Santa Barbara Stop-Off

I have lived in Los Angeles for over 10 years, but have somehow never spent much time in Santa Barbara. With a work trip in Santa Cruz and a brand new bike that was hand-built in Santa Barbara, it seemed like the perfect time to make the stop.

Instead of plotting something on my own, I pulled a route from a friend on Strava who I know enjoys similar riding to what I like. It started with a wonderful climb up Painted Cave Road, a calm one lane road that winds up into the mountains, with a smattering of houses along the way. The name comes from a small cave next to the road that has several Chumash paintings.

The lack of traffic on this road made me envious of the riding out here. I knew that the city itself had far more bike infrastructure (and people who actually use it) than Los Angeles, but I didn’t realize that accessing the mountains was also much more pleasant.

Eventually, I took a left turn onto the main attraction: the dirt trails. As is always the case on any destroyed California dirt, the signs that say “no shooting” are littered with gun shots.

The descent here was a very beaten road that slowly but surely turned from dirt to grassle (grass+gravel) to long and winding single track that’s incredibly fun to descend. It felt like I was moving through several micro ecosystems as I went further and further down into a valley.

Eventually, I bottomed out into a basin with a handful of surprise river crossings that ensured I’d have wet shoes the rest of the day, and then got momentarily lost in a dry river bed searching for the trail on the other side.

Once I finally found my bearings, I took a paved but battered road that led me through several more river crossings, then took to dirt again on Forest Road 5N18, aka Gibraltar Dam Road. This was much more Gucci gravel—smooth and easy rolling—than what I’d encountered early in the day and was a welcome relief for my tired legs.

Eventually, I hit pavement again, where I found a rattlesnake crossing the road. It surprised me enough that I got a little too close as I barreled down the mountain, causing it to (briefly) coil up and rattle before it got bored and continued along its way after it realized I wasn’t a threat. I slowly made my way back up the hill once it was clear he was chill to snap a photo.

After that, I wrapped back around to Painted Cave Road and made my way to the start, somehow managing a hamstring shredding 8,400 feet of elevation in less than 45 miles.