If you follow @KyleBKelley and myself on Instagram, these photos should come as no surprise. Tuesday was my last full day in LA and I wanted to do a ride I’ve never done before. But we wanted to take one of the shop helpers, Christian with us, so where would we go?

We began doing Mt. Wilson: 18 miles of climbing and 4,500′ of elevation, which is a piece of cake. Then, we left Christian to nap for an hour at Redbox and headed up Mt. Disappointment, with its rumored top pitches of over 20%. A would be easy feat for my Bishop road with its Austin-hill gearing (34×28) but I was on Ty’s Hufnagel with a granny gear of 38×25. I.e. it hurt like hell.

Even Kyle, who’s a mountain goat of sorts admitted to almost getting off his bike. 3 miles, 1,200′ later and we were at the top and on this one, the views were breathtaking.

Our day totalled around 65 miles and over 7,200′ of climbing. While Kyle doesn’t like to get hung up on distance and elevation, I like to throw it in there not to brag but to show that riding is about having fun with your friends, even while you’re all in pain!

See more Instagram pics from our ride here and 35mm are on the way.