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Here in Los Angeles, there seems to be a checkpoint race that takes the city by storm, but over the last six years, the LA Tourist Race has become the must-do race. Normally scavenger hunt races in LA take you through the busy streets of downtown, but not for this race. Instead, the goal is to get you out of the big city, taking participants deep into the mountains to places many didn’t know were accessible by bike.
The LA Tourist Race is fewer rules and more fun. It’s more of an if it rolls, then race it vibe. Aero bars probably won’t help, but if you want them, Mike and the team won’t stop you from rolling into the fun. No race license, just show up on whatever bike you have and go. Race it, ride it, or just be part of the before and after party, it doesn’t matter.
GETTING IT STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE
LA Tourist Race is celebrating its sixth year, and I wanted to catch up with Mike Kalenda, the founder of the race series.
When you first started this race, what was your plan originally, or what was the goal?
That first one was to just get through it and to do something fun.
Yeah, I didn’t know if it was going any further. It was just, let’s do one and see how it goes. 45 people showed up to that first one, and it has grown since.
This year, for the first time, you’ve partnered with another local race series, correct?
Yes, Adam from The Local Race. We thought, okay, what if we combine the two series and make the ultimate Local Tourist style race? The ultimate DIY-type race, and if you can complete all six events, there will be a special prize. If you complete one of each, you’ll get a shirt, but if you can do all six and you end up winning it, then we’ll have an even more special price for you.
The Local Race is a running series. What is the theme and distance of those events?
So, according to Adam, I believe the first race starts at 5 miles, and then the last one is around 20 miles. They’re all essentially a destination start with some sort of point-to-point loop similar to LA Tourist. Except they don’t start from a particular business. Adam picks a location, and then that race would start and finish in that location, and you’ll have checkpoints that you have to make your way to so it’s still figuring out the fastest way to those checkpoints.
For race 1 of LA Tourist, things seem pretty difficult. Was this the plan?
So I was just trying to add a little extra toughness to it. With the four books, I started seeing the mileage was just getting really short, and people were finding really good shortcuts and route optimization. We never really claimed there would only be a certain number of books, so why not add another book or two?
I think the biggest change this year is for the beginner race that we introduced last year. This race was designed to give someone who wants to dip their toe into LA Tourist. What we were finding was we’d give them all the points and let them choose what two points they wanted to do. Without knowing, some would pick two of the hardest points while others would do the two easiest ones. It became hard to truly determine a winner with so much variation.
So this year we’re going to set the points for the beginner course. you can still pick your way to those points, but we’re going to give you the points that you have to go to. I think that was the biggest change. That way, no matter when the beginners come back there is a defined winner. This makes it just like the full LA Tourist, but with fewer points and more fair competition.
We have determined that you have made this one harder, and it’s going to be a big day. What are your projected finishing times for the fastest riders?
Well, it seemed like it might not be as challenging as we had initially set it out to be. You know, if we’re having people travel here and put LA Tourist on their race calendar, it needs to be more than a 2-3 hour race. It needs to be a race that’s going to take you all day and be challenging and make you have to think. I want racers to question their route and if they made the right route choice. I want them to feel like they can and should make on-the-fly changes down a trail you didn’t consider while mapping it out.
Think more like Kent, he will just run up a random game trail. So many of us are still stuck in that mindset of, I have to follow this specific trail because rules are rules, but this is not that. You can literally run through the bushes if you think it will be faster.
Back to the original question, maybe 3pm, no, I’d say 2:30pm. Remember we are starting at 7am so that we can utilize more daylight. I can imagine the top 10 back here by 2:30pm.
Do you think people should bring lights?
Hell yeah, I mean, we stay here till the last person comes back, so unless you decide just to go straight home, we’re here waiting for you. If you decide to go straight home, call the shop, email us, or even reply to your checkpoint email. You never know when you could have a mechanical and be out there longer than expected. It will start getting dark around 5pm, and even if you don’t need the lights, you will be on the road at some point, so have them for your safety.
Do you have any last tips?
Some of these trails are super steep and exposed. So, if you are uncomfortable in those situations, you just need to 100% stop riding, pick up your bike, and run or walk. Condor is going to be hard, and depending on how you decide to get in and out of Condor, it will really affect your route.
The first race is sold out with 250 participants. This is a three-race series, race two is February 24th, and race three is April 13th. You don’t need to do all three races, but you do need to register quickly because it will likely be sold out. It’s only $30 per race.
If you don’t want to race, you can always volunteer. The whole thing is run off of donations and volunteers.
THE DETAILS
The race starts at Let’s Ride Cyclery in Burbank, Ca, on Hollywood way between the Chandler bike path and Magnolia Blvd. Also about half a block from the famous Porto’s Bakery.
THE FORMAT
The race is a scavenger hunt style with checkpoints. You can do the stops in any order, with the only real set rule being you must start and finish at the Let’s Ride Cyclery & LA Tourist HQ in Burbank.
THE ROUTE
The checkpoints are released to registered participants a few days before the race. The best part is building route options while debating if the roads and trails you have chosen will be rideable. Overall, expect a tough yet fun experience no matter what route or category you choose. For this race, my route is 87 miles with 13,000 ft of climbing.
TROY’S BIKE CHOICE
While the miles have me wanting to ride a gravel bike, the XC mountain bike with larger tires and more climbing-friendly gears is the way to go for me. I’m going to ride the new 2024 Trek Supercaliber Gen 2. The mountain bike has a 32t chainring matched to a 10-52t SRAM AXS Eagle cassette. With the steep climbs, the extra range might be the difference between riding and hiking certain sections.
SAM’S BIKE CHOICE
Another LA local and riding friend, Sam, is going full gravel. He is riding his Moots Routt RSL. He also has a big SRAM Eagle cassette, but it is paired with the normal 40t 1X gravel chainring. He will probably be fine since he has been training and riding a lot more than me.
