Summers are always funny with planning and for the first time we’ll be have two Send Its about two weeks apart as our July 30th Half Moon Bay edition will soon be followed by our Backbone Trail ride on Sunday, August 14.
Odds are this will be a hot one, so the route is planned around getting a fun ride and keeping our exposure down.
First, important notes for this ride:
- The climbing is will take some work. These rides will be extremely difficult if you’re a first timer or working your way back.
- Parking is available along Trancas Canyon or PCH. The ride will start promptly at 8:15am for the Party Pace, 8:30am for the Potent Pace. Both groups will meet at Circle X Ranch at mile 12.
- The dirt is mainly single-track. Overall, it is not technical, but there are spots to contend with and you’ll need to be on top of your handling far more than on fire roads.
- There will be a number of regroups, but once everyone’s back, we roll!
- Make sure to bring your own tubes and a couple of water bottles. Everyone rides at their own risk. We’ll be stopping at mile 12 & 25 for refills.
- Riding tires 38mm and above will do the trick for most, as the climbs are steep and there’s some soft patches on the dirt descents, as well as loose pavement on the road.
- This will not be race pace. At the same time, you have to be in the good to great shape range to do this ride even in the Party Pace group. If you’re just getting back into riding, I suggest you read Rule #1 again.
We’ll be starting out in Malibu at the Starbucks on PCH & Trancas Canyon for coffee at 7:30am.
For this ride, we’ll be doing a Party (8:15am) & Potent (8:30am) pace start again, but won’t keep the groups separate for the duration.
After taking PCH west, at mile 7 we’ll be turning up Yerba Buena for a 4.8 mile climb averaging 6.5% giving the Party pacers a head start.
Both groups will meet at Circle X Ranch for our only water stop of the day and then leave together with another mile and a half climb until we reach the Backbone Trail.
The first 4.6 mile dirt sector starts with a twisty descent leading into a mile and a half climb with some bumps where you’ll cover most of the vert for this part before finishing off with some wide arc rollers.
Crossing Yerba Buena Road brings on sector two as the start is a technical climb, but much more palatable in this direction.
Backbone then joins Etz Meloy Motorway which is the only fire road portion of the ride, yet with steepest grades of dirt for the day.
Turning back onto the single track will be the highlight of the day as this 2.6 mile stretch is one of the funnest and flowy pieces of off-roading you’ll ever ride.
Crossing over Mulholland brings another playful sector that’s mostly downhill that you’ll wish was longer than 1.2 miles.
Reaching Encinal Canyon, we’ll do a short climb to connect with Decker Canyon where we’ll grab water at the Fire Station.
After this fun descent, we’ll ride back on PCH / Broad Beach back to Trancas Canyon where we’ll finish off with lunch (might be a surprise in there).