SART 60

I was dreading today's ride with Mike. He's in good form and been riding plenty while I hadn't. Heck, didn't even ride last week, maybe one day the week before that ha ha! Then after yesterday's hard fast effort with Joaquin, I was thinking I would die on today's ride trying to keep up with Mike.

But we managed a 60 miler at a 17.5 MPH average speed. Thanks to Eric and his group! Mike and had rode from Orangewood to Green River and not more than a minute after we get there, we see a group of cyclists roll up and regroup, from the Corona direction. Then Eric walks up and says hi! Funny, he always spots me out of a crowd ha ha! Once we were in a dark parking lot (Euro Cafe), dark, baseball cap on, sweats, and he picked me out from across the lot ha ha! Maybe I have this glowing halo type thing hanging around my head that says "Mr. Beanz" ha ha!

But anyway, he says join the group so why not! Mike and I tagged on the back and held on. They were rolling pretty good so we just sat at the back enjoying it. Stopped to regroup a couple of times, once at Yorba Park for a break. Managed to snap a picture of their group picture ha ha! Then headed out again hanging on to the rolling group.

So then their next regroup is the train station but Mike has to go pee-pee and we have never been in the station so we don't know whether or not they have facilities so we say bye and roll on to Edna Park for our break.

We fill the water bottles and I down a Honey Stinger. Mike says he thinks the group will roll up on us since we stopped and they were doing a pretty good pace. Sure enough, somewhere down the road the train pulls up on us. This time, only a few of the guys, one bad ass girl and a couple of new guys. Heck we weren't really familiar with who is who but we hopped on the back again. Again, they were rolling pretty good and my legs were feeling it as the group somewhat split a couple of times in a short period so closing the gaps was tough.

Thankfully they pulled off right after the southernmost wooden bridge to regroup again as Mike and I continued on. I was feeling it as we were rolling up on about 45 miles at this point and after yesterday's ride so I was pretty happy they pulled over ha ha! From that point, Mike took the front again and towed me to the coast.

Took a break then headed about a mile down PCH making sure we hit our goal of 60 for the day.

I took the pull heading south on PCH, back north then another 5 on SART. GREAT! We had 14 miles left, I pulled for 7 and hoped Mike would be good for the next 7, he was! Mike is in good form right now as well as being fresh not having been on the bike the day before so I am pretty sure he could have dropped me. But we had a teamwork type day set in our mind today. So we rolled back at a bout a steady 18 all the way back hoping to maintain the 17.3 we had at this point.

Funny though, took us about 30 minutes at 18 to raise the average to 17.5 and about 30 seconds on the bridge to drop it back down to 17.4 ha ha! Darn bridges! Somehow we managed to keep pace and bring it up to the 17.5, more than happy with that today seeing this is the first 60 miler I have done in a long long while!

                                       Yes smiling as Spider Man tows me into the wind.

Yes, I smile then have to put the camera back in the case, in my jersey then smiling no more trying to close the gap ha ha!

I have a habit of tossing my jerseys behind my seat after rides seeing that I always wear an under layer. So I forget to wash them most times. So which one shall I wear, the dirty green one, or the dirty green one ha ha!

Eric and his group

Now I belied he is actually saying, "cheese!".

All these people were pretty strong riders.

As shot of the shot ha ha!

OK these guys and gals are rolling! Moving into the wind to take a pic then trying to keep from getting dropped hurt ha ha! I think they were doing about 23+ MPH right here.

Little edit:

Gina wasn't feeling up to a ride this weekend (tummy problem) but she sure was up to dressing up for the costume contest at her work ha ha! She dresses up every year and has won the contest 2 times in recent years. Winner taking home $100. She doesn't dress to win, dresses for the 'spirit' of it (see what I did there? :-P). Anyway if she happens to win the $100, it's just a nice bonus ha ha!

Short and Sweet!

Not used to the shorter faster rides but today I decided to do a short ride with Joaquin seeing that Gina isn't yet feeling good. So I decided to give Joaquin a ring asking what his plan was today. I have a longer ride planned for tomorrow with Mike so I figured a ride on Joaquin's course would suit me this morn.

Different doing the 20 miles at 19.6 average speed. I am more used to the 44 milers at 17 as my usual so it took some effort today. Joaquin looked very strong today, must be the new bike ha ha! Joaquin and I took turns pulling at the front.  Jose did take one turn heading to the coast. We had a 19.7 arriving at the coast so I thought we might have a better average but that dang wind!

It seemed tougher heading back! Joaquin also seemed to think so, so it wasn't just my imagination. We left the coast and it was Jose's turn to pull. I was ahead of him waiting for him to catch up but he wasn't. What the heck? C'mon, the average is dropping! We had figured we would aim for a good average seeing it was a short ride, so C'mon! Not sure what happened but next thing I see when I look back is Joaquin pulling Jose.

Just as the catch me, I wave them to roll by figuring I had taken my fair share and wanted my fair share of help as well. But then I notice a different guy roll by with Joaquin and Jose on his wheel. Heck with it, this is even better ha ha! More help!

The guy rode with us for a while, turned off somewhere near Warner. As he pulled off he shouted, "thanks for the help guys!". Cool, most guys just suck wheel then act like you owe them so it was nice to have someone help and acknowledge you ha ha!

Right as we headed into the tunnel at Moon Park, we came up on some guy. I was probably breathing too hard to recognize him at first but hey, it's TONY! :-P He rode with us for a bit but also hopped off the trail somewhere around Warner.

Right after the first wooden bridge heading North from the Coast, I had moved over to let Jose go ahead, but it was Joaquin again! :-O  Joaquin took the front so I tried to move to the back but Jose said, "dude, I'm tired, I can't help anymore, go ahead!". I shouted, "teamwork!" but it didn't matter, he just fell to the back. He hopped on so I thought he might recover then try to take another turn at the front later on, seeing he had only taken one turn so far. Nope, I guess he was toasted. He sat on the back for a bit but once we hit the downhill at Moon Park, he faded quickly.

We had the other dude with us so I figured we were cool. I did get thrown for a little loop on the uphill though. Joaquin was at the front then when we hit the little short ramp, he sprinted up. I was getting tired so it took a good effort to stay on his wheel going up. I mean I do weigh 100 pounds more than he does and I haven't been riding much. I figured I would push hard then recover on the flat section ahead. Psyche!!!!! Joaquin raced up the ramp and as soon as we hit the top, he moved over and let me hit the wind. Maybe there wasn't a huge headwind but it sure felt like it at that point ha ha!

I took the front for a bit struggling to recover so I could lift the pace again but it was tough. I went for a bit then the other dude rolled around on my left side I think. I dunno, maybe it was Joaquin? I was lacking oxygen to the brain at this point ha ha! Anyway, I held on then recovered some.

Once we rolled beyond Warner, it was only Joaquin and I. Felt like a headwind and I saw our average dropping from 19.8 to 19.5, dang it! Joaquin was still looking good so he spent more time at the front than I did. Of course, once I recovered, I did move to the front a couple more times. I know I am OK once I recover so holding a steady pace at 19 is not a problem, it's those 23's that get me!

Once we hit the 22, I could see Joaquin back off a bit. His usual is a 20 miler while mine the 40. So I went around again feeling good. Yeah, I am more of a steady distance rider vs racer so I was back in my element at this point.

Just hope I recover for tomorrow's long ride ha ha! Mr. Pasta, here I come! :-P Just me and Mike tomorrow. Jose backed out and Joaquin said he has plans.

I have to mention this. I really hate when you are passing a rider, noticeably faster than their pace. Thanks to Strava, I see were averaged 19.6 while this rider averaged 18. So you know we are traveling at a higher rate of speed. We roll up on a guy wearing a jersey that says "Speedy", not sure if it was a bike club jersey as I have seen a couple on a tandem wearing the same jersey. They did the same thing to Gina and I once on our tandem. I guess the "Speedy" makes them feel like they have to prove something. So anyway, 3 of us rolling, politely shout out the pass for safety reasons.

The dude knows there are 3 of us as he looked back. Once our second rider starts passing him, the guy lifts his pace and hangs on our side. Great! We can see several riders  up ahead heading in the opposite direction, about 50 yards ahead. If we pass it's no big deal. But because this dope decides to race us in a race that is not there, we run the risk of an incident. Or have to break up our group because he's a moron. Really irks me as one thing I read far too often, is cyclists complaining on forums about how rude, thoughtless, and inconsiderate drivers are out on the road. For the record, I get nothing but courtesy on the road from vehicular traffic but far more risk of injury from these morons trying to prove something to a group that is passing them and clearly holding a better pace. Thanks to Strava fly by's I know exactly who the moron is ha ha!

Forgot to add, the dude hangs on the back for 1/4 then gets dropped. This is the guy that won't let you pass because he thinks he's fast and wants to race once you catch him from behind. Oh brother!

                                            Somewhat foggy day today and an early start!

That's how fast we were rolling, even the lines are blurred ha ha!

Break time!

Halloween Spider House Upland

This was the second house Gina liked. Bunch of spiders! :-O Night and day pics. A few of the Upland PD fallen officer memorial on 15th street. A few from Mt Baldy trying to figure out how to get them night shots clear ha ha! Still working on it!

The image with the strange lights is an image of some dope who thought it was a good idea to throw a U-ey in the middle of a blind turn heading up Baldy Rd. Blind turn, blocked by 2 mountain sides, traffic traveling at about 50 mph or so, dude stops and makes a U turn. I see the guy, hear another car coming so I turn the camera in that direction knowing I have the speed set on 5 seconds or so.

Heck dude coming down fast waits till the last second to hit the brakes. I think he did it on purpose to show the dope what a real idiot he was. I probably would have done the same thing. :-P

But anyway, I got a strange image. Would have been really strange had the guy not seen the dope and hit him. :-O

Back to the spider house, it's a house with a bunch of spiders all over it ha ha!

Almost caught an accident at camera shutter speed of 5 seconds. :-O

Oh yeah, painted the living room today. Got sick of that God awful tan color! :-/ Much better, better for Gina portraits ha ha!! :-P

Halloween Pirate House Alta Loma

Gina thought it would be a neat idea to capture pictures of a couple Halloween houses, day vs night. So this is one of them, a house on Hellman in Alta Loma off of Wilson Ave. Had to take a whole lot of time to set this up!

Of course Gina was cold so she sat in the car ha ha!