Finally got back to the Verdugos-- probably my only chance before the fall, too hot for the long ride!
My plan for this ride was more modest: Still doing PT for the shoulder, not quite in shape for the big 32-mile, 4,300 ft run all the way to Mt. Verdugo, so I went for a more modest 26.5 mile, 2,700 ft. climb to check and see what the bottom of Los Flores was like in preparation for a much longer ride this fall or winter: I want to take this route to enter the park, instead of entering from Brand Park, and ride most of the spine of the Verdugos north-- to Verdugo Peak and way past it, to the edge of Sun Valley. That part of the ridge should be mostly flat, maybe a very gentle 800 feet that I can easily do in ECO (I've done some of it already) or even with the motor off to conserve battery. I will descend on Brand Park Motorway, the route I took last year.
The results of this run were encouraging -- I liked what I was seeing in terms of how much battery it took me to get there (two bars and change out of five), and most of the run back is easy-- tooling along in eco or off, rolling 13-18 MPH without working too hard, Seeker is just sipping electrons. If I'm successful, I should get to some really nice views, and have a hell of a workout, with a total of about 5,000 feet of elevation in about 40 miles or so. Not bad for a $2,500 bike with a 418 Wh battery!
This run also took me further east than I'd gone previously, and covered more acreage. Took SEVERAL wrong turns getting to the gate, but I do NOT have to lift the bike over, which is outstanding! (MTB project said I would have to.) So I got to the gate well after sunset, but flipped on the lights and rode in a mile or so just to get a couple of landscape night city shots. The sunset photo is looking towards the backside of the Hollywood hills, the other is of downtown, terrible quality, of course, as always!
!
).
