The Saturday over Labor Day weekend, I rode for my first time from my house in Pasadena up Angeles Crest (Hwy2) to the Mt Wilson Observatory. Got out early to beat the heat. Even though air temps rose quickly, most of the last 9 miles were in the shade, so was pretty pleasant.
After descending from Mt Wilson back to Redbox, I felt great, so I decided to get more ride and head east on Angeles Crest. The ride up to this point had lulled me into a false sense of security, though. This next section of the road is south facing and had been soaking up the sunlight all morning. The air temps were well over 100 at this point, but the heat radiating off the road and the rocky mountain walls was like a furnace. After about 30min, I decided to abort and turn around.
I came upon a stranded motorist: three girls who'd run out of gas. The exterior thermometer on their car was reading 118 at this point. It was boiling.
Maybe because of covid, they said no-one would stop to help them. Since there's no cell reception out there, I got their info and rode back to the fire station at Clear Creek and summoned help for them.
This put me even deeper into the heat of the day. The ride home, though almost entirely downhill was brutal. It felt like someone was blowing a hairdryer on me, and even the water in my water bottles heated up so hot it was barely drinkable.
I survived to tell the tale, though
stats:
58 mi
6,100' ascent
4:08 moving time
Stay safe out there!