The Donut Ride A'la Sandra

 27 miles, 1220 ft gain with Sandra and Tony (TC) today. Few pics for now then a youtube video. Story later. And yes, I only ate half a donut.

Ah yes, Sandra had said that she wanted to take me on a couple of rides so I said, let's do it! This one was the Donut Ride I had seen on her Strava. So we did it and of course, invited TC as well. Of course the night before the ride, I take a quick glance at my bike and realize I have a bald spot, baaaahhh! Usually have and easy time replacing the tire but this time, it sucked! I could not for the life of me get the tire on. Ended up damaging the tube so had to put in another. Bummer but worst part is the big azz blister on my thumb. Lifted skin for about half an inch on my right thumb, my main go to finger boo hoo!

But we all met at Encanto Park then headed East on Sierra Madre. Nice rolling hills course with plenty of short climbs. I see on the device graphs that there are 6,7, and even an 8 percent short grades. I felt it but Sandra seemed to keep pushing the pace. Heck, usually takes me 10 miles to warm up but no chance this time. She rode from home so I think she got her warm up in but TC and I were both suffering for a bit having to jump on the bike and lift the pace right away. Sandra is pretty strong so it takes some effort to keep up.

Few times she would fade on a hill so I would push up a bit just to get ahead thinking I could relax a bit before she arrived. I did but as soon as she went by, she was pushing again so there we were, pushing to catch back up ha ha ha! She's like the Energizer Bunny, you think she's done but then she comes back even harder. But it was cool, we both had to put some effort into the ride. Especially not knowing the course, where and when we had time to recover. 

TC did have some knee issues. Pain in a knee and almost called it quits after the first 8 but he stuck it out and seemed to do well even though. Stopped at The Donut Man. Crazy fun strawberry filled donut. Hadn't had one in about 10 years but somehow, I managed to ear only about half. Sandra had some of the donut and some strawberries so that helped out. Sadly throwing away about half the bread part but better for my health. Tony got a Tiger Tail that he shared with Sandra. A donut he described as looking like a serrote, which in English would be a turd ha ha ha! They had a little fun playing with it. Though I was a little disappointed seeing the donut dude wouldn't cut the donut in half for us. OK, he said we could just tear it with our hands, ok, whatever, no good review for you on Yelp ha ha ha!

But a good ride and I think we all finished pretty strong. We'll do it again sometime  but Sandra said she would be happy if we continued to ride once a week in the early evening. I have a couple of rides, couple variations of my ride that they have enjoyed so seems in the next few weeks, we'll mix it up!  

The Youtube Video

Little elevation and with Sandra's surges, I got my heartrate up there a bit here and there.

Of course the pay off, being able to eat some of Cecee's homemade beans, HM chile verde over pork chops, yum! 

Cool things continue with eating well and avoiding junk foods. No special diet, just good stuff and when I do eat fancy, I don't eat as much. Just enough to get full and that is not always. Mostly cucumbers, salads with vinegar instead of dressing and RARELY ice cream, my second love ha ha ha! But again, knowing I'll die a rough death, I choose not to do so, avoid all the suffering that I have seen so many times already with family members. 

So it is cool when Sandra says she can tell that I have lost some weight, though again, I have not weighed myself in a couple years, I think.

Then I got this message from a friend on FB. Guy I met when I was 13 years old and pretty much grew up together. He's always known me as a really active person. So it's cool that he knows I'm still no couch  potato slug ha ha ha!

Good to know my direction is showing and rewarding.

Some edits on Alyce's pic. She sent this pic in a text message. I felt like fiddling with the editor so I posted them, she liked them. then asked if she could copy and use them for her stuff. Sure! Always fun playing with pics. 

I think her hubby Herb took the pic form his low trike so a know appeared by her shoe. I cloned it out and tried to rebuild the toe section. Came out pretty good I think.