big john

I turned 59 last Sunday and I wanted to do a birthday ride in the mountains but last weekend I did a club ride and hurt my back.
This Saturday I went into the local mountains with a few friends and did some climbing. We were up there for 8 hours with a one hour stop for french fries at the only cafe on the route.
Ended up with about 70 miles and at least 7400 feet of climbing. Beautiful weather, legs felt good, and the back didn't bother me. A pretty good way to celebrate surviving another year.
I didn't take any pictures but I have some old ones from the route. Here is a view on the first climb up to that saddle.



After that there are a bunch of smaller climbs and descents until the next 5 mile climb which tops out at 7000 feet.



The Tour of California used this road a couple years back.



After some more rollers and small climbs there is another 5 mile climb up to 7900 feet. This is the turn-around for the day.



Anyway we stopped at this cafe and I had birthday fries, no pie, however. Felt good to get back up there and I hope to do lots more riding in those mountains this summer.

rubic

Happy Birthday, big john! It looks like you had a magnificent Angeles Crest ride. Newcombs Ranch Restaurant sure looks as busy as ever. Don't worry about next year when you turn 60. Next week I turn 64 (yikes!) and so far, it is just a number.

big john

Thanks! Yes, it was magnificent and yes, I am worried about that number 60.

volosong

Not to worry. When I turned 60, it was no big deal. No change in anything; physical, emotional, or spiritual - nothing. This next one for me, (62), this coming summer is huge! I can get Social Security if I want, (but won't as long as I'm working full time), and can purchase a lifetime National Park pass for something like ten bucks. Now, how cool is that? I figure that I'll get about fifty years benefit from that perk.

The one that hit me hard is when I turned 40. When that happened, I noticed that my body didn't bounce back the next day from a particularily strenous physical effort. Now? It takes two or three days before I'm raring to go again.

Congratulations on your birthday ride. I can only ride to Dawson in my dreams. If I whip the body into shape this summer, maybe I'll give it a go, (when it cools off). For my birthday rides, I ride twice my age in miles and triple my age in kilometers. Usually, this happens at the Cool Breeze Century, (and double-metric century, and metric century, and mini-century, and kiddie ride, and etc.)

qcpmsame 

A belated Happy Birthday John, glad that you got in a ride. I hope the back is alright now, back pain is a pain in the...........nevermind, just be careful, please.

Bill

big john

Oh, you gotta go up there, especially in the summer. Sometimes when it's really hot in the valley I drive to Chilao Flats and ride from there. The whole ride is above 6000 feet, so it's much cooler. Many times the traffic is so light that it's several minutes before a car goes by. Of course, the gate up to Dawson is closed right now so there are no cars.

I haven't ridden up Big Pines hwy from Palmdale but I hear it's not too steep. Angeles Crest itself doesn't have many steep climbs but if you go into Wrightwood the climb coming back up to AC is the steepest one out there.

Yes, I have done the Cool Breeze 10 times. We do a modified version of the double metric, but I haven't done it for a couple years.

big john

Thanks!. Yeah, the back is just a little sore now, thankfully. Last week was tough. I'm a car mechanic and bending over or getting down on the floor and back up was challenging. Naturally, along with the back pain came a case of butterfingers so I was dropping tools and things all day. I would look down at whatever I dropped and figure out how to kick it near something I could lean on to help bend over.
Getting in and out of Corvettes and small cars is also a beast when the back is stiff.

Biker395 

Whoa ... Happy Birthday, Big John! Sorry I missed the ride on Saturday ... sounds like it was a nice one.

No worries about turning 60 (I'm not that far behind you). From what I can see, you haven't slowed down a bit.

big john

I wasn't sure what I was going to do until the morning but as it turned out I felt pretty good. I would have invited you had I been sure because there were a couple double century riders there and they could have entertained you. (Donato and Mike G).

Biker395 

No worries. I had actually registered to do the Breathless Agony yesterday, but I had to bag it to attend a weekend meeting.

I saw Donato on the DMD last weekend ... we all had our carbo-loading dinner together the night before. I heard he got SEVEN flats! Yipes!

big john

He said it was actually 10 flats before he sagged in at 140 miles. Something happened to the rim, cracked or bent enough to eat tubes.

Some friends did BA. Carrie got to the top in 5:50, or so. She does pretty well for a weekend-only rider.

Biker395 

Whoa ... 5:50 is great!

I actually saw Donato on the course. One of the sag volunteers was helping him change a tube when I pulled up, so I stopped to chat. When they were almost done, I pushed off to climb Mt. Hamilton ...

... and got about 50 yards away when I heard the *BLAM* of another tube going to the great rubber factory in the sky. lol

rydabent

Happy birthday. Glad you enjoyed.

Here in Nebr if I was to ride on my birthday, I would have to remove my front wheel, and put on a ski.

big john

Thanks! You could get a Pugsley!

jppe

Happy Birthday and a great ride! I wish we had those types of climbs and elevations to choose from out my way.

This reminds me that I'll be doing my birthday ride on my actual Birthday on Cycle Oregon in September. Hooray!!

Dan Burkhart 

Happy belated birthday. You've caught up to me now. I've got the six ohhhh coming up.

BluesDawg

Congrats on still being around. Those mountains out there on the left coast sure look inviting. I hope I get out there to ride them someday.