PTC MAN Day 3. Long Beach > Seal Beach > Chantry Flats Helipad

94.8 miles, 5:54 moving time, 3,501 ft elevation, 74 Strava trophies

Day 3 of PTC MAN. Whew another doozy! On a cloudy, but not cold Memorial Day morning, the ride started at Sierra Madre. Ben, Anton, Rob, Mike, Bob, Bryan, Luis, GT, Alvin, Bill, Lynda, PeterD, Rudy, Sue and me. We rode south to Arcadia and hopped on the Upper Rio Hondo River Trail. Sue had a flat on her tubeless and headed back. At Whittier mile 13, we transitioned to the Lower Rio Hondo River Trail. It flows into the Los Angeles River trail at mile 22 and we stayed that to the end of the bike path, mile 35. We rode east through Long Beach to Seal Beach and refueled at Starbucks by the San Gabriel River Trail. Rob had a flat right before Starbucks stop. I wasn’t feeling too great at this point and not looking forward to the rest of the 90 miles. But after a chocolate croissant, a banana, a PB&J sandwich, a goo, a hot cup of coffee, and stash of Lynda’s magic pills, I felt pretty good. The San Gabriel River Trail had lots of people by this time of day. We still had nice cloud cover and possibly a slight tail wind (or just the effects of the above mentioned food). The dark and scary tunnel at mile 61 wasn’t dark anymore, they added 5 floodlights since the last time I did this ride a couple years ago. We hit Whittier again and took the rest of the SGRT north to Sante Fe Dam. Mike had shoe and tube issues there at mile 71. We rode across the dam and up to 7-11, around the corner from Encanto Park. We refueled and headed back toward the usual end in Sierra Madre. However, for PTCMAN Day 3, we went up Santa Anita to Chantry Flats at mile 84. Santa Anita is 10-12% gasp!. Once we hit the gate to start Chantry Flats, it’s 6-9% for about 3 miles. There were tons of cars and hikers. It was very crowded and crazy on the road. On the way up, we saw the fast guys coming down. Ben, Peter, Bryan, Anton, Alvin. We regrouped at the base of the Trail to the Helipad, mile 88. A short asphalt road to the Helipad and we celebrated the End of PTCMAN!

Rudy and Luis in Long Beach

Rob in Seal Beach