The road re-opened after 37 days of closure. Perfect day for riding. The pavement was clear of the sandy silt, however, new swatches of rocks, stones and dirt near turn-outs strewn from vehicles circling in doughnuts were new obstacles to navigate.
Bill started the ride with me and set his own pace. Matt met up with Bill at the S-bends and rode with him to Coyote Corner. We reconvened at the first saddle with new folks: Ruben, Mark and friend. They had a great sense of humor and I really liked Ruben's green dragon squeaky "bell".
Damage from the Morris Fire Burn viewed from Glendora Mountain Road between mile marker 8 and 9. Along the south side the land was barren. On the north side the white or grey colored area burned contained between bulldozer breaks. Bills' panorama captured the lunar brown, black and grey landscape where shrubs and trees once lived stood in stark contrast with the next ridge of dotted greenery.
It was a day of seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Ruben and Mark with mountain bikes, Chris S and his son Alex. Greg from Pasadena, Ray of Baldy Village and Frank of Whittier. Ray outlined his route to Huntington Beach and back with Matt. A mere 112 mile ride.
Chris was impressed with my first mountain foray on Keo Look Classic cleats. I noted the improvement of time with the foot gear. It felt really goooooood to ride the road and see Mount Baldy from the top of Monroe.
2 comments:
Thanks for letting us know that GMR is back open. A couple of us played hookie from work (we'll call it a long lunch) to go ride up. Wonderful day, no traffic. There are still a few rocks in the road so we were careful on the descent.
Thanks again
gtcooper
Glad to hear you had a great ride. It is very good to be on the road again.
Post a Comment