Glendora Mountain & Glendora Ridge Road - California
Glendora - Mount Baldy
Distance/Driving time: 22 miles/38m
County(ies): Los Angeles
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Rider Comments:
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- There's a fork in the road halfway into the route, bikers often stop here to rest. more...After taking the right fork, there's a restaurant on the way down Mt. Baldy road. - Rider from Azusa, CA (4/13/11)
- Glendora Ridge Road is is one of the best kept secrets in the Southern California area. more...It's a long about 22 miles, twisting, low-traffic road in the San Gabriel Mountains. It can be run west to east from Azusa Canyon and ends in Mount Baldy Village. From the west, take the Mountain exit in Upland north. Just before the Mt. Baldy Lodge, make a hard left up the hill. Take a camera and water. Closed during the snow times. This is a different road than Glendora Mountain Road. - Kevin Shaw (3/30/08)
- GMR has been one of the premier bike and sports-car roads for decades. more...I grew up in Glendora, running this road first in sportscars and then on sportbikes. Extremely nice combinations of tight semi-banked corners, turn combos and esses, and some beautiful ridge runs. Beautiful scenery in the spring, between the views and the foliage - assuming you're driving slowly enough to look beyond the blacktop, that is! Car and Driver used this road for decades for their mountain-road tests. This road has a high risk/reward ratio, however. Very satisfying, but watch out for several hazards:
1) Blind corners/opposing traffic. With the high percentage of speed-minded riders/drivers on this road, be very, very prepared for some idiot coming the opposite direction partly in your lane around a blind corner. Keep a hand on the brake and be prepared to dive for the inside of the turn, but then watch out for:
2) Dirt in the apexes. All the major turns have a steep raw slope on the interior edge. Very common to have little slips of dirt dump on the inside edge of the road, often right on the apex. Cut your apexes a little wide and you should be fine.
3) Cliffs. Several spots along this road, notably the middle section, have a substantial penalty for losing it and going off the pavement: Edge-of-the-World cliffs. Drops in excess of 200' are not uncommon. You won't survive that fall, so keep it about 8/10ths of your limit through these sections. I've seen bodies in leathers pulled up from this section. Just sayin'.
4) General traffic. Do this one on a weekday, if you can. Now that the road is open again, this place is going to be packed until the pent-up demand plays out a bit. Going out during the week will help you avoid the wrong-lane idiots, and also the very high:
5) Police coverage. Like Ortega Highway in OC, this is a favorite road for the local police to pounce on from time to time. If you see one, there WILL be more. They most like the stretch at the bottom on the Glendora end, from above the ranger station entrance all the way down to Sierra Madre Avenue. Here's why:
6) Neighbors. Keep the speeds and tricks way, way, way, down once you start down the hill south past the last 180deg turn and (now open) gate at the bottom (Glendora) end. The neighbors here have little tolerance for speed, noise, or showing off, since the bottom of this road goes right through their neighborhood and past a frequently used horse-riding circle. Keep it slow and quiet through here, or the road will be heavily patrolled again or closed outright, as has happened in the past. No kidding, folks. I know that area seems like the perfect place to blow off a little steam with a wheelie or stand-up, but trust me, it's not. You WILL get nailed eventually if you don't make like the little old lady on her way to church through this piece of the road. - Marc M. (8/30/07) - Started from Los Angeles, took the 60, and got off at Ontario and just rode toward the mountains. more...Once I got to the Los Angeles Forest, the ride to Mt Baldy was nothing. Saw the sky lifts (it was the summer so hardly anyone was there). I was on my way back to L.A when I saw the Glendora Ridge sign. Thinking that this was just another ride to the summit and back down again, I took the ride up hill and the road just kept on going and going and going. The sharp narrow turns were slow going for me cause I don' like twisties, especially when one wrong turn could send you on a one way trip to a ravine oblivion. This is a cool road and the mountain views are just incredible. Bring plenty of water cause it gets hot. Twisty heaven for you those who love it. - Jerry C. (7/29/07)
- The road is fully open again. more...It opened 07/09/07. There's over 190 turns just from Sierra Madre to East Fork Road. If you continue on to Mt. Baldy, I'm sure there are more turns than Deal's Gap. The Mt. Baldy section does not have a center line so be careful. When near the bottom on the Glendora side, please do not stunt or race because the residents will have the road closed again. This is one of the best roads you'll ever ride on. - Rider from Glendora, CA (7/14/07)
- I've done this ride many times. more...Very, very twisty is a good description... So is very, very narrow. Caution should be used aproaching blind curves. More than once I was surprised by a car or another bike headed the opposite way. Having said that, I always enjoy this one. - Rider from Pasadena, CA (5/8/07)
- Road is rarely open from Glendora to the East Fork Junction. more...