GMR 9/30/10

Strange weather on GMR today. Hot on the way up, then it's windy, then it cools off with a cloud cover, then cloudy and dark, then hot again, then it's humid, you get the idea. Just happy it didn't rain!

Hillbasher and I getting ready to head up as a 3 RiverVelo Boyz reach the bottom. Pinoybenter, ChromeSE5 and buddy Gil. Crazy dudes are riding singlespeeds! A litte chat and some posing then we head up where we run into FryDaddy again. The dude lives in the mountains! He had done a couple climbs to the halfway point (4 miles), then one to the shack, then turned around and headed back up with us again to the halfway point, crazy!

Took a few pics but as he turned to head down, Ooops, flat tire. He walked to a flat shady spot to do the repair. I offered my pump but he was well prepared so we headed up. As he's walking back I made a comment on video, "I sent FryDaddy walking home cause he was scared to race me up GMR". Believe me, that was a joke and he knows it, the dude cuts my time in half on the climb. It just fit the scene haha!

Hillbasher and I head to the shack for a little leisurely ride. We meet a hunter Troy who tells us a few hunter stories. Cool, I'll listen, just don't shoot me in the ribs with that bow haha! Bow hunting stories are actually quite interesting, and the cost? Sheesh, I could have a full carbon roadie for the price of them suckers! Then along comes Josh to the shack on the way to the village. A few words then he rolls off into the mountains.

In the pic with Hillbasher, I actually photochopped FryDaddy's head from one picture to the other. I like the pose but I caught him in midbite on a Powerbar haha! So no, his face is not paralyzed. It does change from pic to pic, I chopped it so it may look like he has only one expression haha!

SART 9/26/10

Hot ride on the trail today with Gina. Not much in the way of ride footage so I just posted a couple clips of some madness. We did however run into Lucas at the coast. WHAT! Another set of wheels? Pretty nice wheels, I'll give him that!

Also ran into an older gentelman and friend, 78 year old Jack. Now this dude is one of my heroes. The story you ask? Gina and I met Jack back in 1998 at his age of 65. We had just bought our tandem and were geting pretty good at riding it since we rode tandem for nearly a year straight without touching the singles. Keep in mind, Jack still dresses the same. So he pulls up and inquires about the tandem a bit, then offers some riding tips. Yeah yeah, who is this old guy? He says, "well see ya kiddies later!" Then BAM he's GONE! OK, so maybe this old dude dressing funny does know something about riding. FTR, he was riding an upright at the time and not the bent he rides now.

We see him week after week and jeepers, the dude is fast! We'd leave the coast together and within one mile, he's out of sight, and we were on the tandem thinking we were doing pretty good. Never has he changed outfit styles and rode his bike with his icechest type helmet, a very deceiving dude on a good but not so fancy looking bike. This is the time in your life when you realize, it aint the bike.

So one day he pulls up showing us his computer registering 24 mph AVERAGE on his ride. Holy smokes! 65 year old dude doing 24! Which leads to a funny story. We're at the coast one day and a large group of hotshot race club riders (according to their jerseys) shows up from a local LBS (I won't mention names to save those the embarrassment haha!). The group of about 15 start to headout from the beachstop then Jack says, "well kiddies, let me head on out with these guys and see if I can keep up". I just laughed and said, "take it easy on them Jack!".

A couple of the guys looked at me and laughed as if to say "yeah right". That's the beauty of Jack's ride attire! Gina and I head out about 2 minutes after the group and Jack. We hit the Honda Center Park to refill water and the group is there. I walked up to the guy that laughed when I made the comment to Jack and asked, "where's the old guy?" he just looked at me and said, " that mother (insert word here) took off and dropped all of us!". I just laughed and said, "that's what I thought haha!". Geeze, I hate to see guys get old, especially the old heroes but it happens. But the lesson learned, you can learn alot for the old guys and don't judge a book by the cover, or a rider by his otfit! 78 now and just won a battle with some cancer, the dude still has the spirit of a warrior!

Amazing rider....Jack on his bent.
Lucas with the new wheels
Gina after a Hot ride
My picture, I asked Gina to snap a pic of me with beach scenery in the background. Hey, I had no idea the girl was in the picture, darn Gina!

GMR 9/25/10

Another ride up GMR with Gina, her 5th week in a row. Today she said she actually felt better in the late miles after warming up on the climb. Did run into the famous GMR Blogger and buddies. Matt in the blue jersey, Bill in the red helmet and Johnny. Matt was cool enough to hang back with Gina and I for a while and some good chattin' while Glendora Mtn Road blogger flew up the climb. Really surprised that Gina got out of bed at 5:30 to beat the heat haha!

Matt is one of GMR's biggest fans and had plenty good things to say about her blog and mine. Much appreciated Matt!;)

GMR 9/23/10

Solo ride on GMR, and a very little section of GRR for some pics. Figured I'd see how old and slow I am getting so I pushed on the way up. Not bad, 1:02 to the shack. Might have been able to cut a few seconds if I had not used the recorder on the way up. Hmmm, :56 is my PR but that was 20 lbs ago so being the first time pushing myself in a long time, I'm not sad about it. Just trying to get back into shape anyways haha!

I did see FryDaddy and RidinDirty on the way up. They said they were heading back up for a repeat but I never saw them. I did a couple miles on GRR to waste time and take pics which would give them time to head back up. After GRR, I hung at the shack for another 30 minutes but they never showed. Oh well, I have a way of entertaining myself anyway! But I did see this very mean looking spider, mean looking sucker!

First pic is from GRR looking at the climb back up to the shack from the fork, wow. Second pic is looking down on Lil GMR from GRR, there's a motorcycle dude in the upper switchback. Third one is the meanlookingspider haha!

GMR 9/21/10

Another GMR ride with Hillbasher. Ran into Richard (Harley Dude) on the way up. I guess he's already a well known character via Annette's GMR blog. He told us a story of being recognized after having his pic posted. Annette is making stars out of them people up there haha!

Hillbasher is a little nutty, rode GMR yesterday evening, worked the night shift then rode back up GMR on no sleep. Crazy, I know I wouldn't do it! We did a nice ez ride up then had some fun with the cameras and video.

SART 9/19/10

SART ride with Gina and Abec. Did run into another member on the road along the way but his name will not be given in order to protect the innocent haha! Had some laughs with Bad RobBob (I'm confused and don't know exactly what to call him anymore) and The Legend Greg both, of The Haircut Crew. I was surprised with visit from forum member Kaneko. Nice guy and MAN, what a grip. He nearly snapped two of my fingers with a handshake. I held back the tears cause we were in public haha!

Tammy and Alan also showed up, had a good time with the crowd as always. It was pretty nice to meet a couple new people this week. And the line on the return was fun too, always is with a group of good riders!

Another good note is that other riders seem to be taking an interrest in GMR after watching Gina suffer in previous videos. I can say that today Gina was very happy with her ride. Yes, she suffers on the GMR rides but today she dropped the hammer on the trail while noticing a big difference in her performance after some good ol' GMR training haha!

We did meet one guy that was super happy and super proud of his Lemond hahaha! He got the first scene in the video!

GMR Gina 9/18/10

Well, another ride to the shack with Gina. She suffered pretty good today and keeps asking when it's going to get better. Like all good things, it takes time. She says 8 times better be the charm haha! Been 4 weeks but I think it's coming. One day she'll wake up and fly to the shack no sweat. Strange though, she usually complains about the heat but today she didn't. I myself thought it was hot. I like the pic of her sorry little face at the shack asking,"when's it gonna get better?" haha! My best answer is "making it to the shack is a good thingfor any rider!".

We did run into Annette once again, and her buddy Matt who is usually in her ride reports as they both frequent GMR. Nice guy and full of praise for my simple little blog compared to Annette's. Thanks Matt!

9/15 GMR All By Myself

Took advantage of today and did GMR to the Village alone. I was expecting warm weather but very nice, thermo said 75 at the village. Not a bad ride, I was expecting it to be a bit tougher as I haven't done many village rides this year. Felt good most of the way after the first two heavy panting warmup miles as you can hear in the video. Heck, I felt so good I never stopped to stretch or take a pic, I just rode through to the village. All the posing was done on the return portion of the ride. Well other than shooting video and the narration on the way. Hmm, saw FryDaddy up there, said he'd be right back up but never saw him. He's prolly thinking I was only going to the shack.