My Labor Day was a long one, and not something I will be repeating in the near future. To give you a little background, the team I race for is run by a dude who loves to do these wickedly insane rides (they rode 305 miles from Fillmore, CA to Monterey on New Years). So anyways, they planned out another adventure for Labor Day... on cyclocross bikes with knobbies 
The plan was to start at Montrose Bike Shop, ride up Hwy 2, down Hwy 39 to East Fork, go up the back side of Glendora Mountain Road, across Glendora Ridge Road to Baldy Village. The we would ride up Baldy Road just shy of the ski lifts and turn off onto Mt. San Antonio Falls Road(a fireroad, and this is where the cross bikes came in). Then we would ride/hike up Devil's Backbone Trail to the summit of Mt. Baldy at 10,064 feet. Sounds fun. After that, we would descend back to Baldy Village to eat at the lodge before riding 45 miles of surface streets back to the bike shop.
We started at 6 am, there were about 20 riders who started the ride, all planning on going different distances, and peeling off at certain points of the ride.
A shot of the climb up Hwy 2:
Shot over the back climbing the 2:
After that, the camera got switched to a different mode where there was a white screen unbeknownst to me. I thought the camera had gotten some moisture in it, so picture taking stopped until we got to Mt. San Antonio Falls Road... to this point we had ridden roughtly 90 miles, with about 14k feet of climbing.
Here's Jason (left), the mastermind of this death march, and Cole, one crazy motherfvcker who brought his road bike on this dirt adventure.
Yours truly, not looking tired at all(I was fvcking dead). I had a 39x25, which was a little too big for the 4 miles of 10-15% grades that preceded this picture.
It was another couple of miles up the fireroad til we got to the Baldy Notch, where we took a break.
We then started the last 3.2 miles up Devils Backbone Trail on our way to the summit. Here's a shot looking down to the ski lift parking lot; you can see the fireroad along the top of the picture.
Some random shots looking down from the Backbone. The depth and distance is lost in the pictures.
Jason riding Devil's Backbone
Jason riding again, far up the trail as I watch. He cheated, he had a 34x28. No fair.
Jason standing in front of what we though was the summit
Easy chet
Jason and Cole hiking
Cole
Cole with myself in the background
A shot of the GPS shortly before it died
I decided that I would snap a pic of myself so that if I died, people would know I suffered.
Turns out what we thought was the summit, was not. The real summit was a mile further and about another 1k feet up. We almost turned around, but when we found out we were only 20 minutes from the top talking to some hikers coming down, we went all the way.
On the way back down we came up on a big horned sheep, which jumped up and down the shaley hillside like it was nothing. Pretty sweet.
We got down from the mountain in good time, with a little daylight to spare. At the lodge, I had the best-tasting lasagna I've ever eaten. We left the lodge at about 8pm, and rode home 45 miles in the dark, getting back to the shop at about 11pm.
I had my Garmin as well as my Powertap. Here's the data from each:
Powertap(which turned off during the hike because we were going so slow):
Avg SPeed: 13.38 mph
Distance: 143.91 miles
Time: 10:45:07
Work: 6550 kJ
Average power: 170 watts(about 200 while pedaling)
Accoring to Garmin, which died during the hike:
8:24:11
91.89mi
10.9 MPH avg
16161 feet elevation
Avg HR: 135 bpm
Total distance was probably in the 150 mile range, with about 18k feet of elevation gain. It was a long day.
Fin.
The plan was to start at Montrose Bike Shop, ride up Hwy 2, down Hwy 39 to East Fork, go up the back side of Glendora Mountain Road, across Glendora Ridge Road to Baldy Village. The we would ride up Baldy Road just shy of the ski lifts and turn off onto Mt. San Antonio Falls Road(a fireroad, and this is where the cross bikes came in). Then we would ride/hike up Devil's Backbone Trail to the summit of Mt. Baldy at 10,064 feet. Sounds fun. After that, we would descend back to Baldy Village to eat at the lodge before riding 45 miles of surface streets back to the bike shop.
We started at 6 am, there were about 20 riders who started the ride, all planning on going different distances, and peeling off at certain points of the ride.
A shot of the climb up Hwy 2:
Shot over the back climbing the 2:
After that, the camera got switched to a different mode where there was a white screen unbeknownst to me. I thought the camera had gotten some moisture in it, so picture taking stopped until we got to Mt. San Antonio Falls Road... to this point we had ridden roughtly 90 miles, with about 14k feet of climbing.
Here's Jason (left), the mastermind of this death march, and Cole, one crazy motherfvcker who brought his road bike on this dirt adventure.
Yours truly, not looking tired at all(I was fvcking dead). I had a 39x25, which was a little too big for the 4 miles of 10-15% grades that preceded this picture.
It was another couple of miles up the fireroad til we got to the Baldy Notch, where we took a break.
We then started the last 3.2 miles up Devils Backbone Trail on our way to the summit. Here's a shot looking down to the ski lift parking lot; you can see the fireroad along the top of the picture.
Some random shots looking down from the Backbone. The depth and distance is lost in the pictures.
Jason riding Devil's Backbone
Jason riding again, far up the trail as I watch. He cheated, he had a 34x28. No fair.
Jason standing in front of what we though was the summit
Easy chet
Jason and Cole hiking
Cole
Cole with myself in the background
A shot of the GPS shortly before it died
I decided that I would snap a pic of myself so that if I died, people would know I suffered.
Turns out what we thought was the summit, was not. The real summit was a mile further and about another 1k feet up. We almost turned around, but when we found out we were only 20 minutes from the top talking to some hikers coming down, we went all the way.
On the way back down we came up on a big horned sheep, which jumped up and down the shaley hillside like it was nothing. Pretty sweet.
We got down from the mountain in good time, with a little daylight to spare. At the lodge, I had the best-tasting lasagna I've ever eaten. We left the lodge at about 8pm, and rode home 45 miles in the dark, getting back to the shop at about 11pm.
I had my Garmin as well as my Powertap. Here's the data from each:
Powertap(which turned off during the hike because we were going so slow):
Avg SPeed: 13.38 mph
Distance: 143.91 miles
Time: 10:45:07
Work: 6550 kJ
Average power: 170 watts(about 200 while pedaling)
Accoring to Garmin, which died during the hike:
8:24:11
91.89mi
10.9 MPH avg
16161 feet elevation
Avg HR: 135 bpm
Total distance was probably in the 150 mile range, with about 18k feet of elevation gain. It was a long day.
Fin.
