Fifty Plus (50+) - Saturday's ride from Duarte to the Snow, San Gabriel Mountains

Since this is the off season, a few of us got together for a short ride in the San Gabriel Mountains. Our Ride Leader was the Very Famous (around here, anyway) Vertical Bob. He knows the mountain roads like the proverbial back of his hand, maybe better. I think V.Bob is 62 or thereabouts.

Also joining us was Bob's friend Laura, who is a tad over 50 (not much), and is a very strong climber, great conversationalist, and middle school teacher since she got out of the Marines. In addition to V.Bob and Laura, we were joined by Laura's friend J.J. and my friends (new to V.Bob and Laura), Lou Ann (not quite 50), and her boss at the U.S. Postal Service, Gerry (right at 59, I think).

Plus, I did bring my camera, since I know how you (all) are, i.e. if there aren't any photos, it didn't really happen. I will attempt to get the photos in order!

This is Vertical Bob at the East Fork and Hwy 39 Junction. Looking away from the camera is Lou Ann.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/TheVeryFamousVerticalBobatEastForkJunctionofHwy39.jpg

Same location, Laura in foreground, Gerry in the background. Lou Ann cut off on the left. Sorry Lou!
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LauraandGerryatEastForkJunction.jpg

A better shot of Lou Ann, here talking with Laura
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LouAnnleftLaurarightGerrybackabit.jpg

This is a fresh water Spring, and a mini-waterfall where we stopped to fill our bottles. Very cold, very good water. V.Bob says it's even better on a hot summer day.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/MiniWaterfall-Springwherewefilledourbottles.jpg

Laura on the left, J.J. on the right, in front of the Spring.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LauraandJJafterfillingbottles.jpg

Me on the right, Laura on the left, same location. I thought Laura was taller than me, but not according to this photo!
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LauraandRickafterfillingbottlesattheSpring.jpg

Lou Ann filling her water bottle at the Spring. She may not like this angle though . . .
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LouAnnfillingherwaterbottleattheSpring-Waterfall.jpg

Jerry filling his bottle at the Spring; probably a better angle for the photo!
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/JerryleaningintofillhisbottlefromtheSpring.jpg

Above the Spring now, V.Bob in the foreground, Laura way out front. Note mountain scenery.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LaurainthedistanceVertBobclosetocameraclimbataltitude.jpg

Close up of Lou Ann, enjoying the view and loving the climb.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LouAnnenjoyingtheclimbataltitude.jpg

Okay, 10 is max photos for one post. Will add to this later. Overall the climb started out fairly easy, but then got to some steeper parts. Elevation total was 8,300 feet in 56 miles. Lovely day though, great scenery and no cars past the barricade.

Rick / OCRR

Since this is the off season, ...

Overall the climb started out fairly easy, but then got to some steeper parts. Elevation total was 8,300 feet in 56 miles. ...



Wow, 148 ft/mi, that's pretty respectable for off season. Thanks for sharing the ride. :thumb:

Okay, here are the rest of the photos. for some reason either photobucket or bikeforums is cutting off the right side of all the photos . . . don't know why. Sorry about that though.

Moving right along, the next photo shows Lou Ann, Laura and Gerry coming up to the Crystal Lake Junction. You can kind of see how steep it is here.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/LefttoRightLouAnnLauraandGerryapproachCrystalLakeTurnoff.jpg

Laura in the foreground, mountains with snow in the background. Our goal was to ride up until we were stopped by snow. As you can see, still quite a ways to climb.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/WecanseesnowaboveusatCrystalLaketurnoff.jpg

Here is a view over the side. If we looked down, it looked like we'd already climbed quite a ways up. Getting up above 4,000 feet here, maybe a bit higher.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/AlookatHwy39onthedescent.jpg

Here we are at snow level. Laura and I got there first (okay, she was about 1/4 mi. before me), and we tried to walk to the next sunny bit of road, hoping the snow would have melted, but when we got there we could see another unbroken snowfield in our proposed path. So . . . we walked back over the snow and ice. I slipped and fell, Laura didn't.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/Laurawalksherbikecarefullyoversnowandice.jpg


Here is Gerry, happy to be getting out of the snow. It was cold up there too, low 50 degrees F. Windy in places too.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/Gerryveryhappytogetoutofthesnow.jpg

Happy Cyclists, playing in the snow. Okay, not really, but it was fun reaching our goal after so much climbing.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/Happygroupofcyclistsplayinginthesnow.jpg

We headed back down and about 2 mi. below the snow we found a nice warm bit of smooth pavement and decided to stop and have a picnic. This amounted to sharing what food each of us had in our jersey pockets, but with Gerry's assorted nuts, Laura's peanut butter pretzels (I'd never even heard of those before), some Clif bars and Hammer Gels, it was a fine lunch and a bit of relaxation after all the climbing and before the long descent. Lou Ann took this photo of me soaking up the sun.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/Rickrelaxingduringthepicnic.jpg

Speaking of the descent, here's one photo that shows part of it. As you can see, the pavement was far from perfect, but this road is not maintained, so this is the price we pay for the luxury of no motor traffic.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/BeautifulDaypavementfarfromperfect.jpg

Finally, another shot over the edge of the roadway on the way down gives you an idea how much fun the descent was. However, my top speed was just over 40 mph due to the many corners.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee179/bikephoto1/Bicycling/Highway%2039%20to%20the%20Snow%20Line/Thelongandwindingroadtodescendatspeed.jpg
All together a fun day. Any questions?

Rick / OCRR

Oh, just discovered horizontal scroll tab at the bottom, so use that to view the entire photo(s).

Very nice! I needed that. Too much cold and snow around here recently.

psssst, Rick, Bob's about 5 years younger than that.

psssst, Rick, Bob's about 5 years younger than that.

Thanks big john, I will amend my original post. I did say "thereabouts" though. Guess you're familiar with the road!

Rick / OCRR

Beautiful!

Nice pics, and thanks for showing that, yes Virginia, it really does snow in southern California. :) We can ride to the snow, or to the beach, and everywhere in between. Ah, SoCal! :thumb:

Nice Rick. Thanks for the pics. We saw snow on the mountains when we were in LA between Christmas and New Years.

Thanks for taking the time to put up all these pictures with descriptions Rick. What great mountain views and you had the place all to yourselves . . love it . . kids on an adventure! My favorite pic was the one of Laura walking her bike on that thick ice! Glad you didn't get hurt when you fell.

Hey Rick, you got some pretty riding country out that way. Thanks for the tour.

Thanks for taking the time to put up all these pictures with descriptions Rick. What great mountain views and you had the place all to yourselves . . love it . . kids on an adventure! My favorite pic was the one of Laura walking her bike on that thick ice! Glad you didn't get hurt when you fell.

Yes Bare Feet, Kids on an adventure indeed (kinda old kids, but whatever!). I was going close to zero mph when I fell, so no damage; but wow that ice is slippery!

Hermes, you should have taken a ride up the mountain to the snow when you were in SoCal!

Yen, Yes, we are living in a wonderful part of the world for cycling! Too much traffic in the city, but none up on upper Hwy 39!

Here is the data on this ride from the Garmin 800 my wife gave me for Christmas:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/63591070

Not totally sure what I'm doing with the Garmin, yet, so please advise if I have some of the data in the wrong place or whatever.

Rick / OCRR

Fantastic pictures and narrative, Rick. As I sit here at work, they are causing me to think that a sick day might be in my near future. Especially while the temps stay in the 70s and the mountains beckon.

Fantastic pictures and narrative, Rick. As I sit here at work, they are causing me to think that a sick day might be in my near future. Especially while the temps stay in the 70s and the mountains beckon.

Very True pmcq, And since you're in Claremont, you're right there! No long drive to the start for you!

Rick / OCRR

I rode at the LA Velodrome Home Depot Center... indoors.:D

Hey Rick, that ride is up towards Dawson's Saddle? Is that correct. I know when I rode out there we turned at that bridge in the first few pics towards GMR and then up to Baldy Village. Nice ride, very envious.

On the Garmin 800, it might be more accurate to turn the elevation correction off in Garmin Connect. That might drop the total climbing a bit but it appears to have added some jitter to the profile.

Rick,

I see that Jerry is wearing 2XU cycling shorts. That is the first pair I have seen. I have compression tights I wear for after the ride.

Hey Rick, that ride is up towards Dawson's Saddle? Is that correct? On the Garmin 800, it might be more accurate to turn the elevation correction off in Garmin Connect.

Yes BikeWNC, That is correct! We couldn't get to CA Hwy 2, and we are guessing we were about a mile away. If we had gotten to Hwy 2, taken a right turn and ridden up 7 more miles we could have gotten to Dawson Saddle (just a tad shy of 8,000 feet of elevation there).

Okay, thanks, I'll turn off the Elevation Correction; thanks for the tip. Still early on my learning curve for the Garmin!

Hermes, I'm not familiar with 2XU shorts, but a quick Google-it search indicates they are for triathlons. Will have to ask Jerry how he likes them!

Rick / OCRR

If it hadn't been for the 72* temp here at my computer I think I would have felt like I was on that ride. Thanks for the pictures and the description. It was fabulous.

Great photos, Rick. Must have been a great ride!

Nice Work, Rick! It certainly looks like a great adventure.

great pictures and it looks like a great ride. I am on my trainer looking at out my window at 8 inches of snow. I am cross country skiing. But I am very jealous!!!!!!

Thanks for the positive comments everyone; happy to hear that you enjoyed the photos!

Rick / OCRR

Great photos, I really enjoyed that.

You all look so healthy and happy. Of course that will change once the giardia kicks in. ;)

But seriously, I've had that and it's no fun:

...the protozoan can get into even the most remote sources of water, such as a stream issuing from a glacier. Giardia can survive in snow through the winter and in cold water... (http://books.google.com/books?id=juT7U4Clb6IC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=giardia++san+gabriel+mountains&source=bl&ots=fWK2DMPL6m&sig=Su1oVJtNflvzPD6J8AD8k46zwpU&hl=en&ei=Ds45TdP-HJKCsQPUrpTeAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=giardia%20%20san%20gabriel%20mountains&f=false)

psssst, Rick, Bob's about 5 years younger than that.I wish. 62 was last years age, I'm still growing up. Thanks Rick for putting those up. I love going up there in the winter. It's always an adventure.Your elevation seems a little high. I got 8900 and we did Little GMR, ugh.

Great photos, I really enjoyed that.

You all look so healthy and happy. Of course that will change once the giardia kicks in. ;)

But seriously, I've had that and it's no fun:

...the protozoan can get into even the most remote sources of water, such as a stream issuing from a glacier. Giardia can survive in snow through the winter and in cold water... (http://books.google.com/books?id=juT7U4Clb6IC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=giardia++san+gabriel+mountains&source=bl&ots=fWK2DMPL6m&sig=Su1oVJtNflvzPD6J8AD8k46zwpU&hl=en&ei=Ds45TdP-HJKCsQPUrpTeAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=giardia%20%20san%20gabriel%20mountains&f=false) This is a spring not a stream. Comes right out of the rocks. Been drinking there for years

Thanks for clearing that up V.Bob. In the caption I said: "Fresh Water Spring," but maybe TromboneAl missed that bit.

You're right, a very good quality cold water with no bad side effects! My elevation probably is off; still learning to use the Garmin. I should have had "elevation correction" turned to "off."

Thanks again for leading that ride!

Rick / OCRR

Thanks for clearing that up V.Bob. In the caption I said: "Fresh Water Spring," but maybe TromboneAl missed that bit.

You're right, a very good quality cold water with no bad side effects! My elevation probably is off; still learning to use the Garmin. I should have had "elevation correction" turned to "off."

Thanks again for leading that ride!

Rick / OCRR

Rick, go back into Garmin Connect and turn it off. It toggles either way. Generally the Garmin units that have barometric elevation like the 800 should turn off the correction in GC.

We have springs all over the mountains here we use to fill our water bottles between stores, etc. Never have had a problem though once I was counting on the spring and it was dry.

i am kind of digging on that laura chick!

i am kind of digging on that laura chick!

I rode with her. You probably wouldn't see her for long. ;)

BikeWNC[/B];12111350] I rode with her. You probably wouldn't see her for long. ;)

Very True BikeWNC, I was able to stay with Laura for quite awhile, but eventually couldn't even ride her wheel any longer. That's why she was the first to the snow.

I think I may have met you one day up on GRR, close to Baldy Village. Do you remember that, or am I thinking of someone else? I was riding with Tiffany, and we were going toward the Village, and you were riding with Mary Elizabeth and riding up the climb out of the Village.

If it was you, I think you were wearing an Assault on Mount Mitchell jersey. If it wasn't you, some guy had a very cool AMM jersey anyway!

Rick / OCRR

Great photos, Rick. It's not fair that you're so good at this sport, and I'm so pathetic. I had about 19k feet of climbing all of last year in about 3200 miles. Please do not stop posting these stories.

Very True BikeWNC, I was able to stay with Laura for quite awhile, but eventually couldn't even ride her wheel any longer. That's why she was the first to the snow.

I think I may have met you one day up on GRR, close to Baldy Village. Do you remember that, or am I thinking of someone else? I was riding with Tiffany, and we were going toward the Village, and you were riding with Mary Elizabeth and riding up the climb out of the Village.

If it was you, I think you were wearing an Assault on Mount Mitchell jersey. If it wasn't you, some guy had a very cool AMM jersey anyway!

Rick / OCRR

Yes, I remember meeting you guys up near Cow Saddle? Anyway, we did see each other there, I was with M.E. and Jason. It was a great trip and I'd like to get out that way again. But having a 10yo and a wife with a busy job makes it hard to coordinate. I'd have to actually ride a bike again before I came out there though. lol I have my ride ready to go tomorrow and hopefully that is a start.

Thanks Rick for the pictures and writeup. Pictures, yep it happened.

Yes, I remember meeting you guys up near Cow Saddle? Anyway, we did see each other there, I was with M.E. and Jason.

Okay, yes, BikeWNC, not far from Cow Saddle, you are correct. Good to know my memory isn't totally failing me!

Thanks Tony N. I know this crowd, and if I don't have pictures, I may as well not post. Fun to take them though, and not too much trouble to post via photobucket.

Rick / OCRR

Great photos, I really enjoyed that.

You all look so healthy and happy. Of course that will change once the giardia kicks in. ;)

But seriously, I've had that and it's no fun:

...the protozoan can get into even the most remote sources of water, such as a stream issuing from a glacier. Giardia can survive in snow through the winter and in cold water... (http://books.google.com/books?id=juT7U4Clb6IC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=giardia++san+gabriel+mountains&source=bl&ots=fWK2DMPL6m&sig=Su1oVJtNflvzPD6J8AD8k46zwpU&hl=en&ei=Ds45TdP-HJKCsQPUrpTeAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=giardia%20%20san%20gabriel%20mountains&f=false)

You are indeed correct - Giardia Lamblia and certain strains of E. Coli is a serious threat to all sources of water, including deep underground sources of water, even a flowing Artesian well. You are taking a risk, if you carry & use a steripen you could enjoy the water and eliminate the risk.


This is a spring not a stream. Comes right out of the rocks. Been drinking there for years
And it could still become contaminated, it's a wide spread problem.

The Mother in law lives in West Covina off Balilo ST. not far from where you started. I think I may bring my bike on our next visit and try that ride. Can you tell us what the average and max. elevation was. It may be more of a bite than I can chew but I would like to try it on our next visit.

Can you tell us what the average and max. elevation was. It may be more of a bite than I can chew but I would like to try it on our next visit.

Hi Phil, I don't know the percent of the grade since my Garmin didn't record that (that I can find). My best guess is an average of 5 - 6% with a max (which doesn't last very long) of 9 - 10%. So nothing brutally steep.

I'd say have a go at it and get as far as you can, then turn around and coast back down. Also, there is traffic on the lower part (before the barricade), but only bicycles and hikers on the upper bit.

The max elevation we reached (when we hit the snow) was 6,265 feet. If the snow is gone when you get there, you can keep riding when you hit Hwy 2 (bikes/riders over the barricade) and climb to just a tad under 8,000 feet at Dawson's Saddle.

Rick / OCRR