Who Needs Gears?

Wednesdy. The decision is made. Me + Lee Bird. MTB. Saturday. Early. Epic.

Come Thursday I'm seeing a whole lot of this:

Now, I've lived in Pasadena most of my life... so one would assume that i've acclimated to the *ahem* warm summer temperatures. But still, come on, folks - 104° is freakin' hot! Especially when a many-hour MTB ride is in the works.

Friday. Doubts. Fear of dehydration and possible death. 109° forecast?!

Friday night. Commited. Braving the heat. Oh, but wait...

Somehow, in the midst of a heat-induced delirium, i decided that not only would i absolutely take part in this scorching hot grinder - but that I WOULD DO IT ON MY SINGLESPEED!

Sure, what the hell. There's only about 2 hours of non-stop climbing from the getgo. It'll be a breeze.

6:00AM. On the road. Second thoughts. Too late now.

The route (for those of you hip to the Angeles Forest) was as follows:

Up Lower Sam Merill
Continuing up Mt. Lowe Toll Road to Redbox Road
Descend Valley Forge Trail
Climb truck trail to Redbox and Angeles Crest
Descend Redbox Trail
Climb to Angeles Crest
Descend into Lower Arroyo from ACH
Exit Arroyo and home.

Making that last chug up the brutal switchbacks from Redbox, all i had to keep me going was a friendly reminder from the folks at NINER...

Easy for you to say!

4 hours, 5500' of vertical climbing, 2 cliff bars, 3 gel shots, and 4 water bottles later i returned to the 'ol homestead. Cold beverages and salty snacks welcomed with open arms.

Ouch.

Now it's off to the pool...