mule days

I’ve heard that the San Gabriel mountain range (just north of home and home to the infamous Brown mountain) is comparable to some of the steepest ranges in the world. Its other claim to fame is that it is one of the rare transverse ranges, that is: it “travels” west-east, rather than the more common south-north.

Even the paved roads in the foothills of this range are pretty steep, particularly because they head straight up the mountain without any twists and turns. Luckily, I have Mindful Mule to ride up these mountains. She’ll happily carry all kinds of crazy loads and supplies up these slopes without complaint, albeit slowly. Yesterday it took us 70 minutes to ride 9.25 miles – steeper and steeper as you go - thank god for triple chain rings.


Coming down the mountain is all together different - we hit 25mph before I even managed to get my toes clipped in. (Which reminds me, I’ve got to fix those toe clips with some more duct tape.) Stopping on the way down is nearly impossible, though, so we usually take the quieter side streets.

And then, there’s the other kind of Mule Days…