Parliament 0f Owls

Check out all of Parliament 0f Owls footage. He knows how to read the signs on the trails. He has posted new footage of Bears, Mountain Lions, and foxes. I see more wildlife on his website than I do on the road. Amazing footage.

Robert writes: Here's the Bear checking out my first camera before he made his way up the trail to my other camera. I love that all these animals use this trail.

Parliament 0f Owls has more great footage! The video that astonishes me the most are the mountain lions. Amazing footage.

Memorial Rides

Saturday was cool and almost raining. The weather can't make up its mind. A couple days of sun. A couple days of clouds and drizzle. Saturday was on the darker side of drizzle. Sunday was brilliant, clear and warm.

Saturday folks. Cathy rides by and I hang with her to the shed. Out of commission from an elbow injury for six months she is back on GMR for the first time in full swing. Cathy is pleasant and yet tough to the nails and a determined rider. I am lucky to snap her picture. Briefly, speak with Eric at Fork plus Four. We agree that we need more ride time. Looking good Eric. Then Matt introduced me to the mom of the mountain, Tanya. She rides a bike with her son who is five and a half years old to school 3.5 miles one way. That's a total of 140 miles for a month. Amazing. And yes she is seven months pregnant and riding her bike. Be safe Tanya.

Sunday. Nice to find commonalities, Brook and I are ex-patriots of Pennsylvania. Bask in the glorious sun. No snow to shovel in winter here. One month new to the area, Brook enjoys the mountain ride. He is training for a triathlon by Castaic Lake in October.
One person I didn't get a photo but am very grateful too, is Jason from Long Beach. He pushs past me around mile marker 11 and I wake up my legs out of their sleeping state to hang onto his wheel for a mile and a half. Good pace. It is a fluke that I find him in his truck in the shade at the bottom. The Arco Jersey stood out in my mind. Now all I need to do is to keep that pace for 23 miles.

Of course the regulars who I chat and ride with are John, Matt and Bill.

OTS Vehicles

I need to catch up with a bit of correspondence. So let's start with the car crashes, the first one delayed the start of Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California on May 19, 2012. This unfortunate vehicle left Glendora Ridge Road about mile marker 3.44. The first responders paraded past the Tour spectators around 10:30 am with sirens blaring. Ambulance, paramedic truck, pumper fire engine, hook and ladder fire engine, three search and rescue teams and assorted California Highway Patrol vehicles, plus a US Forrest vehicle or two. Suzy Degazon schmoozed the rescue workers with her cute British accent and got the scoop. The real incident happened the night before and the driver/passenger crawled out on their own. Nothing new. Matt sent me this photo.

A week later May 26, 2012 at five minutes past midnight this vehicle left the road at Glendora Mountain Road mile marker 8.8. I noticed that Wild Cad Incidents had it reposted at 10:36 am. Bill snapped this photo mid-morning.

If you are wondering what OTS stands for it is "Over The Side". Off-roading along parts of the road can be dangerous for all of us roadies. Needless to say, Drive Safe if you are cruising the mountains.

Tour of California by Ron S.

There are so many stories that happened Saturday on Glendora Ridge Road and Glendora Mountain Road. This is vantage point from Ron S. Thanks for write up!

by Ron S. Thanks a bunch for posting the photo's of stage 7. There are so many stellar places to view this awesome race and as a photo buff/bike-nut I appreciate the chance to view a few different vantage points.

My vantage point for both last year and this was to park my vehicle atop the ~3.7mi hill on the Ridge Rd., or exactly 3 mi West of the first KOM. This way I could take in the KOM, do some riding & picnicking, and then see the peloton return up that nasty 8-11% hill!

Attached are the scene at that first KOM, and I do mean a scene, about 90% bike riders with lots of spirit, great comaraderie! On the return leg I shot most views within 100 yards of the top of the 3.7 mi hill

This was easily the highlight of my cycleing year in 2011, and will likely be this year also. We almost opted to ride up some of the Baldy switchbacks, but had done 16 mi and a fair bit of climbing so we chickened out! Thanks again for posting the great shots this year and last, hope you enjoy mine.

Lets hope also for yearly returns of Amgen to our coveted GMR/GRR/Mt Baldy "Riders Paridise"! Regards, Ron S. Walnut, Ca.

More on Amgen Tour of California Stage 7

David Zabriskie in the Peoloton coming down Glendora Ridge Road (the first time) with Mt Baldy in the background.

More photos here

Solar Eclipse

Tonight the moon and the sun aligned into a once in 28 years solar eclipse. Ron took this photo. My neighbors had film which we could see the same silhouette. Awesome job Ron!

Amgen 2012 Stage 7

Chris Horner taking on a water bottle near the shed - or the second KOM point of the stage. On his wheel is Columbian rider Jhon Atapuma

Bill took this picture of spectators on their way to their special Stage 7 vantage points.

Bill's panorama of folks at the shed waiting for the tour. Definitely click on this image to get the full effect.

Matt's pictures

Ron's Gallery

Visit Ron's Gallery here

The rest are Bill's photos. David Z. leads out the long string of peloton riders.

Bills' view of Chris Horner and Jhon Apatuma climbing up GMR to the shed.

This is the break away group on Glendora Ridge Road mile marker 2.45 near the Experimental Forest Sign.

Suzy Degazon was kind enough to do a victory interval upto our cameras.

The blue train of Garmin-Barracuda as they pull the peloton on Glendora Ridge Road mm 2.45.

Thursday evening ride

Some find inspiration to ride from others who recover from illness and life threatening accidents to triumph in epic races. Myself, I found the inspiration to compete with a virtual competitor and the push up the hill shaved off a minimum of 1:30 my better time. Needless to say it was a great ride.

The evening view still looks impressive.

I don't normally see wildlife. There were two coyotes caught off guard by my bicycle. One disappeared up the mountain side. The other hung around on the road. I stopped to take a photo. Cameras must look tasty as this one approached me. Being diminutive and by myself I skedaddled out of there fast.

Tuesday Night Ride

Wow. Too Long since a mid-week ride.

My legs asked, "What are we doing?"

You are going round and round.

My legs cried "Ow, but why?"

This is good for you. It's called exercise.

My legs whined, "Where are we going?"

Up a hill.

My legs begged, "Can we go down now?"

Not yet there is a pot of gold at the top of the ridge.

My legs laughed, "You're silly."

It was a warm night 85F. My goal was to stay upright and not over-heat. I did find that pot of gold. See for yourself.