Finds from the Grind - Red Box Up and Down

Here are some scenes from my 14 mile climb up to Red Box Picnic Area on June 17th.

This was my next big climb of the year. Climbing up to Clear Creek Junction is a ten mile climb and Red Box is another 4 miles after that. This was the middle of June and I had taken a week off for travel just two weeks prior, so my fitness wasn't that great, but this ride was part of building my power base for the rest of the year.

I got passed a couple of times on the way up, which is not surprising, but this was also the earliest I'd been up here during the year. Last year, I didn't try these climbs until July, so I was 6 weeks earlier than back then.

The descent is always fun, except for the 1 mile climb back up to Clear Creek. There's a bumpy sweeping bend I like to use to gauge how bad my cramping will be after a long descent turns into a four minute climb. The bumpiness means I have to really push down on the pedals to keep my leaning angle so my wheels maintain contact, and that pose and strain will usually elicit an incipient cramp in my groin. How bad that cramp is tells me how bad both groins will be cramping when I start that climb before the 10 mile descent into La Canada.

Towards the end of the video you'll see me laugh as a car cuts in front of me coming out of a parking lot. That's basically my response to any kind of possible vehicular mishap when I'm on the bike because if it's me versus two thousands pounds of steel, aluminum, and leather, I'm going to lose. I may as well laugh my way to the ambulance ride.

Finally, you'll get to see a rare scene of me on the bike thanks to a window reflection. I looked pretty fit, even if I didn't feel that fit. If I can't be fast, at least I can look fast, right?