Passage #350: 7 May 2016
Mid-Ranging
When we started The Passage, quite a few years ago now, we wanted to locate a space within what we saw at the time as the widening gap between the slow-paced, "social" rides and the fast-paced, "hustle" rides. Neither a hangout nor a workout -- though one could certainly also do both -- the ride's primary intended goal was exploration. And so, with the ride, we tried to find a happy medium.
Over the years, we've oscillated back and forth between faster and slower routes, shorter and longer routes, easier and harder routes, but in general we've stuck to the middle. As we say, it's probably a difficult ride for less experienced riders and an easy one for those more confident.
This week, as has become our tradition for routes which are multiples of 50, we do something a little different, get a little more ambitious. However, within the scope of greater ambition, this route still falls somewhere in the middle. We go a little farther than usual, but not too much more. There is a little more climbing, but nothing too outrageous. We wouldn't say it's an easy ride, but it is also not some sort of herculean feat. We've been more ambitious and we've been less.
And then where we are going also falls a bit in the middle. We'll be taking advantage of the new Gold Line extension to go outside our normal riding territory, but again just a little -- not nearly as far afield as when we have in the past taken Metrolink. And many of the places we'll pass through are sort of in-between spaces themselves, not here but not quite a "there" either (looking at you, Irwindale). Finally, while there will be times when we'll be off-road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, we never really get outside the middle of development, of the 'burbs.
Anyway, we think you get the point: this route falls somewhere in the middle. But, with new places to explore and views aplenty, it is certainly not middling, no.
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