Oh, Helllloooo! Sorry, seems like cycling and work both got busy at once! The L' Etape ride was very challenging, beautiful and fun. I spent the week prior with 2 visits to the chiropractor for low back,neck and hamstring tightness on one side, so I took the ride pretty slow. I got to ride with Bill Walton! (now I know who he is too!) What a nice guy! And he did the entire ride in tennis shoes with platform pedals - yeowch! I never thought I'd finish the whole ride with my tweaked back, but I did really well. the first 20 miles were kind of mentally hard - just 20 miles of mostly climbing in a straight line uphill. I was ready to quit. then the climbing became more interesting with switchbacks and incredible views on the back side of the mountains, and along a long ridgetop. It really did look like something from the Tour de France to me in places. I did decline the final summit to Mt Baldy, and now wish I had climbed it all. (we probably got in 8,000 feet of climbing though). Friends who I consider very very strong riders/climbers had to stop - more than once - on the final climb because it was so tough. the weather was perfect - mostly a bit on the cool side. It would have been brutally tougher if it was hot. And we stayed at a nice motel across the street from the Ontario Outlet Mall. Some young men who stayed in Claremont near the freeway (HoJo's) said as soon as they got out of their car, a woman came out of the parking lot bushes and asked if they wanted "to dance". glad we were staying in a more sedate location! Only about 50 women on the ride, (Over 1,400 riders), and they ranked your time on the QOM climbs in age groups, so it was easy to feel like a rock star (sort of, if 7 out of 8 makes you feel that way ) My husband had a triple on his bike, and was very happy with that! I was ok with my compact though. I highly recommend this ride! thanks for asking! tokie