Glendora Mountain Road - A cold, wet, foggy morning riding

Today we rode GMR to the maintenance shed. Annette and I met up at our usual spot and we quickly started our trek up GMR. Traffic was light and on the way up we spotted two motorcycle cops coming down the mountain. They are always nice to see and because road conditions were bad, motorist watched their speed.

At the start of the climb I was tired. Baby Natalie isn't a great sleeper and she kept us up most of the night.

As Annette and I rode up GMR, I quietly doubted my ability to reach even the maintenance shed. Man, I'm tired and the first steep climb before Big Dalton Canyon Road was harder than usual.

By Colby Canyon, I started to get into my groove. We kept a moderate pace the whole way up and as we climbed the colder and wetter it became. Like last Saturday, there was a lot of moisture in the air. The only difference being it came sooner. By the first saddle visibility was limited to 20 feet and this is about the time we met up with Matt. Matt started his ride in the early morning and he warned us that the weather conditions up GMR only get worse. We "noted" his warning and through the thick blanket of mist we rode. (A glutton for punishment, Matt decided to ride up with us too! Of course for just a short while.)

There were only a few motorcyclist on GMR and the mist was so thick that only the buzz of their engines could be heard, serving as a warning that they were approaching.

We stopped at the maintenance shed, soaking wet, cold and with the realization our ride ends here. No Mt. Baldy today.


These pictures do no justice to how wet it was today. The thick layer of mist and moisture fogged up my glasses and quickly formed into droplets of water blurring my vision. We had to stop a few times to clean off our glasses and stretch out our arms. The cold penetrated my joints and as two motorcyclist passed me on the way down, I welcomed the warmth of their exhaust.

Fun with my camera and photoshop.

Yesterday I rode GMR with Annette. During our long ride we talked about many things. One such topic was her wonderful panoramic photographs of GMR.

It turns out she takes the pictures and her husband Bill uses special software to "stitch" groups of pictures into one long photo. Well I thought I'd give it a try.

The following picture is of the family watching the Laker Game. Click on it and you can see how long it is. This was about a 130 degree shot.



I also bought Photoshop Elements and tweaked this picture I took yesterday. I think it came out okay. PSE is pretty simple yet adequately powerful for my simple needs. This picture I lassoed the middle flower then black and whited the background to really bring out the color of the main subject.

Fork plus 6.20 miles - Woohoo!

Today was a good day.

The plan was to ride GMR, Fork plus Four, at 9:30 am. At 9:00 am, as I was ready to leave the house, Annette calls. She drove up to Colby Canyon to check out the ride conditions. GMR was wet and road conditions were slippery. We decided to postpone our ride until 3:00 pm.

At 12:30 pm "ish" Annette calls again. "If we are going to make Fork plus Four, we need to leave at 1:30 pm. I said I'll check with the wife and get back to her. I asked Jamie and 1:30 pm was a go!

I met Annette at GMR and Sierra Madre by 1:30 pm and away we went. The weather was iffy. Although the road was dry there were thick clouds/fog hugging the mountains and by the first saddle, the moisture had built up significantly.

Up GMR we came across a dead Bear. The stench of rotting flesh filled the air as we came up to it. Annette took pictures. I wonder what took this thing down? Soon after we spotted a baby coyote. It was very cute and Annette took pictures of it too before I scared it off.

It didn't take long to reach the Maintenance Shed. We rested at the shed for a few minutes before heading off. I was pretty excited as I was in uncharted territory. Annette was my Sherpa and off we went into the wild! From the Maintenance Shed its downhill to East Fork and Mile Marker ZERO! Wohoo, the last time I was here I think I was 16 years old!

We trudged on and the mile markers came up quick! MM1, MM2, MM3, MM4, I hit my goal. We kept going. With each mile it got colder and wetter and we decided to stop at Mile Marker 6.20 and just 5.80 miles to Baldy Village. I'm almost there!



These are some pictures I took on the way up GMR. The weather was great for some macros! I especially like the second picture. It really shows how much moisture was in the air. I think the last picture would make for good stationary or "Thank You" cards. Its kind of Zen like in Black and White.

Art by Meme: Simply amazing and very appropriate.

Hmmmm, this makes me want to build a fixed gear bike. Lets see, go to craigslist.com, scan the LA area for a good vintage road bike with horizontal drop outs... :)

Back to Business - GMR

Today I decided to ride GMR after an almost two week hiatus. I wasn't expecting much and the ride turned our to be great (Not a hammerfest, just a nice steady ride up the mountain). I met up with Annette from Glendora Mountain Road. Together we rode up to the maintenance shed. It was an easy pace where communication was steady and not forced.

On the way up was absent of other riders, just your typical speeding motorcycles and cars. Since this was my first ride in two weeks, I left the bicycle computer home. I didn't want to know my speed, cadence, nothing. I just wanted to ride.

Francesca spinning a wheel

Young Bicycle Friends

Kids in motion. Saturday we celebrated my son's second birthday. It was a family affair and the cousins were out on their bikes. Katie shed her training wheels on this day!

Welcoming Natalie into the family.

Natalie was born 5-26-09 @ 6:52 pm. She weighs in at 6lbs 2 oz and is 20 inches tall.

A Quick Ride Around the Park

Today Meme, Bryan and I rode around Bonelli Park. I was surprised to see the Park & Ride was relatively empty considering it was a holiday weekend. Usually, its packed and one must park across the way.

Richard was there and I was really surprised to see him as he's a Marshal Canyon fixture. He said he wanted to try something different. Richard and I talked a short while, he told me about his Ellsworth breaking down and how its in the shop and the replacement part is being shipped in from France. He's on a HT Specialized Hard Rock right now and lets just say its not nearly as forgiving as the Ellsworth.

This was the first time I rode with Bryan. At 6' 7", he was appropriately riding a 29'er Specialized Stumpjumper. Byran's a nice guy who lives close to Meme and is in Orthopedic Sales. Like me, Byran went to Cal Poly Pomona.

Each trail and its parts have special names. This section photographed is called Airport Hill. Its a rocky rutty section next to Bracket Airport. Its a lot of fun but one wrong move and you'll be hurting.

Here is Meme and Bryan at the bottom of Airport Hill. They made it!


Here is Meme negotiating Airport Hill. The trick is to look well ahead of the trail, spotting "safe" passages through the rocks and deep ruts. You can see Meme's "in deep thought" expression as he makes his way down. Notice how Meme is on a single Speed. I think I have him hooked.

An Early Morning Marshal Canyon Ride with Friends

Today Mark, Meme, Grace, Sarah and I rode Marshal Canyon. We staged at Oak Mesa Elementary then rode up MC to Cobol Canyon. From there we met up with Antonio, and headed down Cobol. We finished with a nice ride up Burbank. It was a great ride.

This was my first time riding with Sarah and, just like her sister Grace, she's a trooper. It turns out Sarah and I both went to Cal Poly Pomona. She majored in Landscape Architecture and currently works for City of Pomona.


Meme the Conquistador made it all the way up Marshal Canyon on his Mongoose Single Speed. This is his victory stand!

... And this is his trusted Steed!

Burbank to Cobol Canyon X2

After work I rode the Claremont Wilderness Trail up Burbank down Cobol. I did this two times. I haven't felt 100% lately and the ride wore me out. It's weird, my lungs and heart seem fine but my legs just won't get in-sync. I'm not sure were to go with this and it seems a week and a half ago, I was riding and running really strong.

The first loop was hard with zero warm up before I started riding up Burbank. It was about 5:30 pm and the winds were coming in strong from the west pushing me down as I tried to make my way up to Johnston's Pasture.

I was surprised to see there were a lot of hikers and joggers today. They kept me company while I did my loops around the trails. I was happy to see so many of them as it gave me the chance to use my bell.

On the second lap, I met up with an older gentleman who helped me forget how tired I was. I didn't get his name but he lives in Upland, works in Fontana and goes to church in Pomona. He's in the steel industry and he said business is down 75%. He said rides like this help chisel away some of that stress. As for church, he attends the First Baptist Church in Pomona off Garey Ave. and Holt Ave.

Riding is peaceful and does help chisel away some stress. One of my favorite things is to look at the mountains in all their beauty and be thankful I live close enough to ride their trails once in awhile.

Cool Bike I saw at the Sea Otter Classic

Not sure how it rides though!

Fullerton Loop - Random Pics

Mark, Rachel, Grace, Gary, Allen and I rode around Fullerton via Mountain Bike Trails. It was a nice ride with lots of street crossings. I had the opportunity to see parts of Fullerton I didn't know existed.

Fullerton Ride - Man down, Man down... er I mean, WOman down.

Last weekend Rachel decided to ride with us. We chose the Fullerton Loop of 12 miles. 6 miles in, Rachel took a pretty good spill on some erosion bars. She earned her MTB Badge with a trip to the ER, Deep Bruises and three stitches.

The Beat Down at Bonelli Park

Today I rode around Bonelli Park on my road bike. On Wednesdays, a big group of riders will meet up and ride laps around the park. The pace is fast and there is no stopping.

I was feeling pretty tired and could barely hang on the back of the pack. It didn't take long for me to be dropped. I continued riding around the park and would meet up with other small groups of riders. I'd pick up my pace and try to hang on with them for as long as I could but in the end every group would drop me.

When I finished my ride, I was wiped out, dizzy, my legs were sore and I felt sick. In fact, I still feel sick and its 9:45 pm.

GT Tequesta

This old GT Tequesta was given to me last week. It looks to be circa 1994 and comes equipped with Shimano Exage 7 speed components. Everything looks to be in working order except the front Manitou Suspension.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one. You see its too nice of a bike to break down and convert it to a single speed. This GT Tequesta in its splashed hues of blue and unique rear triangle represents a high in GT mountain bike history. When this bike was released GT was at its dominance in the MTB market and evey kid on the block wanted a GT.

Some things I will change:

Handle Bars - Those old school bull horns are ugly and too narrow. I'm thinking Easton EA70 or some other inexpensive riser bar.

Cantilever Brakes - These gotta go and will be replaced with V-Brakes

Front Shock - Hmmm this one is tricky because replacing the shock with anything means I may have to ditch the quill stem. The stem is painted to match the bike so I'll have to think about my options.

Cables - This one is obvious

????

Bonelli Park: Spun out, A Dog Down, Meme, Mark and El Merendero

Mark , Meme and I rode around Bonelli Park today. It was fun, not too hard and we did about 2/3 of the big loop. The morning was overcast when I headed to Bonelli Park and riding SS 34 X 19 on the road was not fun. It didn't take much to run out of gear and start spinning. This was almost 85% of the trip to our meeting place. It usually takes me about 20 - 30 minutes from my house to the park and ride off Via Verde on a "geared" bike. On a SS, its about 35 - 40 minutes.

Riding through the park, I came upon a frantic woman who asked for my help. You see her three dogs were playing in the park, running up and down the hills when one of the dogs crashed into a tree or brush or something of that sorts and gave itself a very big gash. Her husband was holding the dog down and applying pressure on the open wound. The lady asked me to ride to the guard tower and get help. I did and then rode back to see if there was anything else I could do. By that time a park maintenance crew was there with their pickup. They also signaled help. The dogs owners ended up riding with the maint. crew to a vet. I hope the dog is okay but it didn't look to good.

After that fiasco, Meme and I met up with Mark and we started on our ride. We took the usual route that takes us parallel to the 10 Fwy then past the horse stables and into "Vietnam". We rode parallel Puddingstone Drive and then over to the dam. At about the dam we turned around and headed to El Merendero for lunch.

Hot 6:00 O'Clock evening ride up Glendora Mountain Road Ride

After work rode up GMR. It was hot and I only had one water bottle. I managed to make it about 30 feet before Newman's Outlook or whatever its called. At that point I was out of water so I turned back and headed to car. Note to self, bring more water on hot days!

Otra Vez - Antonio is in the house!

Today, I headed to our usual Marshal Canyon meeting point and was greeted with Meme packing up his bike!. There was a little mis-communication between us and he ended up at Oak Mesa 1 hour early. Meme rode up Marshal Canyon solo and at the time I arrived at Oak Mesa, he was finishing his ride and loading up. We talked a short while about his single speed and bike projects.

At 8:15 - 8:20 am, I started up Marshal Canyon. Although there were many riders on the trail, like Meme, I too was riding solo. One mile above Marshal Canyon Equestrian Center, I spotted Antonio. Antonio is a MC regular. We talked a short while before agreeing to ride up to Yellow Gate together. He pretty much lead the whole way up with no breaks until the top of Cobol Canyon. From there we headed down Cobol Canyon and at the Burbank intersection, I yelled Otra Vez and we decided to do another loop.

Riding up Burbank on my Single Speed was challenging but with Antonio to talk to the time past by fairly quickly. Antonio, 47, is a father of four, three girls and one boy. He works in construction and started riding two years ago when he was temporarily laid off from work. Starting out, he did a lot of street riding until a co-worker showed him Cobol Canyon. The rest was history. He's a really nice guy and I told him we'll hook up again and do a road bike ride up Glendora Mountain Road. I think he'll like the climb.