This morning I attempted to ride up Montebello Road. This is a moderately famous climb around here. At the end of the road there is a gate, and a dirt road continues that hooks up to Page Mill. I was intending to make a loop out of it, going up MB and down PM.

I got up at 6:45 and actually managed to roll out of the apt complex before 7:30! I expected the ride to MB to be nice because it goes down a road called Stevens Canyon which seems to be out in a pretty sparsely populated area. But I couldn't help but notice the trucks! Lots of dump trucks, even tandem dumps going down the road, sometimes five of them in a row. It was truly opprobrious! I figured, maybe there is a construction site up ahead. But the trucks kept on coming. Turns out that there is a quarry at the corner of Stevens Canyon and MB. The trucks just kept coming, from both directions, all the way there! It marred an otherwise fine road.

At the bottom of MB I turned on my cell phone to see what time it was, but the cell phone couldn't find a network so I couldn't get any info out of it. So I started climbing. After awhile I checked the phone again and it was only 8:18. I thought gee, I'm making pretty good time.

Anyway, I climbed and I climbed and I climbed, and I could see that I was getting close to the ridgetop, which I surmised was the highest point I'd have to go, but it just wasn't getting any closer. Eventually I stopped to check the time again and it was exactly 9am. At this point I knew I had to turn around and go back down so I could make my 10am class at work. Too bad, because I think I was very very close to the top.

Worst of all, I had to ride Stevens Canyon road again on the way back!

Lesson: do Montebello on a weekend when the quarry is closed, and when you have more time.