MTB Ride

12 point something miles with 2247 ft of gain, 2 loops at Claremont Hills. Set 19 PR's today on Strava. Last time I did this ride was April 2013. So I am happy. It actually felt kind of easy today, must be the weight loss. :-P

I must be getting old! Today on my bike ride up the dirt mountain 4 people shouted all the same thing, "good job SIR!!!". gasp emoticon 1 kid, 1 girl, and 2 women all called me SIR ha ha! Some kind of scheme to make me feel old? They all said the exact same thing ha ha!

OK, a video! :-P

I did a few different scenes using the handlebar K Edge mount, some using the chesty mount, some with the roll bar mount on the rear wishbone seat stay in  order to get a few different views. I meant to place it on the down tube capturing the front wheel view but forgot ha ha!

Wow Windy Tandem

Wowzwer was it ever windy!  Did 41 miles (16.0 MPH average) on the tandem with Gina. I knew it would be windy so we took the tandem ha ha! Good thing, at times we were working our butts of doing 9 MPH near Imperial. After leaving the coast was another rough section doing 12 MPH working hard! Mike started the ride with us then we ran into Mark and Gail at Edna Park heading to the coast. Rode with them for a while then did a section back with Alex. Pretty rough day but well worth it as there were not many riders out there.

A sample of today's headwind.

Mark's Christmas socks!

Tandem Sunday

44 miles at 16.7 average. Set out for an easier ride this time. It went that way for the first 3/4 of the ride but then things got a bit faster on the way back. We had pulled for the first 16 miles but when things got hot, Gina kind of pooped out on me. So we just let the guys go and fell behind the last mile or so. Still not a bad average considering that Gina has only been on the bike one time per week for the last few weeks. Of course riding the tandem is tough when you try to hold someone's wheel. we pulled fora while at 20 but when we moved over to let somebody else take the front, the pace lifted to 22 plus. No way were we going to recover at that pace after taking the front. So I just told Gina to back off and we'd just make our way the last mile.

Average temp was 63 degrees. Cool by our California standards but hey, no rain! :-)

AC/DC.......Guitar stuff

So when the temps get cooler I like to play me some AC/DC to warm things up! OK not really, but I have been practicing these songs and they sound cool playing along with the recordings.

I like the shirt but now I look like Beavis and Butthead ha ha!

Gina was out Christmas shopping and saw this shirt and figured I'd want it for my next video ha ha! Better than a chicken head hat! Portions of 3 songs, Back in Black, Highway to Hell, and You Shook Me All Night Long.





This is what I mean by turkey hats ha ha! Gina buys me hats to wear when I make my guitar videos ha ha . A couple songs I am trying to learn. Keep in mind I am not a singer, I just try to sing along to piece the song together.

Helter Skelter and Revolution

Riding With The Boys! No Gina

44 miles @ 19.2 MPH average speed. Gina took the day off to go Christmas shopping so it gave me a chance to rid with the boys. Turned out to be a nice fast ride with lots of teamwork. I'm always trying to coordinate the riders hoping to get in a nice consistent pace. I myself like to ride with guys that actually "ride with you". Many time we have a nice thing going but somebody will take the front and instead of giving the guy who just pulled off the front a chance to catch his breath, the rider will sprint away or lift the pace 3 or 4 MPH. Never made sense to me! Why try to kill the guy who just gave you a break? Not to mention, by the time the others catch up, the sprinter dude has just faded and pulling off the front after  30 seconds or so.

Well today I told the guys the plan right from the start and all agreed. Along  the way we did pick up a few riders here and there who did take a pull at the front. There were a couple of times that Jose fell off the back but IMO it was that he was not given a fair chance to catch his breath. One time the rider in front of him sprinted and opened a big gap. So Jose responded pulling us back up to the rider (who happened to be doing less than the mileage we were riding). It was a super hard one minute effort and just as Jose caught the guy, he swerved off the front and left Jose out to dry. I know I was getting toasty at this point but Jose was at the front so I'm sure he really felt it. Then on the next underpass he really faded up the ramp into the wind. We rolled around him then he quickly fell behind and could not seem to catch back on at the end of the line. Mike was at the front now and was rolling pretty good. I looked back and noticed Jose so I shouted out to Mike to hold it down a notch for a minute to allow Jose to get back on. I dunno, I just can't find it in me to ditch a rider that has helped you along the way. On the return it seemed to be an identical situation. Could have been a bit of bad planning on his part this time. He had pulled maybe a little too long then pulled off the front right before we hit the ramp right after the 405 tunnel. I think again he was toasted then Mike took the front and picked it up to 23 right after the short climb. Jose fell off the back again. I'm thinking not enough time to recover. So again I shouted out to Mike who held it back for a minute or so. Jose got back on then we continued. I somehow got ahead of Mike and though out of turn I held the front at a steady pace giving Jose a chance to recover. After a while I could tell by his shadow that he was comfortable. OK cool, now I'll move over. We had a plan to hold it steady at about 20 but once Joaquin got in front, again the pace went back up to 23 MPH. But I could still see Jose's shadow next to my rear wheel and could tell he was comfortable once again. Joaquin pulled for a good clip then pulled off. He looked tired so as I took the front once again I made sure to hold the same or lower pace. I was probably doing about 21.5 at this point figuring he should recover. I'm not sure what happened and the others didn't say anything but once we got to the wooden bridge we noticed he was pretty far behind us. I had thought about slowing down but this was the end of his 20 miler as he stops and starts at Edna Park. So heck, we just continued and Jose was still with us. We had a plan of trying to hold an 18+ average. I would have been happy with 18.5 but at this point we had an 18.9 so heck no I ain't stopping now ha ha!

Mike seemed to fall out of order on the way back but knowing he had fresh legs I figured I could use him at the end of the ride. Jose and I had 44 miles on Saturday too where Mike didn't ride so I knew he was the fresher of the bunch, Sure enough he had a pretty good kick left at the end. At one point he was pushing pretty good holding 25 MPH! We had about a 1/2 mile left and no way was I going to let this 19.0 average go now ha ha! I stuck on his wheel and enjoyed the ride back to the finish. I was hoping for an 18.5 but ended up with a 19.2, wowzer I'm happy with it!



                                            Saw PinoyBnter Ron on the trail.

That's me, Pretty In Pink!

Tandem Saturday SART

Gina and I headed out on the tandem for an easy ride. Jose came along f the ride so I figured we would swap turns. I wanted to save some energy for Sunday since Gina will not be riding and I would like to try to lift the pace some if I can. Usually we/I pull for the first 25 miles then let the others help out at times. Today I switched after 5 miles or so ha ha. We did do a nice steady pace the whole time till we headed back from the coast. That is where we ran into Alex who headed back with us. He took the front after a mile or so and lifted the pace. He ended up pulling us the entire way back to Edna Park  at a 21.3 average speed  ha ha so I wasn't complaining!  (Strava Bridge to bridge/ North)

I'm not sure what the heck went on with Strava but  our Garmin was reading a 17.0 average when we finished the ride. Garmin recorded it at 17.0 also but Strava registered our ride at 16.6! What the heck?! So I am sticking with Garmin ha ha!

Earlier on  the ride we arrived at Yorba Park, our turn around point before heading back to the coast. There we ran into a couple of riders. The dude said hello when he rode up so I figured he was a friendly dude. So I started asking about his bike. Nice bike, a Giant with disc brakes. His wife also had a really nice bike. Black bike with celeste green trim. Looked really nice. We spoke for a while and of course I gave them then whole Mr. Beanz blog story and half of my past life experiences ha ha! They were kind enough to listen. I told you they were nice ha ha! Really cool people so I naturally I had to take a pic and get their story. They hit Green River then headed back to the coast. Oh before I forget, their names are Kristi and Steve. I am not sure because in our conversation they seemed concerned about the wind near the coast, but I think they should have nearly 60 miles on today's ride. Quite a ride! Kristi mentioned doing Tour De Palm Springs. It will be their first so she said they might do the 25 miler or maybe a more. You know me, I had to suggest the 65 miler. If one can do 60 n SART, one can do the 65 in Palm Springs with all the encouragement out there. Of course I suggested the entire century. I think they can do with proper nutritional intake. Well there I go sounding like a drill sergeant again ha ha! But my money says if they go, they will surely do the longer ride.

Usually we leave the coast and ride back to the truck. This time we had to stop at Edna Park on the way back because I left on of my Camel Back bottles there ha ha! Fortunately it was right where I left it on the water fountain. I'm really surprised. I thought I'd get back there to find it stepped on, spit on or even melted down laying out on the sidewalk next to a book of matches ha ha!

So even though I feel ripped off by Strava today, it was a good day having met a couple of new friends! :-)

                                                                  Kristi and Steve

Alex explaining to me how he watches my videos at home on his TV screen. Says his wife an kids checked them out too. His son told him that he figured it took me over 2 hours to create and post a video. Sure does, nearly 3 hours so it was nice to know someone recognizes the amount of time I put into them. OF course whenever we ride with Alex, it's a good pace so the video usually comes out pretty good. FTR, Alex does 100 miles out there at 17.5 average speed so he's usually hauling pretty good!

It's kind of hard snapping pictures at 23 mph but somebody's got to do it!

Yay, my bottle is still there! Let me celebrate by taking a picture of Gina he he he!

SART Sunday

Another 44 on singles. 16.3 average.

Chicken & Ribs after the ride. (Azusa)

Gina didn't want the coleslaw so she went with a double scoop of rice.  Hmm, something looks familiar but I just can't seem to put my finger on them, err I mean it! :-P

SART Fun Saturday

44 miles at 17.9 average according to Garmin. Forget Strava, they keep docking us .1 MPH ha ha!

Pics for now.

Stretch!