Mazatleco17

18 flat miles (774ft elevation) around Covina, San Dimas, Glendora area, getting back into riding my old trusty Allez (some upgrades were made)

burritos

Wow. I'm very impressed.

Mazatleco17

19 miles, 541ft of elevation, another beautiful day in Southern California.

Mazatleco17

today was so much better than yesterday, not as windy.

Eric F 

Arroyo Seco bike path -> LA River bike path -> Griffith Park (reverse trash truck hill and loop to the Observatory -> return the way we came. Lots of steady pedaling, and some good climbing efforts. A lot of the pavement in Griffith Park is chopped up and pot-holed, but with no car traffic, it wasn't hard to find a clean enough line to ride. Really enjoyable ride.

Alphabet

East Chula Vista through Bonita onto 54 path, south to C.V. Harbor east on Fst to 1st to J st back east. 26 miles.

CAT7RDR

Picked the right day to ride, not that there is truly a bad day. Mid 70's, gentle breezes, clear skies, cyclists taking advantage of the day.
Did a loop from Hacienda Hgts, over Turnbull Cyn, north on the SGRT, exited on Sierra Madre and worked my way over and up San Dimas Cyn. Back south via Walnut to Puddingstone, San Dimas Ave, Puente/Badillo, Hollenbeck/Vine/Hillside, Grand Ave/Amar/Lemon, Brea Cyn/Patfinder, Sunrise/Salerosa back to Colima.

77 miles and 5500 feet of climb. Good way to go to not deal with the SGRT bipolar headwinds in the afternoon.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35233382

Eric F 

That's a big ride. Nice

CAT7RDR

A lot of scenic avenues in La Verne, Claremont and Upland foothills that gain a lot of elevation (not GMR or Mt Baldy Rd)
I have yet to include in a loop.
I'll get there eventually. ​​​​​​​

TakingMyTime

24 miles North on the SGRT from El Dorado Park. We were going to go farther but I didn't sleep well the night before and I felt drained for all 24 miles of it. Plus, it had been a week since I had ridden. Going out tomorrow and Thursday in order to start pushing it again.

diphthong

took the 6:08am amtrak from old town-san diego up to union station in dtown la. headed south on alameda, then zigzagged thru dtown to hit venice blvd for a while. hopped over south to washington and peeled off that at the start/end of the ballona creek trail. maintenance guys were trimming the bushes/climbing vines on the north side of the trail and surprise? those vines have thorns. confirmed that by checking the similar bushes just down the way so be careful. after setting back out from the double flat, hit the marvin braude beach path, rounded peevee and tackled everyone’s fave-the harbor and anaheim st. enroute to long beach. not too bad
today...roads are in good shape currently and there wasn’t much debris in the area. out of the five railroad crossings between crossing under the vincent thomas bridge and joining anaheim street, four of them require looking back and judging when to make your squiggly moves to cross four of them at a relatively right angle. the third one, seemingly innocuous and easily cross able at a right angle, is raised up more than it looks and is a potential pitch-flat/rim denter. hugged the coast and pch (mostly) all the way to laguna beach. took laguna canyon rd/ca hwy 133 to the irvine train station to finish up. nice day out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4832991310

N2motorsports

Little jaunt before work. Oak park to Bancroft up mt. Helix then blast down over to Pictionary hill and jamacha home. My 7th effort in that hill and it never seems to get any easier!

burritos

Wow!

btppberk

ooga-booga, I'm hoping to finally do a mountain/dessert route tomorrow. Is this the one you most recommend for about this distance?

diphthong

depends. if you haven't done the laguna/cuyamaca triangle, i'd hit that one first

https://www.strava.com/routes/2800306743422260982

but if weather/conditions are more favorable for the borrego springs loop, then do that.
both are about the same effort, length, lack of support and el gain. pack an extra tube if you're not riding tubeless, go with two full bottles and bring an emergency power bar.
borrego loop is scenic for sure but three of the climbs bug heading clockwise (as i did the route that time)...the long, never steep but usually into a headwind climb from the s2/s22
junction into ranchita. the long, interminable, imperceptibly changing climb up to yaqui pass and from the southern end/bottom of yaqui pass intersection with ca hwy 78 back up
to the scissors crossing area (s2/ca hwy 78 junction).

yaqui pass is a blast in either direction.

i prefer to do that particular ride counter-clockwise. start and finish with a descent and with the support at the 20 mile mark in borrego springs before the hc 11+ mile climb of
montezuma grade. the views are better that direction. you get the short, punchy climb of yaqui pass to bring you back to earth after a fast descent along the 78 to the yaqui pass turnoff. the 2nd half of the
montezuma grade climb (once it turns west into the mountains past the big viewpoint/turnout) can have a decent headwind and turn unexpectedly cold/cloudy. i've been
ambushed there twice (once rain, once windy/cold and both times not forecast and in late winter/early spring) so take a rain jacket/windbreaker, even if you think there's
no chance in hades that you'll need it. i find the scenery better heading counter-clockwise, you get to take advantage of the prevailing winds in ranchita and avoid a long
ascent to scissors crossing from yaqui pass that has some bad sightlines for automobile/bicycle sharing the road practicality. plus you bag that hc climb. it's one of
my fave ascents in socal.

montezuma grade is the longest, sustained grade in the county. both the decent and ascent are awesome. traffic is generally pretty light during the week. there are a few places
to pull over on the lower, wiggly half. the upper half less wiggly so easier for cars to safely pass. descending can occasionally have some gnarly crosswinds so i'd ride with my
hands near the brakes the first time. my goal is always to descend it without touching the brakes and i made it once a few years ago, riding into a little headwind and using both
sides of the road on a light traffic day but that goal is usually shattered by the time i reach the turnout/viewpoint at the approx halfway point. ascent has a few standing
stretches but most are in the upper/2nd half near the end. tightest spot on the ascent is just past the big viewpoint on the other side of the road...i try to save a little energy to
consciously speed up through that 75 yard stretch.

the little convenience store in ranchita (by the ranchita man statue) has been open the last two times I've ridden by it in the last two years. before that, it's been open, closed at midday
a few times and open another time but the credit/debit card machine was down and it was cash only. it's handy and i like supporting boonies stores but i don't rely on it. as a result, i'll
ride that loop/area with $20 in assorted bills and plan on any support i need being in borrego springs. support is only in borrego springs (and that store) on that 50 mile loop.
starting at scissors crossing saves you driving another 30 mins there, 30 mins back to/from borrego springs.

if you don't feel like tackling the hc montezuma grade climb, you can always start in borrego springs (at christmas circle) and head east, then north, then east on the s22 towards the
salton sea. super scenic past the font's point turnoff until the san diego/imperial county border by the giant, electronics tower at the border (also where the pavement goes from good to wretched).
great place to turn around and head back unless you're desperate for food/water since it's only a few miles to ca hwy 86 and stores vs twenty or so miles back to borrego springs.
that ride is 40 to 50 miles, there and back, depending on what you add around borrego springs.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3051933866

try and ride the borrego loop (and the laguna/cuyamaca triangle) on a non-holiday weekday if you can. makes it even better.

Eric F 

The Tuesday/Thursday Rose Bowl group ride is notorious for being fast and furious, and is fantastic for crit-type high intensity training. When I was a racer-boy, this ride was a regular part of my weekly training schedule. This week, the ride started up after it's winter hiatus, doing 6 laps of the 3.1 mile loop (they add 1 lap every week, with the full-length ride being 10 laps). At its peak during the summer, its common that this ride will have 100+ riders, and cover the 31 mile distance in a bit over 1 hour (1:05-1:10). In my prime, this was a ride where I would do a good share of work to help drive the pace, and would frequently win the finishing sprint.

Last night, for the first time in 16 years, I joined the ride, with a small group of about 20 riders. I lasted 1 lap before getting mercilessly ejected from the tail end of the strung out line - LOL. Oh, well. Maybe I'll last a bit longer next time. After that blow to my ego, I settled in for some steady tempo work, and got lapped by the remnants of the group (~10 riders) about 30 minutes later. I ended my evening with 24 miles, and my lungs could feel the searing they had been subjected to.

2seven0

Spent last weekend getting blown around the Coachella Valley. This am left before sunrise for Santiago Cyn Road. Beautiful morning. No cyclists until the top at Gertner Road when a few were cresting the hill heading NW.
Roadwork at the southeast end appears to be done (for now anyways) as there were no crews active. Enjoy springtime!
West

CAT7RDR

Stayed local just in case the dreaded winds kicked up. Was rewarded with clear skies and low 70's. Mucked around the Turnbull Cyn area and also threw in Edgeridge, Hadley/Hill and Rideout to the tune of 52 miles and 6600 feet elevation gain. Good workout, quads are feeling it.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35272305

btppberk

Thanks as always for the awesome advice! Checked out the weather and it was a little too cold for the triangle and have been wanting to try to the desert, so did the counter clockwise loop. It was great! And it was definitely the right call to go counterclockwise. The Yacqui pass down into Borrego Springs was beautiful and lots of fun. The 78 could be lots of fun too, but, as you suggested, Friday's are not the day to do it. Tons of trailer campers heading out to the dessert (where? why?), and a few seem to forget either that they just passed a cyclist or that they are pulling a camper. On the plus side, there was very little traffic joining us up Montezuma. (I don't see how you can come down that without your breaks, or just lightly using them, headwind or not.

The only downside to today's ride was that it was really cold from Montezuma to S2 since we got a late start. Coming down S2 at dusk was also a mistake. Didn't have a strong enough light and the bike lane (amazing!) was littered with large rocks and other obstacles. I hit one that almost threw me. Another caused a flat 6 miles from home in the dark...

Thanks again for the tips! I really appreciate it.

I've got to figure out how to better time my meals for rides like this that start so far from home. This one was particularly tough since basically all the major work comes in the middle. I can't eat big meals before big climbs, so I was feeling pretty energy deficient on the climb. I'm thinking maybe I need to pack and eat a meal while driving out to the destination.

p.s. Banner Grade looks like a beautiful road, but looks narrow!

diphthong

glad you pulled it off! hope you brought that windbreaker/rainjacket. can't say i've ever seen substantial debris in the bike lanes on s2 between teofilio summit and scissors crossing.
the s2 > ca hwy 78 (and vice versa) is the main passageway for orange county/riverside/temecula/northern sd county off-roaders heading to/from ocotillo wells state vehicular park off the
78 before salton sea so plenty of dune buggies, atv's, etc on trailers with big trucks/rv's involved. lots of (just) rv's hitting borrego springs and scattered campgrounds out there as well in the
nov-april months.

btppberk

I did bring the windbreaker, but it was just barely enough! Actually, my hands were the main culprits. Interesting about the state vehicular park. Did see some dune buggies and atvs being pulled.

On S2, I think the main culprit is the road buckling in places and tosses up sizeable chunks. The one I hit on my front tire was an instant flat. I hit something bigger on the back that was a major jolt. I don't think it would be much of a problem in daylight, and after the flat I slowed down and was able to avoid most of the obstacles.

BTW, I meant to ask you how you manage eating on rides thta start after long drives.

diphthong

on something like what you just did (40+70 miles with at least one long effort/climb, looking to have some protein and lots of carbs.
works for me. i'm not the fastest (and don't care about that); more interested in farther/finishing. don't bring power bars with me anymore unless
it's a really boonies ride-like zero support the whole time. if it's a harder ride within a two hour drive (borrego, palm springs, laguna/cuyamaca,
temecula, gmr/grr/baldy, orange county, palos verdes), i try to grab and crush two/three egg mcmuffins (no cheese) and three hash browns and a large oj
(or 2 naked juice blue machines or a og gatorade) immediately after setting out. that stuff seems to be a slow burn (for me) and that, along with whatever
residual fumes/detritus i drag over from the previous evening gets me through a harder, 4 hour ride. so doing your ride today, i would have gone with that
(or later, lunch version...sub fries for hash browns, add an apple or banana and sub out egg mc muffins for a turkey sando or burger) and 100% opted to stop in
borrego springs and bought/topped off my usual one bottle of water, one bottle of gatorade (if i'm riding with bottles) and crushed a 12oz can of pepsi...
aka rocket fuel for the montezuma grade ascent. the pepsi helps with the lower half of that grade, the potato carbs from earlier help with the upper half.
not the healthiest road diet by any stretch but i find having my biggest meal before the ride starts is more productive than doing it during the ride
on a 40-70 mile ride. if it's a hard century, or close, with lots of climbing or cold, i'll do a smaller version of that starter meal and dive in for serious calories
anywhere during miles 40-60 (given availability). if it's an easier century such as la to san diego, i'll fixate on a particular grub destination and supplement before or after
with a blueberry muffin, peanut m&m's, banana or apple as necessary.

btppberk

I'm impressed. I have to hoover up calories to keep from boinking. Yesterday's ride was particularly tricky. Since the start was almost all downhill, I didn't feel the need to eat until 20 minutes up the climb, and by then it is too late. I should been eating a lot on the way down from Yacqui pass (what a beautiful, gentle road to bike down)! I don't see how you can do a ride like this without refueling more! But then again you do a lot of longer rides, so you've fortified yourself.

TakingMyTime

Since the last several rides have been pretty standard for me I didn't bother writing down each day what I did. Unfortunately, this month's mileage wasn't that big.

in other news...
Today the wife and I decided to do a little "hiking". We drove to the North entrance of the Pacific Ridge Trailhead of Crystal Cove State Park. There are miles and miles of not only hiking trailers but a ton of multi-use bike trails. There were some singletrack routes but many of them were like the fire roads we were walking on. Really a great day. You could pick your distance and find a route that fits your level of endurance. We're going back again during the week. Parking due to the weekend crowds was pretty fierce.

Eric F 

35 miles / 2800 ft revisiting the climbs from one of the regular group rides I used to do 16+ years ago (Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia area). I started fairly strong (relative to my current fitness), and just barely talked myself out of quitting the last - and most difficult - climb of my route. It was significantly uncomfortable at the end, but I'm pleased with myself for grinding it out. It also made me vividly aware of how fit I used to be.