Team Blog

(gotta push that burger off the main page...)


So with Sara living on Catalina island for the summer, I've been out there a few times. The riding is... different. First of all, there is no pavement. Maybe there is within .5 mile of Avalon, but what good is that? I started on the other side of the island at two harbors. (which was quite popular on labor day weekend)



All the roads are fire-road, which is perfect for my new cx bike,



I'm running Maxis Raze tires at about 45psi and it's perfect. There is very, very little traffic, only the "safari bus" that runs from the airport to avalon, two harbors and back. I've never considered a desert island a safari, but who am I to judge? It rumbles by about once every 3 hours. Anyway, whenever there's any kind of human establishment, they tend to plant palms:



It's not a great place to ride easy. The hills tend to be hills. I wish I had a gps on some of them because I swear it must be 14-15%. I had a 34x32 (compact front + mtn cassette), and at 250W I was at 50 cadence in (many) places. Descending is a joy as the above mentioned bus is driven rather aggressively, leaving wash-boarding the size of your head through every turn,



But, it's not so bad if you take it easy (or had suspension). As far as my route goes, I left two harbors, went over the hill to the campground of little harbor, and then followed the coast towards Avalon.



I turned around about 2/3 of the way there, making my ride about 2 hours and 40 min. At some point if I'm in the right mood I'm going to make it to Avalon and back. But this weekend I was mostly interested in easy riding, relaxing, and enjoying the view. It was a great change of pace and very different then riding on the "mainland".

Labels: catalina, cyclocross

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