A Winter Respite

It's been a while since I've written, but I have been keeping busy on the bike.  This last weekend was my third in a row of traveling; I am very ready to be home again.   It has also been bitter cold here.  After the last ice storm left 3" of shiny, slippery ice on our driveway and sidewalks, the arctic air moved in and set up camp.   I finally got fed up with the indoor trainer and tried to go outside on Thursday evening for hill repeats on my cross bike.  It was 8 deg without the windchill.  Despite wearing my warmest gear, I was back inside within 30 minutes with frozen fingers.   It is just too nasty and I was very dejected.  

My latest business travel took me to Claremont, CA for a writing workshop.  I think this is the only warm place in the whole country at the moment.   Florida barely nipped above 50, Atlanta was about the same, but Claremont featured azure blue skies and sun drenched temps in the upper 70s and lower 80s.  Ah, warmth!  I had 3 hours to kill so I found a bike shop that rented me a set of wheels and headed out on a nice new Trek Madone.   The only bummer was that I had running shoes on, so I asked them to lever a set of flats on the bike.   But I did pack my jersey and shorts, so I was set to go.

On the edge of town, a large range of mountains looms in the distance.   The standout peak is Mt Baldy which is featured as the decisive climbing stage in this year's Tour of California.  The climb up to the ski resort at the top is about 12 miles at an average of 8% with a 5000 foot elevation gain.  It was a monster climb.   Good thing I didn't really know anything about it at the time, I was blissfully unaware of what lie ahead.  

I think it took me about 30 minutes or so to reach the set of tunnels.  The average grade on this first part is relatively tame, about 5% to 7% with a few punchy rises.   After the tunnel, it noticeably kicks up to about 9%.   It took me about an hour of climbing to reach Mt Baldy Village.  I expected this to be the summit but it was clear the road went up quite a bit more.   I was now above 4000' and the temps were dropping fast.  The sun was starting to move lower and hence more of the roadway was left in chilly shadows.  I was also watching my clock as I had to be in a suit and tie at a formal dinner within 2 hours. I climbed a bit further past the village until I found a hiker on the side of the road and inquired about how far the summit lay ahead.  He indicated that it was still a bit further up, so I made the strategic decision to turn around after about 90min of ascent.   

The descent was a hoot.  The road is not too technical ( I think the real switch backs were just up ahead of my turn around point) and good speeds can be obtained in a hurry.  I didn't have a speedo on my bike and my comfort level was a bit down not being on my own bike and also not having my feet clipped securely in.   So I didn't test the limits.   Still I can guess that I averaged around 30mph and probably hit 50 at some point.  It took me only 18 minutes to lose all that elevation.  I was very chilled at the bottom.   

I am very glad I hustled over to that bike shop.  It was a tad expensive for a 2.5 hour diversion, but now I've been on Mt Baldy and I rode in shorts/jersey and warm sunshine for the first time in over two months.  I returned home to 45 degree temps; we haven't seen that kind of weather since November.  Looks like I can finally get out and log miles soon!