Sign Up for Rapha’s Inaugural Bikepacking Yomp Rally (for Free)
From BikeRumor.com
There’s just something beautiful about a rally. Take the race component out of a long-distance group ride, and what are you left with? Just a collection of people on bikes enjoying the scenery, the company, and the sheer joy of pedaling.
That’s the idea behind Rapha’s inaugural Yomp Rally: a 375-mile California gravel course that winds from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles starting on May 5, 2023.
“The concept is simple: complete the course in five days or fewer at your own pace, on your own or with your friends. Rapha provides the route, a celebratory send-off, one checkpoint, a bag transfer, and a warm welcome when you arrive in Los Angeles. The rest is up to you,” the company stated on the event’s web page.
60 percent of the Yomp Rally is on roads. For that reason, Rapha recommends a crossover, bikepacking-type build like a drop-bar gravel bike with good clearance, or a hardtail mountain bike with low-profile tires. In a similar vein, Rapha suggests gearing for long climbs while carrying loads. To complete the course in the required five days, you’ll need to average 75 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing per day.
Rapha athlete Dillion Osleger designed the course. Osleger is a scientist, environmental advocate, and trail builder in addition to the time he spends in the saddle. So rest assured, he paid close attention when dropping map pins.
“The route you will have traveled is not new. It is a reverse of the path the Spanish Padres took in 1769 to create the California Missions, which could have been noticed all along in Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez, New Cuyama, and Santa Paula. The ecosystems you traverse — desert and coastal sage, high pine forests, and mountain chaparral — can all be seen in the construction material of Chumash baskets and Catholic Churches across the central coast. Every inch of land once belonged to the Chumash Indians, and their influence is still felt in supporting many of the projects that steward these roads and trails. Sooner or later, everything old is new again,” he said.
