Road Ride Report Mt Baldy/My First Century

Technically, this wasn’t a complete century, because I only rode 94.3 miles, but I’m going to round it up because of the ascent and because I could have biked more if I had more daylight.

I started out my trip at 700 with the Aliso Creek Trail. When I got to the end, I briefly considered bailing on the ride by taking Live Oak to Antonio, but I kept going. Santiago Canyon, after the initial uphill was fun and fast. I was pedaling along at a gravity assisted 30+ mph when I hit a bump at the intersection of the 261 and Santiago Canyon. Oh @#%^! My computer fell off. I stopped as soon as I realized this and rested my bike against a nearby telephone pole. All I could do was cringe as car after car narrowly avoided crushing my computer. Finally, the intersection cleared up and I was able to loudly waddle over to my computer. Amazingly, the computer looked and functioned as it did before.

From there, I headed over to Cannon St/Imperial Highway. Once the climb was over I expected a slight downhill section. Words cannot describe the sheer joy that I felt when I saw the 12% grade sign. In all of my miles on the road, this has got to be close to the happiest I’ve ever felt. Then I got to Imperial Highway and Esperanza Road (I remember this because at the stoplight I started singing ‘Perdida la esperanza, Perdida la ilusion’ [+1000 points to whoever gets this without looking it up]). Concrete walls, divider, Wrong Way Do Not Enter sign, wait a second is this a… Richard Nixon Freeway! Oh @#%^! I stopped before the first offramp and whipped out my phone to check Google Maps. Google Maps said that this freeway is okay for walking. When they say use caution, they really mean it. I decided to stay on the freeway. Luckily, I only had to cross two on/off ramps before it was over. A bit further down, I stopped at a 7-11 to grab some cookies, when I heard on the radio that it was the shortest day of the year. What a great day to do a long ride.

Carbon Canyon still showed signs of a fire which I did not know had occurred. Some research revealed that the charred trees I saw were a result of the Freeway Complex Fire of November 2008. The uphill on Carbon Canyon seemed to be endless – and not in a good way. But at the end I was rewarded with a fun descent complete with switchbacks. That boosted my moral enough to get me to Ramona Ave. Along Ramona Ave a driver gave me a thumbs up. At first, I thought he was using a different finger, so I was very upset. At the red light, he made his point clear and I smiled and thanked him. It was a nice gesture. I then continued down Ramona Ave. Oh @#%^! It was closed and I would be forced to reroute, in other words Google Maps time. I looked at the map and figured that Indian Hill Boulevard would be a suitable detour. I found Claremont to be quite a nice detour.

There I stood at the intersection of Mills and Mt Baldy Road having already completed a bit over a metric. At this point in time, my only goal for the climb was to finish. The climb got steeper and steeper as I got more and more tired. The part before the tunnels was quite easy all things considered. Then things went downhill (figuratively of course). The breaks became more and more frequent. At one point in time, not too far from the ski lifts, I biked a quarter of a mile and just had to stop because my legs were so fried. Finally, I spotted the road ends 400 ft sign. This provoked even more joy than the abovementioned sign. Just to complete things, I biked up to the parking lot of the ski lifts. Then things went downhill (literally of course). The switchback portion was quite fun, probably one of my favorite descents. I wasn’t flying down Baldy, but still going at a decent speed. I saw an uphill to my right and I ignored it. Once I saw tunnels, I realized that I’d blown past GRR. All my mind saw was more uphill, so I accidentally skipped GRR/GMR. I was a bit disappointed when I learned this, but my disappointment was mitigated by the simple fact that I just could not afford the extra uphill and extra mileage. I got to the bottom and … Oh @#%^! It was 1600, I couldn’t feel my fingers, I was more than 30 miles from Union Station, it was drizzling, and it was starting to get dark. But, it could have been worse.

I got directions to the Montclair Metrolink and bought my ticket. What luck! A train to Union Station would be there at 1630. The train got there and Oh @#%^! It stopped for – I am not exaggerating – 20 seconds or less. The point is that I had nowhere near enough time to get on the train and the next train would not be there for an hour. Luckily, there was a bus going to Union Station that was just about to leave. The bus driver let me bring my bike onto the bus, which is good, because I would have rather waited an hour than lose sight of my bike. The bus, of course, was late, but I got to Union Station in time to catch the last train to Oceanside.

Planned Mileage: 127 miles
Planned Ascent: 8800ft

Actual Mileage: 94.3 miles
Actual Ascent: 8000ft

Saddle Time: 7:14:18
Average Speed: 13 mph

Even though the ride didn’t go exactly as planned and I ran into several obstacles, I accomplished what I set out to do. I climbed Mount Baldy.

These pictures don't really do Ol' Baldy justice for a couple of reasons: first my cell phone camera sucks and second I never got a chance to take pictures of the really steep parts.




Time to climb...



View closer to the bottom (probably around mile 5)



View from the Baldy Post Office



Although this doesn't look that hard, the last three miles were killer.



The views are the best at ~4500ft and up. This was probably taken at ~5500ft.



The picture says it all.



Taken from the parking lot.



The view from the top.

 

Damn dood your an animal!

 

Great RR. The fact that you missed GRR was a blessing. I don't think you would have made it off the hill by dark.

And that damn bridge at Ramona...one of these days they'll finish it. It used to be just a regular railroad crossing and an easy way for me when I ride/rode to work.

 

Great RR. I may have to head up to Mt. Baldy over the holiday.

 

Nice report...been thinking about doing an out-and-back from here in N. Irvine...

 

Great RR. Question though. Was this to the ski lift parking lot? I'm not quite sure if I can tell.

 

awesome R.. great ride and extra credit for doing it solo, thats gotta be mentally tough...

 

That looks like the lift lot to me. Plus the pic of the "Road Ends" sign helps to give it away.

A couple of tips for avoiding traffic:
Pipeline > Ramona
College (north of I-10) > Indian Hill
The next one is out of your way, but I have a friend who was creamed on Indian Hill:
San Antonio (south of I-10) > Indian Hill