Yankee Clipper & Don

Solo, well mostly solo miles today. Gina had things to do preparing for a birthday party tonight. 44 miles/ 16.9 average speed. Wow what a windy day. I was killing it at the start of the ride. Had a 17.3 from Rampart to Yorba Park. Then held a 17.2 into the wind from Yorba to Edna Park. From there it was all down hill ha ha! I was pushing as hard as I could and only doing 14 MPH the last 2 mile stretch from the wooden bridge to the beach.

Ran into Don there who was doing his usual 53. I had to rush back so I took a short break chatting with Don about videos. Notice the recorder on his helmet, he's entering the video world ha ha! We headed off together so that I could take a few shots of Don in action. As soon as we hit the trail, he took off like a bullet. I had to warm my legs back up so it took me a couple of miles to catch him. Finally I caught on the back and got a little draft so that I could take a breather and whip out my camera. I took a few shots then moved to the front. We held a pretty good pace on the return. We were pumping pretty good and after viewing Don's Strava, I noticed he had a whole bunch of 2nd and 3rd awards on his segments. BUT I also counted 18 PR's (personal records) along the way. Way to go DON!

Along the way back, some dude joined us for a while. Near the final miles of my return (12 miles/ Don still had 21 miles on his return) the dude insisted on taking the front. We were doing fine but he moved up anyway which was cool! Not very often does someone "volunteer" to take the front ha ha! So why not ?!

On the early section of my ride, I stopped at Yorba for a breather before heading back to the coast. This dude rode up and started chatting with me right away, friendly feller! We spoke about rides, experiences, the trail etc. Turns out we've both been out there for quite some time. I probably won't get this right but he mentioned starting up some org called "HUBBA" (told you I would not get it right). I forgot the specifics but turns out I might have met one of his partners back in 05 or 06. I saw some guys stop and start sweeping up some debris on the trail (broken glass). I'm figuring that was his buddy working with him. Some tri dude I want to say his name was Bob.

I figured that out after the dude told me that he went by "Yankee Clipper". Why? Because he carries clippers with him (see pic). He stops and clips away branches, twigs, etc whatever can be a hazard along the trail. He also mentioned something about being a trail runner and clipping twigs clearing stuff from the running trails as well, for the safety of the runners. Very cool! I may not get all the details correct, but you get the idea. So if you see this guy out there, say thanks! ;-)

We rode  together for a little bit so I did manage to get a few shots of the guy. Least I could do for his efforts cleaning the trail! :-)



                                 Yankee Clipper (there is a story to the name!) Hope I got the name right.                                                                        Could be Patriot Clipper ha ha!

Don