PhotoJoe 

The Great 2012 Clyde/Athena Glendora Mountain Road "Gate to Village" Virgin Ride

Date: Saturday, September 1, 2012
Time: Ride at 8am
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/6G2r

Currently in:

1) PhotoJoe (R)
2) TrojanHorse
3) Beachgrad05 (R)
4) psalm
[strike]Gina[/strike]
5) Beanz
6) ahultin (R)
[strike]CommuteCommando[/strike]
7) jeepseahawk (R)
8) jsigone
9) Nusince (R)
10) eja_ bottecchia (R)
11) vntgdrms (R)
12) tinrobot

Mrs. ahultin - SAG Support



So, we made the shack. Now, on to the village. Who's in?

I would say we go about this a different way, though. I agree the "everyone makes it to the shack together" and "that's as far as we go on this ride" approach was the best way for our first ride. On this ride, though, I would say we structure it as we all make it to the shack together, like we did on Sunday. Rest as necessary. Take our time. At that point, anyone who wants to keep going goes on to the village together, with the same approach as the first leg. Anyone who doesn't want to go on can stop at the shack and head back down with absolutely no shame whatsoever. I would rather not exclude anyone who wants to do the shack again, but not the village. Thoughts?

Oh, and I made the start time 8am. If we're in the middle of a heat wave - (read: when TrojanHorse says it will be in the mid 70's ), we may want to consider moving it back to 7am, but let's shoot for 8am for now and re-address closer to the ride.

*(R) represents "Rookie" or first time to the rider's selected destination.

Beachgrad05

I am in.

PhotoJoe 

Awesome. Bring your riding club!

psalm

Pencil me in as tentative. well conditional on if my wife works or not.

She has a pretty important job, as I'm sure you can agree with that.

Beachgrad05

I will throw it out there for them, my guess is they will not want to go further than the shack. Of course as we are going to do a similar "group" ride up to the shack and I have shared the video to show them how it went yesterday...might get a few takers at least to go to the shack...

Mr. Beanz

I'm in as long as nothing comes up. Hard to tell far in advance. I'm sure Gina is in if I don't (and won't) leave her behind.

TrojanHorse

I'm in pending kid's soccer games... looks like the USC football game is at 4:30 pm so I'm safe on that front too (gotta have priorities!)

I was thinking this might make an interesting alternative route - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1542109 It's about 1000 more feet than just GMR but probably easier than going to the village. if you have your heart set on village, well, village it is. That start point is the parking lot of that golf course... it looked pretty wide open when i rode by yesterday.

I tend to go through water while riding, and I went through both 24oz bottles and probably half of my camelbak the (only) time I've ridden to the village. There is free water or paid beverages in the village of course. Once you get to the village, you can either ride down Mt Baldy Road (easier) and then use foothill to get back to the base of GMR or ride back the way you came, which has one pretty tough hill and about 20% of the overall climbing. Check out Genero's or JusRelax's strava info from yesterday to see what I mean about the alternative path back.

Here's the info from the only time I did it - https://app.strava.com/rides/15115077 That was about as fast as I could go, which is not to suggest at ALL that it was fast, just that I wasn't dawdling up the hill. The temps were warm but less warm than our ride yesterday - it looks like it hit low 80s by the time we got to the village, and then was mid nineties all the way back.

Mr. Beanz

I've done that ride a few times but we start from Encanto Park (mile or so below the golf course on SGRT). I myself avoid the climb up hwy 39 because of high speed traffic, not to mention vehicles with trailers ec during certain seasons. Not much of a shoulder and lots more high speed traffic than GMR. It's a nice course but we avoid it now.

Another alternate is climbing to the shack then descending little GMR to Camp Williams (veer left at the fork vs right). After climbing to the shack, you get a 6 mile fast descent. There is a small cafe on East Fork with picnic benches and a spigot for water. They also sell sandwiches and drinks inside. But then it's a similar but shorter ride back up to the shack. This would be the same climb back up to the shack, back side of GMR in TH's link.

Well, I just looked at the climb back up from Camp Williams and it's 5 miles with about 1500 ft. That would only be 4000 ft total. Not matching the village ride.

PhotoJoe 

1) I threw out a date only because if you don't, it will never happen. It is a holiday weekend, which could mess with some people. If there is a better date, please let me know. We're early enough to be flexible, hoping to catch everyone we can. VNTGDRMS - what would work best for you? We kind of aced you out of that last ride because of the date.

2) I only say village because it's what we've all heard of, and it seemed like the next logical step. Roads with lots of trailers that lead to lakes scare me. I've been a water-skiier all my life and I've seen how some people (can't) drive.

Mr. Beanz

That is absoluetly correct. It's a monumental ride in the cycling world and the next logical step. There are no bragging rights that go with, "I did part of GMR, then made a left then a right then rode down the street some."

TrojanHorse

Well, that's too bad about 39...

Have you ever done the loop? i.e. instead of riding back the way you come, go down baldy road and ride streets back to the base of GMR? How does that compare?

I think really "I rode to the lifts" is the ultimate conclusion, otherwise you're saying "hey, I quit as soon as I saw a convenience store" I'm skeered of the lifts. We'll save that one for the November ride.

I feel a lot more comfortable riding those roads with friends though - riding solo you think of the most interesting things, like "what if I hit gravel and go over that cliff"

CommuteCommando

Tempting, but the logistics may not work for me. The honeydoo list isn't getting any shorter.

TrojanHorse

CC - you gotta work the health angle.

"But honey, i'm doing this for you so we can be together longer!"

PhotoJoe 

The lifts are my ultimate goal. The first two steps are building up to it.

Bummer. We need the whole crew....plus more!

Bring your wife!!!!

Mr. Beanz

I've never descended Baldy after a GMR ride. Some do in order to save time and effort. We've done rides before where we go back down GMR and others down Baldy Rd. They are back to the cars and gone way before we arrive.

TrojanHorse

Prolly cause you're stopping to video tape everybody flying down the hill.

ahultin

Call me tentative The wife felt left out last weekend so I may have to bring her for a first to the shack then turn around

PhotoJoe 

Would love to meet Mrs. ahultin! I'm an optimist, so I'll put you both down!

My wife looked at the video and said "There ain't no way. Have a good time!" I'll get 'er!

PhotoJoe 

".....'may' not work for me." That sounds like a "yes" to me. I'm putting you on the list. Let me know if that changes!

psalm

Don't know if my wife works that Sat, too far out to get a definite yes or no. If she doesn't work, I'll be there, if she does work, I will drive my car up to the shack and bring water, Gatorade and some bananas with me. Not quite a SAG wagon, but I would be happy to offer up some support.

PhotoJoe 

Just throwing this out.....would Sunday or Monday be better for everyone? It makes absolutely no difference to me.

psalm

I don't know about everyone else, but Monday holidays are usually booked with bar b ques and family plans. Not that it would stop me, creating a calorie deficit early morning might be a good idea.

TrojanHorse

Dude - you would go straight to hero status. Plus, you could buzz us unreasonably close just for practice.

PJ - (or are you going by Lance now) - I can probably do any of the three days pending any future conflicts. I like the strategy too - head up to the shack at your own pace (now that we all know where we're going) and then regroup and head off to the village for the more deranged people in the group. Stick together for the village portion.

I'll drive to the start for that ride... no crazy bike commutes.

Beachgrad05

Correct me if I'm wrong...but I interpreted what PJ put here as doing it the same way...nobody gets left behind to go it alone even to the shack...but those who want to continue on will do so after a bit of rest and recovery at the shack.

We may have some other GMR rookies who want to give this a go based off our ride this past weekend...I for one would prefer to do it like we did Sunday tho I would guess I would need to stop fewer times this go around.

psalm

Pfft, I'll still ride in from my house.