Guiding and Inspiring bicycle riding for sport, Recreation and transportation since 1994
Issue 140 - Spring 2017
socalbicyclist.com
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Destinations within reach
Santiago Mountain
A guide to the original magic kingdom
Experential review
Marin Nail Trail 6 Raising the bar and setting expectations
ALSO electric age
specialized Turbo Levo
last page
Anti-Anti-Perspirant
Contents
Inside this issue
Features 05 basics City Action A practical guide to advocacy
By Kelley O’Toole
09 Profiles Winter Training in Ventura The recipe to race season success
By Charles Lindsey
Issue 140 Spring 2017 Designed and printed in Southern California. Read and distributed throughout the world.
Regulars 02 Find the chainlink 03 Prologue 04 Explore socalbicyclist.com 05 Analog/digital 06 Lawton on the Law 07 Ask the coach 08 Tour & Travel 10 The Jones Report 11 Bicyclist product matrix 20 event calendar 22 Last Page
10 Profiles Highway 39 Climb
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Preview of the Bike MS: Coastal Challenge
By Chris Reynolds
12 Electric Age Specialized Turbo Levo The Cliche Induction machine
By Bob Becker & Victor Prestinary
14 The Route Santiago Peak and the Main Divide Reaching the highest point in OC
By Victor Prestinary & Chris Reynolds
17 Frame First Marin Bikes 6061 Nail Trail 6 A Versatile and Quality Hardtail MTB
By Victor Prestinary & Chris Reynolds
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FIND THE CHAIN LINK
A small icon (exactly like this one: ) is hidden somewhere in this issue. If you locate it and enter our Find The Chain Link contest, you may win a FREE one-year subscription (or an additional year for existing subscribers) to the print edition of BICYCLIST magazine. To enter, go to socalbicyclist.com/ftc and complete the online entry form or send an entry with your name and phone number to Find The Chainlink c/o BICYCLIST magazine 14252 Culver Dr. Irvine, CA 92604. Entries must be received by March 25, 2017 for consideration. The winning entry will be selected using a random-number generator and announced in a future print issue.
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BICYCLIST magazine
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Last issue’s Winner Issue #139
Thomas Bosch of San Diego, CA correctly identified the chain link on page 9 of issue #139 (see left). For his efforts, he will receive a 1 year print subscription of the magazine and a care package of samples and SWAG from our sponsors and friends of the magazine.
Cover Victor Prestinary takes the Marin Nail Trail 6 on an exploration of post-rain Harding Trail. The trail is one of many possible gateways to enter the Cleveland National Forest, a natural MTB playground. (see page 14) Photo by Chris Reynolds
SoCal and Beyond
regulars
Prologue spring 2017
EDITORIAL
Chris Reynolds - CR | Editorial Director chris@socalbicyclist.com Kelley O’Toole - KO | Managing Editor kelley@socalbicyclist.com Victor Prestinary - VP | Associate Editor victor@socalbicyclist.com Catherine Latour | Senior Editor catherine@socalbicyclist.com Bob Becker - BB | Electric Age bob@socalbicyclist.com Rick Shultz - RS | The Bike Fitter fit@socalbicyclist.com
ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP Chris Reynolds | Publisher chris@socalbicyclist.com
ONLINE
Chris Reynolds | Design & Development chris@socalbicyclist.com Kelley O’Toole | Social Media kelley@socalbicyclist.com Tim Wilson | Social Media tim@socalbicyclist.com
DISTRIBUTION & OPERATIONS
VITALS & SUBSCRIPTIONS
BICYCLIST: SoCal & Beyond is a multi-platform lifestyle and destination guide celebrating the arts, skills, events, and culture of the cycling life in Southern California and other locations in the Western U.S and BEYOND! BICYCLIST magazine is published 10 times per year. The print edition can be found at better bike shops, coffee shops and breweries throughout major metropolitan cities west of the Rockies. Print copy subscriptions are $20 per year for delivery to the destination of your choice in the United States. International print subscriptions are $35. For more information, visit www.socalbicyclist.com/subscribe or send check and your mailing address to Subscriptions BICYCLIST:SoCal & Beyond, 14252 Culver Dr. Irvine CA 92604.
DISCLAIMER Although all best efforts are made to avoid the same, we reserve the right to publish unintentional mistakes and/or factual errors which may occur on an issue basis. No responsibility is assumed by the publishers for unsolicited materials/articles/letters/advertising and all submissions will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright and/or appropriate licensing purposes subject to BSCB’s right to edit and comment editorially. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine reflect the opinions of their respective author’s and are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editorial team. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form [print or electronic] without prior consent of the publisher.
Bicycling can be a dangerous sport and can lead to serious injury or death. Make it safer for everyone and obey all traffic laws, ride responsibly, use common sense, and wear a helmet.
Victor Prestinary | Associate Publisher victor@socalbicyclist.com
CONTRIBUTORS
John Jones, Carl Lawton, Charles Lindsey, Justin Macias, Rick Schultz, Rob Templin
READ/FOLLOW/LIKE
www.socalbicyclist.com @socalbicyclist /socalbicyclist #socalbicyclist
SUBMISSIONS & CONTACT
Contact info@socalbicyclist.com for editorial guidelines and information.
BICYCLIST: SoCal & Beyond 14252 Culver Drive Irvine, CA 92604 (949) 264-3346 @socalbicyclist contact@socalbicyclist.com
Designed and Printed in SoCal Founded by Will Decker Published by Chris Reynolds Copyright ©2017 All rights reserved. All photography and design performed in-house by
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or the past few issues of our magazine, we’ve taken our readers to some international destinations. With profiles of both Noto, Japan, and the Titan Tropic MTB race through Cuba, we’ve highlighted some truly unique destinations for cycling. For this installment of BICYCLIST magazine, we’re looking at our own backyard, specifically Santiago Mountain. Locally known as Saddle Back mountain, it serves as an example of the ‘wild’ within reach, beckoning local exploration and providing an escape from the busy roads of Southern California. The Main Divide Road serves as the main corridor through this area, a fire road that stretches more than 20 miles across this stretch of Cleveland National Forest. With 9 points of entry from all directions of Orange and Riverside counties, there are options to provide a range of adventure. From a mellow roll to awaken the wilderness lover in all of us, to a harrowing and technical journey to the top, our route map on page 14 will get you started. As far as the bike recommendations for this original SoCal amusement park, we bring you the Marin Niner 6, a fantastic value for anyone looking to get into MTB. It has all the goods (hydro disc brakes, 1X drivetrain, front suspension, internal cabling and routing for a dropper post), with only a mild weight penalty, keeping the price to just under $1,200. We also profile the Specialized Turbo Levo, an eMTB that turns the steepest grades into mellow sightseeing rides in the outdoors. The fire roads of the Santiago Mountain area are an obvious destination to ride an eMTB, and the sheer number of miles will keep even the most active explorer occupied for a long time. Big thanks to Rock N’ Road in Orange County for their help in provisioning our ride. They have locations throughout Orange County with regular shop rides for both road and MTB and are sure to have a fresh copy of the latest print edition of our magazine. Beyond our hyper-local feature of Santiago Mountain, we have a lot in this issue for bicyclists from all areas. Whether you’re traveling into SoCal or journeying from, be sure to check out our resident touring specialist, Rob Templin, discussing three bikes specifically built for airline travel. Carl Lawton, writing his Lawton on the Law column discusses why he won’t be making left turns while road cycling and John Jones explains why all his customers are running alloy rims with 23mm tires in the latest drop of ‘The Jones Report’. Ride safe out there and send us photos of your travels we’d love to see where you go. Until next time... See you on the route,
Chris R .
- Chris Reynolds, editorial director
Chris Reynolds & Victor Prestinary unless otherwise noted.
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