The Mt Gleason loop

No organized ride near Los Angeles last saturday (probably too hot), so Christophe and I decided to ride again our loop around Mt Gleason. Starting from Caltech, this would do about 100 miles, maybe more, maybe less, with plenty of mountains. Actually, crossing the mountains was a bad idea, it was much hotter close to the 14 freeway than in Pasadena. No tree to offer a protection from the sun, the air was so hot it felt like waves of heat beating us. Finally, the loop included 118 miles (almost 200km !) and 12,500ft of climbing. Due to the extreme heat, it took us more than 13 hours to complete the ride !

I highly recommend the Tom Harrison maps	6am, it's getting brighter outside.	After a few hours, left on Big Tujunga	Christophe gets rid of the sweat in his helmet
Dead and alive trees	Mile 35, right on the Angeles Forest	This stretch to Mill creek is really difficult.	We're the only insane cyclists at Mill creek.
We go up Gleason until the paved road ends	A huge downhill is waiting for us...	... but this will be after lunch.	Turkey sandwich for Christophe
Dried bananas for the desert. Yum !	Down down down to Aliso canyon.	It's so hot we don't even rest on the downhill	Thousand Trails, a town in the desert
A fire truck, maybe we could ask for water	Left on crown valley road	We ask for water at a private campground	3pm, 105F...
We reach the 14 freeway.	An oasis ! In Santa Clarita	Christophe repairs a flat while I eat fries	At Bear Divide vista
Last difficult hill on Little Tujunga canyon road.