A little over a month ago I was riding in the Verdugos when a very stupid thought entered my brain: I wonder if it’d be possible to plan a ride from my house, through the Verdugos, where I hit 10,000 feet of elevation without repeating a climb?

The day this very stupid thought entered my head it was also very hot, which may have explained where it came from to begin with. With my brain boiling, it seemed like a good idea. But as days came and went, the idea stuck. I resolved to give it a try when a weekend temperature stuck to the 70’s.

That weekend came a few weeks ago. And so, I gave it a shot.

I started the route with my usual neighborhood climb on a paved road, then took the long (and more uphill) way into Cherry Canyon. From Cherry Canyon, into the Verdugos’ series of dirt fire roads: up Mt Thom, down Beaudry South, up Beaudry North, down Brand Motorway, then up Stough Canyon, get slightly turned around and lost on Chandler looking for a road to a radio tower, eat a nice sit down snack at the Tree of Life, then down Hostetter, up Whiting Woods, and finally down Beaudry North. The route was a bit deranged looking by the end:

But it did hit my goal: 10,325 feet in 58.5 miles. Around 30 or so of those miles were on dirt roads.

There are not many (any?) major cities in the United States where this is possible, let alone on car-free dirt roads. By the end of it, I was cursing myself for the silliness of the idea, but it was the sort of chaotic and ridiculous route that brought me into cycling to begin with, and something I might make a tradition of.

When I first got into serious cycling, around 11 years ago, I quickly met a group of friends who I rode with often (few of them still ride, sadly). One October day, my friend Andy, the one known for the most ridiculous ideas, proposed his most ridiculous yet: Wrightwood and back. 136 miles, 17,000 feet of climbing. It took us 11 hours. Five of us started, three of us finished.

I miss these types of ridiculous propositions. Which is probably why the stupid idea for this ride refused to leave my consciousness.

I took my grandma’s Minolta 35mm camera along for the Verdugos ride. The camera has a 150mm zoom, which stretches far out of the camera to comical effect, but it’s hard to argue with the results. Here’s a photo taken just a few seconds after the one above, from the same spot:

Photo of a cyclist riding up a dirt hill

It’s a bit grainy sure, but it still looks nicer to my eyes than a digital zoom. It was a good day, all told, and one I’ll make a repeat of next year, perhaps.

Photo of a trail sign with Smokey the bear that says “Please Be Careful”