After a ride up GMR, nothing better than a nice trail ride. Supposed to be a nice ride but leave it to Gina to find the one and only staple on the entire trail haha! Not even a new tires stands up to a staple.
As we're on the side of the road, just short of Edna Park, I hear shouting down the trail. Yup, it's Louie and friends! We chat a bit then they get on with the plug. Sikad ng Bayan Bike ride, lots of food and fun coming in April.
Crazy Louie, claims that his computer monitors heart rate, blood sugar and a little alarm when it's time for the viagara haha! Ben, Louie, and Rob head off then we head to the coast where we meet Jeff and Angie. Thinking we'd get done early, PSSSHT! Flat tires, another late ride.
A super nice day on GMR. Perfect weather for the climb. Gina climbed to the shack while Hillbasher and I hit Peacock Saddle. Had to work off some of the turkey and desserts ha ha! Right away we ran into JMX of the SoCal forums. Dude is crazy! Training for a double he was riding for time. I forget the target number of hours but it was crazy too. He had already gone to the village once and was heading back a second time, WOW! Later I ended up driving up GMR and saw the guy going up a third time, what an animal. I believe he said about 10,000 ft of climbing by the end of his ride.
Also ran across Glendora Mountain Road blogger and Bill. GMR headed back up with us for a bit, another climb repeater ha ha! She rode with us for a bit then headed back down. So the three of us continued on up with Gina doing very well. Heck, she was complaining cause we stopped too much ha ha!
Once HB and I returned from the saddle, we took a picture break at the landing above the shack (Monroe). Along comes Bing and his buddies Jose and I don't remember the other guy's name, sorry. More crazy guys, did GMR, then Crystal lake, back up to GMR then to Bonelli their start point. 82 miles, nearly 10,000 ft of climbing.
Well we started down a couple minutes after Bong, Jose, and buddy. Just after Newman's, we approach a turn and bad news, Jose is laid out in the middle of the road. He's very still and the guys are over him offering assistance. Jose is pretty beat up so we stop approaching traffic and riders. Wouldn't you know, a quiet day but when something happens, every body and their grandmothers show up on motorcycles, hot rods, and bicycles.
The guys startd from Bonelli so their vehicles are not within reach. The guys manage to get Jose up and to the side of the road. Pretty nice of the Harley riders to offer help and cell phones, thanks people! So the guys ask if I can get my truck to give Jose and his bike a ride back to Bonelli to meet them. Sure! We head down, Gina waits at the equestrian center while I drive back up, then deliver Jose to Bonelli park to wait for his friends.
Driving back, Jose didn't look too good. Plenty of scrapes on his arms and hands and can't move his shoulder. Didn't seem to be a clavicle, maybe a separated shoulder? We talked on the return and he seemed to be in his right mind so that was a good sign. The guys were training for the Tour De Francis next weekend. I don't think Jose will be on the ride.
But other than that, a beautiful day. From the mountain, you could see the sun's reflection on the ocean. The picture doesn't do the sight justice!
Started out as nice quiet ride with Gina, Aimee and Jose. But at the coast we ran into Mark & Gail, Bad Bob in Blue, EricAnderson along with Varone and his buddies. A few stories about the sweet Dogma then they were off. Jeff and Angie soon rolled up so we knew we were in for a fast return. We only did one ride last week so I was surprised that Gina was kicking some butt today. At one point I dropped back to get some footage just when Jeff and Angie dropped the hammer......AGAIN! I just watched as Gina rode their wheel away from me. I had to really work hard to get back up to them. I did catch PinoyBenter and a few of the RiverVelo boyz ride by.
Again, saw Alex2 but he didn't catch us on the return, once again. Wow, trying to keep up with Jeff & Angie on the tandem really lifts our pace. Alex usually catches us but the last two times has fallen short. Fast women, fast bikes making it tough ha ha! We did see EricAnderson as well. I thought he might catch us too but again, those darn fast women! ;-)
One dude in the Simple Green outfit (picture) rode by when I was taking a pic of Gina at the end of our ride. He doubled back and asked if he should take a pic of the two of us. I thanked him even though we didn't but I did grab a pic of the guy. That was nice of him!
So THAAAAANKS to Alyce we hit up GMR again ha ha! We had a nice easy ride planned but Alyce asks the question last night, "we doing GMR?" Ha ha, there goes our nice ride and now Gina's got to work on the ride. Funny but out of all the riders I know, Alyce is one of the only riders that ASKS for GMR by name ha ha! Cool though, if it weren't for Alyce, we would have been slackers today!
So our plan was to do GMR on Sunday but the rain forecast changed that, Alyce asked so we hit GMR. A few short notice invites to those who had been interested in GMR. So we connect again with Raphael and Jessa. I am a little confused cause last time we met, they had different names ha ha! But they did bring their buddy Dave to the ride. Another invite to JeepSeaHawk of the forums so he was along for the ride.
Figuring R$J were double century riders, my plan was to hang for a while then drop back for Gina. But the whole group was cool. They stuck to our plan so we were able to stay together as a group for pretty much most of the ride. all did very well on the climb including Jessa who has a remarkable story. Wow, the things people overcome!
At the start we caught a glimpse of GMR and Matt heading up. Seemed to be in a hurry but we got in a quick wave. Later we run into Mr GMR at a turnout. Short chat then he was on his way. Always nice to see Bill! Ron on his hybrid rolls up to the shack as we hang around. He keeps eyeballin' the bikes saying they look familiar as if he'd seen them on a site or blog. Nah, not my bike ha ha! We chat for a bit then he continues on to the village.
At the end of the ride, we figure a quick plan for some eats. Hey, what about the rib and chicken joint I mentioned earlier in my post? It was on and we hit up the $5.50 special. I think just about everybody was happy with the meal.
But it was the cycling stories after the meal that were entertaining. Wow, Raphael and Dave are evil ha ha! Some great funny stories and lots of loud laughs going on. Some good stuff, we arrived at the rib joint about 1:30 and didn't leave till nearly 4:00. Like I said, Raphael and Dave are evil ha ha! Great stories! Jessa? Wow, nice lady, very pleasant, sweet but yet a darn good rider. Lots of fun today!
Just cleaned our bikes. Gina's Pilot 5.2 has 14,700 miles and still looking good. Mine is the Madone 4.7, new frame with old components (26,000 miles). Although they are always pretty clean, I polished them today. Sadly, it's raining outside and rain in the forecast for Sunday, bummer!
Just messing around with the bikes showing them some love! We can't be riding dirty bikes!
