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18 Jul |
Never again! Cycling, Day to Day Life
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Well, at least not for a long while.
I typically pass on offers to ride Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) on my bike. I decline, because I know what a tough ride it is, but mostly I hate driving the 45 minutes minimum to get to the start. Plus it’s either too hot or too cold, and if you know me, that’s usually enough of a reason.
But for some reason, today I agreed to do GMR with an old bike riding buddy, who also is a lymphoma survivor. Even under those circumstances I normally have declined, but since it’s been over 4 years since my last trek up the mountain to Mt Baldy, I decided this would be a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
Well if nothing else, today certainly reminded me why I’ve avoided this ride for the past 4 years.
It’s a tough ride, made even tougher by the fact it was particularly warm today, 80°F at 9:45 AM when we hit the turn around point at Mt Baldy Village. (It was 88°F when we got back to the car 2 hours later.) Plus there was an unexpected 3.5 mile climb, in the middle of what I remembered as a section of rolling hills, after the initial 9 mile 2800 feet of climbing, which just about did me in.
Total, the ride was 51 miles, with 5400 feet of climbing, and lasted 4.5 hours [with rest stops]. It was just fortunate the return trip was a lot easier than the ride out, otherwise I don’t think I would have been able to make it back.
But, I persevered and managed to make it back with little trouble. I’ll just think long and hard before deciding to that ride again, regardless of who’s doing the asking.