Exploring the Santa Monica Mountains via Deer Creek Challenge

My friend Karen invited me through Facebook about the Deer Creek Challenge, which is a 100 mile, 10k feet climb challenge.  I haven't done many rides around Santa Monica Mountains, so this will be a nice introduction.

It turns out this is an event sponsored by Strava .. cool.  We had a good turnout ... can't tell how many there were, but many people came to the event through an invite from Karen .... "How did you find out about this event ... through Karen ... oh".  She has a lot of connections.

I didn't have a lot of miles in my legs since Knoxville, and I already had plans on doing the 50 mile option, all knowing that my friends would try to convince to go for the full 100.  We'll see how my legs feel at the half way point.

The morning started out a little chilly.  I was okay with shorts, arm warmers, and vest, but some others (that I won't name here) went with a full Shower's Pass rain jacket ... wtf ... after a few junk miles, we got to our first climb on what's being described as Decker (Westlake side) .... almost immediately after getting to the climb, we can see groups splintering off ... fast at the front, steady climbers in the middle, and slow in the back.  I hung in with the middle for the first climb.  We then stormed down to the coast, while we did some junk miles over to Deer Creek.

After a regroup, and taking off jackets and arm warmers, we start the epic climb of the day, Deer Creek.  This is well known for the descent of Mulholland Double, but this time, we are climbing up Deer Creek.

Photo by Steve Meichtry

This was a slog ... I had more problems with this climb.  Not sure if it was the lack of riding lately, but I suddenly found myself at the back (although looking back at the pacific ocean in the background did make things less painful).  It also helped that we had a few folks driving up and down the course as a "low key sag" ... they had their cowbells out, cheering us on ... that really did help, and gave us some motivation.  Of course, stupid (me) sprints up one part of the hill, just to get some amped up cheers.  However, I was not even half way up the hill, so that was a lot of wasted effort.

Got up to the top, where the SAG treated us with water, snacks, and sunscreen.  This is great ... full SAG support for an unpaid event ... nice!

After the summit, we do have a bunch of rolling hills after that ... oh fun, then a descent, before we hit our next climb, Yerba Buena.  The grades on this don't look too bad, with 5-6% grades, but the pavement was not smooth at all.  It was pretty rough, in fact.  The combination of the rough pavement, and the climb gets to you psychologically.  It slowly drains the energy out of you, and seemed more fatiguing than Deer Creek.  However, this is after climbing 2500 feet, so the legs have already spent quite a bit of energy.

We do get a little relief with a sag stop ... a much needed sag stop.  Water here was much needed, and the support of this is fantastic.  They offered to carry extra stuff we didn't need, and they would bring it back to the bike shop.  However, I think I would cut it off at 50 miles, and they were going to roll with the 100 mile route, so it's probably best that I just carry it along with me.  Thanks for being out there, though!

We continue climbing some more, and all of a sudden, we see the pavement go from rough to smooth. Ah, this must be the border between Ventura and LA County.  All I know is that it is less taxing on the body, and soon, we have a nice descent down Little Sycamore, with a great view too, looking across Malibu Springs.

One more sag stop, then another descent.  I kinda got behind the group, and almost missed a key turn.  Missing the turn would have meant I went down Decker, and would have found myself at the coast.  That would have been a painful U-turn back .. luckily I decided to check back, and then I found Vic's friendly face.  Okay, back on the route, and back to more climbing ... Encinal is the next climb, which is another 600 feet of climbing, with grades varying from 4-9%, but at this point, I am fatigued.  I think the lack of time on the bike has caught up to me.

Photo by Karen Johnson

We get to the 50/100 mile split, and at this point, I am definitely not ready to do the 100 mile route.  We already had 5000+ feet of climbing, and I figure that's a good day already.  Don't let the smile fool you ... I was spent.

I got in 51 miles, and 6500 feet of climbing.  That was an epic day (even if it was only a half century).  I had forgotten to bring my Garmin on this trip (which is at home, 350 miles away), but luckily I have my trusty Strava Android app on my DroidX, and was still able to log this ride in.  No Strava suffer score, since I had no way to record my heartrate (I did bring my heartrate strap though).  I would say I made it into zone 5 for a good period of time (especially up on Deer Creek), but we'll never know now.  I guess I'll have to come back and do it again next year.