Originally Posted by
HunkerDown
...Question going through my head is whether I really need the additional exercise versus being able to avoid that under-construction section of bike lane running along the freeway. Hmm. Any thoughts from those who've done this ride in prior years?
I've only done the double-metric century and didn't find the climbing all that difficult. The biggest/highest climb, (Thatcher School), is as the beginning of the ride when it is still pretty cool out. After you get back to and through Ojai, then you go over Casitas Pass. Again, it's still early and heat isn't normally an issue. After that, there are just little, piddly, short climbs. A couple steep, but nothing worthy of a categorization. I guess if there was a rating for them, they would be Cat 5 or Cat 6 climbs. I am not a climber, and I didn't have any problem. A bit slow, but no problems getting up and over them.
On the double-metric century, you only go on the freeway "bike path" on the return leg back to the school district start point. Outbound to SB, you are going over Casitas.
Unless it has changed in the past couple weeks, all bicycle traffic is/was on the north side of the freeway, and separated from freeway traffic by those concrete barriers. At most places, the "bike lane" is slightly wider than a MUP bike lane and has both northbound and southbound bike traffic on it. It is only for about a four-mile stretch, then you are surface streets. Only the short section between Bates Road and Rincon Road are still on the freeway, (northbound you're climbing the on ramp and climbing over the railroad tracks and climbing the Rincon Road off ramp. Uphill the whole stretch, albeit a short stretch). Southbound is that real quick downhill sprint from Rincon to Bates, than back on the separated bike path. (I think the official route avoids that short freeway stretch, instead taking Rincon/150 and Rincon Hill Road/Bates Road.)
The only real trouble spot is at the La Conchita exit/entrance. The bike lane narrows to slightly wider than single file, and you have to stop because "off ramp" traffic does not have to. Knowing Cool Breeze is occurring, they may have re-aligned the barriers to eliminate that bottleneck. If that bottleneck is still there, it's going to be a huge mess. I wouldn't be surprised to see a CHP officer at the intersection directing traffic.