Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Mt Baldy Tour of CA Stage

The Tour of CA Mt. Baldy stage did not disappoint. At the end of the day we rode 91 miles, climbed 11,700 ft. and saw a lot of really awesome scenery. I loved it all.

Part way up Mt. Baldy.

There were two tunnels.

Up on Glendora ridge. We would eventually drop all the way down by the river you can barely see off in the far right of the pic. Then climb back up to this point again, plus some...

The boys I chased all day.

Glendora ridge is awesome - drop offs on both sides of the road with views for miles.

A little hard to tell from this pic - but the road snakes off into the distance over the hill in front of us. It is a very fun road to both climb and descend.

The hardest part of this ride was not that the final four-ish miles of the Mt Baldy climb are 9%, with the final bit at 15%. It's that by the time you get to this point, you have already climbed over 10,000 feet. That being said, the final four miles to the top were probably the steepest I have ever ridden. A 28 cassette would have been nice. "Racing" this part of the ride would have been insane.

Final switch backs - and yes, there is sweat all over my camera lens.

One of my favorite days of riding. Thanks to the boys for not once complaining, but simply enjoying a really hard day of riding - and even better, being just as excited about this ride as I was. These guys are not only great cyclists, but even better friends.