Mr. Beanz And His Bike Rides: SOLO Old Fart 50 Miles on SART

50 solo OLd Fart miles today on SART. 16.6 average speed. Strava gave me a 15.5. I swear they can never get it right! So I am going with Garmin Connect because that is what I see when I am on the bike.

I rode alone for the social distance thing. I am shocked at how many BIG groups I saw on the trail. I mean I see where we still want to ride but BIG groups? I rode alone to avoid this but I guess not many cyclists think much of it, 20+ groups. I am not one to panic or preach to others on what is moral. I do believe many like me want to do what they please but honestly, my big concern it to avoid big groups so that I an avoid spreading the virus to my Mother who will be 81 in a few days. Kind of scary to see how many people don't take the advice. As they say, you may feel fine but you can be a carrier. That is what scares me! I think I can fight it off, Gina too, but my Mom? Give it to her and pretty sure she'll have a real hard time. Not sure if all these people don't have any old people in their lives, but I do. I sure hope they don't!

But anyway, I enjoyed myself getting out alone. Also keeping my distance from others. Even at the coast, we did not get within 10 feet from one another. Couple of guy pals, Ed & Richard, Tony and Thai who are usually together anyway seemed to be OK with eachother. But that's cool, small groups are suggest.

The freeway was pretty clear on the way to the trail but the trail, wooh wee! Surprising number of cyclists. Far more than any normal day on the trail. Plenty of families walking, jogging, walking dogs, seemed everyone needed to get out. I honestly thought I would be the only dude on the trail. Boy was I wrong. Good thing is, nobody was close to me at anytime other than one wheelsucker.

This just still gets me. I mean I like to go out there to ride but that doesn't mean you want every dude you pass to hop your wheel. He hopped on my wheel so I waved him around. Dude, I just want to do MY thing. So of course, whenever you CATCH someone then pass them, they become miraculously faster as they hop on your wheel. You seemed comfy at your pace, why do these people feel they need to hop on when you roll by?

So I wave him around and the hotshot sprints off. Heck, I backed off letting him roll away. But just then, some really fast dude comes up from behind me and passes me. I think the wheelsucker who just sprinted off thought it was me trying to pass him, dumb ass ha ha!

So the fast guy is catching the wheelsucker but the wheelsucker steps on it. He gives it his all but the fast guy eventually goes around him. He looks shocked like what the hey! So then he shoots his wad and fades big time. Now again, just keeping my pace, I'm catching up. I bet he felt dumb! So about 3 miles later the guy can barely pedal, wasted his energy racing a race he made up in his mind ha ha! But as usual, just as I am about to pass him, he turns up a ramp and stops ha ha! I had to give him a big smile and shake of my head as I roll by ha ha!

I'm surprised that with the social distancing thing, anybody would take a stranger's wheel. I am not usually a germaphobe but with the virus, like I said, I'm trying to be careful for Mom and my family.

So after the guy gets lost, I cross the final wooden bridge before the coast. I passed some dude then crossed the bridge so he catches up. As I turn off the bridge I get a drink and switch bottles cage to cage. Just as I get rolling again, this guy rolls up from behind and says he had a flat and didn't think he put enough air in his tire. I guess that is his reason for getting passed. OK, I'm thinking there is a pretty big headwind and that is the reason. I know I was pushing pretty hard trying to keep a decent pace. But after he gives me the excuse, he pulls slightly ahead and gets in front of me, about 6 FEET!!!

OK, I think 6 feet if you're standing still to be safe. But 6 feet in front of me rolling into the wind, blowing all your freakin' germs on me? Either pull away or fall behind. I didn't really want to slow down but this dude was right in my face, so I thought best to slow down. I let him go 30 yards or so ahead to get away from me. But he faded and I couldn't help but catch up so I slowed again. I dropped back again to protect myself but at the same time laughing inside thinking this dude is probably tickled because he passed me this time. So I waited for the last dip then picked it up knowing he would fade into the wind up the little climb. Sure enough, exactly what happened so I stepped on it. I just put my head down and cranked it up best I could into the wind so that I could lose him. Yup, he's gone and I am once again safe and socially distanced ha ha!

So I just make my way to the coast and stop at the top of the ramp that dumps you onto PCH. Wow, I did not see one cyclist for about 3 or 4 minutes. I had doubts about riding to the pier thinking something was up, no cyclists either side? Just then, I see a few approach, OK let's do it! So I head to that away to get a few extra to make my 50. Glad I did.

I ran across Ed and Richard a couple of times on the trail after having stopped at Edna Park to tinkle. But that was good because I got to encounter them a couple of times heading into the wind so I know we were all having the same fun ha ha!

I had headed to the pier for a quick turnaround so when I got back to my regular stop, they were there. Richard said, "we saw you on the trail a couple of times!". Ah OK! Took me a minute or two then I realized it was the 2 dudes I saw on the trail heading to the coast. So we chatted a bit, OK, maybe I did most of the chatting ha ha! But Richard seemed like a real nice friendly guy. Was nice meeting these guys. Turns out Ed is 76 and did a 76 miler for his last birthday ride, wow! Today only a 43 miler but hey, 76 years old? I have a hard time doing 20 and I'm almost 57 ha ha. Good job Ed! Nice to meet a couple of normal guys.

One thing I really like about these guys was that they agreed with me that it was windy on the way to the coast ha ha! Made me feel better about myself seeing it was tough fighting the wind. If they had said it was not windy and that it was just me getting old, then we could not be friends ha ha!

When I got back to my truck, I noticed a truck behind me with the driver's door open. I didn't see anybody around. I looked at the truck then looked from the front end into the windshield and did not see anybody inside. hmm!

So I lay my bike down and walked to the curb. Hey, it's Richard sitting at the back of his truck hidden from view. He must have been praying to the bike gods for good weather tomorrow as he was pretty quiet. I hope he prayed hard so I can get Gina out there tomorrow. So we chatted a bit more then he drove off. I mean, what do most people do in their trucks after a ride? Drive off ha ha! So anyway, good to have a couple more friends out there.

Couple new friends today. Ed (left) and Richard (right). Couple of cool guys I crossed paths with on the trail, couple of times. Ran into them at the coast as well. Friendly guys. You would not know it but Ed is 76 years old. Wow! I mean WOW as in I hope I am still riding at his age and he looks really good. I would not guess he was 76. But he rolled out a 43 miler today, WOW! Good job Ed! And Richard was just as friendly as can be. Nice guy and willing to chat about cycling. Nice guy, glad I ran across these guys.