Lots of friends out today! We start at the fire station (Orangewood) and head inland as usual. Somewhere around Tustin we cross paths with Ron and Dixie on their tandem heading in the opposite direction. A quick wave thinking they are gone only to find they turned around and caught us from behind. We ride and chat for a bit then turn back at Imperial. Yeah, it's windy heading to the coast. So they take the front and we just hang on for a while. Knowing this is Gina's 3rd time on the bike in nearly two months I know she won;t be able to keep Ron and Dixie's wheel cause they are fast! Maybe on a good day she might hang longer but not with all the time off so we hang for a couple miles for some footage then drop off as planned. Gina did do very well on the ride but I just know there ain't no way with a team like Ron and Dixie.
A bit later in the ride I notice someone catches us form behind and is on our wheel. I have no idea who is there but then I hear someone say "Mr. Beanz". Turns out it is Scott and Laura on a tandem. I have to find out who they are so we chat a bit. Scott is a member of the forums but mostly a lurker. We end up riding the remainder to the coast then they stop for a visit. The more I see them the more I start to recognize them. We'd cross paths before but just never formally met. Nice people with some good bike rides like PS and Borrego Bash.
Next thing I know there are a ton of friends at the beach stop. Mark & Gale, Pete, JMX, Alex2, Bad Bob, The Legend Greg, Dr. Sarah, Peggy, the whole gang. Dang it! Now I just realized I omitted some video footage of JMX and Bad bob. JMX showing off his bike, new wheels and Bad Bob on online tires. Bummer but I did speak with JMX about his latest rides like Breathless Agony and his great finishing times. Although he didn't seem to happy with them, I'm guessing he's going for the course record next year. I wouldn't put it past him after running into him on GMR during his training rides.
After the long visit at the coast we headed back with Pete, Mar& Gale. Gale took the front for quite some time so we were happy to just stay in line. Alex2 soon caught us from behind to join the group. About 5 miles in I could see Gina was getting tired. But that was cool cause I was expecting it after so much time off the bike and she had done well on the first portion of the ride. About this time is when Alex2 took the front and did a darn good job of holding a steady pace but the little incline (405) blew Gina off the back. The group pulled away so I dropped back for Gina. She did manage to recover so I pulled her back up to the group. I was actually surprised that she had in in her to close the gap but she's strong just a little out of form. At this time Pete was up front doing a nice pace and still Gina hung tough.
Nice group ride, all riders were very steady and held a good pace. But by the time we reached Edna Park I thing Gina was a little too tired to hold exact pace with the group so we dropped back for the last 2 miles. I had no problem slowing since Thursday was a 10 hour shift, Friday a 9 hour shift only to come home to have Gina slave me around moving furniture ha ha! Hey, if I can find 1 excuse to slow down, I can still find 100 others. ;-)
Ron & Dixie, Scott & Laura, Greg/ Peggy/ Bob, Dr Sarah, JMX, Gail & Pete
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