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Back to Baldy Ride Report ...
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I'll start ... mine is very abbreviated I went with Tiffanie, Herb, Verticalbob, Eddy? Stan? up the front side of GMR. Weather wise, it was a bit overcast, so at least we didn't have to contend with sun too much. I plan was to ride as much as I can for 1.5 hours, as I had to get back, in time to shower up, and pick up my brother's friend, and get on the road for the drive back to the Bay Area by 1 PM. So by the time we got to the GMR climbing, it was around 8:45, so I had about 45 minutes of climbing to do. Stan, Verticalbob, and Eddy went to the front. Eventually, they went out of reach, so enough of the uphill chasing. Luwin volunteered to do sag duties, which is great, especially with no water stop on the front side of GMR. If there is one thing I will say that distinguishes these GMR rides from any other rides is the volunteers of SAG'ing for the group. I almost think we should donate a dollar for this ride ... 1.5 hours later, it was time for me to turn around. Unfortunately, I didn't get to the intersection of little GMR and big GMR. I think if I climbed for about 10 or 15 minutes more, I would have reached it ... oh well. Sorry for having to bail early everyone ... hope y'all had a great ride. See you next time ... hopefully Lighthouse, if I'm lucky. |
Some pics:
Lara pumping up http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250068.jpg Efficiency and DaveSanyy http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250069.jpg Rick@OCRR and Shprung http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250071.jpg Rolling ... http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250072.jpg Sag Wagon ... great added benefit of this ride http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250073.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250074.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250075.jpg Herb and VerticalBob http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250076.jpg Start of GMR http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250077.jpg |
Luwin ... Super SAG
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250090.jpg |
Just got home....
I wimped on going to the village....actually my back was really tight after the GMR climb and I wasn't sure it could tolerate another 12 mile climb... So I headed back with Maria from OCRR...very nice girl...we had a nice ride downhill and then across Sierra Madre..... Great riding weather...when the sun popped out it was a bit warm, but not too bad... Tremendous thanks to Luwin and Asia's friends for the SAG support....that was awesome! Great to see everyone as always...met some people I hadnt met before...Mo'Phat...finally.... and some of Asia's crew.... I am determined to get to the village...maybe next time... BTW...Ron...you need to change your signature....you climb just fine!!! |
Thanks for organizing this Asia. I was on the fence about riding only because of the possibility of really hot weather. It ended up being an ideal 76 for most of the ride, what's with that, it is still August? As usual it was nice to see familiar faces and new ones. Time for a nap.
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Fun ride, nice weather, great people!
I started off with the early crew (thomson, ME, Ronjon, Markg and Jschen) and although we planned to start rolling at 6am, the dufus who suggested the time (me, not ME) didn't take into account that it was still too dark at the time. So we didn't get rolling until about 6:30 or so and made a leisurely, yawn-filled trek to GMR. The climbing was terrific, the weather was perfect and we saw this fast girl up ahead that left us all in the dust and made the rest of us look really bad. B1tch. Oops, it was Brandy ;):D When we got to the intersection of GMR/GRR, we came across an aerial acrobat who was flying his small place with incredible precision, much to the delight to us and some motorcyclists who had stopped there. Well aware he had an audience, the pilot passed by close to us time and time again, upside down, twisting and spinning, diving, actually waving to us as he flew past us, cockpit side down. We were sad to leave this rare and exciting treat, but on to Baldy Village and the lifts! The road up to the lifts was gravel-ly and loose (and the descent was horrible) but everyone made it to the top. Except sadly, me. :( I had never attempted anything at altitude and after we got through the switchbacks (about a mile short of the top) my head started spinning in odd, hallucinogenic ways. My HR was fine and my legs felt great, but my head did not, so Jim and I descended about 200 feet and I felt much better. He had already been to the top once so we decided to head back to the lodge to wait for the others. Descending back to Baldy Village, we came across the breakaway leader of the BF main group - White Carbon Dude! Jon looked great going up and we soon passed Extort, and then found the rest of the crew coming into the Village. It was wonderful to see everyone and meet some BFers in person for the first time. (Hi Mo!) After a l-o-o-o-o-n-g lunch break (and a massage from Jschen) we decided to descend down Baldy Road instead of GMR for a fast, fun finish. Shai (Shprung), Tasso (Javaman), Mark (Efficiency) and a few others joined us on the downhill, but got separated on Baseline and met up later at Encanto. Once on the flatlands Jason and I took turns pulling at first (ME later) and we finished up at a frisky 22-24mph clip. All in all, a very enjoyable ride! So happy to see everyone out there and kudos to Asia for putting it all together. Sorry we missed you, Luwin! Me and Jon (White Carbon Dude) http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1198/...f4f381e065.jpg Phil (Extort) and ME at lunch http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1171/...bdf569ce87.jpg Ronjon sporting the new Assos http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1319/...a24b9db76a.jpg ME. How does that girl end up taking a pic of herself on my camera? (I must have been in the bathroom) http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1234/...2a9b1b0aec.jpg Chimivee. For me it's a tossup whether he's better behind a camera... or in front of it. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1304/...b1e1079c14.jpg Markg taking a break http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1147/...f9fa543a49.jpg Tasso (Javaman, I think) showing us his new Efficiency Action Figure http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1304/...3c3cd4e457.jpg |
M.E. and I lost our (Baldy) virginity :-D Undoubtedly there were others who lost it as well up there today...
I got to watch Jason's magic hands in action. Joy poked my quad (again) at lunch. Lost a contact on the way down the hill :-( Lots of climbing for someone that doesn't do much climbing. Wishing I had a lower gear on the climb to the lifts, until I realized that that climb would hurt no matter what gear I had. A yachtsman would be proud of all the tacking I did on that hill... Weather was perfect, at least until we got to the bottom of Baldy and had to ride in the heat and mugginess back to Encanto. Otherwise Joy pretty much said it all, except that it was a great ride with great people. I unfortunately missed talking to many people at the Lodge. |
My report is basically Joy's report except I'd like to name us six early bird riders as the slackers. We definitely took our time up GMR and GRR. We also took a very long lunch. I saw Brandy from behind as she was just starting on GMR. She flew up that thing so fast; I didn't see her again until the village. She looked great and was riding much stronger than someone who "le sucks!"
Weather was beautiful and, yes, I was deflowered on the Baldy lifts today. I actually loved that climb. Since I took it pretty easy getting to the lifts, I had a lot of leg left and climbed fairly steady with little "tacking" although I did stop a few times for a minute or two to get my heart rate down. I found it lovely climbing up there, and other than the cars, very serene. I'd like to get up there again, actually. Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment? Great to see the group - and the Vegas Girls. Those ladies are gorgeous and so damn cool! Met Cyn and saw Short Stuff (Lara), as well as Karen? and her husband, name alludes me, and some fine looking men that were with Asia's crowd. What is it about Vegas and the beautiful people? Speaking of...Tiff was there and Mo, Chuckles (trying to hide from me as usual), Dave, Chimivee, Tak, Efficiency and, of course, Extorty who flew up to the lifts like it was nuthin'. Oh, and two new hotties, Javaman (OMG, those amazing eyes) and NDG (one mighty fine Canadian). And, of course, the men in the slackers group were mouthwatering and incredibly supportive (Jason carried extra water for Joy and me and basically got me up the lifts!). Sigh...so many good lookin' and great folks out there today. And those are just the ones I saw – many I missed. And I hope you guys had a great ride! One last thing, Joy did wonderful on those lifts. She was almost there and doing great until the altitude hit her. Seems we still have a virgin to deflower up there one of these days. :D Pics to come in a moment... |
Mark hitting the climbs strong:
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/20.jpg The views today were amazing! http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/19.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/18.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/17.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/16.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/15.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/14.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/13.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/12.jpg |
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/30.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/29.jpg The group takes a break: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/28.jpg Ronjon (who is going to kill me), flashing some chest...Niiiiccceeee... http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/27.jpg And now, wishing I'd go away and leave him to climbing: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/26.jpg Just before the descent into the Village: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/25.jpg This sign gave me hope...only three miles to go. http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/24.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/23.jpg Joy, having a blast on those switchbacks: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/22.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/21.jpg |
Jason waiting for me on one of the many switchbacks up to the lifts. He rode Angeles Crest yesterday and STILL rode up to the lifts as if it was nuthin'.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/40.jpg Joy about ready to take my camera away and Jim ready to watch her do it. http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/39.jpg Finally, at that top!!!! Yippee! http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/38.jpg The mighty, manly men: Ron, Jason and Mark at the top http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/37.jpg Me - although a little blurry - I made it! http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/36.jpg This is how slackers really lunch: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/35.jpg The non-slackers, beautiful people: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/34.jpg More of them: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/33.jpg And yet, even more... http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/32.jpg Oh, look at that, I caught Chuckles (sort of) cracking a smile... http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/31.jpg |
Javaman (nice to meet this gentleman!):
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/50.jpg Shai saying, "Eh, lifts not so bad. I feel good, you know. I could go back up but then I miss taking more pictures of all the people." http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/49.jpg Mark taking picture of Shai and laughing to self about the going back up part. http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/48.jpg Rick OCRR taking off from the parking lot: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/46.jpg The hungry riders post meal: http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/47.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/45.jpg |
Here is the airplane that was doing loop-de-loops for our viewing pleasure!
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/airplane.jpg |
Mine was rather painful....
I got to the parking lot about 10:30, saw spingineer and talked for a second then found parking. While getting ready, he pulled up and chatted some more. I took my time to get ready, left about 5 minutes til 11 and knew I had a long day ahead of me. I wore my camelbak for the first time on the roadie and I don't like it (my lower back is killing me right now). When I got outa the saddle to power through turns, the weight on the back sucked and didn't work well, I just spun the entire day which killed my thighs since they never really got a break. I felt slow on route 39, legs finally felt good when i got on the east fork. I pushed it a lil too hard on lower Lil GMR, and bonked really bad. Plus all the liquior (Company summer party) I drank yesturday left me cramping most ride (40ish mile) I saw some people on GRR going the other way, I just waved, and marched on in pain. I got to the 6 mile mark on GRR adn bonked bad again, I didn't think I was going to see the main group, I finally saw Phil and Pual about the 8-9 mile mark, Jason and James were a lil behind them. I spun around and talked to Chuckles and my mindset was getting food, I needed food, and baldy had it so I marched on. I didn't even think of asking anyone in the group though. I was hoping ME and Jason was still at the lodge, but nada when i finally made it there. Ate and quick lunch and back on the bike for the return leg. I was struggling really bad on the climbs, granny gear every hill, I didn't even pedal on the DH like I normally did. Big GMR had some rain drops, so my plan to take it easy going down changed, as I was scared it was going to open up on me on the decent. Made it to the bottom and it poured for a few seconds then went away. Met everyone at the Mex spot just as they were finishing up. Was good to see everyone, too bad I didnt get to ride with you all, I should have turned when I saw Chuckles. My total elapsed time with lunch was 5.5 hrs, 11am start, back at 4:30 |
CROSS-POST!
I just got home. Will add pics and stuff later. I'd just like to thank: 1) Asia the Organizer 2) SAG People 3) Shai riding and giving encouragement up to the Mt. Baldy Ski Lifts (even though he said there was no joy in riding up that route) 4) Everyone else just for being there! |
Originally Posted by merider1
(Post 5149953)
Me - although a little blurry - I made it!
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...dyagain/36.jpg Are you attached or something now? You're all blurry... |
Originally Posted by bitingduck
(Post 5150160)
Are you attached or something now? You're all blurry...
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Originally Posted by herbm
(Post 5148224)
BTW...Ron...you need to change your signature....you climb just fine!!! |
Originally Posted by merider1
(Post 5149901)
My report is basically Joy's report except I'd like to name us six early bird riders as the slackers. We definitely took our time up GMR and GRR. We also took a very long lunch. I saw Brandy from behind as she was just starting on GMR. She flew up that thing so fast; I didn't see her again until the village. She looked great and was riding much stronger than someone who "le sucks!"
Weather was beautiful and, yes, I was deflowered on the Baldy lifts today. I actually loved that climb. Since I took it pretty easy getting to the lifts, I had a lot of leg left and climbed fairly steady with little "tacking" although I did stop a few times for a minute or two to get my heart rate down. I found it lovely climbing up there, and other than the cars, very serene. I'd like to get up there again, actually. Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment? Great to see the group - and the Vegas Girls. Those ladies are gorgeous and so damn cool! Met Cyn and saw Short Stuff (Lara), as well as Karen? and her husband, name alludes me, and some fine looking men that were with Asia's crowd. What is it about Vegas and the beautiful people? Speaking of...Tiff was there and Mo, Chuckles (trying to hide from me as usual), Dave, Chimivee, Tak, Efficiency and, of course, Extorty who flew up to the lifts like it was nuthin'. Oh, and two new hotties, Javaman (OMG, those amazing eyes) and NDG (one mighty fine Canadian). And, of course, the men in the slackers group were mouthwatering and incredibly supportive (Jason carried extra water for Joy and me and basically got me up the lifts!). Sigh...so many good lookin' and great folks out there today. And those are just the ones I saw – many I missed. And I hope you guys had a great ride! One last thing, Joy did wonderful on those lifts. She was almost there and doing great until the altitude hit her. Seems we still have a virgin to deflower up there one of these days. :D Pics to come in a moment... |
I had a blast out there today. What could be better than a gorgeous ride with some great guys and some cutie roadies to chase? I rode with the early group, and Joy, Mark (markg), and M.E. have already posted, so I'll just add some personal observations and highlights.
We started up GMR and M.E. and I noticed that ronjon was talking for a really long time next to some female roadie a bit up the road (and riding away from us while doing so). We thought the girl might be Brandy, so I decided to check to see if that was the case and gave chase. Yup, it was Brandy. Said hi through some highly interrupted sentences (had to catch my breath between words while recovering from the chase), then had a nice chat before we gradually cranked up the speed going up GMR. Brandy rode great, and she evidently set a personal best up GMR. (I didn't go up the whole way with her. I decided halfway up to rejoin M.E. since I had left her to ride alone even though I had promised to domestique for her up to Baldy ski lift.) thomson is a really good rider. He was either being a gentleman domestique and shadowing Joy or flying on up the mountain all day. He even did a repeat of the switchbacks, flying on up to the ski lift solo, then coming back to join us for a second climb through the switchbacks. Mark and ronjon rode strong all day, too, and I was happy to be able to congratulate them on their first Baldy ski lift climb when I got up there. M.E. rode surprisingly strong all day long. In the early going, she kept surprising me with the pace she chose to keep as we were supposedly taking it easy up to Baldy village. And she stayed strong all the way up, doing an impressive job of hammering through the steep sections and doing a bare minimum of tacking. Including the final nasty steep pitch, which she took on head on, powering up out of the saddle for most of it. Unfortunately, Joy had to turn around, but I'm sure she'll have her first Baldy ski lift climb soon enough. She was riding very strong still on the way back. It never ceases to amaze me how fast she is on flat ground. Oh, and descending Baldy Rd into Claremont was fun, too. I was going to play sweeper, but Shai told me I should lead the way, and Joy told me I should make sure no one accidentally turned off toward Upland. So I bombed my way down to that intersection (being conservative on the blind corners, of course) and hit 50 MPH on the first big descent out of the village and 48 MPH in a few other spots. It was great fun and a wonderful complement to all the climbing. And lastly, yes, the aerial show was very nice. The pilot clearly was playing to his audience, and I loved it. |
Originally Posted by spingineer
(Post 5150247)
Nope, signature still tells the truth. Did you see VerticalBob just blow up ahead of me in the distance? Anyways, since I knew I wasn't going to make it all the way, I didn't have to keep anything in reserve, so I just went for it. Actually, I do cheat ... I have a triple granny gear. :D
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Here's my report:
35 miles of this... head hanging, pain, agony, fun in a masochistic sort of way This was followed by 15 or so miles of basically terror on the descent from the ski lifts to the base of Mt Baldy. This was my first time back to that mountain since I wiped out, and coming down from the ski lifts on the loose gravel road wasn't any fun. I was jamming my brakes to keep it under 20 mph and stopped several times in those 4 miles to let the brakes cool down. The descent from baldy village was better, though I hit 40+ a few times. I didn't like that much, but whatever. From foothill, Shprung, Javaman, Efficiency and I hammered out the miles back to Encanto Park. I led out in the beginning (just long enough so they'd remember me taking a pull :) ),then pulled off the lead and let those guys drag me home at 25mph, that was fun! I had a blast today, I'm glad I opted for the early start. I managed my effort (read, I went slow) on GMR/GRR which left me some gas for the lifts. The hammer session home worked out the lactic acid and instead of feeling like I've been hit by a brick wall, I feel pretty good right now. I wound up with around 7000 feet which is my climbiest climbin ride ever. Thanks to the early crew for providing great company! Also great meeting several people I hadn't met yet (Markg, MoPhat, Javaman, WhiteCarbonDude) |
Scenery shots ... one thing about knowing you have to go back early ... lots of opps to take scenery shots. These are on GMR
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250079.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250082.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250083.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250084.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250084.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250086.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250087.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250088.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250089.jpg http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P8250091.jpg |
Originally Posted by ronjon10
(Post 5150319)
The hammer session home worked out the lactic acid and instead of feeling like I've been hit by a brick wall, I feel pretty good right now.
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