I did the Mount Baldy ride today. There were 12 in our group but maybe hundreds more on the mountain roads as these roads are closed to cars the days around the 4th. The way we went up features a 25 mile climb interrupted by a few short descents. About 4000 feet on the way up and another 1600 on the way back.
It was hot and humid but not terrible. The worst issue I had was my lower back hurt on the last 6 or 8 miles on the way up. It's one of those climbs that seems to go on long after you remember it ending. I took 3 bottles but it would have been nice to have more. Once on the climb there is nothing until the top where I got a huge basket of fries and 2 Cokes and refilled my bottles.
I was the slowest in our group, well I actually shared the honor with another guy, until the heat took it's toll on 2 of the faster riders. I was worried about one of them but he made it. I got ahead of our group on the descent when they stopped and I carved turns on the empty road for a few miles until I was swarmed and dropped by about 10 riders. Once they got by I backed off a little more and just enjoyed the gravity alone until the gate at the bottom. A fun day!