Nice Relaxing BLSB Ride Evening

Nice 21.7 miles at a nice relaxing pace of 13.9. I must be getting old because seems every ride I do now is a relaxing ride ha ha ha! But hey, headed west on Baseline, up to Lorraine, across Sierra Madre, then down to Bonita and across east back to the start. Nice beautiful evening, cool, fresh air.  Legs felt great but of course I was trying to go easy. I did go this direction vs the Over Stuffed Sausage Ride because though that course is nice, the road on Badillo is really bad now. So beat that it's more about trying to avoid potholes and pinch flats nowadays. So I headed up rather than down. Much smoother course and fairly empty in some places, little traffic.

I did stop at a little park in Claremont that I have been using as a pit stop before the last incline from Bonita back to Baseline. There was actually a homeless guy there sitting on the baseball field stands where I usually stop. Wow, Claremont??? That dude will be gone in an hour. Heck, Claremont doesn't seem to play around like the neighboring cities.

But a great evening and ride!

 

Solo 60 Me & My Skeleton

 Solo 60 skeleton miles, 16.2 average speed. :-P Set out to do an easy steady pace on the trail. Hadn't been to Green River in a long time. Heard it had changed so I thought I'd check it out. Changed a bit but I was expecting more ha ha ha! A big headwind from Green River all the way to Huntington Beach, a 30 mile stretch. Nice tailwind on the 14 mile return/ But got in a good long steady ride. Tried not to go to hard heading to Green River figuring it would be a bit warmer and dry. It was. :-P

One thing I can say, is that I feel absolutely no difference in tubes. I have a stash of tubes, maybe 10. I use 48 mm valve stems seeing my rims are 30 mm deep. Perfect length. On my birthday last year, a friend gave me a couple of 60 mm tubes. I stashed them along with my other tubes. Mostly Forte from Performance, couple different brands I had never heard of as well from the bike shop in my stash. Couple from ebay recently. That buddy uses deeper rims and accidentally bought the wrong length. He needed 60 so I told him I still had the tubes he gave me for my bday. He asked if I wanted to trade as his 48's were no good to him. SUre!

All the tubes were Specialized tubes. So we made the switch, his new Specialized for mine. Not surprisingly, wouldn't you know it, I flatted in the front on my Thurs nite ride. I did the roadside repair with a new tube from my seat pack. Got home, removed it then placed it back in my seat pack. I like to know the tube I plan on using it good. So I replace it in the pack then take out the new Specialized tube from my stash and place it in the wheel. I read all kinds of BS on the forums from some posters who only ride this and that brand and style because they feel a huge difference in performance, feel, ride, blah blah blah. All bull shit I think from guys who are looking for justification for spending more money on shit so they can be in the in crowd of fools wasting money ha ha ha!

So anyway, I rode the entire ride asking myself, does it feel better yet?, No!". Ha ha ha, not sure where those forum posters get their great feelings from while riding more expensive stuff. I rode a Forte tube, a Specialized tube with all the hype and didn't feel one freaking difference. I think most of the forum posters have their head so far up their asses, they're just looking for something to shoot out opinions so all the newbs think they're experts ha ha ha! Some of those idiots have barely started actual cycling just a few short years ago but if you listen to them on the forums, you'd think they've been riding for years. Bunch of idiots ha ha ha!

Take me down to Green River!

Didn't feel hot but my legs were dripping pretty good after the first 15

Hardly anybody on the trail. Saw maybe 2 riders heading my way.

That's why there wasn't anybody on the trail, they were all at the beach

Borrow De Pump Tour

24 miles at 15.2 average speed. Stupid Strava always rips me off a tenth. 

FLATTED on this ride, maybe  2 miles from the finish.  I hit something about the size of a small ashtray, hole in the pavement. Hit hard, one that makes you say DAYUM! Then I pull into my rest stop to refill my bottle and notice the tire is soft, MAN!!! As I was replacing the tube, a guy from the Crazy Legs fast ride rides up and asks if I wanted to borrow his floor pump living right on the next corner.  I am OK I tell him thank him, the he rolls off. A couple minutes later, her returns and says he brought it anyway. Wow, that was super cool. I had already counted about 90 strokes with my little frame pump. But sure, I slapped it on and about 4 strokes later, it was done! Hey man, really appreciate it, thanks a million. Saved me from finishing in the dark! Still some cool people in the world!

Was a nice ride though. Man those dudes, Crazy Leg Riders are real fast.  They rolled right by me heading East, then again heading West as my course is a bit shorter. Then they stopped for a break and I rolled by. Arrow and Eucla. Then on Bonita and White, they rolled by me again. I thought about hopping on the back but the group was a bit broken up into 3 so I didn't want to interfere. Though I don't know if I could have stayed on the back or not. They were rolling pretty good ha ha ha!

                                                                Pinch flat, yeah!

The look on your face when you feel your tire going soft 2 miles from the end

31 Easy Small Ring (39) Spin

 31 miles with Gina today at 15.9 MPH average speed. Tried to go easy but man, the wind on the way to the beach says NO! So went as easy as I could without falling over. Felt OK but didn't really want to work hard. But the reward was heading back with a nice tailwind, made up for it! 

                                                                            Just starting!

Nothing nicer than some chick, yes a chick tripping out blocking the door to the lady's room. She had foil wrappers and pipes falling out of her top pocket while leaning over freaking out. Her friend was in the stall doing God knows what. People hold church type services at the part. I bet they're scared shitless to use the restrooms ha ha ha!

After the ride, I asked Gina if she had fun, she said of course!

Leading me back!

Got a little warm the last couple of miles.

45 With Joaquin

45 miles at 17.7 average speed with Joaquin today. Nice ride, good headwind but we managed to work well together doing 1 mile turns at the front.  Much better when it is organized. Guess I am liking having a ride partner or two vs a group like I was doing. Not much fun doing a long turn at the front to help the group when you know the others are just going to sprint around and drop you. Much better knowing that the ride is more disciplined vs a gang of out of control crazies. So it worked well when one guy has to slow for a second or two to catch back on. Usually going around traffic, beach cruisers etc. Nice to know you can get back on vs the personality learned in a group because the ride leader used to race blah blah blah. My thoughts are dropping your partner for a minute or two doesn't prove you're better. It proves your better when you can work together vs being a bunch of fools ha ha ha!

So Joaquin and I work well together. He used to do nothing but 20 mile rides when we met. So after having 25 miles in our legs then running into Joaquin, he'd want to ride with us but push the pace. We were doing 40, 50, 60 mile rides and he 20 so sure he was going to be strong. But I had talked him into increasing the distance and he agreed a few times. He did well and we worked together well after the first time. I think he learned the difference between pacing  yourself for the long haul vs the short sprints. 

We did a few together and he enjoyed it but once his 60th birthday got near, he wanted to do long rides again. So we ramped up the mileage for his birthday ride. Since then, he's been on a kick. Enjoying the longer rides. He used to ride with Jose plenty but it seemed some kind of competition developed between the two. So they rarely ride together anymore. But I, heck, if Joaquin sprints off, I let him go and keep the pace. I think he learned to hold steady after a couple of times. Yeah, he has realized the difference between working with a partner and trying to do it alone. Our averages are always higher together even if it seems we get tired at certain points. The idea is that if one of us gets tired, the other guy is allowing the other to recover. THAT is the way it works on the Beanz Plan and I think he is enjoying it ha ha ha!

We did pass Ed (MTB Lrker) near Warner heading south. Joaquin was in the lead at that point and as he passed Ed, I saw Ed flinch like he was going to take his wheel. But then I think he saw me in his peripheral so he kept his line. As I rolled by, I knew Ed would not know it was me so I said, "Ed is Dead!" ha ha ha!

He said something like yeah, dead in the wind. We rolled away doing our thing as Ed fell further back. But I looked back a few times to see if  he was near. About the last couple of miles to the coast, I didn't see him any longer. I guess the wind really got to Ed. Ed was Dead! 

Joaquin and I had thoughts of rolling down to the pier on PCH just to make it a 50 miler. But once we got close to the coast, it was dark.  I didn't have any tail lights on my bike and so I thought, not a good idea with the traffic there. The wind was a deciding factor as well ha ha ha! But to give you an idea of the traffic, there was a line of tents all the way across the beach along the water. Not sure I have ever seen that long of a line stretched across the sand.

But I figured too, that Ed would be arriving at the same rest point we use. Sure nuff! So Ed pulled up and we had a good chat. But there too was Al, Rick and their gang. I still don't know the name of the guy at the far right. Never talked to him before but he's a pretty nice guy. I caught the gang on video couple weeks back so I asked Al if he had seen the video. The others chimed in as well. The guy to the right said it was very nice of me to take the time to get them on video and make it. Ha, that was cool! He mentioned how many cyclists never get the chance to see themselves on video and probably wonder what they look like. So he was happy to see himself. That's cool, always nice to get some feedback or kudos on the vids. 

So, Joaquin and I were getting ready to roll when I asked Ed if he was going to tag along. He said no because he would not keep up. Meh! I told him to tag on the back and he could draft Joaquin and I  on the way back. We would work at the front and he just had to hold on. So he agreed!

We rolled back at a decent pace and Ed held on really well for not having many miles in his legs. Some dude had rolled up behind us at the wooden bridge leaving the coast. He latched on the back and drafted all the way till we hit a little ramp incline by the golf course. Joaquin picked it up on the grade so I pushed hard and my hammy started to pull.  It went away but then I took the front and halfway through my turn, it started to cramp. I slowed a bit and pedaled lightly so it would go away. The dude who sucked wheel at that point, sprinted around and tried to race off. OK, Joaquin asked if I wanted to stop. Nah, gimme a few seconds. I soft pedaled with Joaquin in front of me. Then it loosened back up so I told Joaquin to let me finish my turn. I saw that bastard ahead and it seemed he was starting to fade. OK, sucker, here I come! I closed the gap at the rest of my turn then Joaquin took the front.

Of course I think he had the same thought in his head, I did. Uninvited wheel sucker trying to pull a fast one. I looked back at the end of my turn and Ed was off the back. I thought he was still with us but I guess it got to him but he almost made it all the way back. 

So Joaquin  jumped on the guy's wheel as he tried to power off. Wasn't working ha ha ha! We only had another 1/4 mile to go, so Joaquin stomped on the pedals and dropped the guy like a hot potato! Wait a second, he caught me by surprise so he dropped me like a hot potato too ha ha ha! I was not expecting it so I had to hold back for about 15 seconds to regroup, then I powered around the guy as well. He did manage to almost catch back up by the time we hit our turn off.  So we turned off then the guy went by and did give us a thumbs up. I guess that was cool!

But Ed did very well holding on as we were holding a good pace. We had a 20 average from bridge to bridge then a 19. 7 on a 10 mile segment heading back. Good ride and good teamwork with Joaquin.

I did stretch the day before, before the ride, during the ride and still got a light cramp. But, hey, it wasn't that bad so I'm thinking I will come up with some kind of stretching plan. That old age is coming up on me! :-P

                                                            Joaquin's speed machine!

My Taiwan Madone. Gina has American made OCLV. I always give her the better as an advantage to keep her going.

Shadow Dancing

Man, if I take a selfie, Joaquin pulls away then I have to close the gap ha ha ha!

Al and his wife Kristy

Rick left, Al, Kristy, and I don't know this dude's name.

Whatever their names are, these 3 guys are wicked fast! She is strong too!

Post ride thumb's up!

A closer look at the cyclist, the man, the myth!

23 Miles and Ouch, Cramp!

 23 miles with Tony tonight, 14.6 average or so. Hard to tell what is what. Garmin Connect gives me one thing, Garmin another, Strava another, and no Xoss, another ha ha ha! I get like 3 or 4 different speeds to chose from now ha ha ha!

So things were going good but it happened. I almost expected it. Of course the AC upstairs goes boom and they want $9,000 to replace it, at a bargain price, wow! I said forget it, we can sweat a little. Then of course the last couple of days has been hot as heck. THEN!!! The fridge goes on the blink 3 days ago, just in time for the heat, thanks!

So I drink a lot of cold water everyday. Jugs packed in ice, 64 oz cup ha ha ha! I hate the thought of getting dehydrated as I used to get several migraines. Once I discovered what hydrating meant on the bike, the migraines almost vanished. Yeah, I don't think my parents knew anything about hydrating so they just sent us out to dig ditches one a piece of toast and cup of hot chocolate. SO hydrating WELL has really helped me over the last 24 years that I have been cycling. 

But the freaking fridge goes on the blink, another $1200 to repair, are you kidding?! Buy a new one but the day waiting for the repair man to show sucked. Hot AF out here and no cold water. Gina has my truck so I didn't go anywhere to get anything to drink and the warm water at home isn't too enticing. So I suffered but shouldn't have. I woke up this morning with a cramp in my leg. Fell back asleep, then the other leg went. OUCH!

So riding today, I felt a few twinges and thought uh oh! Sure enough, when we turned and started the climb, BANG! Kept pedaling like on legged drills but Tony says we ought to stop. OK, just didn't want to interrupt his ride. So we stopped and it went away. Usually does after a couple minutes. So we continued and I felt a little tug here in there in my hammy and my calf. But it held out. Every time I felt a pull, I just eased off the pedals a bit. Sadly, most of the return is a grade so I had to nurse it a bit but all went well. Made it back much better and easier than I thought.

So much for that, gimme something to drink now! FTR, the reason I didn't have anything to drink was because Gina and my Mom stash their drinks in the fridge. When it went down, they stuffed all there drinks in the smaller fridge where most of my stuff is. Just happened that this was the night we were supposed to go stock up on my stuff, Gatorade, water, juice etc. So everything got tossed into my little stash area, as women usually do. That cut me off from putting a pitcher of water to cool. You know, sacrifice for others type thing. Plus the big fridge has the ice maker and the cold water dispenser, so I was screwed.

Not to mention, Gina has been taking my truck to work seeing her car broke down and is at the repair shop. $3800 for the new engine, some extra adding on to the $700 installation fee, now up to $900. Should be ready on Monday but in the meantime, Gina's using my truck. Working OT and that leaves me sitting at home staring at the walls with no water, in the heat, with no shoes on! :-P

When it rains, it pours!

But it was an enjoyable night with Tony. Dude always makes me laugh. Like the course but man, getting away from the group was a good thing now that I sit back and look from the outside. Ran into a guy the other day who rides with the group some. He was telling me how screwed things are getting with them. This guy says you can't ride with that group, this group says this, blah blah blah. Always some kind of drama. Like the time I quit riding with the group and Eyemage was telling some of the riders there that I was going to be upset because they were riding with that group. Trouble maker, as I really didn't care who rides with who. Plus, I didn't have to screw up that group, the ride leader was already an idiot screwing things up himself ha ha ha!

So it is refreshing to do nice small rides with a partner or two who don't cause trouble. Make riding much more pleasant, even with the cramp ha ha ha!

 

53 Miles/ Part Jose (video Monday eve)

53 miles at 16.8 average speed with Jose today. He was tired from a 35 miler yesterday so we took it easy today. Did run into Stacy and her hubby on the trail. Rode with them for a bit till we turned off into Edna park. Got some good video I think vs last week's glimpse of them ha ha ha! I like using a front and rear recorder but the best rear is the saddle rail mount. But I give up the rear seat pack then have to use a case for my supplies that takes up a bottle cage. So doing a nice steady pace, I had to turn off for water as they rode ahead. Let's see, I got in about 15+ miles with one water bottle. No way I would make another 10 to the beach without water. I'm a big drinker. I might drink 7 bottles of water on a 45 mile ride.

Jose turned out at his stop after 39. Then I headed back toward the coast for a few to make 50. I guess my math was off because I ended up with 53. I'll take it but man, it sure was windy heading back again. 

But it was good to ride with them and looking forward to the video footage, should be good.

Ah, I did get some stickers Stacy had made of them. Really cool stickers. I think she said they were 300 for $100 from a friend they know. She gave me a couple so I figure I'd show it on the blog as they are too cool!

                                                                         The video 

                                                      I actually got into a pic thanks to Stacy!

Some still images from the vid for now.

Oh, oh oh! I did forget to post these. Couple little stickers Stacy had made of them. Really cool! I think she said they paid $100 for 300 stickers from a friend of theirs. Cool little deal. The bikes show and the little characters. How cool is that!

 

Good Fun Night Ride with Tony

 23 miles at an easy pace tonight with Tony. Easy pace of 14.2. Very refreshing ride and lots of fun and laughs along the way! Needed this one!

Tuesday Night Over Stuffed Sausage Tour Solo

 Just another nice evening out on the road. 23 miles at 15.3 average speed. Really nice evening and feeling really good. Got dark a bit earlier than last couple of times starting a bit later. One of those evenings when you're comfy laying on the bed watching ID tv with bad guys killing innocent people and you really don't want to get up after resting a bit. But you do, then it turns out to be a wonderful evening.

                      Funny how it seems really dark out there but when you snap a pic, it looks light. :-/

A stop at the park for a little breather.

31 with Gina and Jose (VIDEO POSTED)

 31 miles at an easy 16.1 average speed. Back recovering nicely. Felt loose today and good. But I did feel tired ha ha ha! Maybe the solo long ride yesterday. Was a bit breezy so a bit tough to the coast. Feeling tired, I did let Jose take the front for a couple sections. He did 24 yesterday so I figure he had to be fresher than I was feeling. Did a good job!

Gina looked really good too. Especially with a stiff headwind heading to the coast. Finished strong, no complaining ha ha ha!

Best of all, the back feels almost normal again.

                                                                               The video

                                    Jose taking the front for a good section of the return.

Almost done, about another mile. Gina did well!

Solo 51 Back Stretcher

 Solo 51 miles at 16.1 average speed. Wanting to take it easy today since the back muscle pull the other day. Feeling better but not wanting to work too hard so I rode solo at my own pace. Felt good and went fairly easy till the wind kicked up. No choice but to push a little harder of fall over at 3 mph ha ha ha! 

I mounted both video recorders, front and back and went with minimal supplies using one of the bottle holders for tools etc. I planned to turn back and follow friends once I crossed paths, making for a little extra mileage. But heck, didn't see any of my friends. When I got to the coast, I saw Al, his wife and a buddy. They are pretty fast so I headed out a little head knowing I didn't want to push too hard. Figured they'd catch me somewhere along the way. But half way back, I stopped as I didn't see them coming anywhere around. I stopped for a bit then Al and his buddy went by.

I was at the top of a ramp and rolled down for a start to catch on the back for a video clip or two. Oh my gosh, they were going pretty fast. I had to push as hard as I could to just catch up and get on the back. Once I was, I looked down and saw they were doing 24.5, OK, pretty fast for me. Even if it were a good day, I wouldn't keep up at that speed all the way back to Edna. I even thought about going around so I could get the front view with my rear recorder. After about a minute, I decided, forget about it! Those guys were  flying and I probably couldn't get up enough speed to go around them.

So they pulled away and I stopped at Edna Park to tinkle. As I remounted, I saw Al's wife go by so I got  a bit of footage of her, I think ha ha ha!. But they regrouped at the Honda Center so I rolled on needing another 3 out and back to make 50 miles. So I rolled on then stopped at a turnout till they rolled by. This allowed me to get a front view of the riders. The speed those guys were doing, probably the only way I'd get their faces on video.

So I found out I have no friends ha ha ha! So I guess I'll have to take the recorders out again on Sunday to see if I can get more footage. Then make a weekend compilation video.

But a good ride, easy overall and a nice day for sure!

                                                                           Al and Kristy

Al's buddy, super fast guy too!

I pulled up a ramp waiting for Al and gang to roll by. The homeless people there looked at me like I was bothering "their home". I gave them that "I WILL RIP YOUR FREAKING LIVER OUT!!!" look then they seemed to chill out ha ha ha!

Post ride posing!

Solo Night Overstuffed Sausage Tour

 Another 23 miles solo tonight. 14.9 average speed trying to take it easy after pulling a muscle in my back couple days ago. Did catch up to Creepy Erik's group. I see there was only one chick riding with them today. I'm guessing the chicks are getting creeped out by the guys on the ride. I mean I love women and appreciate a good view but when some dude creeps me out? You know it is creepy ha ha ha!

Nice eve for a bike ride though. I did leave about 15 minutes after the group so I figure I'd be pretty well behind taking it easy. But I caught them at the Foothill turn. I saw them so I pulled over and let them roll away. Figuring they all like to race downhill along Badillo. So I stopped for a bit but then later caught them again and stopped a second time to let them pull away. Then a third. We hit the Mountain Ave climb and seeing Creepy Erik, I knew I would have to pass him on the gradual climb and I really didn't want to interact with any of the creepy guys I saw today. I say creepy because like the overstuffed sausage Creepy Erik, it really turns my stomach to see the creepy guys hugging on the women and trying to hook up. Pretty sickening if you ask me. And I am the guy who can appreciated a woman's body and even sneak in a pic or two. But these guys are sickening. Placing their arms around the women when they can. OK, if you actually had some game or some kind of appeal, it would be cool. But the weird MOFO's make me sick looking at them. Watching some gals pull away when the creepy guys hug on them. Heck, I don't even hug on Gina that much when we ride. Of course I am not desperate to hook up. I dunno, just really creepy to me, and I'm Mr. Beanz ha ha ha!

So I rolled up on them a few times. Looked really slow and a boring ride, from what I saw anyway. But it was sad to me, there was a guy that kept getting left behind. Looked rather new but  made me think. If this had been a chick, Creepy Erik and the other few guys that creep me out, probably the chicks too, would have held back for them. But they left this guy far behind, about 10 minutes. If it had been a chick, the creepy guys would have offered to pedal her freaking bike for her ha ha. Maybe a back massage. But it was a dude so they were more than happy to leave him behind. I saw about 4 guys today that creep me out. Only one chick though so they all looked pretty bored ha ha ha! No ass to kiss!

Ran up on the group again. Pulled over to let them roll away. A slow and boring looking group today.

But I still enjoy my rides.

I had to stop once we  hit the climb because overstuff sausage Erik  is a slow climber and having caught him on the flats, again, I knew I better take a break so he could pull away. I had no desire to see his creepy face or hear his dopey voice.

Poor guy! The group left him about 10 minutes behind. If he had been a chick, their would have been at least 4 creepy fuckers all over here.  Even the dog was looking at me thinking, WTF Mr. Beanz!! Leaving the poor guy behind.

Let slow Erik pull away so I better take a photo break.