Cross Training... San Gabriel River Ride!

This past Saturday, Jen, Liz and myself decided to pack up the bikes and head to the mouth of Azusa Canyon and hop on the San Gabriel River trail.

The San Gabriel River trail extends 38 miles starting at a Ranger Station at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and ending at the Pacific Ocean (Seal Beach). There are two very scenic secondary trails that branch off near the river trail midpoint (Whittier Narrows area); one that visits Legg Lake and a second (Rio Hondo) ending up at a reservoir north of El Monte.

We started out on our ride around 10 am. It was pretty cold outside, but the whole week so far had been cold and then the sun would come out and it would warm up. This was not the case that day. It was cold and stayed cold.

About 5 miles into our ride, Jen started to break out with some weird allergic reaction. We still dont know what it was from.

We ended up riding down to where the 605 Freeway meets with Telegraph Rd., 20 miles down trail. It took us about 2 hours. We then exited bike path to find a nice spot to eat some lunch, catch our breath and then begin the journey back.

While we were stopped we all took turns sneaking into the local Jack in the Box to use their bathroom. After that we settled in at a little picnic area in between some local shops. Liz and I ate our sub sandwiches, and looked at Jen with dismay as we found out all she had packed for the whole trip was a single PBJ. She quickly realized that it wouldn't be enough food for her.

Jen decided to stop into a local market called "Jax's Market". It was a Mexican mart, where no one spoke english. She came out with a whole bag of Pan Dulce. 3 for a Dollar. She was very exited. Turns out that pan dulce was not a staple for her growing up. Guess I took that for granted growing up in Pomona. We all had a piece or 2 before we dragged our bike-seat chaffed butts back onto our bikes and headed back towards Azusa.

10 miles before the finish line, it started to rain on us. We thought we were cold before. Now were cold, soaked and tired. We eventually made out way back to our cars, only to find out that the park workers had locked the park gate, trapping us inside the parking lot. We had to call the sherrif's Dept to come let us out.

Other than a few minor set backs, the bike trip was a success. Maybe next time we will do the whole 76 mile trail ride, but for that day, 41 miles was as good as it was going to get.