AN ARMY OF TWO STORMS MT. BALDY. FILM AT ELEVEN...
Y'all missed out. ;D
Mas & I met at the Irwindale Arco at 10:00 am, and promptly swilled down some delicious AM-PM coffee. Well, maybe delicious is an overstatement. It was better than the coffee I had earlier. After we got our body temperatures back up near normal, we headed up San Gabriel Canyon Road. Did I mention that it was a beautiful day?
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Kept a moderate pace, as tires and bodies were cold. Road conditions were not that bad, a little dirt here, some water there, a few rocks scattered here and there.
Managed to execute a (legal) pass of a cage just prior to the appearance of a LEO coming the other way.
As we made our way up East Fork Road, the road conditions began to deteriorate. More dirt. Mud. More and Larger rocks. Larger areas of wet pavement. The air temperature was dropping as we gained altitude, and the road being on the shaded side of the mountain didn't help much either.
We turned onto Glendora Mountain Road, and continued up. Road conditions got a little worse. Temperature continued to drop. Concluded that warmer riding gear and more 'dirt-oriented' tires would have been a better plan.
Buttonhooked up onto Glendora Ridge Road, and the road was iimmediately much cleaner. We enjoyed it while we had the chance...Got up into the twisty part, and the road again went bad. The ugliness shown below is indeed a mudslide. Hmmm...add a heavier flywheel to the list.
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Made it over the top, and down the other side to Mt. Baldy Village. Greeted by a closed gate on the road. Well, it just looked closed, but it wasn't locked. Pushed it open, and cruised up to the Lodge.
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Seems the main road was closed yesterday, and the Lodge was open all day with no customers. So it was 'closed' today, until the main road was to be opened in the afternoon. The kind folks running the place were good enough to have coffee for the few locals who wandered in, as well as us flatlanders...moral of this substory, I think: We should be nice and tip generously where we stop, as it can help in the future.
Oh yeah, they had a really nice fire going too......
Suitably rewarmed, we set off back down the hill. It was a little less spooky, as we had a good idea of what the road was going to be.
On the way up, we had crossed several areas of water on the road. The one shown in the pic below felt a little funny. We looped back, closer inspection revealed that it was ice.
![]()
Rode across 15-20 feet of icy pavement, and the Duc just squirmed a tiny bit. I would have had to walk real careful to get across it. Mas suspected that the fine coating of sand and dirt on our tires made it OK. Maybe the intermittent exposed pavement was the key. Any of you cold-weather experienced riders know how that works?
The run down the twisty part of Glendora Ridge Road was a combination of clean and dirty sections. Fun, and squirrely.
This area seems to be a little beyond a 'soft shoulder':
![]()
I imagine this may turn into a big problem if we get more rain soon.
All in all, a fun, cold and challenging ride.
Y'all missed out. ;D
Mas & I met at the Irwindale Arco at 10:00 am, and promptly swilled down some delicious AM-PM coffee. Well, maybe delicious is an overstatement. It was better than the coffee I had earlier. After we got our body temperatures back up near normal, we headed up San Gabriel Canyon Road. Did I mention that it was a beautiful day?
Kept a moderate pace, as tires and bodies were cold. Road conditions were not that bad, a little dirt here, some water there, a few rocks scattered here and there.
Managed to execute a (legal) pass of a cage just prior to the appearance of a LEO coming the other way.
As we made our way up East Fork Road, the road conditions began to deteriorate. More dirt. Mud. More and Larger rocks. Larger areas of wet pavement. The air temperature was dropping as we gained altitude, and the road being on the shaded side of the mountain didn't help much either.
We turned onto Glendora Mountain Road, and continued up. Road conditions got a little worse. Temperature continued to drop. Concluded that warmer riding gear and more 'dirt-oriented' tires would have been a better plan.
Buttonhooked up onto Glendora Ridge Road, and the road was iimmediately much cleaner. We enjoyed it while we had the chance...Got up into the twisty part, and the road again went bad. The ugliness shown below is indeed a mudslide. Hmmm...add a heavier flywheel to the list.
Made it over the top, and down the other side to Mt. Baldy Village. Greeted by a closed gate on the road. Well, it just looked closed, but it wasn't locked. Pushed it open, and cruised up to the Lodge.
Seems the main road was closed yesterday, and the Lodge was open all day with no customers. So it was 'closed' today, until the main road was to be opened in the afternoon. The kind folks running the place were good enough to have coffee for the few locals who wandered in, as well as us flatlanders...moral of this substory, I think: We should be nice and tip generously where we stop, as it can help in the future.
Oh yeah, they had a really nice fire going too......
Suitably rewarmed, we set off back down the hill. It was a little less spooky, as we had a good idea of what the road was going to be.
On the way up, we had crossed several areas of water on the road. The one shown in the pic below felt a little funny. We looped back, closer inspection revealed that it was ice.
Rode across 15-20 feet of icy pavement, and the Duc just squirmed a tiny bit. I would have had to walk real careful to get across it. Mas suspected that the fine coating of sand and dirt on our tires made it OK. Maybe the intermittent exposed pavement was the key. Any of you cold-weather experienced riders know how that works?
The run down the twisty part of Glendora Ridge Road was a combination of clean and dirty sections. Fun, and squirrely.
This area seems to be a little beyond a 'soft shoulder':
I imagine this may turn into a big problem if we get more rain soon.
All in all, a fun, cold and challenging ride.
