Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Tandem Eve Ride

About 12 miles with 800 ft gain around the hood with Gina on the tandem. Testing the lights getting ready for some dark rides. Darn sun has been going down to soon lately!











Sunday, September 27, 2015

Weekend Rides w/ Son in Law

Saturday ride video. A chat with David, shot chat with Mark and some riding with Alex.

YT says cannot be viewed on mobile devices, that sucks!







Pretty cool weekend!  I was surprised as my SIL sent a text Friday night asking if he could ride with us. He and my daughter live in Ridge Crest, 2+ hour drive. OK! We had planned to ride the tandem so we stuck with the plan. SIL David commutes about 16 miles per day but has never done anything over 25'ish miles. He was worried that he might not keep up the entire distance. I told him I though he could if he took our wheel. So we headed out and wow, he was pretty darn good.  I was surprised as he has ZERO experience riding with a group or another rider. At one point he was doing so well that he offered to take the front, cool!

He was very steady and held a straight line so it was easy to stay on his wheel. Which is much harder on a tandem. Don't believe me, ask Ron  (of Ron & Dixie). It's real tough when you have a rider ahead of you open even the smallest of gaps. You know you have to respond and do but the stoker (person in back) has no idea so it's almost a solo effort on a double bike. It hurts! Ron has the same thoughts on this issue so I know it's not just me! :-P

On the return David got in front and lifted the pace. Pretty good for someone at 35 miles who has never done anything more. My legs were getting fried at this point so I was happy it was almost over. We finished the 44 miler with a 17.6 average.

He asked me what was faster, the tandem or singles? Well, for Gina, we are a little faster on SART. On the local climbs 4% grades, faster for Gina on the tandem. As for me, the tandem is a tad bit slower on SART and much slower on the climbs. I think Gina has her feet up in the back at times! :-P

Well Sunday came and David agreed to a second ride before they left town. This time Jose would join us, Mike for a 10 mile stretch.  No Gina this time so I had a free pass to lift the pace if possible. but I wasn't sure ha ha! My legs were still feeling a little toasty.

Today I would rotate with the other riders. I usually pull the first 25, sometimes the entire 44 but today, I wanted to enjoy the draft! So we rotated then at one point some dude (LAST RIDER FIRST PICTURE) decided to sprint around after having sucked wheel for like 10 miles. We were all rotating but when this dude got to second position, he decided he was bad as sand sprinted around, loser!

Mike was on the front just then. We let the guy go sticking to our ride plan. About 1 mile later we could still see the dude and I think Mike said "F" that guy!" then lifted the pace. Holy smokes we were flying! Not long after that we blew right by the guy and dropped his ass like a hot potato. Well that is what he gets ha ha!

So then David, Jose and I headed to the coast. Still rotating we were holding a decent pace. I almost felt like I was cheating at the back ha ha! But hey, I wanted to see what the big deal was drafting. At the coast we ran into Joaquin and his buddy Eduardo. they were doing a short 20 miler but we decided to head back with them. Holy smokes, Joaquin got in front and held a pretty good pace. I wasn't really sure if I could hold on at this point. I saw speeds of 22, 23, and 24. Btu somehow I managed to keep my legs spinning and held on.  Then he finally pulled off and it was David at the front. He was still rolling pretty good and I was kind of actually wondering if I would be OK when it was my turn. I finally relaxed and when it was my turn I hit it! I saw speeds of 22 and 23 so I was good. I finished my pull then Jose went up. We kept a good pace then Joaquin and Eduardo pulled off at Edna Park (10 mile stretch). Jose rode with us for another 1/2 mile then turned off too. I saw that our average was at 18.0. Dammit David, we need to hold this 18 for the next 2 miles back to the truck. I got in front to hold it. Somehow I managed to kick it up somewhere cause the average went up to 18.1 That's enough for me, good ride!

David was kind of bummed after Saturday's ride because he would have ridden SART without any PR's. Little did he know he would be back out on Sunday. So he has about 50 PR's and I ended up with about 22 PR's! My favorite north bridge to bridge was a PR at 22.9 average for the 7.3 mile return segment. 18.1 average for the 44 mile ride. Yeah baby!
















Tuesday, September 22, 2015

No Riding....VEGAS!

OK so I am not a gambler at all. But Gina likes to play the slots. I can't eat buffets anymore so being there like 3 days was almost torture ha ha! But Gina had a good time, that's what counts. Stopping at the Alien Jerky store on the way home is more exciting for me. I had a chance to pick up more t shirts and now I can say I have a new wardrobe ha ha!

Well the day we were leaving we headed up toward the freeway and caught a pic of Charlie riding his bike ha ha!





Bus top tour of the strop and down town. Nice break after walking like 10-20 miles per day.


People often think Gina doesn't know that I accidentally capture girls in the back ground. Here she was going to take my pic then said, "hold on." Then she took the pic and after told me she saw the girl with the boobs waling up ha ha!


As luck would have it, same girl happens to have a nip slip a couple minute later and my cell cam just happened to capture it ha ha!



Wow, the NY NY room was half the price of the Gold Nugget and ten times nicer. :-P


View from our room overlooking the strip.







                                               My favorite past time in Vegas ha ha!


New wardrobe. Couple of alien t's and a Hard Rock Cafe.




Sunday, September 13, 2015

SART Sunday

Nice recovery ride after a hot day on GMR. It's real tough to do a hard ride then ride the tandem the next day, and vice versa! So sorry Gina but you're on your own today ha ha! She did really well though. 16.4 (Strava) and 16.5 (Gamin) average over the 44.2 miles and 93 degree average heat. I'm starting to like Garmin's numbers a little more ha ha!Ran into Gem, Ron and Gil at Yorba Park. Had a nice little chat. I should have a short chat video sometime soon.

OH AND GREAT NEWS! I was informed by Ron & Dixie yesterday that the detour is no more and the trail is open at that section, Yeah Baby no more detour! :-)

Started with Mike, Gina and Jose. I pulled the first 25 miles then after that, I moved over and let the others take over! Joaquin did the pull on the way back to Edna Park. Nice steady pull at 20.4 for the 7 miles.


Video chat with Gem, Ron, and Gil. The second time I did Ride Around the Bear, I saw Gem on the ride. I asked if he has done it again since then, He says once was enough! :-P






                                                                           Ron



                                                                            Gem



                                                                               Gil



                                            Gil on the back rode with us for a while.


Saturday, September 12, 2015

GMR...To Cow Canyon Saddle

41 miles to CCS 4806 ft. We had plenty of water so what's the sense dropping down into the village? Ha ha! Mike and I hit the saddle while the others turned back at the shack.

Pretty cool deal this Duane and Rosanna Morrison free SAG Support on GMR. It's like a water station out in the middle of nowhere and where it's need the most! I actually met Duane up here a couple of weeks ago. He said in my video if I logged onto Facebook and looked up SDR insurance, they would say whether or not they would be up here on certain days. Well I had plans to hit the village today so I logged on last night about 10 pm and said wassup! ha ha! They had not posted anything and I knew the support was critical on this day figuring it would be hot. Thankfully they responded and said Rosanna would be up there! Thank goodness! I met and spoke with Rosanna at the shack, she told me that someone had asked on FB and I was like, "yeah, that was me!". Free but they do accept donations and heck I have provided support for rides before and I know it ain't cheap and I do know how much it helps so heck yeah we'll throw in a few bucks! Helped us a ton on this day. Great thing they do for us fellow cyclists! She also gave me a free sample of a Power Bar asking for a review. Good stuff! Not to mention she is the cheer and welcoming committee up there. She rings cow bells as riders approach the shack ha ha!

Did run into Matt, GMR, and met their friends Joan and Mike (hope I got names right, memory is not good while lacking oxygen ha ha!). Seemed like nice people so hey, smile for the camera. GMR always a pleasant visit as well as Matt. Always something good to say that Matt! :-)

Well Jose and Joaquin made their second journey to the shack and actually did it a little easier this time. Improvement! Ed did the climb for the first time. He said it was hard but he made it! Mike and I hit Cow Canyon Saddle. That was our plan and with the support, we had enough water to avoid the drop down to the village. I hate that little climb back up so if I can get away with it, I will ha ha! Mike did even better this time than last time so even more improvement on the day!

Jose, Joaquin, and Mike


                                                           Eduardo at the back


                                                      Joaquin and Ed at the shack.




                                          Short stop and a Power Bar before the tough part.


                                                 My bike at Cow Canyon Saddle


                                               Mike and bike! Looking back at the road.




                                                                 Support people!


                                                                        Rosanna



                                                              Matt and GMR


                                                                           GMR


                                                   The welcoming committee!


                                                                                Matt


                                                                                Joan


                                                        Mike (hope I got  that right)