SAMO 50

Ride Name: SAMO 50
When: Sunday 12/27
Time: 7:30am
Where: Los Robles/Sycamore Canyon
Ride Description or Details:
I promised myself a 50 this year, and it would be fun to close out the year with a big ride with friends. Plan would be to start at the Eastern end of Los Robles. Take Los Robles/Space Mountain over to Sycamore. Once in Sycamore: Sin Nombre, Two Foxes, up Guadalasca, down Backbone, then Sycamore to the beach. At the turnaround climb back up Overlook fire road to really get to the tippy top and take in all the views. Descend Guadalasca, and reverse course. Only deviation planned for the return trip would be Mr. Toads Wild Ride and Sherwood Forest at the bottom of Space Mountain. My rough calculations put this around 52/7-8K. As far as 50+ 8K rides go, I think this one is fairly user friendly. For those that require some suffering the climb back up the Western flank of Los Robles around the 35 mile mark will suck, and a couple sections will likely require some brief HAB. Ride will be mostly fun, flowy single track, some mild chunk, but nothing too techy, some fire road, and very minimal pavement (just the Black Beeyotch, and the road connector from Mr. Toads to Sherwood). It's fun riding, and views a plenty. Depending on dining restrictions at that time, it may be worth noting that we finish about a half mile from Bad Ass Tacos.
~~~~~ Optional Details ~~~~~
Meet Location: Los Robles Access trailhead on Foothill drive, off of Hampshire, in Westlake Village
Skill Level: Intermediate, Advanced
Ride Pace: Moderate Pace
Type of Ride: Out and Back
Rider Limit: none
Anticipated Mileage: 50 - 55
Elevation Gain: 7k - 8K
Ride Duration: I dunno, 7-8 hours?
Previous Ride Reports: Lots of reports of the various pieces floating around
Possible Bail-Outs: Turnaround and go back any time, with paved return once out of Sycamore if necessary.
Facilities: Bathrooms at the Sycamore Canyon trailhead, which we'll pass twice. A number of places to refill water along the way.
Food/water suggestions: Plenty of water available. Food - you know what you need.
Option to Upload:

 

I’m in.

 

I’m in, I got the perfect bike for this

 

I’m going to try and be in...

Ceviche?

 

You bought the single speed?!?!

 

FYI, I put this on Sunday, instead of Saturday the 26th because I saw your post saying you had to work that Saturday, and I thought this might be up your alley. No pressure though......

 

I'm hoping to make it. The double was in hopes of bringing my significant other as well.

 

Pondering.......

 

That Backbone Downhill is the Bomb, Scary Fast. It is one of those Western trails that have a couple inside corners carved very high. Thinking of bailouts, once committed to the BB they become a little less obvious.

 

Wait for me!!!

 

Chop chop.....we're burning daylight.

 

I am probably a go.

 

Hooligan ride!?
Will try to make this

 

Though I won't get my hopes TOO high about the "maybes" for a 50 mile ride, this is shaping up pretty nicely.

 

You can't trust those maybes.

Do you have a GPX for this?

 

I don’t, but I’ll try to build one tonight. When I was piecing it together on Trailforks to confirm mileage a couple sections didn’t show as available, so I’ll have to figure out how to construct a GPX . Admittedly, I didn’t try very hard initially.

 

Well, it turns out I'm not working Saturday after all. That will be a recovery day in hopes of a great ride on Sunday. I'll be there.

 

Let's see if this works. I can send you the actual GPX in Strava I think. I'm still kind of mulling the best combination of trails in Sycamore leading up to Guadalasca, but really it doesn't matter that much.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2775240863747945150

Edit: If anyone exported the GPX file within an hour of me posting this, I noticed the start/finish was a little wonky after I zoomed in more, so I edited that.

 

I usually hit Sin Nombre/Two Foxes on the way in then take Wood Canyon up to Guad. After Overlook and Guad we could go back down Wood Canyon and up Two Foxes, Sage, drop Ranch Center to Art's, back out to Ranch then return. I would prefer to skip the Triunfo section and stick with Space and Sycamore but it's your ride.

 

That's a nasty elevation profile... I like it. My legs are already hurting.

 

I'm totally open to suggestion with the Sycamore route, as I've only been in there a few times. I'll play with it using your suggestions. I'm also not married to the Triunfo section. I just want to get to 50 miles not matter what, and that was an easy way to do it. If we could add some miles within Sycamore, then we could start at Space Mountain, and finish by doing Mr. Toads, Sherwood, and back to the start via the scenic overlook and the single track portion of Los Robles. I do like that section east of Space.

 

8000' I'm going to dial up the old wedding anniversary excuse. I knew that date would come in handy for something, just didn't know it would take this long to prevail. Have fun boys and girls. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to ride, just can't make an all day'er out in the booneys out of it.

 

Yeah, I did a gulp when I saw the profile, but immediately thought that you and @mtnbikej would approve.

 

It actually strikes me as similar to the 50 that we did in Laguna... Lots of little ups and downs to make it hurt the whole way. I may break out a "special" cog for this one.

 

Except all of those little ups are rideable.

 

Yep, little ups, like the bl@ck beetch coming out of Sycamore and those nasty giant rollers heading back to Space Mountain after you cross Potrero.

You guys are gonna get your asses kicked and therefore, I solute you!

 

I found the black beeetch quite charming.

 

Oh yeah, except the giant rollers. Those are definitely HAB.

 

I think the Triunfo section has to stay. I've tried some different combos launching from Space Mountain and Rosewood trailheads, and no matter how I route it I keep coming up with 47 - 48 miles. Maybe I'm a little too hung up on the 50 part, but it's an important threshold for me. If you know another way to find a few miles inside Sycamore I'm definitely open to suggestion, but I couldn't find 2-3 miles of filler without riding in circles. I do like your routing inside of Sycamore, so I'll revise the route to include that sequence regardless.