GMR Closed to traffic 7/4/12

Wowee Kazowee! I guess the spelling ain't correct according to spell check ha ha! But dang there were a ton of riders on GMR. A huge group met at the gate, maybe 100-200 riders. I ran into FryDaddy and Ridindirtee. JimmyNH before the gate and all over GMR, saw Big John ride by too.  Quickly ran into Smogsteve, first time meeting. Again later in the ride and a third time. Ended up riding with him for a while too. Aimee, Tony and myself rode up to Peacock Saddle after a visit at the shack with GMR, Bill, Mat and a few others. I did see Psalm on the climb, another Clyde member climbing GMR on this fortunate day.

On the return I saw a pair of 50Plus jerseys resting at the shack. I shouted to Tony and Aimee that I was stopping fora minute. They just ditched my arse so I stayed for a pretty long time visiting with forum members Volosong somewhat local and all the way from Nebraska member Billydonn. Pretty cool deal the way Volosong chose his handle. as we had a few words, along comes JimmyNH. Crazy Jimmy always insisting on shooting a few pics ha ha!

As I was chatting with the boys a rider flew by and shouted, "Beanz, you're my hero!". Later when I finally realized who it was, I saw that he had a recorder on his bike, maybe he said, " Beanz, wave to my Hero (go pro) ha ha!

I figured he had a minute or two on me before I headed down so maybe I could catch up. So I flew down the hill with high hopes. Passed a few riders but none had the light colored bike that I figured he was riding. So finally I catch a dude with a light colored bike. He looks back at me then pics it up a bit. So I step on the gas figuring it could be the guy. I shoot some video then later roll by the guy and ask if he is a forum member but he says no. At the the bottom I explain why I was recording him,he just laughed and said he couldn't figure out why I was shooting him ha ha! Oops!

So a couple minutes later another dude on a Linskey rides up from behind us at the gate. Then he introduces himself as Drydenfire. Oh dude, I feel so stupid ha ha! He chats for a very short bit then rides off. I guess he and his buds had pulled over to the side of the road somewhere along the way and I just rolled right on by them ha ha!

Well I did the ride today with Tony. I had tried to talk him up many times over the years with no luck. But a new bike, a closed road, he couldn't resist this time. He did very well and like so many others, I'm sure he's wondering why he hesitated. Aimee was also along for the ride. She had a 6 week period off the bike, 3 week traveling the world vacation but wasn't feeling well the last few days. When I sent the invite last night she said maybe since she wasn't all that well. But of course, the Beanz charm is talking riders up GMR again and again ha ha! I told her that we would ride easy, sort of a recuperation ride. So she agreed knowing it would do her good. Well we started easy and she stuck to the plan for quite some time. Wow, that is good for the discipline aspect of cycling. But later yeah, she must have been feeling good. By Newman's point, the ride had done it's job. She was feeling better and once again punishing me on the climb. Well I have to say that she usually crushes me on the climb but this time holding back in recup, she was only punishing me ha ha! Tony did complain about his legs after 2 miles up. But like I always say, that is the toughest part so once we were beyond 3 o 4, he was finding his groove. By the time we were near Peacock Saddle I was happy that we were at the end of the "Out" portion of our trip. Any further and I would have more than likely lost contact with the two!






Met so many people today, had to make a separate video





Ride video: FTR it is scary descending with one hand at this speed trying to capture the guy on the descent. I thought it was one of the forum members that shouted my name at the shack. I flew down the mountain tyring to catch him. The rider later asked me why I was taking his pic. I explained then we laughed cause I had the wrong guy.



                                                                           Aimee

                                                           Me, Aimee and Tony

                                                            Mat and Lean Mean Bill

                                                   Forum member Smog Steve, cool dude!

                            Tony at the shack. Expression after asking how he felt his first time up GMR

                                    Famous  GMR Blogger   http://glendoramtnroad.blogspot.com/

                                                 Forum members Billydonn and Volosong

                                                      Me and forum member JimmyNH

                                      Tony after asked what he thought of his new bike on GMR

                                                    We did a short version, the profile

                         
                                  A pic from Billydonn's camera. I believe JimmyNH took the shot!
                                                            Photo courtesy of BD! ;-)

Me&Gina 7/1/12

Started out as a slow ride since we haven't done many two day weekend rides lately. But I will be darned if Gina didn't lift the pace on me today. Set out to do a slow ride but I think she lifted the pace on the return. We ended up doing our 3rd best time on the Strava segment (bridge to bridge) with a 19.8 average. That's pretty darn good late in the ride on a day I was worried she'd poop out early ha ha! But it was another stiff headwind to the coast. The bees were everywhere after the 405 downhill. Patches 1X1 in size all over the center line fora span of about 50 yards. Found out later the bees had been exterminated form a local park so they headed to this area. Of course one in the helmet but with my cat like skill riding with no hands, I was able to remove the little bugger VERY quickly. Although the big bunches of bees were gone on the return, Jordan took one in the neck. Almost as if the last bugger hung around just to poke one into his neck, ouch!

Well we had a some good bike talk at the coast. Tony with the technical stuff and Jordan with the cyclist's psyche stuff. He's got some funny stuff. I guess cause he sees the things I see that other cyclists do that they will always deny ha ha! Don't get me started cause today was no exception.

Anyway the headwind was strong today. At times I was pushing a pretty good effort and doing 14.5 MPH! Gina offered to take the front but I refused with plans to conserve her energy for the later miles. After a while, I did let her take the front a couple of times for a short period. Wow what relief!

During one of Gina's pulls she rolled right by Jackie who was fighting the big headwind alone. She shouted Gina's name but Gina didn't hear or recognize her. First time we've seen Jackie in a jersey. The wind was in Gina's ears so now she knows how I feel when she accuses me of being hard of hearing while being at the front. OK, so I am but on the bike, I got an excuse ha ha! She showed up at the coast stop and had a nice chat with Gina.

After a while I saw an old ride partner roll by. Hey it's Mike! Haven't seen the dude in 10 years. Back on the bike a few weeks ago and making his return to cycling. Dude could out sprint me and other partners with ease. We'd struggle to hit 30 on the trail while he was pulling away at 36. He and I also did lots of training rides before the Rosarito Ensenada ride. We set our best time on that ride together with a 2:34 for the 50 miler.

I tried to get some background beefcake for the wimmins but that chick got in the way, darn it!

                                                                              Jackie

                                                               Old ride partner Mike

                                 What is this? Sailboat trying to take out surfers? Close to the coast.

Yes, it's summer so I am taking one for the team. Sometimes you just got to post some candy for the guys!

                                    My bikes hoping to pass the TJ Inspection (Tony and Jordan)

SART 06/30/12

Where do I begin? OK, set out for another trail ride with Gina and Aimee. Aimee's been on vacation for 3 weeks traveling the world, even watched the last stage of the Giro. Today was her first time back on the bike after 6 weeks so she took it easy on us. We stopped under the trees at Imperial right before heading back to the coast when EricAnderson rode up doing his one legged drills. He headed north as we headed south only to be passed by Eric. Meh! He was just showing off after getting one of them fancy electronic fit dealie bobs ha ha!

Soon after we run across Genaro at the Edna wooden bridge. We were crossing paths when he had a bottle in his mouth so all I heard was  "brr, ummm, hrr, grr ,bdrrrr!" as he waved us down ha ha! I didn't recognize him at first but with his strange choice of words, I thought he was trying to rob me. Okay, not really but we were in the danger zone so you never know ha ha! We talk for a bit but he won't remove his shades in fear of driving the wimmins crazy with his green eyes cause he's married. Funny but seems we ran into everybody on the way to the coast. It was no problem stopping for a brief chat since there was a pretty stiff headwind. I never argue about about a chance to take a break.

At the coast we ran into several more friends. One of which happened to be Jordan who we had run into earlier at Imperial. He stopped at a mini mart so we figured he'd catch us on the way to the coast. But we had to stop at the leaky fountain to refill our bottles. Just then we saw him go by at a pretty good effort but not knowing we were there. We laughed all the way to the coast thinking he was probably thinking he was pushing harder and harder saying to himself, "I know I can catch them" but never seeing us on the way. Maybe he wasn't but we had a laugh thinking so! But at the coast he told us of his plans to change the "M" on his Moser to "P" for Poser. He's always got something funny to say!

Jed 19 stopped for visit, El Monarch and his daughter from AZ., Louie on his cross bike cruiser. Alex2 was also there but heading out to Long Beach. We thought we'd see him on the way back but we left a little sooner than usual cause I had to get a haircut badly. On the return we ran into Pete. A short chat about the tour then we headed off, had to get that haircut!

I was shocked that the video was over 7 minutes even without a music section. All conversatin' with buds. I didn't realize I talked that much. I kept trying to blame Gina and Aimee but they weren't having any of it ha ha!

Oh oh! Gina sees a Mazda hitch bike rack, getting ideas I see!

                                                  EricAnderson on the warm up, pre 50 mph!

                                     Genaro still looking good after a VERY early morning start

                                                   Alex2 still trying to crack a smile

                                            El Monarcha and daughter, bike and ocean swim

                          Jordan with plans to change the "M" on his Moser to "P" for Poser ha ha!

                                                         Louie having a good time

                                                         Always good to run across Pete

SART (Remembering Robert)

Edit: Still in disbelief, I did some searching on the net and found this :-(


ORANGE – A 43-year-old Anaheim man who died after he crashed into a tree has been identified as Robert Armas, authorities said.
Armas was driving in the 200 block of West Katella Avenue just west of Glassell Street shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree on the roadside, police said.

Armas was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead several hours later, according to Orange County Coroner's Office officials.

Wow, this is hard to believe. Some of you may remember Mad_One (Robert) as one of our ride partners and friends that rode with us for quite some time on SART (09 and then some).  Well he had some problems with a brain tumor about 2 years ago, cancer. He received medical treatment and was doing better. But doc's orders, no driving or riding. So he rode the bus to work for quite some time. He had just gotten a new car and a new condo just around the corner form A Stadium right before discovering the tumor.

So we kept in touch then later became friends on facebook. He couldn't ride but said that he hoped to get well soon. About 5 months ago he lost one of his friends to cancer and her death hit him pretty hard. But still he continued to keep in touch with hopes to ride again with us on SART.

His birthday was in early May so I posted on his wall a Happy Birthday. He didn't respond but a couple days later he posted on his wall, "I could really use a Ding Dong right now." I didn't think anything of it but after finding the sad news Saturday night, I'm thinking this might have been one of his last days and a last chance to post. The good bye's were posted on his Facebook page on May 21'st.

This morning Gina and I were talking about our rides with Mad_One back in the day. I thought it was strange that I hadn't heard from him in a while so I looked at his FB page only to find the sad news. A few comments and good bye's from friends and relatives. So sad, Robert was a very cool guy and always happy to be on the bike.


I just can't believe it, losing good buddies and fellow riders to cancer.:-(

                                                                We'll miss you Robert! :(

                                        
                              



So today Gina and I rode alone so we had a chance to stop and remember Robert and the times we had on the trail. Gina being the sensitive soul shed a few tears for Robert. As well as remembering our other buddy Boyd, then Gina's Dad and step mother all within the last 3 or 4 months.


We rode alone but did get a chance to ride with Jack the 80 year old stud on his recumbent (in video). I've told the story before. We met Jack when he was 65 and he was a super fast rider on his upright. Also a cancer survivor and still riding his bent. It's like this guy just wants to ride!







                                                                         Today's pit stop!

                                   See, now in my opinion, if this gal invested in a better bike, I don't
                                             think she'd  need to walk her bike up the little inclines.

                                       

Well I somehow got talked into riding up GMR after work. Not sure how Hillbasher got me up there but we were there ha ha! I didn't take the recorder figuring we wouldn't see many others, wrong! Heck, I think we saw more familiar faces than on the weekends. Well, Matt and his crew of coworkers. Ended up riding part of the way with the crew as they turned off at Newman's Point while Hillbasher and I rolled on up to the landing above the shack. Matt and one of his buddies had already been to the shack but found it in their legs to head up once again with his crew. Now I know, always be prepared with the recorder ha ha!

I must say, after seeming to end up on night shifts at work over several years, this had to be my first after work evening ride since way back in about 2006 'ish. Felt good. Body is much warmer and looser than after waking from a deep sleep for a ride after a night at work. Even after a few injuries from battling giant spiders, I felt pretty good! ;-)

It was warm at the start 

                                                                                                                                                                              

                                               Running into Matt and his friends/coworkers

                                                   Classic Hillbasher & Mt Baldy fascination

                                                              Ready in case it gets dark

                                                    Hillbasher descending into the sunset