The Lost Coast is one of the most unique and formidable regions to bike making it a tough sell to ride solo.
I should know riding deep into the redwoods two years ago that was the shortest distance I covered by far on my three-day journey, yet unquestionably the hardest.
Mix in the anxiety of riding through this remote area alone and an incredibly low level of clouds, this was not the experience I had hoped for.
Gravel has so many great opportunities, but there’s always the threat of going overboard so when Miguel Crawford of the Grasshopper Adventure Series asked me to come up to scout a new variant of the Usal Hopper, I jumped at the chance for redemption.
First of all, this was a rare occasion as these redwoods are on land authored by the Redwood Forest Foundation that are privately protected trying to restore this ecosystem from its history of logging.
On top of being granted usage, we were also given special maps as GPS information was inconsistent due to this limited usage.
Our mission was to scout the roads south of Highway 1 which sounds easier than you think.
We had to diverge from our original route having to choose new options due to downed trees and mapping leading us awry.
Despite being remote and no access to water, I didn’t feel the same anxiety being alone on Usal Road as this felt more like an adventure rather than survival.
Also considering these roads were primarily used for logging, they were super palatable for gravel bikes with some of the grades getting us into the red, but nothing to knock us over.
Everyone doing the Usal Hopper will benefit from the fruits of our labor though we had to cut short our exploration on the other side of Highway 1 due to time.
That wasn’t a big loss as we took the known route that will be the cut-through on the Mediano course.
The descent was glorious with six miles of smoothness and emptying out to one of the best spots along the Lost Coast in Usal Beach.
Climbing out is a bit of a downside pushing through a 12% grind for over a mile, but the views over the ocean are more than worth it.
I’m glad Mig took the timing out of this event because there’s certain places you’d rather remember the experience than your elapsed time.
We’re blessed in California to have so many unique places to visit, but he Usal Hopper gives the opportunity to ride it!