As a San Diego local is it worth the 2 hour traffic ridden drive up to LA to bike Mt. Baldy? I’ve never ridden Mt. Baldy, only Palomar, just wanted to know if it’s worth the drive or if Palomar a pretty close comparison Minus the added 3 thousand feet ?
why not bike to there?
any time i ride the GMR my lungs kill from the smog, so I would say no.
Here’s what you do. Ride Palomar, but augment the mountain. Ride up for 15 min. and then down for 5 min. or if you like distance, up 2.5 mi., then down 1mi. It seems crazy, but aren’t we all. It’s like intervals and you’ll eventually climb about the same distance and not waste a bunch of time driving. I may try that myself being a SD resident.
If you are just doing it for fitness, no. For the experience, maybe.
First off, Mt Baldy is an okay climb, I prefer GMR (which is right next door) and I enjoy both but neither are too scenic. Palomar is a much nicer ride, but it is worth doing to the climb at least once since there are some views. The drive to Mt. Baldy isn’t bad at all since you can take the 15 almost all the way up there, then jump on the 210 east.
Are you choosing only the smoggy days?
Define close comparison. Palomar and gmr are close. Palomar and and baldy aren’t. The final few miles up to the lifts are really, really steep–I’ve melted two sets of carbon rims coming down from baldy in the last couple of years–not a concern on palomar.
A ride worth a 2 hour drive? Crystal lake, and if you really want to be ambitious, cloudburst summit. Quite simply the best climbing ride in SoCal, and the closest we have to the Rockies/sierras.
clouburst is a nice ride–33 miles from Foothill Blvd, 1300’ to nearly 7000’. (The sign says 7100’, but my Polar consistently says 6700-6900 feet.)
About 5 miles of that is downhill, the longest of which is 2 miles. That one always has a warm headwind on the return to Red Box (Mount Wilson Road.)
BTW, the climb to Wilson is a nice ride, too and quite a bit shorter-- little over 14mi from Foothill.
you need this.
Funny! It says 3 new from $16 and 3 used from $17.06.
Best climb in SoCal (or at least one that starts about 5 miles from my door):
Hwy 39 to Crystal Lake, keep going around the gate to Hwy 2/Angeles Crest. This is about a 5-6 mile section that’s been closed for about 20-25yrs. Left on Hwy 2, up to Cloudburst, descend to Newcombs Ranch. Have a coke and basket of fries. Flip it and return to your car. Like Mike said, above Crystal Lake it’s the closest you’ll get to Rocky Mtn type climbs in SoCal. Very scenic and very little traffic. Bring a lot of water. There’s a spring/stream you can refill bottles at right around where the 4k sign would be (there isn’t one) on 39. We call it Critter Creek, been drinking there for years with no issues.
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If you do Baldy and start/finish in Claremont, there’s a great bakery in the village there as a reward! Not sure if it’s worth a 2 hour drive though.
Now we’re talkin !!