My buddy steve carcano and I decided to ride GMR from Buena Park Bicycles. It took a little over six and a half hours with stops at the top for some pics and soaking up the scenery. We meet up at BP bikes at 8 topped off the bottle at carls jr. and headed off. From the begging it looked pretty gloomy Steve decided we should stop at his house on the way so he could get a jacket in case of rain(which he didn't use). After that quick stop we weaved our way though Whittier to the San Gabrial river trail, we had a nice tail wind pretty much the whole way up. We hit several long stretches of wet pavement we kept expecting the worst. Stopped to top off the bottles at the only rest stop on the trail We continued to the base of GMR. I have to say I was a very fun climb the fist part was very steep, the rest was not so bad. Plenty of great views Steve snapped this on the way up After 3400ft or so we made it here Shortly after this pic the wind was whipping and my bike tipped when my back was turned, I just head the hollow sound of the carbon smacking the rocks. Luckily it fell towards me and not down the mountain and the bottle cages was the carbon that got any damage frame was ok\\/. Soo windy steve couldnt keep his eyes open for this pic. The descent down the mountain was crazy lean in to a turn then the wind would blow us in the other. I was a very sketchy ride down dirt blowing of the edges and into our faces it stung pretty good. I had a few bugs smash into my glasses. At the bottom we stopped at Stop n Go for some calorie replenishment :beer: then back to the river trail where the head wind was EVEN WORSE. Steve almost got blown off the trail on several occasions so I pulled majority of the way I was able to stay in control, because Im heavier maye? Any way is was a beautiful day and fairly good weather, except the deadly wind:lol:. Heres the stava of this epic ride http://app.strava.com/activities/47945190
Nice job Andre!!! How did you feel after the 88 mile ride? (Tired? Ready for more? Better than you were expecting?) What's next on the bucket list?
The one thing I miss doing with Steven... riding GMR. I like to see the BP Crew doing epic bike rides on their days off. :clap:
Dino i felt fine, I tried to convince steve to ride the VQ route with me today but he dosen't want to do it on the rigid bike i have supplied him with. I suppose thats next on the list. But it turns out I am working today
Nice ride! We had a group all lined up to climb Monday as well, but the threat of nasty winds up on the mountain turned most everyone off, so a couple of us hit the trail here instead. Thanks for the pics!
thanks for the inspiration! made it up there from fullerton and met some friends in arcadia for lunch (wifey drove me back home). not the 88 miles you did, but still cleared close to 60. the conditions last saturday were ideal! dont know how you guys did that with the wind blowing so hard.
I went up and rode GMR on Sunday. The fog was so dense that the road was wet and visibility was only like 50 feet. I had arm warmers but no gloves so coming down was so cold I had to stop halfway and defrost my fingers. still a good day. Here is a picture I took about 5 miles in before the fog got worse.
