Stagecoach 400 - Day 5 - Zero Day in Idyllwild, CA
Date: March 13, 2024
0 Miles
0 Feet of Gain
Idyllwild, CA
Idyllwild is simply an ideal trail town for a zero day. The best trail towns are small, walkable, have access to everything a backcountry traveler needs including a full grocery, delicious restaurants, outdoor gear, and a place to lodge or camp. And all within a nominal distance for someone looking to take a day off their legs. Although the Stagecoach 400 is intended to start and end from Idyllwild, Janna and I planned our route this year to make it a mid-route stop with time for a zero day and resupply.
We woke up late to a blurry bluebird day where clouds wisp high and the air bites in March. I noted that we were in the eye of the storm. Today was a temporary pause from the maelstrom as winds blew soft to still. It is the slow starts that I crave on zero days, and I fully indulged in long-time laying in the bed. Janna was roaring to eat breakfast, so we walked over to the Red Kettle - a great breakfast place we ate at when doing the Sierra Cascades. The air has a bite to it; it is certainly not a fully warm spring up here. But by the time we exit the restaurant, the sun is coming down and warming up the day suitably enough to wear shorts. The two of us make our way back to the Idyllwild Inn to immediately climb in bed and watch some C-level movies. It's everything I want on a proper zero day: trash tv, snacks, legs up, showers, and relaxation. I fall back to sleep almost immediately. Give the body what it wants cause we're only half-way done.
Lunchtime comes - it's time to walk across town and find someplace to eat. Janna wants pizza. I agree. We make our way to the Idyllwild Pizza Company where we are one of the few patrons today. Breadsticks, pizza, and big salads are ordered. I just eat and eat - my legs just down those calories. I drift into that stupor of fed after physicality that feels oh so good. We take much of the remaining meal in to-go boxes before we walk over to Fairway Market next door for some proper produce. We gather snacks to graze on back at our hotel room and then return to the beds. We watch more C-level movies (Moonfall and Happy Death Day 2U) before I get the itch to really want to walk around Idyllwild in the early afternoon. I always feel restless about this time on a zero day, like I better take advantage of seeing everything in an area. I've been to Idyllwild before, but a walk through the town seems called for.
Janna decides to join me as we strut the town center. We spin around the sequoias and make our way to Nomad Ventures. I don't need any gear; I just want to stop in and peek around since this place saved us years ago on the Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route when my hydration bladder exploded. The MSR Dromedary I bought from them in 2021 is still going strong thousands of miles later and currently in my framebag. We stop at Idyllwild Ice Cream Shop and sit in the sun to eat. Janna wants to head back and rest but I'm considering seeing a movie at the little theater downtown. We compromise by doing neither. Instead, we realize that with the afternoon getting on, we need to do some bike chores and prep up for tomorrow. The two of us head over to the Idyllwild Village Market to buy some fruit for dinner to supplement our leftover pizza and purchase some breakfast food and snacks to carry us through tomorrow evening. We return to our hotel room and I finally lock-in on the need to clean my bike, organize gear, and repack supplies.
I flip on the local news nonchalantly and a breaking weather report details the coming round of wind and winter storms tomorrow as well as into the next day. My ears catch the tone and turn up the TV. The weatherman announces that the Santa Ana Winds will pick up again tomorrow, as early as 6 am. Winter weather is predicted to quickly strike the high-country; Mt. Jacinto and Idyllwild are specifically mentioned. The whole winter complex will come barreling across the lower parts of Los Angeles, slam into the mountains, and kick south. I smile a little because I realize that the winds will be, for the most part, coming from the northwest - right in the tailwind direction we are heading. That's some positive affirmation right there for quick riding. We just have to be smart about getting up, moving, and heading out of the mountains as fast as we can to avoid snow. I turn on RWGPS and scour the map with Janna. It's agreed: we'll wake up super early and get a move on to avoid the worst of the decomposing conditions. Morning will be the nicest weather of the day with a time-temperature inverse relationship where cold temps will increase as the day proceeds. Morning is the time for us to strike. I feel pretty confident as I've ridden everything from this point forward. But it'll all be new to Janna.
We pre-pack, fill our waters, take some luxurious last warm showers, eat the rest of our leftovers, and then head to bed early. The wind will be here when we wake.
