A ride around Camp Far West on the last day of April, 2024!

I decided I was ready to tackle this ride at last! The mileage would bring me up to 600 for the month of April and at this rate I should hit 2,000 miles before our river cruise in June. I seem to have forgotten to do this ride last year; the last time I rode it was back in 2022!

I was able to complete it without too much trouble, but I'll tell ya, I thought the climbing from the start of Perimeter Road to Highway 49 would never end!

The Mapper's plot of my ride.

Here are the stats, nothing too impressive, but I felt like there was a lot of climbing!

Conditions were really ideal. Temperatures started in the upper 50s-lower 60s and only made it to the upper 70s. Really nice. Wind was starting to kick up but didn't prove to be a factor. Once again, mild temperatures proved to be the major factor in making this ride a pleasant one.

Camp Far West Reservoir was filled!

The first section of this ride, from Rocklin to Camp Far West via McCourtney Road, is all paved and uneventful.  It's been a while since I'd ridden the Ritchey and it took me a few miles to get used to the 48mm tires handling!

The intersection of Camp Far West and Long Ravine roads.

I rode my Ritchey Ascent this year, shod with 48mm Gravel King slicks. These tires handle the loose gravel surprisingly well as long as you remember to keep weight over the back tire on inclines. They also absorb a lot of the vibration from the washboard. They are fine for pavement riding as well, which is important on this ride since almost 3/4 of the distance is on blacktop. 

Looking down Long Ravine Road.

After passing the incredibly steep paved pitch just past the Camp Far West campground turnoff, you come to the start of the gravel roads going around the Reservoir.  There are quite a lot of roads out there that would be interesting to investigate, but I wanted to keep to my usual route. Initially, the graveled road seems very rough, lots of washboard. But it smooths out after the start with the only really nasty portions being found at the occasional sharp turn. The gravel continues along Long Ravine and Live Oak roads and onto the first stretch of Perimeter road. Eventually, Perimeter eventually becomes a paved road.

As in 2022, I took the McDonald Road cut-off to get to Garden Bar. This year I took my lunch break at the corner of Perimeter and McDonald, rather that further on at Four Corners. That worked out well and I didn't need to stop at the Highway 49 junction at all. 

A stop at Coon Creek on McCourtney Road

Equipment Notes.

As I mentioned, I rode the Ritchey Ascent on this ride and had no problems. I used Panaracer Gravel King Slicks set up as tubeless and ran them at around 35 PSI. This seems like a good all round pressure for these tires, especially on the gravel, but it does take a little getting used to on paved roads. The slick tread did all right on the gravel as long as I paid attention to my position over the rear wheel when climbing the steeper gravel sections.

I'm using a new handlebar bag, one I found on eBay, made by a company called Tourbon. It's a pretty nice bag made from a very heavy cotton twill. It was a bargain at $90. Strangely, these seem to have disappeared from eBay. Too bad, they're a good bag. 

Mechanically, no issues. The shifting was fine, I use an 8-speed cassette with old Shimano indexed bar end shifters paired to older STX derailleurs. The Tektro Spyre disc brakes worked well.

All in all, this was a nice ride, I am always impressed with how much difference temperature makes in these long rides. Highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s makes for ideal conditions for me. I seemed to recover pretty quickly with no serious cramping that night and I had no soreness in my foot, which seems to happen on long, hot rides. Go figure!