King ridge 400k

[paul]

Hi all,

in a moment of madness I signed up for this, this morning. I've done 3
200s and 2 300s this year (first year) with a night time 300k last
weekend (Grandmother's house). I only have a road bike with 32mm tyres
and am wondering whether I'll get away with that. It seems there's
about 10-11 miles off road. Any advice?

Lastly, is there anyone entered in East or South bay with a spare spot
for the way there? I can make my own way back. I can get to SF for 7am
starts on BART but not 6. I'll rent a car otherwise. Might even be
tempted to stay in a hotel instead and have a bit more of a lie-in.

Cheers,
Paul

[Peter Caffeine]

HI Paul,

At the risk of igniting a tyre (and/or pressure) thread / flamewar, I did the King Ridge 400k a few years ago on either 28mm or 32mm (can't remember, but it definitely wasn't more than 32mm) and it was fine. YMMV depending on conditions, of course, but even if you do have to walk parts of it I think it would be unlikely you'd have to walk more than a few short stretches here and there.

Bonne chance!

Peter Caffeine

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[Koss, Brian R. (ARC-RE)]

Back in the day 28’s were big tires and we rode it on them. I think Roy Ross used 26’s. It is doable but we have gotten spoiled with bigger tires. 

It can be hard in a few spots going up on old Caz were the rumble gets a little looser but it has been years since I have ridden it. Could be better or worse. I suppose there are many more riders using it since the “invention” of gravel bikes. 

Have fun and enjoy Sweet Water Rd. 

Brian

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From: 'paul' via San Francisco Randonneurs <sfra...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2024 8:53:21 PM
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[Raphaël]

Hi Paul,

I also finished a few years ago the King Ridge 400 with 28 mm. I just had to walk to cross the river. You should not have any problems with 32. 

Enjoy, Raphaël 

On 16 Jul 2024, at 07:47, Peter Caffeine <caff...@colijn.ca> wrote:



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[paul]

Hi Raphaël, Brian, Peter,

Thanks you. Perhaps I was overthinking it after all. Looking forward to it (sort of!).

Cheers,

Paul

[Koss, Brian R. (ARC-RE)]

It truly is a fun ride. The ride back from Valley Ford was always a good time because we rode the adventure series as a group often and we would have conversation on the way back while generally moving at a good pace. It’s nice and quite out there in the early morning hours. Many fond memories. 

Brian

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Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2024 6:12:39 AM
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Subject: [EXTERNAL] [BULK] Re: [SFRandon] King ridge 400k

 

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[Juliayn Coleman]

a little late to this conversation, but I wanted to add that for anyone who has been eyeing the Adventure Series or La Ruta Loca, mixed terrain permanent routes are an excellent way to get practice with riding dirt on brevets.

There is a huge range of difficulty levels of the various bay area mixed terrain perms you can do, which will help you determine what tire size you want to use. Doing perm routes with dirt sections will also help you set expectations for yourself as to how long these routes will take you, and whether you and your bike are prepared for mixed terrain brevets.

In the Search bar at the top of the RUSA website, click the dropdown for Permanent Routes, then on the search page there is a check box for "Contains unpaved sections".

Possibly one of the easier mixed terrain perms in terms of technical sections is Mount Tam to Marshall, in which you ride up Old Railroad Grade to the top of Mount Tam, then eventually ride out to Marshall. There are no technical high-speed descents as the descent down Tam is on Ridgecrest Boulevard.

Possibly the hardest 200k mixed terrain perm is Peninsula Open Space Tour which may be harder than Marin Mountains 200k. more info here: https://ridebike.org/rusa/perm/

You can look at the results for various perms on the RUSA results page to see how long it has taken people to do them, to get a sense of how long it might take you.

One final thing to note is that there are several factors that make bikes better or worse for mixed terrain riding, and tire size is only one of these factors. 

• Dirt climbs can be steeper than paved ones, so it's helpful to have a wider gear range. 
• Dirt descents can be steeper too, so it's also nice to make sure that you have really effective brakes that are working properly. 
• Being able to carry more water or a little extra food can be helpful since these routes often have fewer controls in urban areas--you may only have access to a poorly-stocked rural convenience store with limited resupply options. Route research prior to the ride is key here.
• Steel frames can be better for long mixed terrain rides for their durability and comfort, but as with all these factors, it's highly personal and you should experiment to find out what works best for you.
  

All this said, mixed terrain brevets and perms are suuuuper fun and I hope everyone gets to experience the unique sense of freedom one has when riding them! If you are Adventure Series-curious, one great way to learn is to volunteer for one. Observe the riders' gear, and cheer them on :)

Happy cycling,

Juliayn

[Massimiliano Poletto]

Heh, I catch up on sfrandon@ periodically, and it was fun to see POST mentioned! It's a burly ride for sure, much harder than Marin Mountains. To this day, if rusa.org is to be believed, Froste and I are the only finishers. We rode it back in 2016 and barely made the time limit (13:14), 2-3 hours longer than our MM times. But I'm sure the current crop of strong SFR riders can easily improve on that. And for those who can't or don't want to go that hard, there's also no reason to ride it for time—it's a great day out even if it takes you more than 13.5 hours.

Cheers from Switzerland.

max

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