Monday's ride was a cautionary tale that was right at the edge of my physical limits, though it was only a mile longer than my last ride with another 400 feet of vertical. It's probably useful to note the mistakes I made:
1) I was rushed. Screwed around too long trying to mount a GoPro camera, so I left at 5:23 instead of my drop-dead no-go time (ha!) of 4:45. This caused two problems: I didn't take enough stops to rest, and I wound up being on the mountain too late-- the real problem turned out to be cold, not losing the light. It was probably around 50 degrees at the top and I wasn't dressed for it.
2) I didn't hydrate properly and drank a cup of coffee before leaving-- fine for moderate to heavy exertion, but this was more than that, at least for me.
Only a few pictures this time-- I'll only include views I didn't post before! It WAS beautiful, and satisfying, to get to the top of the ridge and see the view into La Canada Flintridge on the other side, even if I didn't quite make the summit of Mt. Verdugo. I did have some distracting stomach cramps at the ridge top, which I probably could have avoided with more water, and more or longer stops to rest.
I did run into a pack of 60-70 year olds, mostly riding high-end Treks. One guy was very nice, but the others were-- meh, not unfriendly, but not welcoming, either. (You guys are a lot cooler.) I told them I'd ridden there from East Hollywood, and I'm not sure they believed me. (They had come up the La Canada / Sunland side of the mountain, which is rated intermediate, while the route I take, Brand Park Motorway, is intermediate / advanced.) I did meet one REALLY friendly guy on the way down, 52-year old on an acoustic bike on his way up, in fantastic shape-- had a great talk about riding, health, and the meaning of life. I guess the cramps weren't that bad or I wouldn't have hung out with him for 10 minutes or whatever. I was only stationary for 32 minutes-- probably only half what I needed for a climb like this with the Moto.
I think the Elph 100 takes better pictures at 12 MP than the Sony W800 does at 20 MP, I didn't use any processing for these-- they're not great, but good enough. As you can see in the last two shots, the clouds were coming in fast; I was tired, only time for a few pictures. I started my descent at 7:32 and sunset was about 8:04 PM, so again, I was rushed, stressed = not good. It was actually tiring going down, and I went much faster than last time-- still slow by MTB standards, just fast for me, cool to be out of the saddle and let the bike float more because I knew the trail. But I was cold, my triceps, neck, and back were really feeling it, and the flat light made it harder to read the surface. It's really not that difficult, but my concentration was not what it should have been, and it only takes one patch of sand or a sharp rock to dump it, and in some spots, that could have meant going over the side into very rugged terrain with almost no one else on the mountain. Earlier start next time!
Total Time: 3:27
Moving Time: 2:55
Calculated Average Grade of 3.7 mile final climb: 9.4%
(Strava Stats below)
The signs at the summit are very helpful... or probably were 20 years ago... This is the view North, towards La Canada, with the San Gabriels shrouded in clouds.
And here's a nice view of the trail that runs along the ridge looking south east, towards the KROQ transmitting tower and Mt. Thom. I think I can take that route and descend via the Firebreak trail, but I may try going up it first to be safe, because I know I can descend Brand Park Motorway with no problem.
Then this is looking along the same ridge to the Northwest, the trail on the left goes back down Brand Park Motorway and the trail on the right leads to Verdugo Mountain. I'm pretty sure I can get there-- but it will be near the limit of my range! I actually have an emergency refueling plan for the return trip if needed; I would have my wife meet me at a brewery in Atwater for dinner and bring the charger!
! Drops were just beginning to fall as we got to our patio, and just after we got the bikes in the shed and popped in our back door, the skies opened up and the thunder started cracking! It's really coming down now!
