Mr. Beanz And His Bike Rides: Me&Gina 7/1/12

Sunday, July 1, 2012

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.