Amazing Ride Bike Tour 😄 Solo 40. Well, I wake up every morning and tell myself that I'm going to do this AMAZING ride that I plan in my head. But I wake up and figure I'm just happy I can still ride my bike. 😁 So I just did the usual then crossed over to check out the other trail I've only been on a couple times over the years. Actually the amazing thing about this ride is that I rode back 7 miles with a big bug in my eye 👁 🤣. And going over to the other trail because they have a nice park where I could wash out my eye. I tried on the trail with a water bottle but much help. But actually, all rides are amazing and a week off the bike, I felt great otherwise. 👌
Post ride
That's how fast I am. I was going up to the top of the trail, another mile then returned to go down even before that dude could walk that section. 😆😄😆
December in California
A week off the bike, I had to wear this shirt yesterday. 😁
I have to laugh at the idiots on FB sometimes. A post came up about a popular climb on Strava. I commented that I wouldn't miss it growing up and living by Mt Baldy all my life. And that having Big Bear is down the road, I've always had great mountains to climb.
Some clown replies to my comment, that popular climb won't miss you either because it's a tough climb, not for the faint of heart for the focused blah blah blah. It's long too, 5.5 kilometers........😐😐😐........😆😄😆😄😆
I guess doing Breathless Agony and Ride Around the Bear 4 times won't qualify me for the 5 kilometers climb. 🤣😂🤣
Solo 35. I told myself on Sunday, get out there and crush some records. I didn't. Monday I told myself to get out there and do a challenging ride. I didn't. So today I felt the same way as the other two days but I told myself, you really need to get out there. 😄 Glad I did, my happy place. 😊 Felt stiff but better after the ride because I was just out there relaxing spinning the pedals . 🚴♂️
At one point I looked over seeing something shining in the sun, really quick. Thought it was just my brain 🧠 playing games on me. But I stopped for a look. Down in a pit was a homeless camp. But there was this pretty cool Adobe style hut or walls set up like a little house. With bottles stuck in the walls like Knotts Berry Farm had that little store. Kid walking by so I asked if he had ever seen it. He as surprised and you can see him on the other side looking in. 😄
Yeah, I'm one of those guys that picks up stuff that will flatten tires. Bikes or cars, I pick them up then toss them in the back of my truck till I remember to throw them away. Your Welcome. 😁
The spot
Of course coffee ☕️ last night with my Honey. And as always, replace the battery in the watch then the band breaks a week later. Oh well, eBay. Band wasn't that old though, about a year. Hope this one lasts longer. 😁
Good 46 miles today with TC. Held the first 60% (?) speed down to conversation pace but picked it up when we hit the headwinds. TC was crushing it at that point. Hard effort trying to stay with him as he was looking strong today. 🤣
It was pretty cool in a couple portions of the ride because TC likes stats. He was monitoring his HR while drafting me and not drafting. Behind me asking about my HR. I was at 152 while in front as he was 138 behind me shielded from the wind. Then we switched and I dropped to 138 behind him after I recovered. At that point he said he was 155 which is very close to one another. But he did say that at 152 I was going 1 mph faster than he was at his 155. I'll take his word for it seeing it feels like a struggle trying to stay on his wheel after I move off the front. Sure feels like he's going faster but he says I was so I guess that is a good thing.
I did have a hard time recovering because he took the front right at the hill by Moon park heading south. Steep little bugger than can get one's heart racing. He did slow for a moment but it seems as soon as I was on, he picked it up. Took me a while to recover and getting my HR down. Finally after a bit but it was a good workout holding on. I will say that I think he did a good chunk of the lead on the way back so I was just cranking it up trying to stay with him ha ha ha! Good power today so he looked good!
Funny though that I never used a HR monitor till TC gave me his old one. He said he couldn't get it to work correctly so he bought the bigger better model ha ha ha! Heck, people give me stuff because they know I'll use it somehow. Many times it's something simple and when he gave me the monitor, I noticed the strap was pretty much thrashed. I'm the type that follows the directions and tips. Cleaned it up, bought a $10 strap on ebay, and the sucker works great! Matter of fact, I bought 5 straps for that price. Gave one to TC so he has an extra.
I do rinse mine after every ride or two depending on how much sweat I get. I rinse it in the shower with me after the ride and if I wash it, every 4 or 5 rides, I use a soft soap. Been fine, I'm still on my first strap after over a year of use, nice!
So TC and I having just about the same data on the rides is cool. Means both of the monitors are pretty accurate. Even on GMR, I believe it was there that he was asking about HR. We were so close that he thought that maybe my monitor was picking up his data. I don't think that was the case, more like good close settings and results, a good thing. Heck, thanks again for giving me your POS monitor ha ha ha! Not that it is but thinking it was ha ha ha, I got a cool deal out of it. Actually been very useful as far as getting back into shape with a little structure. Back in the day, maybe being younger with less worries, I'd just ride till I felt like my kidneys were going to jump out of my body. I pretty much really have to worry about that now ha ha ha!
Ah, the Strava data......133 me, 135 TC.........162 me, 163 TC..........Very close in HR, we're getting pretty accurate data readings from the HR monitors.
The video
A couple of images from TC's cell video.
A little something different tonight. Casa Jiminez though we don't go often anymore since our favorite location closed. 🤣 This is the next best one after trying about 5 others. 🫣 Then to the mall where Gina can really concentrate on her Pop Slots. 😄
Gina always so entertaining. Saw a couple cops at the mall, somewhat younger so she asked me I thought they might have heard of the TV show Adam-21? 😆😄😆
Then we heard a Steely Dan song, Do it Again. She was singing along...you go Black Jack, do it again. 😆😄😆 For 50 years she's been sing Go Black Jack.....because she said it was a song about gambling. 😆😄😅
Solo 25 on SGRT looking for an easy ride but boy, sure was a hard ride on my butt. 🤣 Seems as soon as I sat on the saddle, felt like a brick. But more my Honey than the saddle. Took about 7 miles before I felt like my glutes loosened up. If I had happened to be gay, this would have been the moment to take me. 😆😄😆 Joke of course, I'm all MAN. 😁
But that was rough. Maybe because I spent all day and night sitting and laying on the bed. Maybe I got too cozy.
So I felt better after the first few. The rest of the ride pretty uneventful. Although I got a chuckle out of the other cyclists I saw behind me approaching the damn dam. I started the climb then looked back when I was half way up, all 3 Solo riders took the back route. 😄
Just an easy ride overall.
A little story to this pic. Lady was riding with her son who was on an electric scooter leaving her far behind then doubling back every so often. I saw her go by as I was mounting my bike at the start. Hmm, not bad and unlike the beach trail, we don't see too many hotties out here so heck with it, I'm taking a pic.
As I was gaining on them, her about 12 yo son doubled back. Must have analyzed the sit-chee-ation because he looked at me for a second then gave me the stink eye. 👀
I slowed a bit then he headed up the road again leaving her behind once again. Well heck Junior.....😆
I slowly rolled by snapping 3 pics, all on the timer of 2 seconds plus reset time, tells you how slow I was going. 😄 I was about to take 1 more from a lower angle but she must have heard me because she moved over and looked back.
I wasa little disappointed not getting the shot for my blog but she looked back at me with a big purty smile. The front view better than the back . Well darn! I can see why the kid gave me the stink eye. 😆😄😆
More trash to report, and I did.
Then dinner with Gina. Funny enough, the day after Thanksgiving, I ordered a turkey sandwich.
For TG, Gina made a turkey breast and a small ham. Can't eat like I used to but I got my share. Probably why the saddle felt so hard today. But better to work it off than sit around all day again.
Color coordinated shirt to watch but sadly the glare hid some of the watch color.
25 miles from Encanto Park Duarte to Pasadena and back to fill Sandra's prescription. Started about 2:20 pm and Sandra didn't think it would be dark by the time we got back, I did. I always take 2 lights. Usually one a good flash style that won't blind drivers. I've always suffered from migraines my entire life since 12 so I have a little feeling of what strobes do to sufferers, so! The second is used as a solid light when it gets dark, Sure does a good job having 2 lights in the dark anyway plus if one fails, I'm still set.
But a good ride with plenty of hills to Pasadena in some nice hoods. Just hoping ICE doesn't catch me there or they just might chase me down ha ha ha! But a ton of traffic on the way back. It was nice to do the ride in the daylight though so I could actually see where I was at. A little familiar but my entire life was east of there so not familiar with Pasadena. Id' get lost if Sandra dropped me ha ha ha!
But a good ride. After Sandra turned off, I continued to Encanto Park where it was really dark. Heck, I pulled up to the facilities and the playground was dark. As soon as I aimed towards the playground, I saw a bunch of kids hanging on the bars like bats in the dark ha ha ha! I'm guessing my lights might have surprised them.
I'm serious about this, a cop car (?) pulled up to a parked car down the way and soon a gang of them, The families at the playground said they were leaving, La Migra!!!1 The immigration ha ha ha! I proceeded on over to my truck to pack up while the families ran to their cars and split ha ha ha!
Heck, I was not worried at all. Racially profile me all you want, if they deported me, it would be a nice little vacation in Mexico for me. Once they realize I don't even really know Spanish, they'd send me back ha ha ha! I only pretty much know food and bad words ha ha ha!
But a good day and ride overall. I did get there early to test some light bolts and mount connections so I got in a separate ride of about 5 miles that I posted on Strava as well. I usually don't post warm up miles but an hour early, I had to add something.
Then of course, dinner with my Honey. Getting home a little later than usual, Sizzler was once again teh most convenient. So there we were!
The video
Testing my lights at night after the people slipped away
Arriving early, I rode up the trail snapping a couple of pics. I always enjoy the view of this rock company for some reason. 😎
Gina saw this pic and asked why her lips always looks so red. Heck, I dunno but she never wears lipstick. Well, I've seen her with lipstick maybe 5 times in our 32 years.
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