2015 Redlands Strada Rossa --> March 21st

Are there any recommended stops for water and food, like convenience stores? I am well aware of Hangar 24 and plan to fully utilize their facility, but how about before then?
Thank in advance for info....

 

They're noted on the map: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7148234

Three SAG stops (miles 14, 26, and 40), and two retail stores (miles 16 & 55). Plus water and toilets @ mile 30 (Wildwood City Park) and unmarked at this time, but water @ Caroline Park @ mile 11).

The store @ mile 55 in Mentone is a particularly cool little place to stop out, just to check it out!

 

Nice 45 min rainstorm this evening; Dirt is going to be perfect!

The two sections that might be difficult to navigate are noted in the last two blog entries: redlands-strada-rossa.blogspot.com

 

Since I like to vacillate, I waited until just a few minutes ago to commit. But now I'm registered and will be there. I suffered a lot last year and I think I'm in worse shape this year, so this might be a long day. Last year I surely was one of the last ones in. I will be surprised if that's not the case again this year. But I will have a good time. I will have some Hangar 24 beer. And I am hoping to score another T-shirt if available and another IEBA pint glass, since the one I got last year had a tragic ending. See you all on Saturday. I will be on the lime green Kona Jake the Snake CX, looking chubby and going slow.

 

Awesome! I think this year is going to be amazing! The route has really come together, and we were able to get rid of some of the mentally tedious sections. Same amount of climbing, but I think it'll feel better riding it!
And any ride that just happens to go next to regionally renown brewery has to be a good one!!!

 

2015 Strada Rossa proved me wrong! Last year while riding I thought "it doesn't get much better than this" Well; this year's route was better IMO, I did it on a different bike. And I rode with the same old friends. We had a blast!
I hope this becomes a "spring classic"
Thank you Mark and the rest of the of the people who made it possible!
I can't wait to do it again!

 

I heard there were some issues with sabotage on the course? A few friends of mine picked up a ton of tacks in one spot (one had 20!!!).

 

Yup, there was a trouble spot near Crafton Hills college, my wife was volunteering and picking up riders that had trouble. A ****ing shame.

 

THANKS to everyone that came out for this. Especially if you were on the fence about doing it and gave it a chance. I hope you had a great time and will come back next year! We're already talking about next year, and are hoping to make it more of a MTB/dirt route in the foothills. Fingers crossed!!!

I LOVED this year's course though! Weather was great, and of course the people were awesome! I think a lot of people did the 50 + Crafton bonus route, which was a pretty good option. Didn't get to say hi to much of anyone except a little bit at the afternoon. I actually got to ride this year and was out with my son who is 12 and amazed me at how well he did. At least to SAG#1 when he sat down and basically collapsed!

And yes, the course was sabotaged at approximately this point: https://goo.gl/maps/kBsPO This was the portion that was unique to the 50km route, so anyone doing the 100km shouldn't have been impacted by out. Our direction arrows were painted over sometime this morning, and hundreds of tacks put out there. I don't know if it was general maliciousness, or someone that is trying to teach us a lesson for daring to ride bikes on public roads in their neighborhood. Either way I hope it didn't totally eff up anyone's ride... :-( So sorry for anyone that had to deal with that cluster of a problem. Prior to the ride we ironed everything out with Crafton Hills Conservancy re. access and all was legit. Just someone with no regard for fellow human beings.

I didn't really take any pictures, which is my huge regret for the year! If you do have any pics, please consider adding them to flickr, the facebook event page or Instagram #redlandsstradarossa or #stradarossa. You can see a pic of the tacks on the FB page.

So wow, in the books. Thanks again to all that came out, and for letting me promote this here, the SCTR forum has always felt like a good positive space. I felt at times I was going on and on about it a bit much, but am crazy-enthusiastic about this event!!!

See you next year!!!

David

 

Quick post for me, more later- probably.
That thing kicked my butt. Started for 100k but bailed at SAG 2 to SAG 3 to cut off about 10 miles.
I got a little messed up going back trying to follow 50k. No tacks for me (tubeless anyways), but a 50k arrow looked to have been painted over in black.

Thanks for putting it on, I might come back.

 

I had a great time again. I also preferred this route to last year's. I felt a little better as well, but when I started to climb up Crafton at the end I had major cramps in my right leg. I didn't think it was going to get better, so I turned around and headed down and took the easy way back via Bryant and Hwy 38. But I still got in over 50 miles and 5,000 feet of climbing, so it was pretty full value for me. I met some great people and enjoyed seeing everyone out there and all the different bikes that were on the course. I can't wait for the next one.

 

I did the left turn on Bryant option to add Crafton Hills. At the end of the dirt section we just took Sand Canyon to Redlands home. We were on mountain bikes so it made no sense to ride the road section. This was a super nice route. I had no idea that there were mountain bike trails in that area. And I can't believe the brave and hardy souls who did that dirt on cross bikes.

The ride organizers were great. The sag stops were just where they were needed and the party at the end was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Thanks for posting this on STR. Because of this post, I posted a notice on Team Velocity's facebook page. A lot of the TV club members signed up so it sort've felt like a club ride too.

 

Kudos to Mark and the IEBA - great day, super ride!

My hubby posted a short photo-report on the Riding Gravel Forum if you want to see some pics:

http://ridinggravel.forumchitchat.c...21-2015-7345407?pid=1286625981#post1286625981

Here's a view from the top of Crafton Ridge.

 

What a great write up, thanks for that! Word of mouth is what we live on, so seeing such a positive review is great!

I think a lot of people did the 50km + Bryant/Crafton option. The route was great in that it let people pick and choose some options depending on how they were feeling. I know you mentioned earlier you had to get home by a certain time, so glad you were able to see some of the best portions! And your quote about not knowing these trails were out here is 100% why this event was organized! You don't know how many times I heard that last year and again yesterday! We have wonderful riding, and unlimited access. What we need is awareness and advocacy (and fun). Hence the Strada Rossa!

Mark your calendars for March 2016, we're already talking about next year's route and how we want to loop it up into the foothills for some more dirt action!!!

 

And LOVE your Crux BTW... what a hot bike! Was ogling it at the first SAG stop whilst drinking smoothies!

 

I too had a great time. Our informal group skirted the tacks but came across several people with multiple flats. Sweetpea I don't know how we missed you. I'm glad you had fun. Our stop at Hanger 24 was well deserved and the party at the end was the perfect way to finish the ride.

Thanks to the young ladies whipping up the fruit smoothies at SAG #1. A really nice surprise.

 

Here's a great video one of the riders put together... Love it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmlq_CD5FbU&feature=youtu.be

[video=youtube;qmlq_CD5FbU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmlq_CD5FbU&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Thanks, James!

 

Excellent video! Thanks for taking the time to edit and post.

 

Really enjoyed the video - thanks!

 

He did a great job of capturing the day!

Here's a thank-you I penned over on the blog: http://redlands-strada-rossa.blogspot.com/2015/03/so-where-do-i-start.html

Deepest thanks to all that came out, and I hope that it was as nice a day as I talked it up to be!!!

Thanks!
David