On August 6 I attended a Gravel Stoke & Bummerland ride around Sulfur Mountain loop in Ojai. The ride started at Beacon Coffee Shop & ended with a stop at Topa Topa Brewery. The ride was lead by Gravel Stoke development team member Nicole Campbell who in just about a year time has fallen in love with cycling and is already leading group rides and sharing the stokes she feels for riding bikes.
On this ride I opted out of a good workout in favor of chasing my creative endeavors by bringing my camera and eBike. Since I started cycling in May of 2020 I have only have turned my lens on myself. I think this is because it was hard to find cycling community during the 2020 lockdown. But like many other interests of mine my friends don't usually have the time, money, or interest to invest into hobbies together. Bikes are amazing in that you can just show up to a group ride, introduce yourself, and ride bikes with a brand new group of people who are bonded over a shared experience.
The start of this ride utilizes the Ojai Bike Path. The class 1 separated bike path is a part of the Rails to Trails network. This means it used to be a railway that helped industry and the settling of the Ojai Valley, which was then converted into a bikeway years later. There are many rails-to-trails projects across the united states and a link to them can be found here!
Sulpher mountain road is right off the Ojai Bike Path. Once you play some frogger with traffic and go up the street about a 1/2 mile you're meet with sweet, sweet car-free gravel. The next 10 miles are filled with twisty climbs on a large fire road that will lead you to some beautiful views.
Enjoy the shade at the start of the ride, the beautiful coastal live oak trees provide a nice relief from the summer sun. The day we did this ride the ambient temperature was about 96*, so needless to say we were all feeling the heat. If you do this ride I would recommend starting early and bringing lots of sunblock.
When I was thinking about how I wanted to photograph this ride, photos like the one below were the ones I was imagining because of the switchbacks while climbing. I brought a Sony A7RIV with a 35mm lens which gave me a wide/medium focal length but provided enough resolution (60mp) so I could crop in to get a tighter shot. Not ideal, but this was one of the first rides I've brought my 'real' camera on so I wanted to travel light.
The last few miles of climbing are very exposed but if you take a second to slow down and look to your right or behind you. You can see the ocean, some of the Channel Islands, and Ventura. You can see that the wide fire road continues through the whole climb. I would be comfortable doing this with file tread 'slicks', but most today had some sort of gravel tire.
After the long and steady gravel climb you're rewarded with a fun descent that is one lane in most places. Be sure to stay aware of cars coming around corners and any conflicts that may arise from that. Perhaps doing this ride early morning might reduce chances of encountering a car, but it's always something to be aware of. I was able to stop mid-descent and grabbed this shot of Nicole, who I had learned was stung by a bee while riding just before this photo!
The ride ends with some road miles bringing you back into the Ojai Valley. This is a welcomed sight especially knowing that there are plenty of small cafe's, breweries, wineries and restaurants awaiting you in Ojai.
This was my first ride up Sulpher mountain and I will absolutely be riding it again in the future. The value of having a car free road to climb is inevitable to me. I live in the Santa Monica mountains and I would love to ride through the canyons but I don't quite feel comfortable climbing while being passed close all the time. Car free climbs are worth gold, and this isn't one to pass up.