Hi climbing Forumites,

I aksed Happytime to put this on the calendar, but she suggested I start a New Thread for it too; so here it is!

This is an OCRR Remote Start ride, and I'm inviting all the bikeforum.net riders to join us! Even if you don't consider yourself a "climber" we have a group for you!

Date: February 23rd, 2008
Day: Saturday Morning
Start Time 9:00 AM, Meet at 8:30 AM

Mark your Calendar!

Why? Because It’s GMR time again!

Glendora Mountain Road, most often known by the TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation) as GMR, will be ascended by riders beginning at: 9:00 AM, with a meeting time 8:30 AM.

We are encouraging riders who may have been intimidated by the very thought of GMR in the past to at least come out and give it a try.

Experienced riders will be on hand to help you first timers with the subtle nuances of the climb, and let you know what to expect from different sections before you actually get there. We will do our best throughout the ride to keep the groups together as follows:

Group “A” Fast Climbers: Led by Sir Steve Jones

Group “B” Medium Speed Climbers: Led by Rick Burneson

Group “C” Beginner Climbers (and/or those new to GMR): Led by Maria Szweminska

Maria will give a short “Intro to GMR” for all riders new to Glendora Mountain Road before the start, 8:15 approx. Rick will share a few “Safe descending” notes when Maria is finished.

The Goal: To make it 22 miles from the city of Glendora, CA to Mt. Baldy Village, and return safely to Glendora. And, even though you will climb a total of 5,000 vertical feet before you finish, there are no really steep sections at all. 70% of the climbing is on the way out, 30% on the return.

On top of all that, the scenery is beautiful (Angeles National Forest), so you may want to bring a (small, light) camera. There may be an occasional vehicle or motorcycles on the road into Baldy Village, but even those are fairly few and far between. The road surface is very good to excellent.

How to get there: Take the 57 (don’t take the 60 exit when the 57 and 60 separate!) to the 210 West, or the 605 to the 210 East,
Exit at Grand in Glendora.
Take Grand North. Note, if coming from the 57, the ramp puts you on Baseline Road. Turn left onto Baseline, then right onto Grand.
Drive approx. 2-1/2 miles to Sierra Madre, turn right.
Drive approx. 2-1/2 miles to Glendora Mountain Road, turn left.
Proceed to first (only) traffic signal at Boulder Springs, turn left and park.
Note: This is approx. 45 minute drive from Irvine (but worth it!).

Please be as quiet as possible when pumping up your tires and getting ready to ride since it will be early and this is a residential neighborhood. The folks that live here have never given us any trouble and we’d like to keep it that way! Restrooms are located in the park across Glendora Mountain Road at Boulder Springs.

What to bring: Since there are no services between Glendora and Mt. Baldy Village, I recommend that you bring at least two large water bottles and/or a Camelback or equivalent. Water is good, but Gatorade, Cytomax or your favorite electrolyte replacement drink is better. You may also want to bring a Cliff bar or equivalent to re-fuel when we reach the ½ way-point at Mt. Baldy Village. A packet or two of GU (Hammer Gel, etc.) might be a good idea too, should you need a carbo boost along the way.

Oh, and the soda / Gatorade machines at Mt. Baldy Village may only take quarters. The dollar bill feeder is “sometimes” operational. Cokes, Sprites, Gatorade, etc. are all a buck each. There is also a wide variety of food, coffee, etc. available at the Café in the Village. :)

Total mileage for the day will be 44 miles; 22 up, 22 down and nary a flat stretch in between. Strong riders will be fine with a double crank; less energetic climbers may be better off with a compact or triple crank. But remember, it’s not steep!

Route Sheet: You really don’t need a route sheet, if you just remember this:

When you come to an intersection, go UP!

As counter-intuitive as it may sound, this instruction is equally true going toward Mt. Baldy Village, and on the return trip!

Any questions or comments? If so, please email:

Rick Burneson: rb.housa@verizon.net

If I'm up to it I'd like to make another attempt at GMR.

Hi Rick,

Will there be a staggered start? Also, is the intention to ride along with the specific group (unless one gets dropped)?

I forgot what my time up GMR is. I think I'm somewhere between B & C.

Thanks!

I'll have to check my calendar before saying yea or nay. But I love the OP and instructions. Very nice. Should make everyone comfortable.

:)

Hi climbing Forumites,

I aksed Happytime to put this on the calendar, but she suggested I start a New Thread for it too; so here it is!

This is an OCRR Remote Start ride, and I'm inviting all the bikeforum.net riders to join us! Even if you don't consider yourself a "climber" we have a group for you!

Date: February 23rd, 2008
Day: Saturday Morning
Start Time 9:00 AM, Meet at 8:30 AM

Mark your Calendar!

Why? Because It’s GMR time again!

Glendora Mountain Road, most often known by the TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation) as GMR, will be ascended by riders beginning at: 9:00 AM, with a meeting time 8:30 AM.

We are encouraging riders who may have been intimidated by the very thought of GMR in the past to at least come out and give it a try.

Experienced riders will be on hand to help you first timers with the subtle nuances of the climb, and let you know what to expect from different sections before you actually get there. We will do our best throughout the ride to keep the groups together as follows:

Group “A” Fast Climbers: Led by Sir Steve Jones

Group “B” Medium Speed Climbers: Led by Rick Burneson

Group “C” Beginner Climbers (and/or those new to GMR): Led by Maria Szweminska

Maria will give a short “Intro to GMR” for all riders new to Glendora Mountain Road before the start, 8:15 approx. Rick will share a few “Safe descending” notes when Maria is finished.

The Goal: To make it 22 miles from the city of Glendora, CA to Mt. Baldy Village, and return safely to Glendora. And, even though you will climb a total of 5,000 vertical feet before you finish, there are no really steep sections at all. 70% of the climbing is on the way out, 30% on the return.

On top of all that, the scenery is beautiful (Angeles National Forest), so you may want to bring a (small, light) camera. There may be an occasional vehicle or motorcycles on the road into Baldy Village, but even those are fairly few and far between. The road surface is very good to excellent.

How to get there: Take the 57 (don’t take the 60 exit when the 57 and 60 separate!) to the 210 West, or the 605 to the 210 East,
Exit at Grand in Glendora.
Take Grand North. Note, if coming from the 57, the ramp puts you on Baseline Road. Turn left onto Baseline, then right onto Grand.
Drive approx. 2-1/2 miles to Sierra Madre, turn right.
Drive approx. 2-1/2 miles to Glendora Mountain Road, turn left.
Proceed to first (only) traffic signal at Boulder Springs, turn left and park.
Note: This is approx. 45 minute drive from Irvine (but worth it!).

Please be as quiet as possible when pumping up your tires and getting ready to ride since it will be early and this is a residential neighborhood. The folks that live here have never given us any trouble and we’d like to keep it that way! Restrooms are located in the park across Glendora Mountain Road at Boulder Springs.

What to bring: Since there are no services between Glendora and Mt. Baldy Village, I recommend that you bring at least two large water bottles and/or a Camelback or equivalent. Water is good, but Gatorade, Cytomax or your favorite electrolyte replacement drink is better. You may also want to bring a Cliff bar or equivalent to re-fuel when we reach the ½ way-point at Mt. Baldy Village. A packet or two of GU (Hammer Gel, etc.) might be a good idea too, should you need a carbo boost along the way.

Oh, and the soda / Gatorade machines at Mt. Baldy Village may only take quarters. The dollar bill feeder is “sometimes” operational. Cokes, Sprites, Gatorade, etc. are all a buck each. There is also a wide variety of food, coffee, etc. available at the Café in the Village. :)

Total mileage for the day will be 44 miles; 22 up, 22 down and nary a flat stretch in between. Strong riders will be fine with a double crank; less energetic climbers may be better off with a compact or triple crank. But remember, it’s not steep!

Route Sheet: You really don’t need a route sheet, if you just remember this:

When you come to an intersection, go UP!

As counter-intuitive as it may sound, this instruction is equally true going toward Mt. Baldy Village, and on the return trip!

Any questions or comments? If so, please email:

Rick Burneson: rb.housa@verizon.net

Hi - I would love to join you and could probably talk my husband into it, but that's the same weekend as the Tour of California (Feb 17-24). So I'll have to pass until next time :(
Christy

Hi Dave,

Yes, there will be a slightly staggered start, but only a minute or so in between the groups, with the "A,s" starting first, then the "B's" then finally the "C" group.

The "A" group is looking at an approximate time, Glendora to The Village, 1 hr. 30 min. The fast riders probably will not re-group.

The "B" group will be approx 2 hr. 15 min. ride time (not counting re-group time). I plan a re-group at The Shed and probably about half way up the final BIG climb, i.e. at approx. mile 16 or 16.5 where there is a turn-out.

Not sure how many times Maria will regroup the beginners; probably depends on how well they're doing vs. how much they're complaining! Looking at probably 3-1/2 hours Glendora to The Village for the "C" group.

If you start with the "A" group and get dropped you can always fade back and pick up the "B's"!

Rick / OCRR

If I'm up to it I'd like to make another attempt at GMR.

Yes John, that would be excellent! And it will be much more fun that the last one! Although, actually, that one was fun until you hit the deck. Hopefully lots less windy on Feb. 23rd!

Rick / OCRR

I'd be into this, Rick if it wasn't on TOC weekend – next time for sure!

BTW, you've got a great system there, with the ride levels.

Hi Joy,

Yes, that's the wonderful thing about SoCal. No matter when you plan an event, there's an event conflict. No worries though, for those who would rather ride GMR than watch the pros (well, Sir Steve used to be a pro) we have a ride for them.

RE: Levels, yes it's a good idea, I think, but we'll have to get some feedback after it's over, i.e. see if it worked as good as we hope it will. I know you can't please all of the people all of the time, but hopefully this system will please as many as possible!

Rick / OCRR

Well, I'll definitely join you guys on future rides, Rick, esp if the rest of the OCRR'ers are as nice as the ones I met on the Charity Ride. Have fun!

Well, I'll definitely join you guys on future rides, Rick, esp if the rest of the OCRR'ers are as nice as the ones I met on the Charity Ride. Have fun!

Yes, we did have quite a few Rebels on your Santa Monica Mountains ride. Don't know how many of them you got to meet, since you were kinda busy that day!

Check out the website at: www.ocrebels.com for other rides, plus photos of friendly bike riders. Oh . . . plus a few dog photos. Our photographer/webmaster really like dogs.

You, and any other forumites are always welcome on any OCRR rides. We don't charge for rides, and the only rules are 1. Wear a helmet and 2. Ride Safe. Route sheets for the weekend rides are usually on the website almost a week in advance.

Rick / OCRR

Rick,

Next time you do GMR I will be there, since the TOC is in Santa Clarita on the 23rd, I will be sticking close to home. As Joy said I will be there for the next one.

I'm game for this, might do a repeat or two on big GMR if I get the OK from my legs.

Sounds fun. I'll check with the schedule keeper....

Jeff, we might be up for a repeat, or a half-repeat. A repeatino.

I am a strong maybe for the C group. I have heard a lot about this ride and would like to give it a try.

edit- wife gave the ok to put it on the calendar and agreed to join the ride. It is offical- we are in!

i might hit it.

Rick;
Thanks for organizing another GMR outing. Should be lots of fun and hopefully we can have a nice turn out. Besides, I am working very hard on getting all the newbies to show up at GMR :D.
I think you should be the guy giving the intro before we hit the slopes simply because you are the expert in climbing department and you know this area super well. I could talk about the best pancakes one can get at the cafeteria in Baldy village:).

Where's the cafeteria? :)

Baldy Lodge Cafeteria.... :p

The Lodge where we normally stop? They only do breakfast on Sundays.

You can still order pancakes for breakfast.

On Sundays, not the rest of the times...

There is another restaurant that's open for breakfast, though.

Another restaurant at Baldy Village? Is it new? BTW, I am getting hungry for some pancakes right now.

Nah, it's up past the switchbacks on the lefthand side after the dip. You can go get breakfast there and watch the early morning drunks in the bar at the same time. :D

Wife gave the ok to put it on the calendar and agreed to join the ride. It is offical- we are in!

I see, thanks The Gimpiest:D. I guess I must have had those super yummy pancakes on Sunday then. I think it was the first time when I did GMR. The taste of those pancakes really stuck with me. Maybe we could have someone do the SAG and bring the pancakes:D?

Maybe we could have someone do the SAG and bring the pancakes:D?


HEY, WHERE'S PANCAKE GIRL?????

Good Question. Are you going to do this Ride?

I might, depending on whether I get a good ride in at Solvang the day before. If I still have some "umph" left in my legs I may just blow off this TOC stage and go climbing with you. :)

OK, I saw your earlier reply. Hopefully next time and also hopefully M.E. will be joining too.

I might, depending on whether I get a good ride in at Solvang the day before. If I still have some "umph" left in my legs I may just blow off this TOC stage and go climbing with you. :)

If you join us I'll try not to crash!

Nobody is gonna crash!!!!!!

I'll try not to!

Nobody is gonna crash!!!!!!

Right Maria,

Not many rules, but everyone must wear a helmet and everyone must ride safe.

IF (big IF) everyone rides safe, then no one will crash. On the other hand, jp probably thought he was riding safe when that strong gust of wind hit him broadside, . . . so I guess anything can happen no matter how well you plan, or how safe you ride.

Still, it is Highly Recommended that riders Do Not Crash.

Rick / OCRR

OK, I saw your earlier reply. Hopefully next time and also hopefully M.E. will be joining too.

Hi lady, I hope to join but I'm keeping mum because I don't want to get the rep for saying, "in" and then not showing. But if I can, I'll be in your group. I love this ride, and I think it's wonderful that the OCRR has put this multi level (split group) ride together! :)

IF (big IF) everyone rides safe, then no one will crash. On the other hand, jp probably thought he was riding safe when that strong gust of wind hit him broadside, . . . so I guess anything can happen no matter how well you plan, or how safe you ride.


Unfortunately, Rick, the ONLY way to truly ride safe is with a helmet. Otherwise things can happen beyond your control.

But as we have all already said for the rest of this year - NO ONE is allowed to crash. It's so passé. ;) :p

This sounds cool, though I also was planning on catching the TOC. I would definitely be up for another date.

marked.
got to ck with my wife. :-)

Hi lady, I hope to join but I'm keeping mum because I don't want to get the rep for saying, "in" and then not showing. But if I can, I'll be in your group. I love this ride, and I think it's wonderful that the OCRR has put this multi level (split group) ride together! :)

OK M.E. Looking forward to riding with ya and others

Unfortunately, Rick, the ONLY way to truly ride safe is with a helmet. Otherwise things can happen beyond your control.

But as we have all already said for the rest of this year - NO ONE is allowed to crash. It's so passé. ;) :p

We are not crashing and we are not riding without helmets, AMEN.
And maybe we should not ride when it is very windy....................nah, gotta take at least a tiny bit of risk otherwise we'd all fall asleep in our saddles :D. But, no crashing for sure.

I might, depending on whether I get a good ride in at Solvang the day before. If I still have some "umph" left in my legs I may just blow off this TOC stage and go climbing with you. :)

Come climbing with us Joy

This sounds cool, though I also was planning on catching the TOC. I would definitely be up for another date.

No worries Olean,

GMR is a popular place (with good reason) and there will be many more GMR rides throughout the season. Which, in SoCal, is pretty much year round. Keep an eye on bikeforums.net Southern California and you will see about one a month, probably.

Still, this looks to be a good one from all the riders who've said they'll be there. And if we get a few who are saying they "might" be there, that will be even better. Esp. if we get bikeforums.net celebs like jpconrad, Joy and M.E.!

Haven't heard from Mr. Beanz (speaking of celebs), and would sure like to have him and Gina along too!

Rick / OCRR

Hehehehe Rick! I plan on riding but hate to say fo sho incase!:D...Gina hasn't been riding much. Pretty much dragging her along on tandem rides now, which makes it feel like I'm riding GMR!:eek:

Okay Beanz,
Hopefully you can make it. Riding that tandem up GMR would be good because:

1. You would be riding with the wife and loving it.
2. Good training for doubles!

You could always help Maria with the newbies if you didn't want to hammer up on the tandem!

Rick / OCRR

And if we get a few who are saying they "might" be there, that will be even better. Esp. if we get bikeforums.net celebs like jpconrad, Joy and M.E.!

No worries Rick. You can hear us coming... just look/listen for $25,000 worth of police escort, including helicopter and ambulance with sirens blaring.

(The ambulance is not for crashes. They're just bringing the Krispy Kremes) :p;)

Esp. if we get bikeforums.net celebs like jpconrad, Joy and M.E.!



:rolleyes: Being infamous does not make one a celebrity. I'd have to...um...flash a little...chamois. :p

But there will be none of that nonsense. And I should be there. I'm going up to watch the tour in Solvang that Friday, so it's just a matter of whether I'm back in time and if I'm all healed. I'm riding in Maria's group. Poor thing, she'd better put some weight on that slender build of hers cause she's going to have to tow me up GMR at this point. :D

No worries Rick. You can hear us coming... just look/listen for $25,000 worth of police escort, including helicopter and ambulance with sirens blaring.

(The ambulance is not for crashes. They're just bringing the Krispy Kremes) :p;)

Great idea Joy! But is that money split 3 ways between you, jpconrad and M.E. or is that $25,000 each? I want to make sure I understand, but either way, this ride would have to go from a no-charge fun ride to a Joy-jp-M.E. charity ride :) And the registration fee would have to be huge!

On the other hand, it would be much less than having Brittany be the celeb :eek:.

Plus, usually GMR is such a quiet ride. Not sure I'd like all the helicopter and ambulance sirens noise! Maybe I should just ask for a cameo appearance from Mr. Beanz?

Oh, and M.E., regarding Maria, she has lost weight recently through the "miracle" of interval training. So she is skinnier, but also stronger. Fortunately, she is just as sweet and charming as always, so she should be the perfect "C" group leader. At least I think so. Oh . . . and Herb will back me up on that.

Right Herb?

Rick / OCRR

:rolleyes: Being infamous does not make one a celebrity. I'd have to...um...flash a little...chamois. :p

But there will be none of that nonsense. And I should be there. I'm going up to watch the tour in Solvang that Friday, so it's just a matter of whether I'm back in time and if I'm all healed. I'm riding in Maria's group. Poor thing, she'd better put some weight on that slender build of hers cause she's going to have to tow me up GMR at this point. :D

M.E. You are going to pull not only me up but the whole C group as well. I saw you climb GMR almost a year ago and since that time it appears that you have subjected your body to a million miles of riding and another fifty thousand feet of climbing so........I can only imagine what a cycling monster you have turned into. Sorry Girl but your presence is quite needed on GMR, I hope you can make it.

Great idea Joy! But is that money split 3 ways between you, jpconrad and M.E. or is that $25,000 each? I want to make sure I understand, but either way, this ride would have to go from a no-charge fun ride to a Joy-jp-M.E. charity ride :) And the registration fee would have to be huge!

On the other hand, it would be much less than having Brittany be the celeb :eek:.

Plus, usually GMR is such a quiet ride. Not sure I'd like all the helicopter and ambulance sirens noise! Maybe I should just ask for a cameo appearance from Mr. Beanz?

Oh, and M.E., regarding Maria, she has lost weight recently through the "miracle" of interval training. So she is skinnier, but also stronger. Fortunately, she is just as sweet and charming as always, so she should be the perfect "C" group leader. At least I think so. Oh . . . and Herb will back me up on that.

Right Herb?

Rick / OCRR

Yup..I agree...she will be a great leader...

I am going to try to see if I have time to ride up GMR and back down....

All I know is Maria has improved 500% since I last saw her on GMR last summer. She kicked my butt on Latigo 3 weeks ago.