It’s been a long time coming, but finally in March we returned to our group meetup bringing back Send It Sunday out of the city of San Fernando.
Our last ride was back in February of 2020, so it was a long time coming and wanted to make this a special one.
Gold Creek I only discovered a year ago thanks to Troy and David of Road Bike Action Magazine.
Since this route didn’t register much on Strava Heat Maps, I didn’t think much of it, but truly it had been a well-kept secret that had to be shared.
While I had no idea of our numbers, I wanted to pick a route that would likely be hiker-free and on this day we didn’t cross a soul on the trails.
Another question about this ride was how people would deal with the elevation, as while the overall looked tame, most of the climbing was packed within five miles from the start of Gold Creek Road.
For this edition, we had a Party Pace and Potent Pace group follow the same route starting at different times with more riders showing up for the former than latter.
The biggest concern was the one and a quarter mile climb that averaged over 10%, but both groups held it together and regrouped quickly enough to make great time.
For me, the highlight of the ride was the 4 1/2 mile descent down Gold Creek which is not only flowy, but exposes the beauty of the San Gabriel Mountains on an epic scale that most do not expect.
Also a late ride treat was the dash through the Tujunga Wash carrying just enough sand to playfully slow you down as you meander through this wasteland.
We ended the ride at San Fernando Brewing Company which is a bike-friendly venue, as well as being a purveyor of a tasty selection of beers.
Overall, I was happiest about the company as gravel is a welcoming community and after these two years being trapped on our computrons, to actually see people in person reaffirms why these rides are so special.
Look for more Send It Sunday rides to come back soon because that was too much fun we were missing out on.