- Riders: Hector, Ron, Scott, Tim- Distance: 12 miles
- Weather: pleasantly cool and sunny
- Temp: low 70's (note that "70's" is "pleasantly cool" in CA)
- Hills: 6+ miles to around 3000 feet
- Notes:
From Tim....
So, the west coast crew hooked up for another epic ride on Sunday. Hector, once again, had this great idea to go ride Gridley trail in Ojai, CA. Gridley can be a little tricky. Its typically either smoking hot, or cold. The last time I rode it, we had to negotiate snow the final 1/2 mile. Well, thankfully, it was a tweener -> pleasantly cool (low 70's) and sunny. That's the good part. Did I mention that Gridley is an uphill slog. Six plus miles of an incline that turns into a suffer-fest @ mile 4 due to an increased grade and decreased traction. Its gotta be around 3000 feet of climbing. I think we all felt small when 3 hard core downhill guys passed us on the way up - on their downhill bikes, w/ all their body armor on their backs. Totally demoralizing! Yours truly consumed a fair number of gel bits and GU to keep the ole motor stoked and just let Hector and Ron pass me by. Well, most of us made it to the top...some folks in better shape (Ron, Hector) than others (me) and Scott (1/2 mile from top). Now for the good part. Gridley is technical, but not requiring of body armor or downhill bikes. The turns are also banked to a degree so one can really rail the descent. After 2 plus hrs of climbing, its sad that the descent is over in about 15 minutes...but it's one sweet time. Points to Scott for not giving up as this was easily the hardest ride he's done to date. Points to Hector for getting the weather right. Major points to Ron for having ice cold "Fat Tire Amber Ales" in the cooler for post-ride carb replen. You'll find our ride profile, GPS and whatever other technical wizardry resides on Ron's i-phone below. I'm dragging a bit today...
Tim... thanks for providing me another vicarious ride!
Happy Trails,
OMMB
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