(Almost) All of ACH Bike Ride 20210424

[Taco]

My homie and I wanted to do a big ride on the 24th of April but were unsure of exactly where we wanted to go. We thought maybe a Crystal Lake ride would be fun, or something out north of Altadena like Mt Lowe. He had only done the 2 up to near Redbox or so, and he wanted to earn a little HWY 2 sticker for his bike, so I suggested we ride the whole thing (almost), counter-clockwise. I hadn't ridden the 2 in a while and I really enjoy the section between Wrightwood and Three Points or so, so I was motivated to make it happen.

We set off around probably 9am from Azusa, with him riding from Pasadena and me from WC. He would end up riding a bit further than I because of that. We took Baseline and other streets east to Fontucky, then north into Lytle Creek. I've ridden through the Cajon Pass on old 66 a bunch of times and I don't like it. It's slow, not very pretty, gets a little busy, and there are some sketchy happenings there and I'm sick of sketchy shit, I just wanna relax and enjoy the ride. Thus, I decided we would ride through Lytle Creek, as I've not done that yet, except for the section where it turns to dirt and goes up to Baldy Notch. That section is a bit rough for my tastes on my 'gravel' type bike, and I enjoy it more on a MTB. We would not go that far up canyon, instead making a right on Sheep Canyon Road, which moves NE just after you leave the built up area of Lytle Creek. It's a pretty short dirt climb over the ridge which connects to Wright Mtn and so forth, dropping down to Swarthout Canyon in short order. There were some real rough parts, but it was easy, and though maybe not ideal for my kinda bike, the short duration made it easy. The road terminates at Swarthout, and we turned left and took that to Lone Pine Canyon Road.

LPCR is a long climb that steepens significantly as you get closer to Wrightwood. I've descended this road (very fast and fun), but this was my first time riding up it, and it caught me by surprise. You don't typically notice these sorts of things until you have to work hard at em. The scenery was pleasant, and though people fucking haul ASS past you up that road it was still pretty chill. Some super cool guy boned out going who knows how fast past us in a Mercedes CUV egg pod generic modern soulless car object. We slowly made our way up to the top where things got prettier and there were more conifers and stuff. Once you reach the top, you have a few minor descents through the edge of Wrightwood into the center of the community. We dropped in to the market in town to get some food and chill for a bit. There were a handful of PCT'ers chillin' out, as it's prime time for that now. I am envious of their journey and would like to do that someday when things line up.

We ate some random cheeses, meats, and tortillas, and continued on the 2. There was a gate at Vincent Gap, but no other gates west of it, so only one closed gate on the 2. The road is in fine shape with some rockfall. It got dark before we reached Dawson Saddle, so I didn't get a great view of fire damage, but it smelled mightily of ash and was giving me a headache. A variety of cars passed us, as there were no closed gates, but nobody spoke to us and we saw no 'authorities'. I enjoyed the cold descent from both Dawson Saddle and Cloudburst summit, and the climbs along the 2 weren't that bad. John's butt was hurting cause his stock WTB Volt saddle isn't right for his butt, so he was suffering a bit. Add in that this was his longest ride ever and with the most elevation gain and his ass was grass. He was doing great and chugging along for the whole ride. It's dope seeing my best buds get into something like this and do hard shit with me. I like making new riding partner friends but I much prefer taking my best buds and getting them into my shit as we already have years of shared experiences and we love each other so it's such a great experience.

We made it down into La Canada late at night and split up. I rode south to my girl's house and got there around midnight.

Numbers:
129mi 11,800ft gain
About 12hrs 30min moving time according to Strava, with an elapsed time of 17:30min

[JerryN]

Taco, that is one crazy-ass ride! We have been seeing PCT Nobos on our hike. Every time I think I should be doing that, and then think about my sore feet and all of that time alone, but maybe, just maybe it will happen for me as well

[David Martin]

That's an amazing intense ride. I bow to you.

On Saturday my buddy and I hiked from Vincent Gap to Wrightwood on the PCT (very nice section) and I saw that the gate at VG was still closed. I wonder how much longer it'll stay that way. The road is really in pretty good condition.

Interesting that it was open on the other side. When I was up there 2 or 3 weeks ago it was gated just west of Cedar Springs, but the gate was unlocked and anyone could have opened it. Probably someone just did that and then it stayed open.

We walked that whole closed section a while back and it was kind of fun to go through the tunnels in silence with no one in sight...made me think of The Stand.

[Sean]

I've driven that road on Lytle Ridge. That's a fun bypass with nice views. I think there is a singletrack that goes to one of the benchmarks up there, but I don't know where it starts.