Gina and I for 26

 26 windy miles at 14.9 average speed. Pretty windy about half the way as the wind was shifting back and forth. Headed south from the train station thinking we would have a tailwind all the way then fight a tough headwind on the way back. My strategy is to ride easy with the tailwind then work on the return against the headwind. But the wind shifted so we were working hard both ways and some tailwind both ways. Not as bad as I expected. I was expecting a real sufferfest but not all that bad. Just a good plan to make it through.

I didn't really feel like riding but this would put me over 400 miles for the month. I ended up with 421 which is good for me! Gina didn't want to ride but we have an agreement. I let her skip Saturdays to spend with her son then she rides Sundays. She tried to use the wind as an excuse but nope, a deal is a deal!

Didn't see too many riders out there and the beach stop was empty. But who cares, I ride for myself ha ha ha! And it was nice to have a mostly empty trail to ourselves.

Solo Fat Bastard Ride 43 Miles

 43 solo miles today at 17.4 average speed. Been feeling good so I went out alone to see if I could do 17 average. Did better so I am happy ha ha ha!

Ran into Bad Bob at the coast. I enjoy talking to Bad Bob about real life stuff. I think we're on the same level. Treat people like they treat you. If you're a d!ck, expect to be treated like one ha ha ha! Ran into Paul, a YouTube fan at the start. Had a little bike chat with him then Rheo was there and heading the same direction so I took off because I knew he was going to catch me somewhere along the way ha ha ha! Ran across a dude named Jason. I thought he said Dave but my hearing sucks but once I saw him on Strava, his name is Jason. Boy my hearing is bad now.

I did run into Tony and Thai at the coast as well. Thai was telling me how he is trying to talk Tony into being more adventurous, do some organized rides etc. But according to Thai, he says Tony is sheltered ha ha ha! Said he worries about going outside in the wind worried a stick falling from a tree might hit him. That's funny! I never though of Tony that way but I guess Thai knows him best as they ride together all the time.

I was trying to maintain 17 the entire time and felt good. I stopped at Edna Park and when I got back on the trail, some dude was just ahead of me, like 20 yards. He kept looking back and trying to race off. OK, whatever! I'm trying to hold my pace and ride solo but I ended up catching him after he faded. Of course taking my wheel. I tried to make it clear with my body language that I wanted to ride solo but another wheelsucker I guess. So I stopped and let him roll on, about 100 yard head start.

No, didn't want to catch him, just wanted to keep my 17. Doing 16.5 or so trying to keep my average from dropping too much. Had a 17.1 at Yorba Park with the tailwind while warming up. So trying to keep it close but kept catching this dude. Didn't want him on my wheel, didn't want his help and to start off, he was trying to stay away from the start. If someone acts like a good team mate from the start, I'm more likely to ride with them. But too much ego riding around others. I'd rather just do my own thing. So catching him a second time, he took my wheel again. Geeze, I stopped again and let him have another 100 yards seeing we were about a mile from the coast. 

Of course when I stopped, Rheo caught me as I started up again. He rolled by and offered me his wheel but I refused the offer wanting to do the ride under my own power. So he pulled away some but before we hit the coast, he turned back. Quick wave and he was gone.

On the return, I ran across Jason again. He had parked at the train station as well so we ran into each other one more time at the boy's room ha ha ha!

                 Paul, a YouTube fan! You probably saw him at the start of a recent video.

At Yorba Park. Feeling good but the headwind was to come. Not bad though, for once!

Nice day at the coast. All around really!

Jason, riding a fat bike. Wow, those tires are huge! Not sure I could do it ha ha ha!

Just wanted to see my little red bar end plugs, and valve caps ha ha!

After the ride, feeling good!

 

Solo Night Ride

 Did a solo night ride tonight. 22 miles with 988 ft of gain. Dang it, had I know I would have gone up a little more to make 1,000 ha ha ha!

Ran across the Ladies & Gents ride once I came down San Dimas Cyn.  Rode by for a quick shout as they were at a regroup. But a nice sweet mellow ride alone. So nice to get out in the fresh air and not too cold.

FOR ONCE! The little napkin pieces I cut up and place in my ear stayed in through the entire ride. Usually pulling my mask up and down to cover my ears makes them fall out. This time, they stayed in and on the way home, I was wondering why Bruce sounded so muffled. Born in the USA muffled. I just thought it was my hearing ha ha ha!

Much harder to take a pic on the fly with a cell phone cam. Descending Valley Center. Took about 3 shots and this was the best ha ha!

Short EZ Local Ride at Night

 11 miles at an easy pace of 10.2 going easy on the local foothills. One climb reads 15% on the Garmin while climbing. San Antonio CR E. I guess that means CREST. But anyway, a steep little mutha there. I did a few loops and did that little stretch a couple of times. Then the last loop, after that street, I went left up to the top where Mountain and Euclid meet. That is a little beotch too ha ha! I didn't look down at my Garmin there, but running the cursor along the Strava graph, it shows a 12.5% in there. I've done it many times over the years and I know it is steep ha ha ha!

So having tired legs still, after the windy 72 on Saturday, and 20 more windy miles on Sunday, I wasn't sure if I could make the hills but I gave it a try. So I was happy about making it up this night.

Very nice refreshing air in the foothills. Finally got a chance to wear my shorts and go windbreaker less on a night ride, for once. Hope the weather holds for a few more ha ha ha!

                               Where Mountain and Euclid meet. Nice view over the valley.

At the top of that steep little climb just above the chapel

I enjoy riding up San Antonio. Drivers are very courteous, wide open roads, good lighting sort of ha ha ha! Sometimes the drivers are too courteous ha ha! There have been times when I approach a crowded 4 way stop but ALL the drivers wave me through. Very nice but little do they know I'm dying for a short stop to catch my breath. So you have to ride through and not show the pain, and even remove  your hand from the bars for a quick thank you wave ha ha ha!

Yes, the Fat Bastard was out on the road again!

Hey, now I'm almost cool! Found some red stuff on ebay to add some accent to the bike.

Red valve caps, 4 for $6. Red go pro screws 3 for $7, and now the bar end plugs, set for like $9.

The Tough 72 Wind Ride SGRT

 TOUGH tough ride! 72 miles with Fazi and Dariush. Tony joined us for 40 miles. Headwind on the first section (see flag descending the dam). I thought we would suffer a bit to Seal Beach but half way, the wind shifted into a big tailwind making it nice. But dust storms and flying debris told me we were really going to suffer on the return, and we did! But a good character building ride! :-) 

Ha! Just ordered these bar end plugs. One red and one gold set. Spice up the bikes a bit. We'll see how they work. Not bad for less than $10 on ebay. The ebay store I used gives a small discount with multiple orders. I think I got like 50 cents off the second one or something like that. Just hoping that if I put them on, people will think I'm cool ha ha ha!

AH, and after some ebay rear lights, the light collection. 2 Cygolite headlights, 2 Cygolite rear blinkies and the 3 ebay rear blinkies for my helmet. Kept in a little plastic container, easier to keep track of them. Lower lever, wires and mounts.

This is the little area where I have my computer stuff.

To the right, light box. To the left, Go Pro mounts, screws etc.

My video creator studio ha ha ha!

The bike room. 

Nice Recovery Ride, NOT !!!

 20 miles at 13.6 average speed with Gina today. I need a new weather site because mine has sucked the last couple of days. I looked up the wind in Anaheim and it said 7 MPH. I can do a 30 miler but then last minute something came up so we had to be home early. Then drove into Anaheim and the trees are dancing! :-O

So figuring it would be real tough doing the planned 30, I figured we would do something different. We headed inland to Yorba first fighting the headwind. Then we would enjoy the tailwind back. It worked but the ride out was tough. The first 10 miles was at 11.5 average speed and passing other riders ha ha ha! But once we hit our just about 10 mile point, Gina was bushed. I had to slow several times about 1.5 miles before we hit our turn around.

But it was like continuing on from yesterday's super windy 72. Doing about the same speed of 13, till Gina had to slow down. I offered to go further but Gina refused the kind gesture ha ha ha! So we enjoyed the tailwind back. Pretty sure Gina was happy when it was over. Actually when we turned away from the wind as we didn't even really have to pedal on the return.

                          Gina's "WTH are we getting into?" look. Well, if you could see her face!

After the first stiff 10 miles, Gina was ready for a break!

First 10 windy miles at 11.5 average speed. Yeah, it was blowing that hard and we were passing people!

Nice, tailwind city!

Gina's tailwind smile. Well, if you could see her face.

Almost back and she's anxious to end it ha ha ha!

Windy AF 72 with the Guys.

 72 freaking windy miles with Fazi, Dariush, and Tony. OMG!!! Windy half way to the coast from Encanto Park in Duarte to Seal Beach. But on the return? OMG! Dust storm and 35 MPH wind according to Fazi's guesstimation. Non stop relentless headwind. Doing 13-14 all the way back to the dam, about 30+ miles of headwind. I'll be honest, I shed a few tears along the way. Tony Joined us at the Pico golf course doing 40 but sure glad we had the 4th guy. 15.0 average speed.

Images for now but a video on Monday.

Solo Night Ride to Covina

23 miles at 15.4 average speed solo. Didn't feel that cold but a low of 50 and average 54.  Just a nice smooth ride out and back. Very dark on some of the streets alone ha ha ha! But a nice refreshing ride.

 I tried the gold caps on my bike as the blue is too blue. But it's true, blue is faster because this gold color slowed me down ha ha ha!

Not that cold out but my face sure looked pink after the ride.

 

31 with Gina, Ran into Fazi and Dariush

 Set out for an easy recovery ride with Gina today. 31 miles at 16.7 average speed. Ran into Fazi and Dariush at the coast so we rode back with them. I was ready for a nice smooth easy ride. A little headwind as usual but not too bad, felt like I was rolling pretty good. Gina was comfortable and doing well. Got to the coast and there were plenty of people but not many riders.

Then Fazi and Dariush rode up, both really good guys. We chatted a bit about bikes after introducing Gina. Hung out for a bit but I think we were ready to head back so off we all went together. We usually work into a pace but I know Fazi lifts the pace pretty good right off the line. I asked Gina if she was up to giving it a try and told her they set off fast but later will tame down a bit. She she she would try.

Right away we were doing a pretty good pace averaging about 18 MPH. Gina is not used to starting off that fast and I prefer not to ha ha ha! But we started out a little faster than usual leaving the coast. Fazi can be a little fast and slow at times so I sat back and watched the accelerations (first time I spelled that correctly ha ha ha!) as we headed out. After the first half mile, I saw his style and dropped back just a bit to keep it smooth for Gina. I would let them pull ahead about 15 yards. This would allow them to accelerate and slow as they wished but at the same time, I was able to keep pace for Gina avoiding the accelerations. We would get back on the back but every now and then, they would accelerate like I know Gina couldn't. Many times after going around a beach cruiser or other obstacle, they would accelerate as soon as they passed but leaving us to make our way around as they were pulling away. So I would just ease up a bit giving Gina a chance to get on safely, then increase our speed steadily back up the back of the Fazi/Dariush Train ha ha ha! Fazi is pretty strong and I've seen his style so I was ready for it and figured out a plan quickly how to keep Gina there as well. 

So Gina did well to keep up and then Dariush took the front. I want to say he is a bit  more stead than Fazi so I figured at this point Gina would be OK. But as we hit the later miles, Gina was starting to fade on the little uppity do's of the underpasses. I know Fazi is pretty strong but I was somewhat planning on Dariush fading just a bit so that Gina could recover some. But he didn't ha ha ha! Guys are getting stronger so Gina struggled on a a few of the final underpasses. But being the wise guy I am, again, I initiated my plan once again and Gina was able to recover on the flat sections after struggling on the little ramps up.

Of course I was happy that she put in that kind of effort not having nearly the same saddle time we have put in. The guys have been riding a lot and it shows so Gina did well to keep up. On the return 7.3 mile segment bridge to bridge heading north, she held a 19.5 MPH average speed, that was good. But on the (10 miles north TT segment exact name ?) she held an 18.8 average speed so hey, that's great! I can't ask for more.

As we hit the Edna Park bridge, I told the guys we were backing off as I knew Gina was putting in a hard effort and I didn't want to kill her ha ha ha ha!  But they said they were good and wanted to ride together so I took the front figuring I would set a pace that would be a little more comfy for Gina. 

I was actually surprised thinking she might have to slow down to 16 or so. But we did Edna to Orangewood at a 17.9 average speed and Gina was actually pretty comfortable. Not bad for riding 2 or 3 times per month. I couldn't ask for a better effort so I'm happy! :-)

So we split right before the train station after Gina said that was it. So we said our goodbyes as the 2 guys rode off together. I believe their average speed over 53 miles was 17.4 MPH. So that's pretty good!

I've ridden with them on my own before and we work well together. So now, they guys want to do the San Gabriel Trail with me for 72 miles. That should be interesting ha ha ha!

                                                           Pre ride ritual pic ha ha ha!

I thought she had pony tails out the corner of my eye because of the trim on her jacket ha ha ha!

But I'm guessing you don't really care! :-P

Proud to be a Chicano pic. I'm a Mexican (MA) but not a stupid fucking Mexican. Too many of those in this country.

Heading to the coast with a smile.

Cool ships and sailboats

Heading back with the guys. I wonder if Gina was regretting the jacket at this point?

Dariush doing a good pace at the front

The guys and Gina right on Fazi's wheel, hard to see her ha ha ha!

Hey, I had to do a good effort to get in front for a pic. :-P

Time to say goodbye and some photobomber dude. This was about where Gina said enough ha ha ha!

GMR Shack And A Half Attack

 25 miles with 3,445 ft today. Aimed for the shack but once I got up, I felt comfortable so I went back down half way to the 4 mile point, then headed up again. Felt good and took 5 minutes off my shack time from back in June of 2019. So that is a good thing! Just trying to rebuild some strength, that I had like 15 years ago ha ha ha!

Good day but real foggy up there. Way chilly on the descent. Actually kind of hurt so good thing I brought my breaker with me ha ha ha! Didn't expect it to be that cold so next time, I'll bring my leg cover tights ha ha ha!

But a good ride.

                                                           Yeah, bit foggy up there!

A little energy bar for the next climb up. Didn't help ha ha ha!

Not so bad on the lower slopes and climb. 

Wow, Gifted a Strava Premium Membership

 Wow, I was pleasantly surprised. I do feel funny about gifts but as Mom said once giving me a gift for my birthday, $100 cash, accepting the gift makes the giver very happy that they could do something nice for you. So I took her hundred dollars ha ha ha! I had a membership over several years, maybe 5 or 6 but I got tired of paying and I'm not too good at keeping track of time anyway when it comes to renewals ha ha ha!

So I had let it go but a buddy sent an email and was pretty concerned that I got it. I was thinking it might be a link to a mountain bike sale or something, maybe tires ha ha ha! But I finally got the email a day later than he had asked me as he had my old email on record. He seemed concerned about getting it to me. Now I know why ha ha ha! 

I opened the email and read the name, the issue and thought that the Strava had sent it to me on accident. But then I read a little further and saw that it was a gift from the sender, a subscription to me, WOW! Very nice of my friend to do that. Almost feel bad but as Mom says, it makes the giver happy to know they can do something nice for you. 

Of course I enjoy looking at all the stats on Strava so that is just too cool! I thanked my friend and said it was way too much and too cool and didn't have to but it is a very very nice gesture!

My friend did remind me that if either one of us, including a third friend were to ever win the lotto, we all get new bikes ha ha ha! Sounds good to me!

So thanks from the bottom of my heart to my friend for the gift! Not used to getting cool stuff like this just out of nowhere so it is really really cool!

Well, one of my cycling buddies Milton, did buy me an order of tator tots once. That was cool too but he had stolen a few of my fries a couple years earlier so that was more like payback ha haha!

Again, just so cool that a friend would do something like this out of nowhere making  your day! ;-)