Mr. Beanz And His Bike Rides: Oh My Garsh It's Been Too Long Ride

Too many grand kid parties, too many umm, something! Anyway it was our first ride in a long time and it felt like it. Much better than I expected though. Gina cramped 3 times and had to slow down but overall still averaged 16.2 for the entire 42 miles. Not bad for too much time off.

I'm thinking I started off a bit to fast for Gina. She rarely cramps but after time off maybe I should have warmed up much longer than we did. When we arrived at the trail head, Jose was talking to some dude on a wheel chair type bike. Hand bike, sorry but I don't know the technical terms for such bikes. He told Jose the story of his accident that paralyzed his lower body. Motorcycle accident years back on the 210 fwy. He asked Jose if he could ride with us claiming to hold 20 MPH at times. No problem! He introduced himself as Alejandro. Seemed like a cool guy so we headed off toward Imperial. We usually slow roll at 14 for a while but because this guys was with us, I didn't want to go too slow and ruin his ride so we were quickly up to 17. Too soon for Gina but that's one of the mistakes one can make at the front of the group. So as we neared Imperial I moved to the left letting Gina roll by hoping to get a clip of the group with Alejandro on his hand bike. She rolled by but quickly cramped in her right calf. She moved right then Aimee pulled up somewhat confused but I told her go so that I could get the shot and Gina was still close and our stop was real close. So I go the somewhat jumbled shot (as seen in video ha ha). But as he pulled off Alejandro continued on and gave us a shout. His norm is 25 miles and we were doing 42 so I'm not sure why but he split with us at that point. Either way , he was rolling pretty good on a bike using only his arms.

So we continue on the ride and Gina is doing very well. We stopped for a break later in ride so I mixed my my G-ade powder and told her to drink it for some electrolytes. I'm not thirsty! I had to go through the entire lecture again. One thing about Gina, she will argue about intake. I'm not thirsty, I'm not hungry! So I end up on her case about the issue. Finally when she sees that look in my eye, I think she gets the hint that she better go along with the program. I'm not sure what it is , maybe she is waiting for science to change their theory on required intake and physical exercise. 17 years of riding and they still haven't gone the direction of the egg and chocolate and I'm thinking it won't. Anyway, I'm getting pissy now so let me change the subject ha ha!

So we hop back on the road and as we leave the park and cross the bridge, a couple of fit looking guys are behind us. They hang back for a while but a couple miles down the road they decide to blaze by us. I'm the type of guy that figures, hey if you pass us, then you must be a stronger rider. But don't let me see you fade down the way ha ha! Sure enough it happens, they fade. Still I really don't pay much attention at this point but we do roll by the pair and sure enough they hop on the back and suck wheel. No big deal!

OK, now the big deal! hey suck wheel for a while then they sprint around once again in a blaze of glory ha ha! Now the game is on ha ha! Gina is doing OK now, not great but if she can hang with us and we keep running down these two guys, she's doing pretty good! I know if she can beat these guys on a bad day, she'd smoke them on a good day. So they get ahead once again and I just keep a good pace figuring we'll pass them again. So we close a gap of about 100 yards to 20 and the guys are looking back in panic ha ha! Oh we got them but just then Gina shouts "Cramp!"....DAMN!

So we are about a mile from the coast and the guys pull away. So I tell Aimee, go get em! She's a little shy at time so she says no that's OK. But knowing how competitive she can be I said C'mon, go show 'em what you can do, can't let the young guys get off that easy. So she took off and I could see her rapidly close a gap of about 50 yards like nothing! I see her blow by the first guy then the second guy hopped her wheel. Gina is drifting back and Jose stays back with us but I tell him the same thing. He says he will stay with us but I tell him, hey they want to play games, go show them what it's all about. So he takes off and by this time there is a huge gap. At this point I can't see anything but Jose catches them both and leaves them behind and Aimee had already dropped the stronger rider that hopped her wheel.

I see so many riders playing little games like this that I figure OK, let's play ha ha! Gina couldn't this day but for those that know Jose, they know he does not dress the part of a cyclist and rides an older down tube shifter steel bike and Aimee, well she'd just a GIRL! So its kind of funny to see them drop riders on fancy bikes with fancy kits like hot potatoes! BTW, these are guys that choose to PLAY THE GAME. There are some riders that just do their own thing but when they choose to play, you better not show weakness or we'll getcha ha ha!

We did see Alex on another 100 miler. Surprise guest appearance by Brian. Haven't seen him out there for a while but he's always good for some laughs! Rick, used to ride with us once in a while but haven't seen him much. Seems he's been busy riding more in the canyon than on the trail. That's always good, people should spend more time on the climbs and hills, really adds to the riding experience! Not to mention a different attitude from the riders.