20210926 Hot Chuck's Triple Bacon Slam 2000 (Biggish Ride)

[Taco]

There ain't a helluva lot of roads I haven't ridden in the San Gabes, so I entertain myself by trying to go this way or that, seeing how it is eastbound if I've done it west, that kinda stuff. I needed to get out for a big ride since things opened up again and the Grand Admiralty declared the peasantry may ride their spark-shooting flamebikes in the Crispy Mountains National Monument. If I don't ride big miles a lot, I go crazy and will eventually rip my own throat out and throw it at smaller people, scaring them and causing general disarray. I love disarray more than the average ape, but I love keeping my throat, because I love eating more than almost anything else I've ever done. I must ride a lot so that I can continue to eat and fuel the bullshit generator that is my brain. I rode the usual Thursday Night 39-GMR loop the other day with the boys and man did that improve my situation.

On this glorious journey and harvest of feel-good chemicals, I planned on going up over Windy Gap from the 39, take the 2 to Wrightwood, down Lone Pine Canyon Road to Sheep Creek Rd, up and over Lytle Ridge into Stockton Flats, up miserable 3n06 as usual, over Baldy Notch, and then down to take Glendora Ridge Road westbound for once. I haven't ridden Ridge westbound in, well, I don't remember the last time I did it so I wanted to do it. Then, down frontside to Glendora and so on, the usual.

I ended up doing all that except ridge. Dangit! Next time. Now I need another excuse to go up there.

I left Covina at 0420 (blaze it *MiG-15 NATO reporting name*) and adopted a pretty chill pace for the entire ride, as a month or so of not riding in the mountains meant I lost some fitness and my joints were complaining. It was cloudy out and almost looked like it would rain, but I emerged above the clouds around 2500ft or so near Smith Mountain. I listened to some Jocko Podcast and sauntered up to the spring above Falling Springs, where I filled my bottles. Got up to Adam's around 0900 and he made a delicious cave burrito (sausage bfast with chili and nacho chz), which I enjoyed with a Coke and yellow Gatorage. I hung out for probably an hour before heading up to Windy Gap. Parked my bike on the PCT and walked to Little Jimmy Spring to drink some more. It's flowing, filling a bike bottle in about 5 second or so. Headed down the shortcut trail that drops directly down from WG to the 2, then rode the 2 to Dawson Saddle. I was surprised at how low-angle the 2 is. I always seem to remember it being steeper. Might just be contrast from pushing my bike up to Windy Gap. The descent to Vincent Gap was pretty chill and I only managed about 33mph or so, stopping occasionally to look at stuff on the mountain. I decided to go check out Bighorn Mine, since I hadn't been there in probably 10 years, so I boned out down that dirt road. Fun, pretty fast, easy on a 'gravel' bike, with a bit of climbing on the way there. Ate some PB and honey tortillas, talked with some folks there, and then headed back. Faster on the way back, mostly downhill, I think I spent an hour on the detour overall. I began the climb up to Inspiration Point, where I would do drivetrain maintenance and decide if I wanted to check out Blue Ridge Road.

I decided against BRR due to time, and bombed down into Wrightwood. Real fun and pretty fast, and only a few people behind me. It seems I'm aerodynamically limited to 43mph, so I hit that speed and didn't bother stopping for supplies in WW. Got up to Lone Pine Cyn Rd, bombed down that (real steep, straight and fast), and turned right onto Sheep Creek. This is a dirt road and the sun was really pounding down in this little valley, so I was soaked in sweat in no time. Took it pretty easy climbing to the top of the ridge and made it without any real trouble. The road atop the ridge is super cool with awesome views and is worth checking out. I hadn't been up there in ages, and never on a bike, so I was scouting this for my buddies. I absolutely hate riding on 3n06 so I don't think I'll be accompanying them. It's steep, very very rough, and only real nice to me on a mountain bike, maaaaybe. I got pretty nauseous on this stretch, and ended up pushing my bike a whole lot as the afternoon fizzled off into dusk. The road improves significantly beyond the gate on the way to the notch, since you're not in a drainage anymore, but I felt sick so I was very slow. It took me over an hour from the gate to the notch, quite slow. It was just past sunset when I reached the Notch, so I threw on a long sleeve, put my helmet on, and began the descent, which is normally very fun if you're not holding back puke.

The road down has been cleaned up and is real smooth and fast now. I took it real slow until I hit pavement, where I sped up a bit but still felt like shit. Some Russians were partying near the gate on Baldy Road so I yelled Yabloko and got a loud DAVAI in response (I think). I then hit a pothole going about 35-40mph and brutally crushed my taint with the nose of my saddle. That was the worst I've ever been hit there. The rest of the descent to Baldy Village was quite fun, and the pain wore off. Not much time to feel it when you're on those hairpins. Got more water at Baldy Lodge, decided against Ridge since I felt sick, and bombed the rest of the way down. I would like to go significantly faster on this descent.

Once back in cityworld, I took the trail back to Foothill or whatever, and made my way home. I think it was 2130 when I arrived. Here be numbers:

108 miles
14,450ft of gain
13 hours moving time
17h 24min elapsed time
8.3mph average speed
45mph max speed

Arright guys, your homework is to go do challenging shit. Maybe get a bike without suspension that takes wide-ish tires and come ride with us. Byeeee

[Uncle Rico]

Good stuff Taco man. Entertaining as hell as usual. Hope your taint is ok.

[Taco]

Thank you senõr. I do enjoy writing and hope you guys like the flavor.

ALSO, I am critical of a lot of things and was critical of how 39 was repaved earlier. It was rough. It has since been smoothed out. I don't wanna shit on the work people do to maintain things, so I gotta keep up with the conditions. It's much nicer now. I appreciate the work people put into keeping things going. I'm critical of things because of how poorly run a lot of stuff is, all the trash and graffiti and so on. The repaved section is just fine under my tires now. Perhaps some work was completed during the closed period. If you're a contractor or worker up there, thanks.

I also understand if you guys do some work that ain't great but can't do better due to govt/contract reasons. I have seen this personally so I get it.

Some photos...

[dima]

Yo. How much of 3N06 did you ride and how much did you walk? After the pavement ends at the shooting range? And what about the trail up to Windy Gap? Can you climb that thing on your bike?

[Taco]

Good question, I dunno. I have ridden almost all of it several times but this time I walked probably 1/3rd, maybe a lil more. I've ridden the entire dirt section, but I don't think I've ridden the section between the upper end of Lytle Creek at the intersection with Sheep Cyn Rd and the shooting range. That's about 3.5 miles I haven't ridden.

I've climbed some of the trail up to Windy Gap on the bike before, but I usually push it a lot. Have pushed it through snow before. Have ridden down it a couple times, much easier of course, just dismounting to get over the rough bits.

[dima]

Yeah, that sounds right. Just checking The one time we tried to ride the dirt part of 3N06, it felt just rough enough to not be worth the effort. But we were also tired

[Taco]

I think of that trip you two did often. I will not be replicating that experience. I could be convinced if I had a real mtb. On your orangebike, I would be angry.