Thanks for the great report and photos Dudelsack! For sure I need to take more photos!

I do quite a few centuries and yesterday was #17 for the year. Officially, it was a Los Angeles Wheelmen ride, supposed to be 87 miles with 8,000 feet of climbing with an 8:00AM start.

But . . . a bunch of us wanted to start earlier (7:00AM) to beat the heat so from Encato Park in Duarte it was: Penny, Jacques, Stefan, Lauretta, Linda, Vertical Bob Eckhoff and myself.

We started out going through several "foothill" cities, through the suburbs of Monrovia, Alta Dena, Sierra Madre, Pasadena and eventually La Canada where we intercepted California Hwy 2. At this regroup point we had 18 miles and a bit over 1,000 feet of climbing. Everyone stopped except Linda ("I'm slow, you'll catch me.") but after filling bottles, having a Coke and a candy bar, I was ready to start the real climb.

Hwy 2 out of La Canada is a constant climb, starting at 7% then "leveling out" to 5 and 6% all the way to Clear Creek, our 2nd rest stop. I had ridden with some guy I didn't know, but had a fine conversation going (never did learn his name) as we passed Linda and Stefan (who had passed me earlier). That guy turned onto Angeles Forest (Hwy 2 is also known as Angeles Crest) so I was by myself all the way to the next stop at Red Box (i.e. the base of Mt. Wilson).

I waited for several minutes but no one showed up so I continued to climb, 12 miles to Newcomb's Ranch (with a few short descents thrown in). I bought a Gatorade at Newcomb's, put what would fit in my bottle, filled the other one with water and drank the rest of the Gatorade. I knew I wouldn't be able to get more fluids until Crystal Lake.

From Newcomb's it's a 6 mile constant climb to Cloudburst Summit, then a descent followed by more climbs, eventually through the tunnels and the descent to Islip Saddle. The Wheelmen route said turn right here, i.e. down the closed part of 39, but I wanted more miles and climbing so took off on the 5.5 mile climb to Dawson Saddle, the highest point on Hwy 2 at 7,901 feet.

Left, the view over the side of Hwy 39, right me at the Hwy 39/Hwy 2 junction (photo by Ken Mathis.

Turned around at the summit, descended from Dawson, then descended closed Hwy 39 (6.5 miles) then turned left and (more climbing) rode up to the Café at Crystal Lake which is 2 miles off Hwy 39. I was hungry and thirsty by now, so ordered a cheeseburger and fries and drank a couple of Pepsi's.

On the way out of Crystal Lake I saw Lauretta and Stefan coming up; stopped to talk with them awhile and Lauretta presented me with pair of Hwy 2 cycling socks she'd purchased for me at Newcomb's earlier in the day. That was a surprise!


They were headed for burgers and fries while I headed down the long descent of Hwy 39 (from 6,200 ft. at Crystal Lake) eventually catching and passing Jac, Penny, and Linda (they had not done Dawson or Crystal Lake). At the East Fork intersection I tried to talk them into doing Little GMR with me, but they'd had enough climbing for the day, so headed straight back to the start.

I, on the other hand, not being so smart, took off on East Fork; short stop four miles later at Camp Williams (Coke and salty bag of chips), filled my bottles again and headed up the 5 mile climb of Little GMR (Glendora Mountain Road) then down Big GMR, across Sierra Madre and back to the park with a total of 118 miles and 12,500 feet of climbing for the day.

Lauretta and Stefan were back at the park when I got there (they didn't do GMR either) resting and doing yoga to relax.

Here is my Strava for the ride: Bike Ride Profile | Encanto/Hwy 2/Hwy 39 Loop with Crystal Lake and Dawson Saddle near Duarte | Times and Records | Strava

Rick / OCRR