Originally Posted by bitingduck

We rode Bautista road on the 29th, as usual. It was some of the best conditions ever- it had rained recently (probably the night before) and was mostly firmly packed and had no standing water or water crossings (sometimes there are a few spots, one of them is up to a few feet deep). The upper part was recently graded and had only a few short stretches of light washboard, as well as a few very short stretches of thin (maybe 1/8" thick) mud. We had the first road bike tracks down, and picking a line was pretty easy. Neither of us had to unclip at all for balance, and no dabs, either. At a few points there are small ruts from water running across the road, but none worse than a minor pothole, and in a few turns they create light washboard. A mile or two from the bottom there are some rocky stretches, but they're more bumpy from embedded rocks, rather then having to pick around rocks. The rain held off until we were down on the paved parts just outside Hemet, and my girlfriend noted that our bikes were clean when we came in-- we hadn't really even picked up any mud from the road. It was better than when it's been dry for a while-- if it's too dry it can get sandy near the top and is harder to ride.