One of the highest mountains in the Los Angeles area is Mount Baldy. On clear days its domed peak can be seen from many miles away, floating far above the cityscape, a beacon and reminder of mountain adventures, past and future. It’s a favorite haunt of many a hiker, biker, skier, and nature lover.
And finally in this sixth year of the Tour of California the peloton is going to take it on. Riders will start this Stage 7 on May 21, 2011 in the city of Claremont near the foothills of Mount Baldy before winding their way up the Glendora Mountain and Ridge Roads. This is exciting news for the local cycling community for which this classic route has been a long-standing test of one’s mountain cycling mettle.
Although the riders won’t actually come anywhere near the peak of the mountain (the paved road stops a few thousand vertical feet below the top) it will be a grueling ride nonetheless, covering many mountain miles with constant vertical gain, the steepest grades and tightest hairpin curves awaiting them in the last few miles of the climb. It will likely set the stage for the wildest mountain spectacle yet seen in the Tour of California.
It promises to be an epic stage for this year’s Tour and will hopefully become a classic, revisited for many years to come.
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