44.36 miles, 4,813 ft elevation gain, 4:36 moving time

Michael B., Gregg D., Gregg M., Rob, Philip, Sue, Joe, Lynda, Ryan, Gary, Daniel, Brennan, Paul.

On a windy Winer Morning, the club met at Sierra Madre. Since the night winds tore through the Southland and downed trees and power lines, the ride to Encanto Park was detoured and a few minutes late. I joined up in Encanto, trying to save my legs for the climb. There were tremendous winds from Encanto to Glendora Mountain Road. The switchbacks were hiding the winds and then blasting the winds. Sometimes cold blasts, and sometimes sandpaper blasts with dirt and grit. I was riding with Michael B, who got a flat close to the top of GMR. We connected with Daniel. There was some discussion on how far toward Mt. Baldy we would get. There was downed tree in the road, and we took it as a sign of things to come. We rode on until 12:00 and 4,000 ft of climbing, and we flipped it to head down the mountain. The rest of the club rode on to Mt. Baldy and the SKI LIFTS. Well Done. They clocked 80 miles and 8000 feet of climbing. Yowzers!

Riding back down was an amazing site. Along the ridge, you were flying along the top of the world. We could see for days. We could see Catalina Island and all the Southland. The high gusty winds made the descent particularly wild. Through the hairpin turns of GMR, the winds were swirling from back to front, from side to side, really pushing you around. There were also tons of rock strewn across the road. All of which were sharp enough to cause problems. It was a very wind too. I went through all my water. and my eyes were dried out too. All in all, It was a long full day of climbing in new conditions.