Stagecoach 2019

Stagecoach 400

My Stagecoach experience began when I landed in sunny San Diego on Wednesday. I was happy to be in the warm sun after a long winter/snowy spring in Calgary. I checked into my hotel and went to building up my bike right away. I took it for a cruise and everything seemed to be in order. I rode up and down the bay checking out the start/finish area and the pathways to and from. I didn't realize it when I booked my hotel, but it was right in the Little Italy district and there was a nice large piazza and restaurants all over. It was a beautiful area. I was in bed early and resting up for the big ride. Thursday evening was the Stagecoach rider dinner so I had some time to kill and went to go check out the USS Midway museum. The museum on the aircraft carrier was amazing. I had never been on a ship that large and the amount of detail was very informative. I must have spent 4 hours walking all over the ship, reading and listening to the stories. It was pricey but well worth it. Thursday evening came quickly and I rode over to the dinner hosted by Rick Theoret and his wife Bonnie. I met quite a few riders there and we were all checking out one anothers bikes and setups. Rick and Bonnie put on a nice spread of spaghetti and garlic bread. Great for carb-loading before we use up all of those calories during the weekend. Brendan Collier, the organizer of the route, went over some things about the race and soon the sun was going down and people were taking off to rest up. I had to organize a last minute bag drop using BagBnB so my belongings were secure while I rode the route.

I was up early the day of the ride. I quickly got ready and was out the door around 6:15am. That would give me plenty of time to get the bag dropped and mingle around the start and meet any of the racers that were not at the dinner. After I dropped the bike bag I went to take a drink of my water bottle but there was no bottle there. I had left my bottles in the fridge in my room at the hotel. I quickly checked by bike bag then hustled back to my hotel to ask for my room key again so I could get the bottles. Fortunately, it was early enough that there was little traffic and I made good time back. It was 6:40 now. I zipped down to the start and arrived with about 10 minutes to spare. Enough time to get my picture taken and join in on the group photo.

Go Time

A quick countdown and we were off on to the streets of San Diego right into morning traffic. The start has weird section right off the bat with the route crossing the street and going up beside the train tracks for about a kilometer before crossing back over the tracks and across the same street again. This caused all types of mayhem at the start with cars and riders all over, waiting for lights and the train to go by. I think mid-ride, as it was originally designed, would not be a big issue but if the start is at the USS Midway again I think Brendan will need to make a change.

Once we were all on the boulevard we had a chance to settle in and think about just riding. We rode past the never-ending Navy shipyards and then hit the Sweetwater river where we began the ride up over the mountains. We had formed a decent sized pack and began chatting with each other while pushing the pace on the paved pathway. Past the homeless camps and into the residential area and the pathway turned to dirt. This is where I made my first wrong turn at a light and had to jump a fence. The trail was fun to ride on but there were many turns and I was constantly double checking my GPS to make sure I was on the route. Past the horse stables and up a stiff climb into the Sweetwater reservoir area. This is where the first navigation challenge was. There was a section where the route does a 180 degree turn around a fence line but it was hard to read when riding the trail and a group of four of us rode straight up a tough climb only realizing halfway that we went the wrong way. I think we all thought we were suffering more and the people that took the correct route were much faster to the top of the hill.

Coming down the other side I found out that the red light I had affixed to the rear triangle had twisted into the spokes and blasted into a bunch of pieces. I had to unscrew and yank off the clamp part and threw it in my camel-back. I did this as hastily as I could as the pace was quickening with the group of 4-5 of us and I didn't want to lose much time. The route climbed up to a gazebo and one of the guys with us stopped there and was chatting with a friend maybe. I never saw him again. It was down to three of us now and there was a fun technical descent from the gazebo that I thoroughly enjoyed. The third place guy went down slowly and it was down to two riders. Jacob Miller and myself. I was following right behind him before we hit the double track and went around an off camber corner and crash! Jacob pushed too hard or had too high of pressure in his tires and washed out on the corner and went down hard. I slowly went by him and asked if he was okay. He popped up quick but was coated in dust. I yelled at him to double check his gear so he didn't lose anything and seeing that he was on his feet and getting ready to go I pedaled on. In hindsight, that was a dick move. I should have stopped and helped him out more. Sorry Jacob. But it wasn't long before he had caught up to me, fueled by adrenaline. The chatter was minimal as we rode higher and higher into the mountains each feeding off each others "race" mentality.

Bring on the Mountains

It wasn't long before we were headed up Sloane Canyon. The first big climb of the day and the weather was getting hot. The climb begins gradually before getting very steep at the top where you spit out onto a road and climb some more. It was here that I was able to get and stay in front of Jacob. That was until the short little hike-a-bike section where I had stumbled in my haste and fell onto the base of an old yucca or cactus and that jabbed me hard into my ribs and winded me. I had to take a minute to recover and that was all it took for Jacob to catch up. The short hike-a-bike led to a different gravel road that led onto pavement for the final crest of the climb and I was feeling the heat and was craving some shade but the oncoming downhill was good enough to cool me down.

There was a fairly long paved section up and through Alpine but the shade from the trees across the road was pleasant. In Alpine Jacob suddenly turned off into a gas station to clean up his wounds as he had some bad road rash on his elbow and forearm. He also refilled his water. I continued up the road to the interstate, crossed over and then found a shady spot to finally get some sunscreen on. I was burning up and figured I had time to apply. But once again it wasn't long before Jacob was approaching me on the road. I quickly finished up and packed up my gear. It took a while to catch him but I caught him just before we began the climb up Viejas Grade Road, one of the tougher climbs. It was awesome to ride though as the views were amazing the higher we went. Once over the top we hit pavement again and road construction. Jacob and I were lucky as the pilot car was just turning around and heading down and we came through so we paced off the pilot car all the way down almost to the bottom.

At the bottom was the Perkins Market and Veronica's Kitchen. This was were I had planned to eat an early dinner but I was well ahead of schedule coming through at 1pm. Jacob and I agreed to make it a quick stop to keep ahead of any others. I quickly grabbed a Gatorade and water and topped up my liquids. Jacob was raring to go and I jumped on my bike and we were off. Probably about a 5-10 minute stop. Up the road and left onto a medium length double-track section before spitting back onto pavement again for a long climb up to the Mesa Fire Road. We had noticed that to the East dark clouds were forming up and it didn't look too pleasant. The East Mesa fire road starts off nicely but devolves into a single track before spitting out onto a double track for the climb up Indian Creek truck trail. It was not long up the fire that the dark clouds were right on top of us and the rain began to fall. We switched over to our rain gear and Jacob kept pushing the pace up through the beautiful pine forests. I was lucky to have Jacob lead me out as he had ridden the course a year before and knew the route very well. I just followed him along the now single track, past the primitive campgrounds and he started to get away from me on the descents. We hit the start of the Indian Creek double track and it really began to rain on us. Up we rode and not long the road turned to peanut butter. It was a tough climb just trying to keep the wheels turning. I heard an engine and beeping from something backing up but was not sure where it was coming from. I would say 75% of the way up we suddenly came around a corner and a big dozer was there plowing the road. He was fixing the erosion from the big rainstorms the area had over the winter and early spring. Once we were around the dozer the trail was back to a nice hard pack and easy to ride. We were very happy to be past there and thought about the people behind us as it was only going to get worse on that road as the dozer chewed up the road and the rain continued to fall. After summiting the Indian Creek trail it was a short downhill to the Sunrise Highway where we would finally summit over the Cuyamaca mountain range and begin the descent into the desert.

The Sunrise highway was wet and I ate what I could. Jacob really began to hammer on the highway. I could tell he didn't want me following him any longer and he gapped me on the highway. The highway section was 5 miles of pavement before a sharp left into some singletrack on the west side of the highway before crossing back over to begin the descent towards Oriflamme Jeep trail. about halfway through the singletrack Jacob had made a wrong turn, right instead of a left, and we were back together again until we crossed the highway. Jacob took off and I couldn't muster enough energy to keep up with him. That was the last I saw of him and I rode the rest of the course by myself. The End..... just kidding.

Desert Dessert

The trail goes downhill through some bumpy high speed double track and I kept looking ahead to see if I could see Jacob on the next bend but nothing. The trail kept getting rougher and rougher and I came across a couple of Jeepers and said Hi. After that point the trail just drops straight down into the canyon and the road is steep and very rocky. A true Jeep trail. I tried my best to blast down it but it was very tough. The trail did finally flatten out and I had entered the desert. Sand and more sand but no rain and much warmer temperatures. I tried to find my way through the washes while trying to stay on course and it was here that my first set of GPS batteries died. I switched them out and took a break while shedding rain gear. From here there was a long section of paved StageCoach highway. The sun felt amazing and the wind was at my back and I was flying and totally blissful.

I knew there was an important stop coming up in Agua Caliente but my water and food was still good so I cruised on down the highway to the left turn into the desert. The road across the desert was nice hard pack and the wind at my back helped me float across and corrugation in the road. The shadows were getting long as I turned around left and started up the wash directly into the wind now. The further into the wash the most protected from the wind I was but the sand became softer and softer. I really had to be smart and pick my lines. I saw Jacob's tracks going from one side to another trying to find firm ground and I ended up snaking along in somewhat similar lines. I had heard a lot about the Diablo drop but I finally arrived it actually looked like fun. A double sand descent. Down one sand slope and then transition to another big sandy slope. It was more about balance and bike control than speed. I rode down without any major issue. In the Fish Creek wash the sun had set and it was on with the lights. Just my Klite on the front during dusk hours. Down the wash fighting and working for the firm sand. I made some wrong turns when it started to open up in sections. About half way through there were a bunch of off-roaders camping out and the traffic on the wash/road picked up. This traffic helped with the firmness and I was finally able to keep a steady pace. The downside was that going through the most scenic area it was dark and I couldn't see anything although I had a good idea from the pictures I saw when doing my route research. Another time maybe I will visit again. Through Gap mountain, past Fish Creek campground where people had a fire and route finding my way out of the end of the wash. Finally onto a sandy paved road and heading north with the wind at my side. I knew there was a store and bar coming up but at this time of night the store would be closed and I just hoped the bar would be open. I pedaled down the road thinking about what food I might be able to get and quickly I was at the bar just after Jacob had gone through.

The Iron Door bar was open and sounding lively. I walked in and sat right at the bar and asked for water, a coke and a menu. The lady showed me the menu on the wall and I ordered the biggest meal I could see. A large pizza. That would settle my stomach. She told me that it would be about 15 minutes to cook as it was frozen. Sure enough it was a standard frozen grocery store pizza that she popped in to a toaster oven in the back corner of the bar. While I waited I talked with some locals and admired the specialness of the place. Dollar bills stapled to the walls with other sorts of knick knacks. Lively locals and a jukebox alternating country and rock 'n roll. When the pizza was ready she brought it over to me and told me it was hot but do you think I could care as I did my best to inhale it and burnt my tongue and the inside of my mouth doing so. It didn't matter. I was so hungry. Before I was going to leave I grabbed a bag of chips and some chocolate bars she had. That Iron Door bar will forever be a memorable spot and I will highly recommend others stop in.

Pavement

I took my time before getting back on the bike on the porch of the bar. I cleaned my drive train and did some bike maintenance and emptied the sand out of my shoes. I had a long section of pavement before I ventured into the sand again. Back on the bike at 9:30pm and north into the wind on the highway. While riding the highway I could see the locals with their off-road buggies going up and down the hills and across the desert. It was fun to watch while cruising the highway. I took the first big right and now headed East to Borrego Springs and supposedly a Texas Dip. I was not sure what this was but it was just the highway going down into a wash and up the other side...steep on both sides. I couldn't see the other side in the night so it was not at intimidating. It was just after the dip that my etrex chirped at me again saying low batteries. I had used the GPS too much trying to navigate the washes. I hoped I could find some batteries in Borrego Springs but didn't remember seeing any stores in the area and nothing would be open late.

Once I arrived in Borrego Springs I knew I needed to be topped out on water so I found the water vending machine and for less than a dollar I filled up my bottles and camelback. The bar across the street was still open so I decided to go across and see if they might have some batteries. The bartender was a great guy and was able to find some batteries in a drawer but warned me that they might be dead. I didn't care and offered him a couple of dollars for the batteries which he promptly refused. He said "Have a good ride." And I stashed the batteries until my etrex died. I tried my best to keep the etrex off and navigate by memory. I knew that the route was pretty straight forward until the route went into the desert again. So I could conserve what little power I had left.

The Willows....

The road into Coyote Canyon was nice and firm but it quickly degraded into a sandy double track. There was one section early that I had troubles navigating as the wash had flowing water and the route meandered over it. Up and over a small pass on a Jeep track. It was just past midnight now and I was really worried about how bad the Willows section will be it was always in the back of my head as a big unknown. Fortunately the trail after the right turn towards the willows turned to soft sand. That would keep my mind off the willows. I could see Jacob's tire marks and it helped to see where he hit the soft sand. I had to really focus on my riding and balance. Off and on the bike x50. I eventually made it to the willows around 2:30 and had a tough time reading where to go in the dark. I found a line but it was going right and up the hillside. I had thought I would stay dry if I stuck to the route so I try multiple other lines but none of them led anywhere. Finally I went down to the creek and used the advice of Rick and just jumped in the water and started walking up the sandy creek. He had said if you follow the creek it will lead you to the other side. So along I trudged. I did eventually find a ribboned willow and it did lead to a side pathway out of the creek but even this came a dead end, or so I thought. I was going all over the place again and just decided to get back in the creek and keep going. The cool water actually felt pretty good on my sore feet but I could feel the sand getting in as well. The willows and reeds and tree branches took their ounce of skin and I was starting to get pretty beat up but I had to make it through. I ran into some openings and more dead ends or unpassable creek sections and had to find a way around. This was truly bushwhacking and I was being whacked a lot. Finally, after what felt like forever, I could see through the trees and I came out to the other side. In actuality I believe it was about 45 minutes.

Go, Go, Sand!

I was happy to be out of the Willows and get a chance to ride again. I looked for a spot to quickly drain and clean out my shoes. The sand in the wash was soft and I could see Jacob walking beside his bike a lot. I did just the same. Sometimes you could find a couple of meters of firm, crusty sand but for the most part it was soft and bottomless. It took me an hour of walking my bike to get to Bailey's cabin where the trail comes out of the wash for a little while. It was nice to be able to ride again but it was short lived as the trail dumps back into the wash within 2 miles. Back to taking my bike for a walk for another 3 miles. I wasn't really paying attention well when I checked my GPS and I had missed the turn. Just by a bit. So I had to come back and find the exit onto the trail. It was hard to see it but the light was starting to get better. It was about 5:30am now and I was very happy to be out of the sand. The trail now kicks up a hard climb that I tried to climb the start but it was steep so I walked a bit before I could get back on again about halfway up and grind out the rest. The sun was just coming up as I neared the top but it was very cold up on top. I came out into a field and saw that the trail went onto a dirt road with more climbing to keep me warm. But beyond that it was downhill through the farms to Terwilliger Road and I was freezing. Shaking hard I pedaled hard up the road towards the RV convenience store but it was much too early for it to be open so I ate some of my bars and continued on. I knew there was a cafe coming up once we hit the highway so I planned to eat breakfast there. There was a short bit of singletrack before the cafe and when I turned into it it seemed like a good trail but that quickly changed and it was a tough, rutted and washed out single track. I think because of that it was not ridden much anymore and it was very overgrown the further up with some pretty serious drops off the side. I kept moving forward and the trail crested beside the road and then a short downhill to the corner and the Paradise Cafe. Truly paradise as my emotional levels were very low. Coke, water and french toast with a side of bacon. Yum! That really hit the spot. I took care of some hygiene in the bathroom and took my time on the sunny patio cleaning my shoes and tending to my bike. Jacob did not stop at the cafe had already gone to Idyllwild and back and was starting the climb up Thomas Mountain by the time I was back on the bike.

The highway didn't seem super busy in the morning. The shoulder was non-existent and I was riding right on the line. A couple of idiots risked it shooting past me with less than a foot to spare. The sun was out but it was super hot until the climbs up to Idyllwild. While riding up I wondered who thought putting a town way up on the side of a mountain was a good idea. Tough climb but all pavement. I hit the gas station at the top for a top up and then threw on my clothes for a cool descent back down to the highway. I tried to also look for Brendan's bike shop, The Hub Cyclery, but I did not see it nor did I know where it actually was. I thought it was along the road but missed it. Sorry Brendan.

It was noon when I started up Thomas Mountain and the hot sun was on me. I had to be smart about keeping hydrated and in the shade of the trees. The trail was a smooth jeep track almost the whole way up which was nice. The views from the top were amazing although hazey. There was some fun high speed descending for a bit then another tougher climb and then a super long high speed descent off the mountain. I felt like I was really flying and had to be careful as there were some sandy corners and sections along with rutty and washed out sections as well. It was hard on the hands and feet. The trail spat out on a fresh pavement section which climbed up and over a small hill. The sun and the pavement were hot and I kept moving to keep the air flowing over my body. Sure enough a perfectly placed Dairy Queen tractor beamed me in. Perfect! A blizzard and a hamburger with fries. I checked with Trackleaders and Jacob just kept going keeping his stops to a minimum. I still had 130ish miles to go back to the finish. I was not sure whether I could make it under 2 days as there still were some tough climbs ahead. I topped up my water before I left and hit the road.

I felt energized after the rest stop and food. I was moving well past the RV store once again as the route loops back on itself this year with a small overlap section. Took a right and saw a straight long road climb in front of me. Keep moving forward I said to myself. The climb was pretty easy as a grader had come through and smoothed out the road but near the top it was challenging as the route kicked off to a rough side trail to connect two roads. Coming over the top I could see across the way where the next climb was. This next climb is where some off-roaders were flying down the hill. I was well off to the side and they zipped by me in their side by sides with a wave. I crested the next climb and could see clear across the valley. I could see a ribbon of double track all of the way across. I knew where to go. Forward. This section was actually really nice. I was happy and cruised along enjoying myself in the beautiful area. While climbing the next big climb some dirt bikes came up from behind me. I was going to let them go by at the top but they said they were waiting for some other guys. I blasted down the hill hoping I could make it to the bottom without them having to pass me. I did barely make it to the bottom and into the sandy section when they zipped by me. I came across them again as they regrouped before going across a road. I asked them how much further to Warner Springs and the told me quite a ways but that is where they were from so just keeping going straight and follow them. I challenged them to a race...across the street. I won! But about 10 minutes later the whole group of 10 or so of them brapped by me leaving me in their dust. Fun. The route did climb for a while again and then back down into a greener and lusher area before popping out on a paved road in the middle of nowhere. There was a couple gigantic boulders around at the end of the road so may be a sight-seeing road. I didn't complain and climbed up the road. The mountains along side the road really reminded me of the AZT. Really rocky and bouldery. The sun was getting low now and the road started a downward trend. This was an amazing road that I could see go all the way down to the valley. I was pumped and tried to tuck on my bike to go down as fast as I could. I want to thank all of you California taxpayers for such a nice and expensive road in the middle of nowhere. It made me very happy to ride that even though it was pavement. At the bottom the route turns left onto the highway/road towards Warner Springs. I was hoping the new gas station there was still open. It was and I did a quick refill while asking the attendant if another rider like me had stopped. She said she didn't recall seeing anyone. Jacob was a good 3 hours in front of me now and most likely out of reach.

Into The Night

Riding across the valley on the highway was uneventful with minimal traffic and scenic views from the bottom of the valley to the north where there was a lake. I enjoyed the last bit of sunlight as I rode north to the start of the climb. The sun was down by the time I made it to the bottom of the climb up Mesa Grande. This was a tough but quite beautiful climb. The pavement switch backed up the steep hill and I was feeling tired. I decided to stop near the top to take a break and eat some more food. When I finally made it up and over the first ridge there was a nice downhill across a small valley and I really felt the coolness of the incoming evening. This is where I started having an issue with the connector between my dynamo hub and the cable. The dynamo's pegs kept walking forward when I would brake. It made it very hard to keep my light on as the cable would pop off every time there was a bit of continuous braking. In my tired state it took about 15 minutes for me to troubleshoot it and finally figured out that my quick release had loosened and tightening up the quick release finally did the trick. Up and over the final hill and then a sharp right hand turn back on to gravel. This Black Canyon Road was amazing albeit scary in the night. It was pretty much pitch black now and I was guided by my headlight down the curvy downhill very good quality dirt road. I kind of wished I could have gone down it in the day as I would not have been so slow and I think you could really fly if you could see ahead and ready the corners better. I flew down the hill and was through the small village I remembered looking at when researching the route. I kept zipping down the road until I came across a road and hit kind of T intersection. I remembered that I needed to take a right there and started up the road but something didn't feel right as I started to climb again. I was still trying to conserve my GPS's battery but took a quick look and there was no magenta line on my screen and I had to zoom out a fair ways before I could see that I missed the turn back before the bridge so I had to ride back down and across the bridge. I back tracked up the road and missed the turn again. I was really getting confused in my fatigued state. I just couldn't find the turn so I zoomed in all of the way again and finally found the blind right hand turn. It was well hidden in the dark of the night. I descended quickly down to the creek and began ascending up the other side of the valley. The climb was quite tough and had some good tough kickers and grunty sections. About halfway up some Jeepers were coming down the trail and were nice enough to let me go by. They were probably wondering what I was doing out there. I couldn't really tell where the top was other than I started going downhill. It was just a really dark night and there were no lights in the valley below. Another hard pack and bumpy downhill into the valley.

In the valley the route turns onto a new single track trail instead of going up the gravel road. This trail was new as you could tell it had not had much traffic since it was still bumpy. The trail was well signed though and mostly easy to follow. Towards the end there were just too many gates to go through and one tough, steep section towards the end. I am sure in the light of day it would be nice but at night I think I would have preferred the road as the road did not have any traffic anyways.

Going Too Fast

Once I found my way through the trail head parking lot I was on to what became my favorite section of trail. The Santa Ysabel/Orosco Truck trail. This was a fun trail and I was flying knowing I was getting closer to the city and the finish. I was pumped and really flew down this trail until I was stopped in my tracks coming through a tight, overgrown section. I came around a bush and there was a big boulder right in my way. I slammed on my brakes and quickly tried to avoid the big boulder but went straight into a smaller boulder right beside. Over the handlebars I went and then along came bikes as well. Ouch! It took me a bit to get untangled from my bike and then my bike from between the rocks. I did a quick check of my body and my bike and everything was actually good. Some minor abrasions but nothing too nasty. I was very lucky and I even felt luckier when I took a look at where I was. To the right of the smaller boulder the trail drops away down into the canyon I was biking along. Dodged a big bullet there. I told myself to play it safer and get to the finish in one piece. While writing this I thought I would take a look at Google maps and see if I could figure out where I crashed and I found the exact spot. You can even see the two boulders I hit. Check it out. https://goo.gl/maps/mR2uxJciv8q1kiHx7

I could eventually hear the highway up above me and I climbed out of the canyon and was so happy that I was finally getting into the city. I needed to re-supply and take a break. I stopped before I entered the highway and turned on my two blinkers. I had researched this section fairly well but the highway had almost no traffic at 10pm so I waited for a couple of cars and jumped on the ripped down the road. The road was recently paved and was really smooth and just kept going down and down. I flew and took up the whole lane for safety looking back to make sure there weren't any cars coming. I was almost at the bottom before I was caught by a couple of cars. Being down in the valley now the air was definitely much cooler but still pleasant. This is Southern California in mid-April after all. The trail in the valley navigates through many orchards and farm fields. There was a nice gravel trail that parallelled the road. I had actually used the street view to see where you needed to go and what the trails were like for a lot of the city trails. The trail started to snake more and more and slowly pushed away from the road and then up a tough climb that I wasn't really expecting. The one think about checking google maps is that it is hard to get a feel for elevation changes. It was a tough push to get up and over the San Pasqual trail. Descending off the hill is where I really started to notice the temperature drop and I was starting to get a chill. I stopped to put on all of my night riding gear and continued on. On the valley bottom I pushed down the double track and went across a large open field. I was starting to get the feeling of deja vu. Which is true as I had been through here using Street View but with my fatigued brain it really felt weird. Across to the other side of the valley and then onto a road that I knew would finally take me to resupply at the gas station before going down the San Dieguito trail. At the gas station I loaded up on drink and food and took a 10-15 min break off the bike. It was 11:30pm and I had been awake for almost 41 hours. I was tired and wanted to get finished as soon as possible. I figured that I had another 3-4 hours of riding left. Little did I know I had 7 hours to go still.

I went down the San Dieguito trail as quickly and stealthily as I could. There were stories on security not allowing people into the park at night as well as trail sabotage in the area of Lake Hodges a couple of weeks before the start. It was not far down the trail I started having navigation issues in the dark as well as a lot of deja vu. I was getting all twisted around trying to follow the trail and the line on my GPS across Felicita Creek. It felt like I was in there a long time but in reality it may have only been 5 minutes. Further down the trail I remembered to take the right trail at the fork. Again there were some interesting and challenging trail features through here but I managed to survive them all. The route crosses the lake access road and then into a wooded area on the north west side of the lake that was fun. I had some navigation issues again towards the end of this section and had to backtrack a couple times as I went down trails that went into the lake. The trail popped out onto an access road for the dam and it was near the dam that I had a truck come shooting towards me. I thought it was an offroader or some kids coming from the dam but it was actually the dams security truck blocking my path. The lady jumped out when I came towards the truck and she started asking me a bunch of questions. I just told her I was riding to San Diego and my route had me go around the dam. She was satisfied with my story and backed down the hill to where the road splits with left going down to the dam and the other up around it. I continued on my way around the dam and down in the valley beyond. It was really cold in the valleys and I found myself shivering in many of the lower valleys. I didn't understand how it could be so cold in S. Cali.

Brrrr.

After crossing the bridge over the San Dieguito river I had some navigation issues getting down the hill towards the golf course. It was so cold riding along the bottom of the valley and the trail was getting more and more overgrown with the wet spring California had. It was not long before I hit the infamous switch back trail sections. Unfortunately they had been washed out and some sections were very challenging to stay on the bike. I made it to the top of the first section and took a break. One more section of switchbacks and I was done but this next set was very overgrown and washed out making it nearly impossible to ride large chunks. That was a tough go and my body was feeling tired. There was a bit of a road section and riding through the super dark night through the neighbourhood with these big mansions at 1:30am was eerie. Everything just felt weird. I was sleepy and my body was almost at its max. It was not long before the route puts you into another hilly valley. This one unfortunately had a lot of prickly and spiky bushes on the side of the trail. Ouch. I again had navigation issues at the end of this trail in the dark and could not find where the trail turned right and went around a block of new houses before getting back onto another road. I knew there was a trail there somewhere as I had read about it and researched it online. It was just too dark and overgrown so I used my phone to figure out another way to get to the road. It lead me around and up and over a big hill to the trailhead parking lot.

The next road section is long and goes a long ways down which meant I could coast but it was too cold out and I started to freeze again. I was shivering trying to keep an eye out for any gas station or store that was still open so I could warm up but everything was closed. I crossed back over the San Dieguito river and then around a huge horse stables area and onto the Coast to Crest trail. My head was in a total fog now and I was starting to talk to myself out loud and the startings of being delusional. I hit a market area and was going to keep going but decided to take a break and see if I could find a gas station or restaurant to rest at for a bit. I took 15 minutes off my bike and did my best to eat and drink what I could. The gas station also had batteries so I could get my GPS fully powered again. The attendant asked me what I was doing out this late at night(3am) and told him about the route and he stunned that I was still riding. I checked Trackleaders and saw that Jacob has finished at just after 2am. I so wished I could be done too but I still had to finish the ocean shore section. It had taken Jacob about 3 hours to finish from where I was so I set a goal of finishing by 6am.

Sleep Deprivation and Deja Vu

After I left the gas station it was a short ride along the river and over the trains tracks to another long pavement section. This was a good thing as I was exhausted and my body just wanted to rest. The road gradually climbed up and over Del Mar. My mind really started to wander on the empty roads and I recall some cyclists on the side of the road waiting for someone or me and they said there he is and then when I went by they were talking to themselves. I am not sure if they were there or not as it was 330am and a really cold night. I am not sure anyone in their right mind would be out waiting for me in the dark. I struggle with my memory of the encounter even now. Everything just seemed to slow down and it felt like I was taking forever to bike but I was still making good time through Del Mar. Going down the other side of the Del Mar hill was sooo cold. I was really shivering again. For the first time I could see and hear the ocean. It was super mad and the waves were really crashing onto the beach. I learned later that there is an option to bypass the road and take the beach if it is low tide.

The road climbed away from the beach for the trip over UCSD and Torrey Pines hill/bluff. This climb is where things really started going downhill as the climb was fairly steep and there was fog on the top of the hill. On the ride up the hill my eyes starting closing and I was meandering all over the road. There were no cars around so I just kept on pedaling away. Closing my eyes briefly and then forcing myself to re-open them. Up at the top or midway point of the hill is a section where the route actually goes through the middle of the campus. This sounds simple enough but to throw in some curveballs the campus was under construction and there were fences all over the place. In my exhausted state I struggled to get through the campus. It felt like I was wasting so much time hitting dead ends and back tracking but I still made forward progress while keeping as close to the magenta line as possible. I soon made it through and was very happy. It gave me a boost to get through there and all of the deja vu I was feeling. I froze once again coming down the other side of the hill but happy to be out of the fog. I caught deja vu once again as the route follows a railway track and then onto a side road as we rode down the valley towards the ocean. There were a couple of turns here and some simple navigation except for the fact that my brain was not working as well. I somehow ended up crossing over the bridge of Rose Creek and going west on the north side of the creek where there was a path but just a dirt path. For some reason I thought this was right and was in a deep deja vu funk and that I was going the right way until the trail dead-ended and I needed to figure out my GPS. I was lost and got just a bit of an adrenaline shot that woke me up and cleared my head a bit. I zoomed way in on my GPS and noticed the route was on the south side of the creek. Again I had to backtrack and go back over the bridge and try to find the start of the trail in the dark. Once on Rose Creek trail I was much happier again and it was easy going until I was getting close to SeaWorld. The road just seemed to go on forever and I was struck with deja vu as I had street viewed the route around Sea World. The route does two big loops around through intersections to get you across the boulevards and then across a small channel and then down the path almost right into the ocean. My memory is so hazy of the riding around this area. People were waking up now and exercising and driving to work. I made my way through the nice neighborhood trying to force myself to stay awake. My eyelids persisted in keeping shut. The ocean still grumbled away. I remember there was a really steep hill and I had troubles riding it while sleeping so I had to jump off slowly walk my bike to the top. It was now 6am and I could see the airport and knew the finish was close. I ate a little and drank a lot and decided to push hard to get done as quickly as I could. I weaved my way down the hill towards the airport. Morning rush hour was in full effect and I had to watch for cars but at least there was lots of room on the right side of the road. After going over the bridge I remembered the rest of the route since I pre-rode it before the start of the race. There is a nice pathway all of the way to the finish. I could feel the adrenaline welling up inside me and I pedaled hard, passing morning commuters and runners. I arrived at the start/finish park at exactly 0630. I was so elated to be done. My body on the other hand just wanted to sleep. But where to sleep?

Done

I called my wife to tell her I was done and survived and then asked her to find me a hotel where I could crash. She told me that she could book me into a hotel nearby and I said great and when she sent me the details it was the same hotel that had my bike bag with BagBnB. I first went to grab some food at the Jack in the Box before heading over to the hotel. At the hotel as I checked in I asked if my room was available immediately and they actually told me it was and I could go up right away. I was so relieved. I was able to get out of my nasty bike clothes, into a nice hot and long shower and then pass out in a comfy bed. Before completely passing out I had checked Trackleaders to see where the next rider was behind me and he was on the trail before Lake Hodges so I set my alarm for about 2:30pm as it had taken me about 7 hours to cover that distance. I woke up and Greg was just coming over towards the airport. I threw on some clothes and decided to greet him at the finish. Being back on the bike my body was not happy and it was a very slow ride to the finish area. Greg arrived and we chatted for a bit congratulating each other on good rides. Greg said he was hungry and so was I so we found a nice Mexican spot and had tortillas for lunch. Greg still in his cycling clothes and me in my rough state must have been quite the picture. It was nice to chat with another rider and debrief each other of the events of the past three days. Greg went on his way back home and I went back to the hotel to sleep some more. I slept too deep and missed the next rider, Dan Sweeney, but woke up later to meet Joe Picchiottino. He was already at the finish when I arrived and I congratulated him on his finish and we talked a bit before someone came to pick him up. It was past 11pm and I was hungry again having slept through dinner time. I ordered a large pizza and pop to my room and fell asleep again a stuffed glutton. I had a plane to catch the next morning so I wasn't able to greet any other riders.

My Stagecoach experience was done and I had a blast. Ups and downs, easy and challenging. This is what bikepacking is all about. This route was a tough route but I really enjoyed the logistics of it all as an out of towner. The closeness to the airport, lots of hotels and food options in San Diego. I may return and experience the true Stagecoach route starting and ending in Idyllwild as it would be a totally different beast. Thank you Brendan and all of you SoCal bikepackers for putting together such a scenic and diverse route. It really had it all even though I missed out on the beach riding.

Thanks to Jacob Miller for pushing me out on the course. I made some of my checkpoints way earlier than I expected and your tire tracks helped me a lot in the desert. I am sorry I couldn't have ridden with you longer. You were just flying down that truck trail. Congratulations on your first place.

This was my first attempt at not sleeping and all I can say is not sleeping was really weird. I am not sure if I will try it again or not. I think I missed too many sights and nature while riding through the night.