Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/45571571
I wasn't sure this training ride was going to happen for me given my soccer dad obligations, but as with life, where there's a will there's a way. I ended up carpooling with Shannon from Irvine (thanks!), and we met Todd and Vince at the Starbucks near Glendora high school. Even though Vince isn't doing the BWR, he's a stud nonetheless and opted to get some vertical training with us last minute...always glad to have him.
It was a little chillier than what the weather forecast predicted, and I think it never made it over 50 degrees all the way up to the top. Most of the climb up seemed to be in the shade, so I was glad I had on full arm and leg covering. Shannon dressed similarly, but Todd and Vince opted to wear arm warmers only. The cool air always makes it a little challenging to expand the lungs and take deep breaths, but it wasn't too harsh. It did warm up some on our way back but an average temperature of 54 degrees as Strava indicated sounds about right.
When we started the ride, we let Todd have the honors of leading us out to GMR. He was obviously cold at the start, so he wasted no time picking up the pace early. In his haste, however, he did make a wrong turn and had us climb up a hill only to realize it wasn't the right road. Given the contrast of climbing up Mt. Baldy though, no one really cared or complained.
When we finally got on GMR, Todd still led us up with all of us lined up tightly behind him. After we hit the first bend, we could see 4 riders ahead of us who we were reeling in rather quickly. The 4 had splintered into two sets of riders where we passed the first two without any response. When we passed the 2nd two, however, the guy and girl decided to join us. I hate when this happens! HA HA.
The guy who joined us eventually started to break away for a bit while the girl joined our line and in my opinion, broke our rhythm on some instances. Shannon eventually pushed past us to give chase to the breakaway rider, but I think as he saw Shannon approaching opted to turn around and come back to his friend who he left behind in our line up. The girl was a good rider, even pushing up to the front once, but her randomness was enough to have Todd pick it up and break away with Vince while I ended up passing her and her friend and riding on my own for the rest of GMR. Todd and Vince weren't too far ahead at first, but as we made our way around some bends, began to pull further and further away.
At this point, I was set to pretty much ride the rest of the way on my own. Passing the fork to the 39 and seeing that no one was there, I had settled into a pace on GRR that was probably just enough to keep me moving forward...ha ha. To my surprise, I saw an awaiting Shannon around a bend and I was glad to have someone to ride with again. When we rode off, I was definitely more motivated to pick up the pace more than when I was on my own. It came with the price of hurting more than I would have liked, but that's what we were up there for anyway so....
When we got to the top of GRR just before the drop down to the Village, we saw Vince there taking a break and preparing to head down on his own since he opted to skip the climb to the ski lifts...smart man. We chatted for a little bit and he told us how Todd went ahead given his plan for a double switchback climb, but Shannon and I were off and heading down toward the village soon after.
Climbing up after the village was just like I remembered...4 miles of absolute misery. I was trying to stay with Shannon as long as I could (I believe there is a BAM rule that suggests otherwise), and did manage to keep him in my sights for the most part. As he got to the short descent before making his way past the bar to the right, he did increase the gap significantly but never to the point that I lost sight of him. He looped and waited for me at the dead end and we made our way up to the ski lift parking lot together. We did see Todd heading back down just before we started up the final pitch to the dead end, and did not envy him at all knowing he was heading back down to the village only to do it again. Nutty.
We took a fairly short break at the top not even getting any additional fluids or anything, and just stopped long enough to get a little food. Shannon changed in preparation for the cold descent, and just as we were leaving I ended up seeing a couple guys I knew from Orange County. Small world.
Shannon and I worked together as we made our way back through GRR and GMR. Since I had a schedule to follow, we never stopped and just exchanged pulls never really leaving one another as we descended back to Glendora. There were some gaps that formed, but we always managed to find our way back to one another. Good team work!
We got back pretty much on schedule and even with some time to spare...time for a couple cold ones anyway. After changing and hanging out, we started to head out and saw Todd just making his way in as we were leaving. Glad he made it back on his own safely and without any problems. Despite the pain it caused from the seemingly never-ending climb, it was a great training day up that mountain. Thanks for coming out, gents!
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