| Quick Stats Ride Distance: 81 miles Elevation Gain: 7,267 feet Average Moving Speed: 12.7 mph |
Started out with an immediate wrong turn which tacked on a mile and a half. We went back to investigate and saw the pavement marking they were using. It was quite different from any of the pavement markings we'd seen on any previous organized rides (and we've done a few), mostly because it was located in the center of the road instead of the right side. Now armed with the information we needed it was easy to follow the route from then on.
Immediately out of Glendale we saw two wild turkeys. Hens, not toms. Or at least I presume the females are called hens as I've never really been around wild turkeys before, and they did not introduce themselves.
Low Traffic
Very few cars. For quite some time into the ride we saw more wild turkeys than cars. Eventually that changed, but I would guess the total number of vehicles that passed us in our lane could be counted on both hands. For the whole ride. This was easily the best thing about this ride. No traffic.
RIDE DATA: |
Steep Climb
You can see on the profile there is one big nasty climb. It is 5 miles of pure torturous pleasure! When I look at the data it shows almost 2,400 feet of elevation gain in that 5 miles. That is an average slope of over 9 percent. However, when riding it you don't ride "the average slope". Much of the climb is at 10-12% grade (with stretches up to 15%) and apparently there are stretches at lower slope to bring the average down to 9 percent. I recall very little of this climb in the 9% or less gradient range. In fact, I cracked a joke something like "I never thought 9% would seem so flat", and a fellow climber we passed on the way up repeated this very joke at the next rest stop.
There was plenty of joke cracking along this steep grade. Stuff like "I'm sure there's a flat spot just ahead" or actual climbing jokes like "I forgot to bring my crampons" or "good thing we're belay certified!". These jokes sound kind of silly as you read them now. But when you are huffing and puffing up a steep hill they seem ridiculously funny. So much so that we had to stop telling them because laughing made climbing too difficult. Slow down much and you tip over! This is when humor becomes dangerous.
Nasty Road
Much of the road on this route was single lane forest service road (or BLM or whoever owns it) with a very rough chipseal surface. And quite a bit of gravel strewn about in numerous places. Of course going up this isn't so bad, especially up the extremely steep section, as you are only going 5 or 6 mph. However, once it is flat gradient or on the downhill sections the roughness of the road surface really jars you to the bone. It was so bad it basically ruined the ride for us. The web site does mention this, but you don't really know how bad it is until you ride it. This is some nasty road!
To Rain or Not To Rain?
The weather stayed cool most of the day. Looking back on it this was probably a very good thing, what with all the climbing. Climbing in the heat is really no fun. The downside to the coolness though is having to put on something warm for descending. We kept taking on/off clothing layers throughout the day.
It started misting at the top, at the Arrasta saddle rest stop. We decided to go on, though I was hesitant. Going down meant having to come back up. And what if the rain got worse? The folks at the rest stop said the climb on the Powers side of Arrasta saddle wasn't as bad as the one we just did. And of course Amy, being the mountain goat of the family, was probably wondering what my hesitation was all about. So we went on.
Mist was changing into rain so after about 3 miles we stopped under a tree for another evaluation. The road had transitioned into a wonderfully smooth pavement surface and while we were deciding it basically stopped raining so the obvious choice was to keep going on this awesome road.
The scenery was better over here. Or it could have been the smooth road making everything better.
We got to the next rest stop and I could feel the toll the huge climb had taken on my legs. And we still had to climb back up. We decided to turn around.
Climbing back up was tough. For me. Amy rode on ahead to catch a couple guys that had passed us while I stopped for yet another back stretch. She caught and passed them. I even eventually caught and passed them. They had ridden from Powers, so this was their one big climb for the day. It wasn't even our hardest climb!
My back kept seizing up on the steep climbs. I'm not sure why this is happening, but stretching it out solved the problem every time. Hopefully this issue goes away with more training. I do not want to be stopping all the time when we ride Shasta in August.
Descending the 5-mile steep section was uber nasty due to the bad road. You basically had to ride the brakes the whole way down because of the curves, the roughness of the road and the gravel and debris. And of course the steepness.
Amy got a flat on this steep descent. It was on her front tire and she was able to stop fairly quickly due to already braking. It was again a gouge in the side of the tire wall, very similar to two weeks ago, but this time it was a bigger gouge. My tyvek boot held for the final twenty miles. Again. I took a photo of the patch job when we got home, which you can see in the batch of photos here.
| PHOTOS (IN FLASH PLAYER): |
If they ever decide to pave the chip seal road this would be an excellent ride. Otherwise, we certainly won't be doing it again.
Oh, almost forgot the best part of the ride: Food! The lasagna and blackberry cobbler afterward was scrumptious! And the homemade "Monster Cookies" served at most of the rest stops were to die for!
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