Epic ride of...

As a rule, I dislike the use of the term epic.  It seems to be used as a popular adjective or catch phrase without having significant meaning.  (Much like the word awesome from my childhood :)  My son (12 years old) and his friends use it constantly.  One time they added "of doom" to each epic statement.

"The epic movie of doom."

"The epic bicycle of doom."

Each statement followed by laughter and an effort to think of a new, funnier statement.

So... I cautiously use the word epic to describe our latest bike ride.  Every cyclist has their own list of epic rides.  Most are far more grand than ours.  But for us, this one was pretty cool.  My buddy, his son, myself, and my son went for an over-nighter.  We wanted to get some practice in before a longer trip in the summer, so it was a great opportunity to make sure we could carry all our gear and still get in the miles we needed.  Our overnight stopping point was in Sierra Madre (CA), so our plan was to take the San Gabriel River bike path on the way up and take the Rio Hondo/LA River bike path on the way back.

We left on Friday afternoon at about 2pm.  It was a warm ride, but we were excited for the journey.  We didn't meet many other riders, but the few that were on the trail seemed grateful to see a few other people who were sweating as much as they.  Since our turn-off point from the San Gabriel path was a bit short of the end of the bike path, we contemplated continueing until we reached the end of the path.  None of us had ever actually taken the path to its starting point, so it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  It added about 6 miles to the ride, but it was totally worth it.

Should this be called the path to nowhere?

After backtracking to our turn off, we navigated some city streets, bike lanes, and a bike path to get to our camping spot.  The last few miles turned out to be the most difficult.  Although the elevation of Sierra Madre is only in the 800's, it seemed like we gained it all in the last 2-3 miles.  By the time we got to our camping spot we were hungry and tired.  Our camping spot consisted of a friend's backyard.  They were kind enough to lend us their bathroom and a place to refill water bottles.

You know you are a city slicker when...

The plan for day two was to take the Rio Hondo and LA River paths towards home.  We got started at about 8am and were feeling pretty good.  That may have been because the first few miles were downhill :)  We navigated our way to what we thought was the start of the trail, but it was unpaved.  It was marked for walking, biking, or horse riders, but we didn't know if the loose dirt would navigate well.  We took it slow and gave it a go.  It turned out to be a fun little quarter of a mile that brought us to the paved part of the trail.

No wipe outs or flats (sigh).

As we rode down the bike path we started to contemplate another interesting proposition.  Since we were starting at the origin of another bike path, it would be really epic to take it all the way to the ocean.  My buddy called home to rearrange his afternoon and we were set.

But wait, there was one more epic possibility to consider.  Since we would be on the coast we could pedal to the San Gabriel River bike path and take it from the ocean up to the stop near our houses.  It would add some miles to our original plan, but how could we pass up the opportunity to ride a loop that included both pathways in their entirety as part of one bike-packing trip.  We had to do it.

The southbound trip included a stiff headwind, but we pushed on with only a couple of breaks.  Finally we got to the ocean and snapped a picture at the lighthouse.  

A lighthouse near the end of the tunnel.

We figured we'd hit In-n-Out for lunch on the way to the San Gabriel River.  That would give us the energy boost we needed to complete the trip.  The burgers, fries, and shakes did not disappoint.

 See the yellow arrow?  (drool)

After a satisfying lunch we made our way to the last leg of the trip.  

From the mouth of the river we had a 10 mile push to the end of our loop.  The excitement of finishing the ride gave us the incentive we needed to zip home - or was it the tailwind?  Either way, we finished the epic ride with smiles on our faces.  All told it was about a hundred miles and six bananas, four clif bars, a bag of trailmix, ...

After we got home we told the rest of our family about the epic ride.  My four year old pondered the thought for a moment and asked, "Do you mean an epic ride of doom?"

Hmmm... maybe :)