Mr. Beanz And His Bike Rides: Windy 30 Miler on SART

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Windy 30 Miler on SART

So some judge put a stop to the homeless evictions, don't get me started. I wasn't sure so I started at Memory Lane and Bristol with a plan to add a few miles on PCH to get in a 30 miler.

Little did I know the trail must be open as I saw riders coming through the area I thought was closed. Anyway, felt pretty breezy today. I haven't done many miles in the last couple of months, maybe 50 total so today I wanted a shorter ride than our usual 44. Man was I glad I chose a shorter ride. Not really the distance but the wind! If I had done a 44 miler today, I would have been toast.

Jose and I started out doing pretty well. Holding it down to a steady 17 heading to the coast. Wasn't hard. Caught up with some guy ahead of us who hopped on the back. Jose and I rotated and the guy tried to stay at the back. But hey, I've been off the bike so any help we get would be cool.

As I always say, I don't understand riders. We were holding 17-17.5. I was at the front for about a mile then moved over so Jose could take his turn. He was up there about 2 minutes when the other guy raced around to the front. He did wait for us but he kicked it up to about 20 mph. OK! Not sure why he did that after 2 minutes when he could see we were doing longer pulls. So anyway he kicks it up. After 1/4 mile he looks to be struggling. Another 1/4 and he pulls off. OK, let Jose finish his turn.

So Jose goes to the front and and returns to 17-17.5 again. After about 1/2 mile, the dude falls off and within a minute or so is like 50 yards behind. MMMMKAY! Now if the dude had let Jose finish his turn, held it down to 17.5, he'd be cool but instead got dropped like a hot potato and not that we were trying. :-/

So anyway, we hit the last bridge heading to the coast and man did it get windy! We were rotating taking turns and holding 15.5 ha ha! AND trying hard to keep our average up. We had about a 16.9 when we hit PCH.

But we stopped for a second then a group of gals rode by. We hopped on PCH behind them but stayed back about 20 yards as they had a pretty good size group and 2 dudes, maybe 15 all together. Not wanting to bother them, we hung back knowing we'd roll down PCH about 4 miles then turn back.

We'd all group at an intersection and they would stay in line pretty well to avoid cars. Jose and I stopped at the back and maintained the line for safety reasons. But we get a green, plenty of cars so we take off and not long after, all 3 lanes to our left are empty.

BUT here comes the idiot cyclist, all 3 lanes clear, we are hanging back trying not to crowd the chicks and this idiot buzzes me. WTF, couple inches! I swear I love cycling but the with all the sports I have participated in, cyclists are the biggest hypocrites of the bunch. WHINE WHINE GIVE ME 3 FEET YOU ASSHOLES!! Then you get the idiot that buzzes you. I should have chased him down and started whining he didn't give me 3 feet ha ha! I swear, cyclist running lights, blocking peds with their bikes across the sidewalk, stopping and blocking the bike lane. Do that to one of them and they'l whine for sure. Well I can't say all will whine but I will say all the crybabies on the bike forums do and would ha ha! I see it way to often. A few in person too!

So anyway, we had an easy 17 average heading North on PCH but once we turned around? Heck, our average dropped from 17 to 15.9 within 4 miles ha ha!

We were just out for a cruise though we did work hard against the wind. Had to or fall down ha ha!

So heading back on the trail, seemed we had a decent tail wind but we just cruised back and ended up with a 16.5 average. Of course my Garmin read 16.5 for like the last 3 miles but I get home, plug in and Strava rips me off a tenth, bastards! :-P

Ran into Alex at the beginning of the ride.