July 13, 2011 Baldy Village with Lauretta, Doug, and Fred

Looking back up GRR

Out GRR with Iron Mtn. behind

The bike out at the Post Office in Baldy Village

Lauretta, Fred, and Doug at the shack.

Clouds on early part of ride dept it cool out.

Seeing how I am so totally out of shape, the only logical ride to do was head out to the Village for the first time this year. Fred had arraigned a ride with a few friends of his, Lauretta and Doug, so I tried to tag along. As is usual for me, I was the last one in on most of the ride, but that bothers me not. Someone has to be last, and at least I don't have to wait on people. Started out in clouds which kept it nice and cool up to the shack. At that point, they began to break up some, which lead to almost a perfect day weather wise. Sunny and warm, but not too hot. After finally getting to the Village, Lauretta and Doug took off to try the lifts. As hard as they could, there was no way Fred was being talked into giving it a go. Good thing for him as it turned out, as the 2 turned back not far above Ice House Canyon, leaving the lifts for another day. Fred and I hung out at the Post Office for a while, running into a Baldy and GMR/GRR local, Ray Clone. I had met him a few times up on the road, a very nice and interesting guy. Had his killer dog along with him on his trip to pick up the mail. He told us the funny story about the dog chasing a bear up a tree with its mighty bark. After talking with Ray, we went up to the park just above the P. O. and hung there for a while before heading down. Fred thought he saw Doug go by on their way down, so we stopped in at the Lodge and found him and Lauretta getting something to eat. Since nether Fred or I were hungry, we headed back down the road, taking out time to enjoy the views and the day in general. Great ride and great time, even though it did kick my out of shape butt.

May 20-21, 2011 Stage 7 of the Tour of California

The best view in the house.

Friday nights accommodations

Matt and Chuck chatting it up.

Matt with GRR/Baldy behind.

Annette and friends heading out GRR to find
Matt before the race gets there.

George Hincappie and friends coming off of

Cow Canyon Saddle.

And here come the rest of the riders down from

Cow Canyon Saddle.

I really would like to know why the rider on the

right has such a big smile on his face.

Chris Hoerner, eventual winner of the T of C ,

is the ninth rider back, in yellow, in this shot.

After months of waiting to see how the pros would do on our favorite ride in the local mountains,Stage 7 of the Tour of California finally arrived. Chuck and I headed up GMR on Friday afternoon, and were shocked to see absolutely no one else up there to spend the night before the race. That was fine with us actually, it is always nicer when having the mountains to oneself. Jim did make it up to spend the night also, getting there sometime before 7 PM. After cocktails and BBQ burgers, we settled in for a nice night of just enjoying being up there, at about the 3500 foot elevation. It wasn't cold, but cool enough to have jackets on. Chuck had brought his portable fire pit along, so we burned the wood I had bought last year when we were up the Crest for the Tof C stage heading out to Big Bear. Except for the very occasional car going by, we had the mountain to ourselves until the local Rickey Racer teenagers from Glendora came flying by around 1:30 AM or there abouts.

Race day dawned bright and early, so I jumped on the bike and headed back out to the top of GMR to see where the KOM checkpoint was. Once again I was surprised to see fewer people than I was expecting to be there, but it still was way early for the crowds to be showing up. So I hung out there for a little while, checking out peoples bikes and just taking it in, the being part of a pro bike race and all. Headed back out to our site after a while, knowing that Jim was having to leave at an early time to take care of other obligations. He had said he was just coming up to spend the night and wouldn't be able to stay for the race. By the time he headed down, there were more and more cars, bikes, and tons of people starting to show up. I would guess to say there were double or triple the amount of people making the trek up GMR/GRR on bikes as there were in cars. The parade of riders that constantly was passing us was very impressive. Mostly groups of 2,3, or 4 riders, but every now and then a large club ride would go by. Time before the race riders went by was passed taking pictures, drinking an occasional beer, and just hanging out having a good time. Once it got past noon and we knew the race had left Claremont, we got ready to see them coming down from Cow Canyon Saddle. Somewhere around 12:45 to 1 PM, the official cars from the race started coming by and we knew the riders were getting close. At the speed these guys are racing, when the finally did arrive, we didn't see them for more than a few seconds before they were long gone. The lead break had 7 or 8 riders if I remember right, and the peloton was not that far behind. These guys are so incredible at making it all look so sooooo easy, but having ridden that road so many times, I know different. After watching all the riders and team cars head down towards the GMR/GRR split and the East Fork, we knew we had at least an hour if not more before they made the swing back past us and out to the ski lifts and the finish line.

By the time they reached us coming back up the hill, the lead break was about the same size as before, but the main peloton had lessened in size, along with the group behind it. All the climbing from Glendora back up the hill had taken it toll, and things were stretching out some. I was lucky to get a few good shots of the peloton going by us from up on the concrete water tower that was across the road from the motor home. This time by us, took longer for all of them. The climbing was taking its toll and they still had the hardest part ahead of them above the village. After the riders and all the team cars were past us, the sweep vehicles came by and we knew the race was over for as far as we were concerned. What an event. pro racing on GMR, who would have thunk it. After following Chuck down the mountain, we went different directions on Sierra Madre, him heading home, myself out to get some pizza. All that racing made me hungry, even if I was only watching it and not participating in it. What a great time.