle of the desert, you suddenly hit a swampy jungle. Yes, water, totally overgrown, all that is missing are crocodiles jumping at you. It is a very short stretch, but no less impressive.

And in no time, we're back in deep sand, although more on something that looks like a road, and now for the rest of the day. 

The day ends on a long climb and pretty much everybody stopped somewhere there for the night or at least for a few hours. I was really exhausted as I never do very well in deserts, so I had targeted 100 miles and stopped as soon as I got there, somewhere between 11 and midnight. As I found out the next morning, a lot of other cyclists were spread around there for the night as well. This is the Fishcreek Wash climb before it gets dark:

Stagecoach 400: Day 2

I woke up as it got light and after quickly munching on some bars tackled the rest of the climb. Towards the end, the jeep trail becomes very steep with a few hike-a-bike sections that are challenging. Not just pushing your bike, but requiring a bit of climbing and keeping your balance as you hoist up the bike. It is very nice to do that first thing in the morning because it would become grueling in the middle of the day in the heat, but I have positive memories of that stretch.

Then it goes down on the other side towards Highway S-2, which is where the Overland Stage Coach Route of 1849 passed through. Still deep sand and I took a good tumble on the descent with the big chainring taking a bite out of my shin and was probably one of the last ones to make it to the small store at the intersection with the S-2. Jill Homer (1st on the left) was already to leave as I rolled in. Brendan and Mary are in the middle of the picture.

After a short stretch on S-2, we turn right and then comes one of the tougher climbs: Oriflamme Canyon. I've done that climb a few times as part of Rich Wolf's Julian Death March and riding on my own, so I wanted to make sure to get out of the desert before mid-day. Surprisingly, Oriflamme didn't feel too hard and even packed I rode almost the whole climb (whereas I have pushed more of it on previous attempts unloaded). No pictures there and this doesn't look like anything, but it still is a very rewarding view back once you made it to the top!

Some beautiful, although not very long, single track through meadows follows. Almost feels like an alpine area, although this is only about 4000 feet.

Then a bit more single track climbing towards Noble Canyon. That's where I caught up with Jill Homer, but that was the last time I saw her on the ride as I was getting stronger now that the desert was over. 

Noble Canyon is one of the most famous mountain bike trails in Southern California and it isn't bad, but just not my favorite. I don't think it lives up to the hype. Mainly rocky descent, technical and hard work, not fun flowing single track. Largely rideable, even with bikepacking luggage, Chunk riders, i.e. those that enjoy carefully working through small sections of technical trail, or downhill bombers may like it, but it isn't a trail that I find exciting.

And as soon as you hit the bottom, you turn right and it goes up just as steeply, but now on a paved road! That came as a less pleasant surprise, especially as now the sun was getting rather strong. After gaining elevation again, a very nice stretch followed. It was now the middle of the afternoon, but I would have loved to camp in that meadow area for the night.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was uneventful, slowly got into the San Diego area, some of it through Cleveland National Forest with a few smaller towns. I had dinner in Alpine, I believe. The final big challenge for the day was another long and steep hike-a-bike. That turned out to be questionable routing decision as it crossed an Indian Reservation and the tribal Sheriff didn't want people there. So the earliest riders were chased away and had to take a much faster road short-cut, as did slow riders the next day. But I arrived late in the evening and didn't see anybody on my long hike. You end up at a trashed abandoned house on top and then descend into ritzier suburbs. Met Jay Rall, another rider at the top, first cyclist undertaking the route I had seen for most of the day, about since passing Jill near Julian in the morning.  Hard to know exactly how the area looked as it was night time. Eventually, I was on a trail along the Sweetwater Reservoir and stopped there for the night. If I had known the trail better, I would have gone another hour or so further.

Stagecoach 400: Last Day and Night

I stopped at the beginning of the Sweetwater reservoir since I didn't know what to expect next and getting into an urban area may have made it difficult to find good camping. Although it was a nice place, I didn't sleep very well that night and probably should have just taken a shorter break rather than trying to get a night's sleep. I was close to the ocean, a lot of condensation and didn't think about putting up the tarp, so it was wet and I never got comfortable. A waste of the night, I just should have ridden a few hours more then. Instead, the morning saw me cruise along the Sweetwater Reservoir on single track. Very nice, but not that spectacular that I would have minded missing it riding at night.

A couple hours later, I was in downtown San Diego and stopped at Starbucks for a late breakfast (mainly large coffee). After 2 hot days, it was somewhat chilly and I felt much stronger. In this weather, I can go twice as far! The rest of the morning was a rather urban ride, but as another indicator of careful route planning, the very last part of San Diego was a tour of the UC San Diego Campus and I stopped there for lunch. I didn't have the highest expectation of what was to follow as my impression of the San Diego area is suburbia hell, but I wrong: lots of very nice riding took us out of San Diego back into the mountains.
In fact, one of my favorite part of the whole ride were "the tunnels", a very overgrown maze of single-track trails between developments. But essentially, the next few hours were zig-zagging through open space set-asides between suburban developments and never felt that the ride was actually crossing a major urban area.

Some rather surprising switchbacks between Encinitas and Escondido.

And then along Lake Hodges (Obin and I would be riding there later in the year on a 50 miler starting near Escondido). The trail ends at the I-15 and I had dinner and resupplied at the shopping mall. Around then I noticed that if I just ride through the night or just take a short break, I could actually break 3 days and this new idea energized me and I took off at a faster clip.

On the other side of I-15, the San Dieguito River Trail takes you eastward through the San Pascual valley for an hour or so, but it ends on Highway 78, a very busy road connecting Escondido and Ramona/Julian. No way avoiding this highway for a few miles uphill and that is the worst part of the whole ride. It feels extremely dangerous as the road is hemmed in by rocks on both sides, has no shoulder at all, and cars still go 50+ miles. It only is a few miles before turning left onto a very overgrown dirt road (fence is locked, so there haven't been vehicles for a long time). Didn't take pictures even though it was very nice as it was getting dark and I wanted to get as many miles on the trickier trails before darkness. I have no idea how the next 8 hours or so looked, except in between there was a road through Warner Springs (but no traffic at the time I went through), but it seemed to be all wider dirt road. A very enjoyable night riding alone through the desert - in fact, I probably enjoyed it more than doing it during day time. I believe the many climbs could be disheartening in daylight. A few times, I laid down for a while, sometimes just as much to enjoy lying flat on my back on the trail and looking at the sky as to recover. I took a spill on a sandy spot, soft surfaces are hard to see, but I nevertheless really liked riding through the night.

At dawn, I found myself approaching Anza and all that was left was a climb out of the desert (although a very long and hard climb) back up to Idyllwild. Another snafus near Idyllwild: a couple prevented riders from taking the scheduled route on dirtroads and had us detour on the main road. So halfway up the final climb, I had to ride back down. I caught up with a local, Joshua Weinfeld, as I saw him hopping a fence and followed him on his alternative route to the finish. A bunch of people had gathered at the bike shop, including Ezter Horanyi (on the left) and Jay Petervary (on the right), both clean and recovered after having finished hours before us. In contrast, Joshua  (third from left) looks rather hammered. He, Tracey Petervary, and I were the last ones to be under 72 hours and as it didn't look as if there would be anybody else arriving for hours, the crowd dispersed.