Saturday dawned bright, clear and warm. The temperature headed for the low 90s. Exhilarated with the knowledge of perfect weather, the freedom of leaving winter base layers, no woolie socks and removing the toe coverings lifted the spirits to even higher altitudes. Dramatic difference from last Saturday, shivering waiting for the sun to warm up the morning to 45F around 9am. Today it was already 58F by 7am. Yahooie as Ray Clone might say.
Matt caught up with me early on the road before the windy tunnel stretch before mile marker 10.79. We talked about the Glendora Earth Day Ride next weekend. The release of water in Big Dalton Canyon which covered the road and left silt and debris, and where to view Stage 7 of the Tour of California.
Eric with his spanking new Specialized S-Works Tarmac with zerts caught Matt and I along Glendora Ridge Road less than a mile into it. Training for the L'Etape du Tour on May 7th, he has ridden the Montrose Ride, with the Buds around Bonelli, Esperanza Avenue in La Verne and the Shinn Road in Claremont. With all his training, his calves rivaled Lance Armstrong's. He discussed cassette gearing in prep for the Ski Lifts. With 25 in the back, he may need a 27 or even a mountain bike cassette with 34 like Mandy of AdoboVelo. Great talk kept the mind off the hills and the pedals spinning faster. At one point we stopped for deer on the road. We approached cautiously. One deer became four. How neat!
Matt and I reached The Point of No Return or GRR mile marker 4.0 in no time. We decided to descend, suddenly mile marker four turned into mile marker six. Just as I turned around, I asked a rider if he had beer in his water bottle. He chuckled no, but there's a great deli on San Dimas and Bonita with a 32 ounce schooner.
As I took out my camera for a picture, I discovered that the memory card was tucked safely back in the computer. So Doh! no pictures from that day.
Talked up a few folks at the shed. John's son Anthony rode for the juniors of SC Velo in the San Dimas Stage Race. Chatted up another racer, Chris of Ritte. Contact Bill for your photos.
Met John C. around mile marker 7. Busy with life and school it was good to touch base. All in all a very good ride indeed.
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