A run up one of SoCal’s famous roads
“Lets Meet at the Shell station.” “Okay be there in 5.”
Pulling up to the gas station was pleasantly surprising. It being occupied by various BMW legends including a gorgeous 850CI, and a supercharged e46, not to mention TJ’s stunning F-type for the day. This particular car finished in British Racing Green with brown Interior (with the good seats), and it was a manual! Things were shaping up to be quite glorious.
As we make our way to the beginning of Glendora Mountain Road I didn’t know what to expect. I heard such great things many times before about it. The beauty of driving a new road lies in experiencing the differences in elevation change, different radius(decreasing radius is something to watch for), bumps, obstacles, banked corners, off camber corners, jumps, etc. These and much more are what make driving different roads so unique from each other. Even little things like knowing what gear to be in, or shifting between gears to change the experience can make even a familiar drive seem different. Glendora Mountain Road really accentuated these ideas and I can see why people are drawn it.
The first section of this road gets you up into the mountains with tight twisty, banked corners. You can blast out of each turn with gusto. A great start and it really wakes you up after the monotonous freeway cruise and suburb scramble of LA. The anticipation builds in the first section, a few moments of banked-to-off camber sections will undoubtedly make you crack a smile or chuckle. My gut tells me there’s more to come. Always trust that gut feeling.
The second section is more what I prefer, a bit more speed, and a bit less steering angle. This is the time to explore more gears. Hearing the snaps and pops from the Ftype was entertaining. I remember it was a hot and dry day, not the best weather for extracting horsepower but we all fared just fine up the mountain road. Speaking of mountains…the views at this point were incredible. Driving spiritedly doesn’t give much time for the eyes to wander, but stopping to enjoy the view from above is definitely recommended. That leads me to the third section, where we did stop to take in the sights, and also give the machines a breather.
This is where things take a turn for the better…or so we thought. The third section is a bit of a rollercoaster if I’m honest. To be fair this section isn’t technically the same road anymore. A fork in the road allows you to continue left on Glendora Mountain Road. The right fork leads to a smaller (one lane) Glendora Ridge Road. There was a small shoulder and what looked like a BLM gate that was open and I seem to remember a faint arrow pointing forward as if to suggest the road was a “one way.” After a few photos by the talented “8ofhrts” (on instagram), we continued through this glorious one way road that was empty. (We hadn’t seen a single car pass through in the 20 or so minutes we were parked.)
The first mile or two was absolute heaven. It really was a ridge up in the mountains so the name was fitting. The driving experience was incredible, every corner better than the next. It brought views, and beautiful stretches of twisty roads that was somewhere in between the the technical turns of the first section, but opened up in areas reminiscent of the second section. It was a wonderful culmination of the drive that blended many types of road together in a way that made you feel like a hero. It really must be experienced to get the full effect.
Then it happened. We round a random corner and suddenly a pack of Nissan Zs are heading right for us. I can’t believe these people are driving the opposite direction on what is supposed to be a one way street. Up until this moment, we were blissfully driving on a wave of ignorance through this beautiful piece of pavement. To our defense, the Z drivers were all over the road, while we tend drive in a spirited but safe manner. The rest of the road wasn’t as special knowing there could be more cars coming. There were, and it wasn’t until the very end of Glendora Ridge Road that it became clear it wasn’t a one way. Its unfortunate there wasn’t a definitive sign warning drivers, but still a stunning place to explore. To this day I adore the experience. Perhaps I can revisit it and have a better experience knowing what I do now.
