L'Etape California
 

Through some unusual circumstances, looks like I'm in for this ride (race?).

http://letapecalifornia.com/images/2...2017-Final.pdf

I've ridden the San Gabriels quite a bit, but never up Mt. Baldy Road to Mt. Baldy Village, and never on this route.

74 miles and 11,000 feet, so this should be interesting.

I'll try to take a lot of pix for a full report. :thumb:

Awesome! Looking forward to your report.

How was it Biker395?

It was great! I actually met another Bullshifter climbing up Mt. Baldy Road. I wish I could remember his name, but you know how the memory is the first thing to go. lol

The weather was perfect. Comfortable in the morning, and as it heated up, we had a cooling breeze almost everywhere we went.

The support was great too. The only snafu was a lack of water on the GMR/GRR climb. Unfortunately, that was the hottest part of the day.

My friend Molly came along, and even though she isn't quite in cycling shape yet, I managed to cajole her into finishing up on the ski lift climb so she could get her medal. I was so proud of her. :thumb:

Another plus is that the ride had a "happy ending" ... a big long descent down to the start.

Honestly ... it was a great day. There were CLOUDS of cyclists up there. I had forgotten my camera, but my buddy Steve gave me his so I could take pix. When he gets around to posting them on FB, I'll post some of them up here.

Nice report. I assume you mean Steve M. I saw on Strava he rode that, and how difficult it was. Kudos Biker395! I am not sure what Bull rode it.. I will have to find out.

Did you find some new climbing roads Vic or was it the same roads we know so well in a different order?

Sounds like you had a good time in any case and good job encouraging Molly to the real summit!

Congratulations on another epic climb!

Rick / OCRR

It's the same ones we've all done many times before ... except Mt. Baldy Road to the Village. I've never ridden that one before.

Honestly, I prefer our usual route ... that way, you get to descend GMR at the end. The Baldy descent isn't nearly as much fun. More traffic and less technical.

OK .... so here is the scoop on the L'Etape.

I got a call that there were some spots available if I wanted to do the ride. About the only organized rides I do anymore are double centuries with maybe 100 riders, so doing a ride with 800 or so cyclists sounded like fun.

This is a ride that appeals to a lot of people, as we follow the same course that the Tour of California will do next week. There is a lot of climbing ~11K in 74 miles, and some of the grades are challenging.

There is a wide variance in rider experience and skill. Many ride it like a race, as it is timed. For others, the goal is to simply complete the whole course. And with the ski lift climb at the end, completing it is not all that easy. I saw a LOT of people walking bikes in many places along the course.

So we headed up from the start in Upland up Mt. Baldy road. It was a gentle consistent ascent, and the vehicular traffic behaved themselves. Mt. Baldy road has some steep sections on the way to the Village ... some short sections in excess of 10%. Once we got to the Village, we turned onto Glendora Ridge Road to ride up to Cow Saddle. The weather was perfect. I didn't even bring a jacket or armwarmers, and that is rare for me.

From there, GRR is up and down, but mostly down, and it was a beautiful descent. The views of the San Gabriels are amazing.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...psvvlju0qm.jpg

We rolled down East Fork to Camp Williams, and from there, along Highway 39 to Duarte. The reservoir was nearly full. I've never seen it like that!

The descent down Highway 39 is almost always headwindy (one of the reasons I'm not fond of it), and Sunday was no exception. All the same, we scooted down to the bottom in pretty quick order. Next up was a short climb to the base of Glendora Mountain Road (GMR).

Molly and I were riding together, and she was wondering what it might be like to ride a bike with lower gears. Since our inseam is the same and we use the same cleats, we both had a great idea ... swap bikes! OMG, was that strange. As I thought, her seat height was fine, but what a different stance on her bike. She seemed to like mine right away ... I think she needs a bigger frame.

GMR is a terrific ascent, and it is one that we often do early in the day. But today, we would be doing it in the heat of the day. Frankly, I thought it was perfect. Enough to get you perspiring, but a cooling breeze.

We stopped for a break in the shade.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ps4yqt1mef.jpg

This is where a lot of people pooped out. And unfortunately, it is where people needed a lot of water. There was one water stop about 1/2 way up, but it was out of water. We soldiered on to the next rest stop at the top of the GMR climb. Unfortunately, THEY were out of water too, which made for some unhappy people. It wasn't the volunteer's fault ... the organizers were't as prepared as they should have been for the heat of the day.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...psd7t4cihx.jpg

Someone dug up a small quantity of water, and I managed to get 1 water bottle filled, and turned down any more. 1 bottle was all I needed until we returned to the lodge.

There are some nice shady sections along here.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...psarzmi6xj.jpg

And now the hard part. From the beginning, Molly had no intention of completing the entire ride ... she is still riding herself into shape. But I cajoled Molly into completing the ride to the ski lifts with a Coke from the Mt. Baldy Lodge. It's a nasty steep, unrelenting climb, but Molly was pretty chipper most of the way up.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ps9vc2fxuf.jpg

And little by little, we finally got there to get our medals and some pretty yummy food. We eschewed the ham sandwich and went for a good old american burger. Yum.

We took a group photo too ... check it out.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...psmjdywin5.jpg

So how hot was it? Someone took a pix of me at the end of the ride after cooling off. Yikes.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...psajld518l.jpg

Much respect. I saw some Strava data on the ride from someone I know who finished. A hot day for all that climbing.

Thank you. Great report! I never had the courage to assault the ski lifts and have always chickened out at the village. Well done, both of you.

Yeah, GMR in the heat of the day is no picnic - only because of the lack of readily available water.

Clearly, there are aliens among us.

Great ride report Biker395!

Biker395,

As usual, another enjoyable post from you. The pics you post are always great.
Good for friend Molly toughing it out! You say you swapped bikes so she could experience lower gears. Makes me curious, what gears was she pushing compared to yours.

Have a great day,

BKE

Came down from a hike up to the top of Baldy just in time to witness some of the bowling alley suffering.


Perfect day for a hike or a ride.

For those that don't know, the "bowling alley" is the final steep bit on the Ski-Lift climb. It's posted at 15% but feels steeper. My Garmin gets 17% but it any case, it feels really steep after the preceding 4 miles of 10 - 12%.

Rick / OCRR

I need to climb GMR / GRR one of these days.

Biker395, I saw the pics on FB. looks like a great day! sorry to hear of the stops that ran out of water. I guess that is one reason I wear a camelbak for rides like that.

An if you've ridden it, it's a "false flat", (real name on the map is Manker Flats)an optical illusion that makes it look like you should be on almost level ground, so it's as psychologically debilitating as it is physical.

I ended up telling a few , "come on! I made it up this last year for my medicare ride" :lol:

True, Manker Flats is almost flat compared to the Bowling Alley because Manker is only 6% as I remember. But soon enough you ride up past the campgrounds and the climb gets serious.

Fun ride every time though:love:!

Rick / OCRR

It wasn't a big deal for me. I'm known for being a bit of a camel ... I can get by without a lot of water. But there were others that were justifiably unhappy.

As far as climbing GMR/GRR ... anytime! Let me know when you're coming up and we'll show you around. We'll even introduce you to Missy's famous home made cinnamon rolls. :thumb:

sounds good Biker395, you have a deal. riding the doubles ( and riding them with Jim, who knows everyone I think) I have gotten to know a few cyclist in California.

Yea ... "Manker Flats" is a misnomer. It ain't flat! I try to take it easy there, because I know the bowling alley is next. :eek:

BTW: For the benefit of others, the "bowling alley" is the last and steepest part of the climb. At the bottom are widened lanes (for parking) with a large median in between. Above that, a slightly curved steep section that is about 0.1 mile long. Above that is the parking lot for the Mt. Baldy Ski Resort.

So cars coming down from the ski resort are presented with an 0.1 mile long 15%+ grade, with a lot of cars at the bottom (still 12%). Even with chains, that often causes cars to slide down the hill and into the parked cars ... hence the name "bowling alley."

Gotta love gallows humor. :D

I have an older Shimano triple. My lowest gear is 30 in front and 28 in back.

She has a compact double and what she thought was a 28 in back. Most folks I know doing a lot of mountain climbing with compact doubles are using cassettes with 34 or 36 tooth cogs. She's got a long cage derailleur, so it would be easy to hook her up with some lower gears.

She liked the triple, BTW.

Dennis, one of the Bulls I ride doubles with, added a 32. That has my attention for my next bike.

I asked because I thought you'd mentioned riding a triple in a previous post. I'm glad you mentioned what others are using there too, I was curious. Sounds like she definitely deserves to be sharing the top podium spot there in the pic.

Thanks for the reply.

My buddy Steve got around to making a video of L'Etape. Great day!