Ben689908-
I've been an ultimate Karen and emailed them voicing my concerns. I did some sleuthing and the original route was devised at least seven weeks ago, which was around three weeks before the rain came and before the forest was ravaged. They should at least route it around the Los Padres. They say: 'Treat the land and all its inhabitants with respect.' Well, they shouldn't try to ride in the Los Padres. These are designated wilderness areas in many parts.
The Forest Service have stated they will either extend or drop the closure order on March 14th. It is my hopes that they will simply extend the closure order. Its not unheard of for the Forest Service to just close forests around here for months at a time. The Angeles was closed due to fire risk for 4 months in late 2021. Not only will forest use in this fragile state damage it, but also could potentially end up in dangerous conditions for the riders. Consider they have feet on the ground here in SoCal, I am surprised that they've gone through with launching the event tbh.
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JB
Name aside, the route itself looks really great. Basically the whole thing is beautiful. However, the Los Padres National Forest - which 165 miles of this route is in - is closed until March 14th to assess storm damage. And that'll be before clean up happens. I have no idea how they'll successfully ride that section safely. I suspect this route was devised before we experienced the huge rainfall that occurred in early January.
There's an entire Flickr gallery from the National Forest Service of storm damage. Its wild: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfsregion5/albums/72177720305549844/with/52647826820/