This past Saturday, January 4th, one of my bicycling buddies decided it would be a great idea to ride Glendora Mountain Road up to the parking lot of
The Mount Baldy Ski Resort. Sure, why not?
I didn't think I would have too much trouble with the ride. I've done 80% of it before and I just recently rode 160 miles total during the Christmas and New Years weeks. On top of that, I own enough bicycle parts that I was able to switch from a standard 39/53 chainring setup to a 34/50 compact chainring setup. I also put a few more teeth in the back removing my 12/25 cassette and installing my 12/27 cassette.
The problem is my buddy that made the suggestion in the first place. The guy is good enough to have been a domestic pro cyclist. The pro cyclist ship has sailed, but he still possesses the ability to just crush it on the bicycle.
The route from his house up to
4000 ft elevation took the two of us about three hours. He stayed with me the entire time chatting away like we were on any other casual ride. My conversation was labored because I was cruising up the hill with my heart rate at 175 beats per minute. I'm 35, my theoretical max heart rate is 185 bpm. So, I was clipping along at 95% max for those three hours.
Once we reached 4000 feet I was done. I didn't know I was done until we stopped to eat and drink for a moment at
The Buckhorn Restaurant. Once I was ready again, we started up the final leg of four miles and another 2000 feet of elevation gain towards the parking lot. I got about a half mile into it and my heart rate went through the roof.
From there I did the next three miles about 1/10th of a mile at a time. That was all the longer I could sustain 185 bpm before my legs would start to cramp. I would stop each time, unclip from my pedals, and bring both my breathing and heart rate back down to a reasonable rate before I started again.
I made it to
6000 feet elevation before I called it quits. I was struggling and didn't know exactly how much further it was to the very top.
Humiliated that I couldn't make it, I returned to The Buckhorn. Once I was there, I ate the remainder of my food, drank my
Red Bull, and noticed that the temperature was dropping fast because the sun was starting to set. I had been in the saddle for about four hours at this point.
I put on my arm warmers and vest and bombed down Mt Baldy Road to the bottom. That was fun and totally worth all the pain getting up there. At the bottom of the hill I was completely fine and able to clip along at almost 20mph back to my buddy's house. What a difference oxygen makes!!
All total I did 65 miles, 6000 feet of climbing, and 4.5 hours of saddle time. This ride was definitely a great way to kick off the new cycling season. You can view my Strava file
here and my Training Peaks file
here depending on which you prefer.
Keep it rubber side down!
Clayton
P.S. This isn't over Mt Baldy and GMR. I'm coming back and I will make it to the top.
