Interesting ride today. Met a couple of triathletes doing Austin Texas half Iron Man next Sunday. Gina actually struck up the conversation with the gal. She had a hot bike, matte black with pink trim pin striping. Seemed like a pretty couple couple of riders. There we ran into a dude on a bent named Dave. Spoke a little bit at Edna Park then we left pretty much together. I know bents are fast but I figure we wouldn't be too far behind when we reached the coast. But he was fast,as soon as we hit the trail he was easily pulling away. Still we would only be a couple minutes behind maybe. But man, the wind hit me and I was feeling it. I knew Gina suffered the day before so it was not in me to duck behind her for a couple of minutes. So I just sucked it up trying to hold pace. When we hit that little climb after Moon Park/405 I was feeling toasted hoping I 'd make it up that short steep ramp. Just as I got there I noticed a guy walking his little girl down the ramp. I was thinking "good idea". If the little girl is shaky on a fast descent like that, then it is better to be safe. But just as I approached I hear him shout "Mr. Beanz".
It was Julius! He hangs out and I guess is part of Adobo Velo. I'm not familiar with the club member so I can't say really who is and isn't a member but I've seen him riding up GMR with like 50 riders before doing a time trial in one of my recent videos. But we spoke a bit and he said he'd plan on inviting me on one of their rides. AV have some kick butt riders and I'm not even sure I'd hang with any of them on GMR ha ha! But Julius says there are different levels thank goodness.
Julius is always a nice guy when we run into one another but today was really nice to have stopped to talk with him. I can think of 4 really good reasons.
1) Julius is a nice guy.
2) Dave was flying and if I stopped to talk, I had a good reason why Dave reached the coast 30 minutes before we did ha ha!
3) I was tired and worried that Gina might drop me up that little climb.
4) Well, watch the video and you'll see number 4, a couple of pretty good reasons to stop ha ha!I was impressed!
So anyway we get to the coast and Dave is there. We talk some more and I;m glad we did. I had told him of my method of blogging. I once caught a chick in a bikini on accident, yes I said accident! When I posted the picture in a forum, I got several more responses. Not to mention several PM's asking me to post more background bikini shots from a few members that lived in states without beaches etc. Heck with Gina's permission I did better and added videos as well. Dave said,"Oh, blogger's rule #5". OK wait, what! They have a rule for this and I have never heard of it but yet follow the rule. Basically is says to add in a hot chick every so often to attract views. So yeah, that is what I do! Heck, I even post pics of chicks that I don't really think are all that hot but feel others will. I had no idea there was this rule but ti is unwritten he explains. I wish someone would put in writing. That would stop all those prudish old women in the forums that complained about every little thing I post ha ha! Of course that won't happen, pretty sure they are just sour ole grapes that are jealous and lacking attention. So anyway ha ha!
The ride was interesting! As I told Dave just minutes before he should try some major climbing with his bent. He says he hasn't yet so I told him that it was a different class of riders, very encouraging and just about everyone shouts some kid of motivation while you're climbing.
My point was proven again on this day! I'm not sure what it is but rides just can't get passed without some kind of fight. OK I know you are super competitive and a stud and all but we aren't racing you! My plan is to keep a good pace and keep Gina with me. Or stay together as a group when we ride with others.
I'm not sure why, maybe the male macho ego but just about every guy we encounter seems like they need to race Gina. If I alone ride it's no big deal, you kick somebody's arse and it's OK. If they kick my arse, then fine, I will shake your hand and say you're better that day, maybe everyday.
But ride with girls, watch out! 3 time today it seemed that riders wanted to race but we weren't racing. Well the last guy, I figured, let's just kick his ass for fun! He wants it, here take it ha ha!
At one point we're cruising near Kramer. I look back often to see how things are going with Gina in a monitoring way. So I know who is around most of the time. I look back and there is nobody around. a minutes later there are two dudes rolling by us. Hmm, where did they come from? No biggie but we just keep our pace. They look pretty nifty in their race outfits so I figure they will be gone in no time. But a few minutes later they slow down. OK no biggie again but as we gain on them (holding pace) the look back at us and pick it up with some urgency. OK whatever! Then they slow again later. We are just about ready to pass when one guy blocks the second lane and we can't go around. Then we approach an underpass and I see riders coming in the opposite direction so we have to slow down. So it's clear and we pick the pace back up. Just about as we are getting ready to pace, one of the guys looks back and nearly goes off the trail then swings back left right in front of me. Forget it man, I'll just let these guys pull away so we slow for a bit. You know, I have read so many times in forums comments from racers how they really know how to ride and their skill level is blah blah blah vs the recreational riders such as ourselves. Well these guys sucked and in my experience, I have met safe and sucky from all types of cycling disciplines. Pretty sure these guys they were hot sheot though!
As we round that horse shoe turn, one dude stares down Gina. Almost as if he's saying "you can't beat me, I'm a tough guy". It was like the stare Lance gave Jan when he dropped him on a TDF mountain stage. OhhhhhKay! So we pedal on and intentionally slow so that they can be on their way. They are just freakin' annoying me now. THEN! Couple minutes later they near the stadium and start digging in their jersey pockets. Good, so we roll by to continue on our way. What comes next? Then hop on our wheels and suck wheel. Yeah they suck for a while then near Edna Park they sprint around and the fools keep looking back at us. Wow! Good thing we had plans to stop at Edna park. Probably the only way we'd get rid of these "racers".
So we continue on after break and two other guys hop on the rail and do the exact same thing. Wow, it is hard to believe that you can't just go out and ride your bike without some ass hats sucking your wheel then sprinting around while looking back as if it's a stage of the TDF.
So later near the coast we approach another guy. He too is looking back at us and trying not to get caught. again, I don't understand this. A ride or group of riders catches you from far behind, but when they catch up, all of a sudden you are in a blink of an eye faster? So we roll by this dude and as Gina reaches his side in the pas she picks up the pace forcing her to remain in oncoming traffic. So I have to pick it up a bit so she can complete her pass. OK good he's at the end of the line, we can move back to the right for safety.
Of course a couple minutes late he passes me. OK, what are the chances of staying ahead of a rider that passes you from waaaaaay back? He passes and as you can see in my video, I know we're going to pass him again in a bit. Sure enough we roll back up on him and then he increases his pace once again. now I know we can't pass safely so I just back off a bit. He roll off in his glory BUT...he's fading again and we're catching up AGAIN! OK chance are that when we pull up he will lift his pace again.
Yup! We roll up and he picks it up. So I figure I'm staying on his side this time since we are now close to the coast and the end of the trail. I plan to let him fade then when he fades, we'll smoke him in a blaze of glory of our own ha ha! So I can see that he can no longer lift the pace so I start spinning faster and lift the pace myself. I look back and he can't even hang on the back but he's trying like a mad man. Gina's looking good so I continue the pace and as he's 20-30 yards back, I shift into smoking gear and quickly increase the gap. I'm pretty much tickled at this point knowing Gina could smoke his butt as well, on a bad day.
Of course some say it's all imaginary but when we reached the coast, Jose asked, "what was up with that guy?". I dunno, he wanted to play games or maybe he was upset that he got passed by a girl. He wanted to play the game so we played ha ha! Jose said "yeah, he should be embarrassed cause of the way he was acting and even Gina smoked his ass."
Dave the Bent rider Dude hauling arse into the wind
I can't figure out why Jose always looks grumpy with all the views at the coast
OK, I had to take these stills from the video. I will say they
don't do the swaying motion justice, guess you had to be there!
I had to take like 20 shots to get a Gina smile. She's like Chandler in "Friends" if
you have ever seen that episode where he can't get a good smile for the camera!
When we both still had energy to smile. Last 5 miles today was rough!
Jose's still grumpy
Finally we are back!
Julius and his daughter
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