GMR.... WOW! (and other hills too!)

i finally had the opportunity to ride GMR this past saturday! GMR is glendora mountain road and goes from san dimas, california up to mount baldy. apparently it's a "mecca" for socal cyclists and motorcyclists when the road is open (it was)

my only other "association" with GMR was this past spring when hubby was training do do ride around the bear. he met up with a bunch of other cyclists and they climbed GMR. i wasn't riding yet and spend the day shopping... needless to say when i walked out of my first store and it was raining.. i got concerned.. but i couldn't get ahold of hubby.. no reception.. long story short.. they made the climb.. hubby and another guy decided to go further to the ski lifts.. it got colder (and they got wetter) so they finally turned around... they finally got ahold of me to get my butt back there.. shivering and teeth chattering... later that day there was snow on them thar hills! UGH! that ride has become epic among those that rode that day!

fast forward a coupld of months... there is a ride coming up this fall that climbs oak glen. this is a ride the pros ride during the redlands rides and during other rides/races. hubby kept telling me i can do it.. so we did and i did! woo hoo! it was a blast and wasn't nearly as hard as i anticipated! so the next week we decided to tackle forest falls (big bear area). the first part of that wasn't bad... but that last portion.. STEEP! hubby kept telling me "we're almost to the top" and finally i screamed "i don't believe you anymore".. well by that time we were at the top! i was so proud of my self! (and what a riot.. 2 hours up and 25 minutes down!) side note.. as we neared the top the clouds were getting ominous and i had thoughts of that epic GMR ride! i just KNEW a storm was coming! the first part going down i was so cold from sweating and the air from going fast! by the time we got lower.. sunshine and warmth! yum!

so then others and hubby began telling me.. "if you can do forest falls, you can do GMR." ok.. fine.. i'll do it! then i found out it's 22 miles! EGADS! at one point i was only climbing forest falls at 4 mps! i just knew it was going to take me 6 hours! lol!

so saturday morning we set out.. me, hubby and 3 other riders. hubby was instructed that he would stay with me (poor hubby.. he's quite the climber and i know it killed him to have others going ahead! lol! you know how men can be!)

after the first 4 miles i was wondering what i had gotten myself into... i was thinking EIGHTEEN more miles of this! EEK! at about the 1/3 way point i was wondering if i'd make it all the way or embarrass myself... then we hit a couple respits.. downhills! YA! finally.. we made that last steep ascent into mount baldy village... I DID IT! i think it was about 2.5 hours (will have to recheck) we rested, ate a clif bar.. refilled our water bottles..

then it was time to go back down... however this was not like forest falls and oak glen where it's ALL downhill.. remember i said there was a steep ascent into baldy village and other downhills on my way "up"... ya... i had to reclimb them! UGH!!!!

oh.. another side note.. my longest ride to date had been 40 miles a few weeks ago.. 25-30 since then.. but normally i ride shorter during the week!)

so i climb.. and then have the wind in my hair.. then i climb!

the other three guys waited at the top of the climb out of baldy.. but we told them they didn't have to wait.. didn't see them again on the ride down! lol!

however... almost to the bottom.. one of them passed us coming up the hill! he was coming up to make sure everything was ok and that i (or hubby) had not gotten hurt or something! so sweet!

all this was on the 2 month anniversary of my first ride! (i bought my bike on the 27th.. rode it first on the 28th of june!)

just call me marca pantani (notice the "a" vs "o" lol! femininr vs masculine version!)

i assume other socal-ers will know my joy of riding and completing GMR... just GORGEOUS! i wish we had stopped to take pics! the views were breathtaking (well.. til on the way and we could see the smog we were riding in to!) it was also sad to see the burned trees from the fires that had been through there :(

it was really nice too cuz there was hardly any traffic! we saw maybe 10 cars and 20 motorcyclists! and about 50 cyclists!!!!!

another side note! (i have a lot of those!) on the way up was passed a gentlemen.. just peddling along... i swear he was in his 70's! if not older!!! hubby said "i hope i'm still riding like that when i'm that age! "

i just wish it wasn't so far.. i'm envious of those who live in the area and can climb it whenever they want! (even when it's closed to cars/motocycles it's open to cyclists and hikers!)