Test ride on the upper SART

After all the problems I had on the Santa Barbara Easy I took my bike to Redland's Cyclery to get some work done. I was really embarrassed because Amber and I had ridden a very wet 200k the day before and my bike was filthy but they were cool about it. I got a new chain and the whole drive train cleaned and adjusted. Because the Five Rivers 300k pre-ride is this weekend, I wanted to take it for a spin to make sure everything was good.

I work near the top of the SART so I drove there after work and started riding. About a mile from the start I have to ride around some "trail closed" signs but, like a normal cyclist, I ignore them. I will decide if the trail is closed, thank you very much! Well the bastards have jack hammered the trail for about 10 yards so it is pretty close to being closed. It's all crushed concrete and rebar. They claim they're going to be restoring the flood wall until July but right now it looks like wanton vandalism.

You can currently use E Street which takes you to Hospitality but the signs suggest they're going to vandalize the trail as far as Mt Vernon which means we will exit at Mt Vernon and use Cooley to get to Barton. I'll have to modify my Triple Loop route to accommodate this. It's not a terrible detour - the Redlands bike club uses Cooley a lot. My wife rode the SART just a couple of days ago and, of course, there were no signs up saying they were going to close it, not were there any detour signs. They just force us without warning into heavy traffic without a care for our safety.

I was getting close to Hidden Valley when I saw a car driving along the bike path. This fat cow thought she was OK to drive on it because "she was pulling over for the cyclists". I explained she was not allowed on the bike path and took her photo.

Fat cow

Chasing her at 30mph

I chased her to Martha McLean park just over a mile away at up to 30mph where she exited. I wonder if this is something she is doing frequently - some kind of shortcut she's very proud she found. I've ordered some caltrops from Amazon. I'm going to see if I can encounter her again.

Between feeling strong and chasing her I managed an average speed of over 18mph for the duration of the 30 mile ride. The bike was great - kudos to Redlands Cyclery.