The Baldy 80

"i'm so freaking glad we're here.

...

i'm so freaking glad we're here.

...

i'm so freaking glad we're here."


that brief prayer seemed to be the only noise that pierced through the mountain night. after riding up hill for an hour and forty minutes, over a distance that would normally take 30, those six words were really all that could be said.

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the baldy 80, it shall be forever called, as aaron and les pumped their glutes, hams and quads up a seven mile incline at the tail end of their first overnight-night ride that began at 10 pm on thursday, october 25th.

starting off at the green home, carl (green) flashed some photos, prayed for our well being and shipped us off with our gear loaded on our steeds.

as with most rides, the first 5 miles were annoying, as our muscles warmed up and whined at us for not getting a good stretch. so we stopped and satisfied our needs and pressed on.

20 miles later, we stopped for our official break-before-the-climb, took a few cool night pictures and determined that worst case scenario, we would stop a total of four times during the hill, in increments of 15 minutes each.

well, climbing the hill was worst case scenario. or possibly three notches beneath the worst case. it was downright exhausting, traveling an average of 4 miles an hour.

it was an exhaustion that we likened to having to stay awake for a long period of time. the intensity of the climb remained consistent...but it simply did not end. we pushed our muscles to temporary failure, again and again (like in weight lifting). when we stopped, we were hardly out of breath, but our legs would just not produce any more revolutions.

many a time, as we passed turn out after turn out, the thought came across our mind...let's just sleep here for the night...no one will ever know...we can just get to the village in the morning. but we knew we could not verbalize such an intense desire, because the other climber would have taken him up on such an offer.

no. we had to make it all the way. if we broke this commitment to ourselves, how would we ever expect to get to new york in july?

then, there was a sign: mt. baldy village church, with a life changing subtitle "you are always welcome." 1/2 mile away. can you say, "praise Jesus" for establishing the church!

it did not matter to us what the nice parish people intended by their evangelical signage. we were going to hold them to the letter of their advertisement and sleep at their building.

1/2 mile! we could not believe it. this climb, aaron and les agreed, had been one of the hardest mental exercises we had experienced and succeeded in.

so, a half mile later, after much rejoicing, prayer and photos, we laid out our tarp, mats and sleeping bag (thank you tommy kirven), ate a bunch of pb&j sandwiches to replace what had been depleted beyond understanding, read some 1 john in greek, and thanked God for being so marvelous.

...

i'm so freaking glad we're here.

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the next day, we woke up, met bob, who graciously allowed us to use the church's restroom, packed up and began our descent.

the 20 mile stretch of closed off mountain road was absolutely remarkable. high downhill speeds, annoying inclines, banked curves...the climb had been worth it.

we stopped at a jack in the box to carb up and met a delightful former cyclist who was 85 years old and as lively as could be, telling us of his days a-top the steel steed.

to get home, we travelled down azusa blvd, accidentally climbed a hill that did not cross over to the other side, and climbed up fullerton rd, which left us at the top of harbor, for a final, thrilling descent.

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we learned much through this trip and are becoming more acclimated to our training.

the threat of the 'rockies' is even more prevalent, but will be no match to those that conquered mount baldy.