Went up the Reche Canyon Road to San Bernardino today and came back down on Pigeon Pass Road. Trip over wasn’t too bad except for the constant threat of rain and the cold temperatures. Found that I started leaving con-trails – I, not the bike – at about the 1,000 foot level.
So it was a damp but not wet trip, almost nice in some ways, and traffic was light on Reche Canyon. But Pigeon Pass Road was something else. The access road, coming down Mt. Vernon Ave was closed because the new California Aqueduct was being dug right through there. Several blind detours were needed and tried, lots of mess, mud, bricks and a good bit of confusion.
Finally got on Pigeon Pass and it was not bad. Not at first. But after I passed the High Grove Dump area, it turned to dirt and then went straight up. Took one hour to cover the next three miles – most of that pushing the bike, not because it wouldn’t climb the road but because I couldn’t pedal it. Whenever my pulse reaches 180 beats a minute I start slacking off. It’s actually easier to ride the bike up, but the pedal schedule must be met, whereas pushing is a form of constantly falling down and constantly being supported by the bike, and that lets you choose your own pace. Kind of.
No one was around. I was totally alone. In a world that belonged only to me. I was back in the saddle again, cruising along with a nice breeze, winding back across the canyon I had just traveled on the other side. Beautiful. Wonderful. That was when I heard the first rifle shot. Someone was shooting back on the part of the road I had just covered about 20 minutes ago. The second and third rifle shots seemed louder than the first one. The fourth shot was accompanied by a whistle sound as was the fifth one. The sixth one hit the bank to my right and the seventh hit the road behind me. Someone was shooting at me! California! That figures! There was a large boulder just off the road to my right and I got behind that. A couple more shots were fired, and the bullets whistled in and impacted around the boulder. I noticed that Pigeon Pass appeared to reach a leveling off part and made a turn to the right, through what looked like some tree protection. I decided to make a run for it and did. No more shots were fired. I stopped at the second hairpin bend back to the right and made a photo of my bike under a tree.
On the way down I hit speeds of 27 mph, like downhill skiing. Then got another flat tire. Had to fix it to get home. Finally back at the BOQ.
Trip today garnered 84 bike miles on a windy day that blew the clouds away, and the sun beamed down like the fabled days of old. Here in sunny, southern California, Monday, May 31, 1971. A day on Pigeon Pass Road.
