rallison

A bit snowier than just a day previous..

GMR:




GRR:

Mr. Beanz

Crazy!...but COOL!

rallison

Oh, I should note that I did not actually ride today. Skied at Baldy and drove back down via GRR/GMR. Was surprised to see the entirety of GRR covered with snow. Snow was collecting as low as about 3000 feet. Very wet snow at those elevations though of course. Baldy itself was getting a fair dumping:

Mr. Beanz

At first I thought you meant riding then I thought nah, he had to be in his car!

rallison

Lots of skiing recently...but I'll be back on the bike this weekend to conquer this again:



Should be a bit greener than last time.

Hillbasher

Ok, I will bite. Where is that shot from?

rallison

Gibraltar Road in Santa Barbara. Connects with East Camino Cielo:



then Painted Cave:



then Old San Marcos:

YOJiMBO20

That last one looks like death.

kuf

Going up it is no fun at all. I go as hard as I can to try to make it up the curve, but usually abort mid-way to avoid toppling over from slowing down too much. There is little visibility, so you can't really do switchbacks up that corner. (unless you have a spotter up the road)

rooftest

Thanks for those GMR/GRR shots! I'm surprised it's so icy as low as the maintenance station.

rallison

A triple helps.

I tried sitting the whole way through it to take a handheld video going up the switchbacks:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

I found out that I couldn't do it without standing for the steepest part. This is easy to see in the video - it is the part where the video is simply a shot of my front wheel. Handheld video is apparently tough to do when standing on the pedals going up a 20% switchback.

rallison

Sure thing. It actually wasn't icy at all, just slushy. Although tomorrow morning I am sure it will be icy like crazy.

kuf

*sigh* whenever I stand up my HR goes through the roof.
I get to about 0:48 when I need to stop. Well, it's still early in the season.

rallison

If you can get to about 48 seconds in, you've made it through the steepest section. Not bad, considering that the switchbacks on Old San Marcos are some of the steepest around.

Mr. Beanz

You'd make one heck of a heavy breathing crank caller on the phone!

Rick@OCRR

Looks like fun to me!

Rick / OCRR

buck65

what kinda tires?? stock RE92s?

Hillbasher

I want to do that ride. Calling Mr, Beanz. What do you say Fred? Look steep enough for ya? Need some stats, length, gain, stupidity factor?

Mr. Beanz

Need? Gas!.............That's a 2+ hour drive. Something steep, we can go OakGlen, Damnation Alley then Up to the top of Forest Falls (22%). I barely made the 22 when I was in good shape, but I'd take my triple this time! ...It's only a 40 minute drive.

Heck, we could even throw in the climb to Onyx if you want some distance.

bikeride

calamarichris

Can you recommend a decent hotel and restaurants near the base of GMR? I'll definitely be riding up to Baldy a few times this Spring & Summer. (That was my happy-place when I was a scabby-legged USCF-junior and living in Diamond Bar.)

Mr. Beanz

I don't know the immediate area that well but a few miles down the road is a nice big hotel called The Shilo Inn. Sits above CalPoly Pomona on the 57 between the 10 and 60 fwys. They have a Wendy's next door..............Maybe Pinnacle Peak steak place down the road from GMR.

As an addd bonus, if you are a Neil Diamond fan, you can sing "Shilo" as you approach the hotel

calamarichris

Wendy's?! Mannnn....
Does anyone have any real suggestions on the restaurant? I was hoping for something akin to or better than Pomona Valley Mining Co. No steak places either, please; I'm a PITAtarian.

Mr. Beanz

Better than Pomona Mining Company? Yeah.....Wendy's!

socalrider

Lot's of good restaurants in downtown Claremont area... any particular type of food??