I figured it might rain today so I took my MTB on SART to the beach. 36 miles with a 14.1 average. Wowzer, felt tough today. Felt like a headwind both ways. Hardly anybody out there though so that was cool. Ran into Dr. Sarah at the beachstop so we had a little chat.
A bit wet at the start but no rain at all. But there was plenty of debris, sticks and stuff on the trail so the MTB served its purpose ha ha!
Made a short little video.
Dr. Sarah
Her's a little bonus! People never see Gina when she is dressed up. Her usual blouse, 2 sweaters and a jacket (all at he same time) always covers up her attractiveness. I'm always trying to get her to dress up a little bit and seeing that we found this dress at Macy's, it gave me a reason to talk her into dressing up for a picture. Probably about the third time I have sen her with lipstick since we met 29 years ago ha ha!
So I got in a short ride today, 15 miles but threw in 2,008 ft of climbing up the local streets at the foothills. Some of the roads had 18% grades, some 12. I figured on trying to get in 2k of climbing since it was not a long ride. Oh well, I tried!
Well I forgot it in the truck and did the first half of the ride without it. But I felt naked so I had to stop by and pick it up once we doubled back. Glad I did as I got some nice pics I think.
44 Miles at 17.3 average speed. Gina did not plan to ride, can't seem to shake her cough. But Alyce sent me an email last night asking if I had planned to ride. Sure, me and Jose had plans so she joined us. I wasn't expecting it but Mark and Gail also showed up at the start. I thought it was coincidence but then Alyce told me she informed them before the ride. The more the merrier!
So we all headed inland then double back at Yorba Park. We made my camera stop our rest stop so we planned to ride through and skip the our usual Edna Park stop. Last second decision I am guessing but Mark and Gail turned off at the park without us noticing. By the time we noticed, we were down the road so we just continued on, Alyce, Jose and I.
Alyce started training some time back and man does it show! She helped us with turns at the front and did very well. Once we headed back from the coast, I took the first pull to the wooden bridge heading North. After that, I moved over and let Alyce take a turn, and did she take a turn ha ha! I looked at our bridge to bridge north on Strava and the average speed for that 7 miles was 20.7, or 6. She was kicking butt!
So Alyce was up front, then Jose and I was at the back up the 3 person line. Right before the soccer fields I saw Jose shake his head a couple times. Nice and steady pace so I was not sure what was going on, Alyce was steady at the front. But then a minute later Jose shouts, "go ahead, go around!". Alyce was kicking butt so I had to go around Jose to get back on her wheel. Then Jose said he was done! :-O I thought Alyce was kicking butt but then it seemed she picked it up a bit more. I wasn't expecting that ha ha! So at this point, I just held on and let her pull me ha ha! Heck, I didn't want to get in her way so I just stayed out of the kitchen ha ha! Right after we passed Edna then I got back in front for a bit but by that time, the ride was pretty much over. Thanks for the pull Alyce. Oh, and don't tell Jose I said this, but I think Alyce killed him on the bike today ha ha!
When we arrived at Yorba Park, Mark ran into buddy he had met previously. He introduced us then when we got to the coast, we ran into each other again. His name Mohamed. He is in the background of the "Don" pics with his knee up on the planter/ Don is in the long sleeve red jerseys. I had seen Don out there for quite sometime and we have crossed paths many times but never had a chance to speak with him till last week. Friendly guy! I saw him on Strava a few times in the Fly By feature, that's how I knew his name so that's how we started talking last week.
Don (left with long sleeves) Mohamed background short red sleeves.
Hmm, I;m guessing Gail doesn't do the thumbs up thing! :-P
I chopped Jose out of the pic for an Alyce only shot!
41 miles at 15.4 average speed. So what the heck, do these forecast dudes know their stuff or not ?! The forecast said Sunday would be half the wind speed of Saturday. So poor Gina who is getting over a cold thought it would be cool to ride today. Pooor Gina! She did really well but really suffered on the way back. I did offer a shorter ride today but Gina the trooper she is said she would give it a whirl! She did it! Welcome back Gina!
We started the ride into a monster headwind heading toward Imperial. Somewhere along the line, Taft Ave maybe, I noticed some dude on Gina's wheel. Oh well, I figured he would go around sooner or later but never did. I started to think maybe it was someone we knew playing mind games with me. It was, The Legend Greg caught us from behind and played possum ha ha! I couldn't look back long enough to see who it was as it was "hold the bars or die!" riding into this wind ha ha! Once we hit Imperial and stopped at our turnaround point, he rolled up and then I knew who it was ha ha! Had a pretty good chat then we headed back together with a big tailwind!
At the coast we ran into Mark, then later Ron and Dixie rolled up into the rest stop. They headed off on PCH for a bit as Ron was concerned about reaching his weekly mileage goal. at first Dixie passed on the offer but once she saw the broken heart look on Ron's face, she gave in! Now is that true love or what?! :-P
We headed back with Mark hoping we would have some kind of tailwind back. Somewhat of a tailwind, better and longer than Saturday but once we did hit the headwind, it totally killed Gina on the little uppities. At one point, she just pulled over and stopped. Took a short 2 minute break then got back on. seemed to be doing OK but then another couple miles later, I heard her shout, "that's it!". She fell off the pace but I backed off so she easily hopped back on for a while. Then after that, she fell back and told Mark to go ahead. It seemed he held back for her and let her take his wheel. Wow that was a first. Usually if Gina falls off my wheel, the other riders just sit behind her. But Mark pulled her back up and really helped her to get back on. That was cool!
After the ride, Mark gave me a hat he said he had been meaning to give me for a while. Nice cycling hat, mesh upper, great for after the ride. My current cap leaves my head hot so this should be nice! Plus a few water bottles he figures I can use. Thank Mark and to all you others, Yes, Mr. Beanz does accept gifts ha ha! Just kidding, but there have been some cool people out there who gave me some nice things. Hats, cycling coins, red blinkies from races, fish, yes fish, and a little packet for a camera that GMR gave me when she saw that my case had broken. I still use that thing too!But as a pouch for my Garmin during transport, which is every weekend! :-)
But I think Gina was pretty toasted after that but we only had a couple miles left so she survived! Just needs a bit more saddle time and a day that is not so WIND tough!
After the ride, we stopped at Burger Town USA, the only place I will eat a hamburger. I don't eat fast food at all other than this place since it seems really fresh. Reminds me of the good ol burger joints back in the with the real fresh produce and beautiful tomatoes. OK, I will say the old Greek burger joints. I didn't want to go there cause some dope will start complaining that I am a racist ha ha! But that pretty much describes the goodness of these burgers.
While there, a couple kept looking at us funny. As they were done, they walked by and asked it that was our truck with the bikes in the back. Yup, that's us! We had a short but good chat as they were cyclists. They had a tandem and had drove down from the high desert to ride the San Gabriel trail. They said it had the best wind forecast of all places ha ha!
I was real shocked, well both Gina and I as the lady said, you guys eat the healthy stuff (burger combo, substitute the salad instead of fries, free of charge at BT USA). She they were bad and ate the fried stuff. Then she smiled and said,"well you guys look like cyclists!".
What ?! Ha ha ha! Must have been the dried salt sweat lines on Gina's face, the dried up sunblock caked on my ears, or the smell of salty sweat that made her say that ha ha! In our 20+ years of cycling, that is the first time anybody has ever said we looked like cyclists. But we'll take it ha ha!
This was the wind as we arrived at the start.
The Legend sneaking up on us while fighting a fierce headwind!
Heading back, safely space as the tailwinds blow us at 20 MPH without much effort!
This was before the windy return leg when Gina was still smiling!
I was a bit tired today so I did let her pull me to the coast for a while!
52 miles solo today! 16.2 MPH average speed. I think I was the only one interested on facing the wind today. Gina had a bit of a relapse this week with her cold from couple weeks back. Figure all the cold air we've had this week. So I excused her from the ride as she said she would ride Sunday. Hmm, could be the cold or could be that she got a look at the wind forecast for Saturday ha ha!
Anyway, I went at it alone. Pretty windy once I reached Imperial heading inland. I had thoughts of Greenriver but once I hit Gypsum, I figured I better save some ammo for later in the ride. I know there are times that I was pushing pretty good on the return. Felt like a 22MPH effort but the speedometer said 14 ha ha ha!
I did run into Mark, Alex and Gail at the coast.
Oh, BTW, this pic was sent to me by a friend who lives about 5 miles south of us. Shows how cold it was this week. ;-)
Lousy photographer, but I kind of like the shadows!
Had more pics but the sunscreen looked like a bird pooped on my face ha ha!
A bit chilly tonight but sometimes you just gotta ride. 43 degrees, which was better than the 37 yesterday ha ha! So I got in 15 miles with a bit over 1300 ft of gain. First time up to 24th street was chilling. Felt like I had earrings on as my lobes were feeling a git heavy. First approach to 24th street, I could feel a cold chill right through my sleeve and under layer on my arm like it was water.
But second climb up was much better. Third time up, I felt like I was riding on any other day on the trail. Not bad at all, hard part is getting out there.
I still say drivers are so courteous when I am out there! Thanks!
OK really, no blood! Just thought I would throw that into the title to make it sound dangerous. :-P
52.5 miles to Gypsum Cyn at 16.5 average.
So anyway, Gina didn't ride today so I saw the chance to get in a longer ride seeing it's supposed to rain hard on Sunday. I thought about 60 to Green River but once I saw the underpass at Orangewood, I figured the GR area may be underwater. I know the golf course at Edna park was flooded.
After the ride I was kind of glad I didn't choose GR cause it was pretty windy today. Not your 40 MPH winds, but a stiff headwind all the way from Gypsum Cyn to the coast. Heading back from Gypsum Cyn, I was pushing pretty good and struggling to hold 16. Alllllll they way to the coast ha ha! Oh well, it was a good workout!
