The Coldest Day Ever...

This one is quite a bit overdue, but I finally thawed out enough to write the post. Last week Steve and I decided that we would bust the ride up to Mount Wilson from my pad. Unfortunately, it was raining the day he decided to come up. We though it was cool at first but we learned our lesson later on in the ride.

The ride starts at my place in Silverlake and follows a route that takes you up Angeles Crest to Mount Wilson road and to the summit... which is more of a road that passes by several radio towers. The ride is about 31 miles to the summit from my house and climbs from and elevation of just 345ft to 5,750ft. Needless to say we had a lot of climbing in store for us this day.

We set up in a light drizzle... the heavy rain had stopped coming down an hour before we took off. However, we didn't really make a plan for heavy rain and cold so we only took some lightweight vests for the decent down from Mount Wilson... THIS WOULD LATER BECOME A BIG MISTAKE. The first 12 miles was a nice and wet gradual ascent to the start of the Angeles Crest climb. Although you are climbing the whole way up to Angeles Crest it is mostly through the city so really is more of a non-issue. When you arrive at the foot of Angeles Crest, you have about 22 miles of climbing at an average grade of about 6.5%.

After the initial slog up through La Canada and past the country club you get in to full blown mountain road. It is absolutely gorgeous, and if you're unemployed and can catch this climb on a nice rainy weekday... it is completely dead quiet. We barely saw any traffic on the way up... then from a far we saw several emergency lights. As we got closer we came up on a few blocked cars. The road way was shut down due to a pretty horrific looking accident. The emergency crew let us continue thorough. We had to be careful though as there was still a lot of glass in the roadway, and they we still trying to rescue someone from their destroyed SUV. On a serious note, my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims... I hope they are well.

After we passed the accident site, Steve and I kept climbing until he brought to my attention a very exciting detail. We had a road closure behind us, and a very serious one at that. So there we were on a rainy overcast afternoon and Angeles Crest was completely closed down. It was amazing to have a a mountain road like that all to ourselves... it felt like a break away group in a professional stage race. In fact we had the open road all the way to the junction with Angeles Forest road, where you get a slight decent before you make the final climb up to Mount Wilson road. We took a quick snack break here, and photo opp.

Here is where the climbing started to get steeper, and much much colder. Like super cold. The weather had completely disintegrated by the time we reached Mount Wilson road. The fog was thick enough to reduce visibility to about 25 to 50 yards, and the road side was still holding a couple feet of snow. At this point Steve and I decided to take it at our own pace as we were both very miserable. It had started to rain harder and the temp had dropped significantly. The climb is not all that difficult given good conditions... it is more of a traverse with sections of 7% to 8%. At the top of the climb the road opens up to what is usually a beautiful view of the Los Angeles basin. On this day all that happened is exposure the wind blowing up the mountain. It sent a deep cold into me like no other... of course it didn't help that I was sopping wet and sleet was coming down quite hard. Well... I never quite recovered.

THE DESCENT

I sat at the top for about a couple minutes and decided that Steve wouldn't really care about finishing off the climb. I came down and met up with Steve. As we started the descent down the road was sopping wet. It was the coldest I have ever been on a bike. I tried to stay with Steve but by the time we reached the bottom of Mount Wilson, I couldn't hang anymore. I had gotten so cold that I could no longer keep up with him. He dropped me as I pulled off to the side of the road in an attempt to warm up. I had gotten so cold that I could no longer hold that handle bars with out shaking furiously. I had never been in so much pain from the cold... my hands felt burned, and no matter what I did I could not ride with out shaking uncontrollably. I was going down Angeles Crest solo, descending at a speed of about 15 MPH, instead of the usual 40 MPH. It was quite embarrassing and painful at the same time. In short, it was SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER COLD.

THE ACCIDENT

We reconvened down at the bottom of the Crest... frozen solid... and hungry. We were so wiped that all we could do is think about La Cabanita... an AMAZING Mexican joint on the route home. So we headed straight for grub. All of a sudden... about a mile away from La Cab... a woman in a GIANT FORD F-150 made right, right in front of us and laid us straight out. With no signal at all she up and decided to run right into us. Steve smashed face first into the rear view mirror and went down right in front of me... and I came toppling after. Of course we freaked out on her, screaming at the top of our lungs. We flagged down the cops, as she hit us with a cop driving right in front of her. She claimed that she didn't see us. All she could say was that she was sorry. After we chilled out we apologized for yelling but we can't have her being that reckless... especially with such a large truck. When the police arrived she then stated to them that she did see us and that she hadn't realized we were then next to her. Unlike other vehicles, bicycles remain stationary.. so if you see one behind you then feel free to turn willy nilly, as it is very unlikely the bicycle rider would have moved from where you last saw him.

Luckily we were OK... the bikes we a bit jacked up... Steve's more than mine.

So who is it that hit us??? I do this because I only feel that it is right... this woman blatantly saw us and just crashed into us. Be careful of this big black truck...

Lynn Ann Bershtel

LIC# 8P28432
2008 Ford F150 - Black

Well, after we got outta there with our bikes pretty jacked... we headed straight to La Cabanita, it was still raining. We hit the door and it was completely empty... so perfect. We sucked down 4 cups of coffee instantly and grubbed the best plate they have in the house. ENCHILADAS DE MOLE... they are beyond words good. This place is a must go... definitely worth a drive just for dinner. Great prices and the tortilla chips are fresh baked. It was the perfect recovery meal and made the last 10 miles back to the pad in the rain a lot more bearable.

Final Thoughts...

LONG, HARD, FUN AND 9,500FT OF CLIMBING..

This really is an amazing loop... you really have to train well to make sure you don't pop to early. The views you get on a clear day makes it all worth it... it is a long sustained climb and you get a lot of elevation. This loop is pretty much nothing but climbing, it's a great training ride to get the climbing legs under you, and the plus is a really great descent.

Here is the loop info again - MOUNT WILSON