From Clouds to Cacti: Three Southern California Ranges in Three Days – John Watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

From Clouds to Cacti: Three Southern California Ranges in Three Days
Photos by John Watson, words by David Bangor with notes by John Watson

Intro: I’ll just jump into this before I let David do his thing. The idea of a multi-day road tour hasn’t popped into my head in years. These days, I want to be away from cars and people, on dirt roads, hauling my own shit. What was proposed to us with this ride was very different. We’d be taking on a lot of climbing and distance each day on road bikes but because we’d be in the mountains, we’d have to carry our food, clothing in case of inclement weather, and all necessities like tools or spare tubes. Our duffel bags, containing clothes, laptops and other on-the-road necessities would be shuttled from day’s end to day’s end. We’d stay at a hotel, a friend’s mountain top cabin, and ultimately in Palm Springs at our friend’s Air B&B listing for a few days of post-ride R and R. I have been riding road a lot lately, mostly because it’s easy to get out and get back in a few hours, but was I ready for this kind of ride? Much less, was I fit enough to document the whole damn thing with a camera and a few lenses? Check back in after David’s words and read on in the captions…

Ever since I moved back to Southern California, I have been scheming to take on a mini mountainous ride across all the Transverse Ranges of the glorious classical terrain encompassing the Los Angeles and Inland Empire basins. With all my maps and possible routes planned out, it was just a matter time until I found some like-minded people to take on such a journey. Finally, at the end of September I got a call from Sean Talkington from Team Dream, expressing a need for the exact route I had been planning out in my head for months. He put out the word and we soon had rough plan of three days in the saddle and a solid group of eight cyclists, all willing to take on a solid amount of elevation and miles.

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With maps of the terrain, possible routes in my head, and the key points of interests in Sean’s head, we settled on a manageable ride that would be challenging but not a complete death march. Specifically our route would lead us eastward through the monolithic boundaries of the San Gabriel Mountains, across the scorched high desert just below Cajon Pass, into the thick forests of the San Bernardino Mountains from the north, sinuously wrap around the San Jacinto Mountains, and eventually bomb down the the sandy desert floor into Palm Springs.

This route had it all…

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Day 1: Slow steady grades through the San Gabriel Mountains on HWY 2 to Newcombs Ranch, over Cloud Burst Summit, past the closed HWY 39 junction, over our highest elevation point at Dawson’s Saddle (7,901′), while avoiding a big horn sheep collision, soaking in incredible lighting at Inspiration Point as the sun set behind Mount Baden-Powell and lit up the north face of Mt Baldy.

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Day 2: After full stomachs from breakfast, we would take on a white knuckle descent into the scorched earth remaining from the Blue Cut Fire. Then to high desert landscapes leading to Silverwood Lake, photogenic canines and steep climbs into the thick forests of the San Bernardino Mountains before hitting Lake Gregory surrounded by steep switchbacks leading up to the Rim of the World. As the day ended, we’d take on a ripping descent back into the World, an accidental run in with a million bees, cool construction workers allowing us to ride through a closed road, and a torture ramp leading to the apple crazy community of Oak Glen.

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Day 3: A threat of rain looming all day, an initial descent through a forgotten stretch of tarmac called Jack Rabbit Trail, smooth “team (Kyle) time trialing” along the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains and the Church of Scientology compound, a glorious climb up HWY 74 up to Mountain Center, continuing our ascent to Idyllwild with a bit of rain, mountain town vibes and a stop in at The Hub bicycle shop, incredible views through the valley of Lake Hemet, and a long sinuous drop to the hot desert floor into Palm Springs.

All together this was a wonderful route with a solid crew.

Outro: Yes, this was a tough ride that came in around 300 miles and around 26,000′, but with the right group of riders and the proper logistics (Thanks to Gus, Carla, Liz and Cari!) , you can tackle the route as well. Remember, you’re going through the backyard of a lot of California Rednecks. You will get honked at, or be told to “get a job”, or just simply have someone yell “TRUMP!” Just don’t let that take away from the views, the food and the pain you’ll feel in your legs after you climb 10,000′ of elevation back to back. All in all, I had three flats: one from hitting a grapefruit sized rock in the road while going 45mph, another was a goat head thorn, then a piece of copper wire from a truck’s tire. David flatted from a snakebite on Jack Rabbit Trail. Mild mechanicals aside, we arrived at our destination, unscathed, with sore legs, awaiting a dip in the pool and some home cooked meals…

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