Hillbasher & Puddingstone

Had a chance to ride today with an old ride partner Hillbasher. We've done some good climbing together in the past but as I've mentioned elsewhere, we haven't done as much riding lately. I believe Hillbasher hasn't been on the bike in over a year. The name Hillbasher is his name relating to his passion for hiking. He's done some big stuff like the Sierras and other multi day back packing hiking trips.

So we set out to do this ride as the local mountain road was closed due to red flag warnings and fire danger. Probably a good thing because today's average temp was 95 and the hills we climbed were torture ha ha! Legs were fine but the stomach would go empty on every climb. Like a major zap from the heat. Usually the heat does not zap us this much but the lack of riding has seemed to take away the acclimation factor.

Hillbasher thought I was a little crazy wearing an under layer in the heat. I explained it's for bug protection, mainly bees. He still thought I was crazy till I showed him the pic of my face back when the bee got me right between the eyes! :-P

17 miles 1332 ft and an average temp of 95.

25 Miles...or So!

Been a little too long off the bike but now it's time to start getting in some miles. We were thinking about a few more today but the wind was not Gina's friend today. That's OK though because we did not see too many riders on the trail. I think the wind forecast might have spooked a few so just riding today was a win. We started with Jose but he stopped at Edna Park for a pit stop while we continued. I figured with the wind he'd easily catch us before too long. Wrong! I guess there was a line at the boy's room so it took him a bit to remount. He caught us about a mile before we hit the coast.

At the coast, not a soul while we were there. OK, maybe 2 riders stopped for a minute or two but quickly left. The sandblasting was too much for them I guess ha ha! We waited around to see if any of our usual buds would show but no dice so we left. Very uneventful day but a nice ride. Gina says she had a bad day but I say, wind will do that to you. I don't think she did, it was the wind that made it tough.

Nuttin' But Music Weekend

Had to much family over for the holiday weekend so I couldn't break away for some riding so I played my guitar instead. My brother did a few songs for me, he sings much better than I do. He didn't know "Fire" but did very well anyway. Hadn't heard "Baby It's You" by the Beatles in a long time but he did it much better than I ever could. He did seem to know "Kansas City " without reading the words so ti came out good!

I did Burning Love on my own earlier that day on my own. I used a beat box thing I found on line (metronome). I had no idea how to use it but I set it good enough to do the song ha ha! I'm no pro but liek cycling, you don';t have to be to have fun! :-)

My 10 year old grandsons did the video work for us! :-)







Me by myself trying some Elvis

25 on SART

A nice 25 miler with Gina on SART. She actually did much better than I thought. We had a 16.4 average on the ride. Not bad for  the second time on the bike in 2 months. We ran into Alex at the start. Crazy dude is doing a 60 miler only 2 weeks after having surgery (hernia repair). Jose rode with us and we crossed paths with Mark and Gail on the return. Of course I have already posted Mark's story, some crazy determined riders in this place. Ran into an old ride partner Mike at the coast. He sat and chatted for a while with us talking about old times. It was a good day!

                                                    Alex on the road fighting the wind

                                                                  Hang on Gina!!!!

                                   I aimed for Mike with the camera but my aim was off ha ha!

                            Another shot of Mike but seems the pic came out a bit off center ha ha!

                                               Once again of center, wow I am losing it! :-P

                       
                                          Tammy training some LD for her upcoming Iron Man

                Alan and a lecture on the importance of nose strips. Gina looks really interested :-P

                                                                     Mark and Gail

                                                                   Gina breaking a sweat

Not Even Summer Yet

...and I got a few scenes like this to mix into my weekend video. Busy tonight so it will take me some time to create the video. I think this summer will be good video season. :-P

I added music but youtubies sucks ha ha!

Welcome Back Ride

An easy 25'ish. Might try a little video later, not many riders around. A few pics in the meantime. Alex, Herb & Alyce and a happy Gina, hey we made it! :-P

No Riding

Nope, no riding but I do miss it! But my job is going really well and with an ISO audit this week, I worked some OT and Saturday. The few weeks before we took a trip to Tucson AZ to check out the place where my parents used to live. They only lived there 10 years but Dad wanted to see it again. He's had kidney damage via diabetes and over the last 3 years he has managed to avoid dialysis through eating just right and avoiding many foods. But now his numbers have finally fallen and the doc wants to insert the catheter. So I figured I'd take them around before he goes IM MOBILE. He was pretty happy with the trip then the next weekend we offered to take them to Vegas. He backed out of the trip so Gina and I went ha ha! We had a great time and packed in a ton of fun into one weekend.

So I haven't been on the bike but seems life has been sweet to me the last couple of months so I am enjoying it to the fullest. Yes, we will be back on the bikes but for now we're having a ball. We are heading up to Laughlin this coming weekend. I thought about riding but with a big fat check coming this weekend, I figured one more weekend won't hurt. MY boss was very concerned with this audit coming up so we worked OT last week and the weekend so hey, I'm going to have fun!

Well anyway, I get home early and so I play my guitar while I wait for Gina to get home. Of course now with  daylight savings, I have time to ride right after work since I get out at 2:30. After the audit this week, I figure I'll hit the road again next week! :-)