Weekend in Cycling

 

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So, Jose is in town for the week so he asked me to ride with him on Saturday.  He hasn't been on the bike for a month so he was worried about keeping up but I have no problem holding the pace down. Heck, I'm in it for the 🌮 tacos anyway ha ha ha. 

So we did 40 and he actually did really well.  He's leaving next Monday so he's wanting to ride again next Saturday before he leaves on Monday for good. 

So I asked him how it was back at home with his family.  After 19 years here I Cali sending his money to AZ where his family lived in his house. I honestly don't know how he did it.  

He says iss really boring, nothing to do and unemployed,  he has nothing to do. I suggested he ride over there but he says he might give it up. 

Wow, so I suggested he take up some kind of form of exercise with his wife. He says they walk  but she's not very active. 

Then he said, "honestly,  I miss you and the trail. " I was kid of shocked but in a way   I felt sorry for him. 

Al the times he's gone home to visit   he comes back disappointed with stories of a bad sad visit. 

I almost think he didn't really want to to go and my thoughts   maybe his wife didn't really want him to go back either  but the layoff   I don't think he had a choice. 

But I do hope it all works out for him.

Then Sunday   I did a solo ride just to get in a few more miles for the weekend.  And to test out my $4 base layers from JCPenny. Glad I got 😁 

Then home where Gina was waiting for me.  Ys of course we can do breakfast. 

Best part is she says she's willing to get back on the bike and ride with me again. So cool  can't wait 🤗 

The drunk Bastard jersey   maybe superstition but I won't wear it on the road for obvious reasons. Trail only. After I bought it   thought about it and kinda wish I hadn't bought it but might as well get some use out of it 😅

Breakfast   a little late so the wings sounded good too.

And all the work I've been doing out in the sun wearing steel toe boots   check out the waistline trimming down.  Need smaller pants and a belt ha ha 😂 

BTW  all the work I've been doing in the sun and heat over last few months,  dropped some inches. Might need some new pants and a belt.

41 Taco Ride

 41 at 16.5..Jose visiting from AZ to pick up his stuff for the move  sneaked in a ride. 

Pics for now. 

Easy Sunday Ride

 Easy 20 miles. Testing the Sport Pedialyte. Taste test I guess. I'll test the performance later on a long ride.

I drink the stuff at work as they provide it in boxes. But I'm the kind that can't take advantage taking it from the company as they are pretty generous with us. They provide food, BBQ, breakfast frozen food, frozen lunch foods, bottled water   Gatorade   cookies   snacks   coffee  ,and other goodies.  So I don't feel right taking advantage   though others don't have a problem. I just feel better buying my own. 

Kind of salty  as usual so I diluted it a bit more than suggested along the ride.  Not bad but I can't tell on a short ride how well it performs so I'll try next week on a longer ride. 

Figure I better electrolyte up after another cramp on Saturday.  I work in the sun all day wearing steel toe boots. Though it's good exercise and I feel great and strong,  I think the daily sweat fest takes its toll on me by the end of the week.  Heck, I think if I had a rest day  rehydration day between Friday work and my longer rides on Saturdays, I'd feel like a camp. 

But ain't working out that way so i better find a better source of electrolytes.

But overall,  a good solo relaxing easy ride.  I  really forced myself to go easy this time. Hard to get caught up as the San Gabriel Trail goes upp and up. Then the way back down is always torture with the wind.  So I had to be patient getting in an easy one with an average of about 14 and  a half.  But a good recovery ride.

Very lonely though. I saw two guys going my way and only one on the way back.  Even the parking lot was empty. 

Another bargain at JCPenny. 3 base layers, long sleeve for under 5 bucks. Picked up 3 since the cool night air is  coming.  Can't wait to start doing night rides again. 

46 with Fazi

 46 at 17.4 average speed. Pics for now.  Fazi is a  Strava buddy I met through Strava..

Since Jose moved back to AZ , figured I'd ask Fazi, a Strava buddy if he wanted to do a trail ride.  He comes down this way once in a while seeing he lives half way to San Diego. 

But his weekend off so we went for it. 

Fazi riding pretty strong so we did pretty well figuring it was  pretty breezy.  I  do have to adapt to his style some.  After I take my pull  of a mile into the wind,  during the exchange he lifts the pace.  Takes a pretty good effort to close the gap after being in the front in the wind. I keep steady giving my partner a good chance to latch on and good recovery. 

I explained it a few times but I guess people get excited and lose it. So I have to prepare differently than usual to make the switch.  

I had just gotten Jose to the point where we could rotate well and easily. He's pointed out a few times the mistakes of others as we ride so I know he finally understands after all these years. 

Now I hope Fazi will see what I mean.  Either that or I'll have to start lifting the pace when I go around so he gets the idea. If we were racing   fine but riding together is a different story I think.  A good exchange,  we'll both have extra energy. 

But it was a good ride and hopefully we learn to work together even better. 

Still trying to get Gina back on the bike.  But not yet so I'll just take a pic of the white in her hair,  I like it!😄

Solo 21

 Solo 21 miles trying to take it easy. Freaking wind on the San Gabriel Trail is just always a killer. 

My main purpose was an easy ride to test this new light and mount. Nice surprise that the mount came with the light.  $35, 1000 lumens from Rock Bros.  I read about the light on a cycling forum so why not give it a try. Maybe it'll motivate me to get back out there on night rides. 

I ran the light on medium yesterday and today during ride time. Total of 4 1/2 hours and still not in the red. So that should cover a 2 hour night ride.

But even better than that is the mount. All kinds of little thingies to work with. The arm adjusts and slides fore and aft. Making it more spacious to mount the light without contacting the bars Making ugly  creaky sounds. 

Not to mention the light tabs used to mount like a go pro   are set back a bit so the light mounts a bit forward. Another nice feature. 

Hopefully it'll allow my other lights to mount contact free if I choose to use one on the mount. 

Light is not quite as bright as the 1100 Nightrider I use, but almost and because it has a wider view,  I think it will be great for the road light. 

Either way, can't wait to try it at night. I'm guessing I'll have a few drivers flash their lights at me being so bright.   

Kidding of course seeing I set my lights to see and not to blind traffic. 

Mostly Solo Drunk Bastard

 50 miles at 16.2..Story later. 

So, I show up at the start and see a couple friends getting ready for a shorter ride. I cruise the first 2 miles with them as they turn heading back south to the coast. I continue on alone north to Weir. Then double back to the coast.  

At the coast  I run into Tony and we chat for a bit.  More friends show up so Tony sneaks out with a quick goodbye 👋. 

Ron and Dixie on their tandem show up saying they just got into a little friendly competition with a couple other riders.  The other riders show up and hey  it's my buddy Fazi, and Mike. 

So now everyone knows everyone ha ha ha. 

Fazi and Mike take off a bit ahead of us. Then I head back with the tandem taking turns at the front.  I don't know why, but I cramp while riding with the tandem.  Maybe it's because I have to pick it up when I go around to the front seeing Ron and Dixie are always moving pretty good on the tandem. 

Or maybe just old age catching up ha ha ha.  Though Fazi says he can see I've dropped a lot of weight.  Some have asked if I've been doing side workouts. Nope   just working 8 hours in steel toe boots lifting steel out in the hot 🌞 sun. That'll do it. 

I  got a little cramp nearing the end of the ride but decided to go inland another 2 miles that would make for a 50 miler by the time I got back.  

Nice heading north but the way back, doing 14 and 15. Boy it was windy but I got my 50.

Solo EZ 20

 Just a nice easy spin to relax the legs. 20 miles at 15.1 my device said 15.2 so I guess strava ripped me off.🤣

Nice and easy then worked a little hard for a short bit on the return. 

San Gabriel Trail to the dam then around the west side to the top of the trail. 

Always something new here. Today was the sh!tty Shopping Cart Tour.

I guess punks steal and bring this stuff up here to destroy it. 🥴

But a good ride.  Strava says 93 but I didn't think it was that hot though my legs were dripping when I finished the ride.

After the ride,  breakfast with Gina then a car wash.  I'm getting old. I used to love washing our cars every weekend. Now I'd rather pay somebody else to do it. 🤣

Then she makes me walk through Big Lots. So I look around and take pics of things I like. 😄

Solo Fat Bastard 40

Solo 41 miles at 17.3 average speed.  At one point,  I saw a group getting on the trail about 1/8 of a mile ahead.  I had to work hard to see if I could catch them.  About 4 miles later I did. The dude on the back seemed to be doing every trick in the book to drop me. Slow down,  speed up,  slow me down on the under passes. 

Ok dude, I caught your paceline from 1/8 back , you ain't going to drop me.  He did make it hard to recover like I wanted.  Just then I saw a buddy walking on the side of the road.  

He shouted I EXPECT YOU TO GO TO THE FRONT,  YOU'RE STRONG ENOUGH TO PULL THOSE GUYS. 😄

I  had been on the back for a mile trying to recover buy when he said that,  I said F this guy. I went to the front,  slowed a bit so the lead rider could take my wheel easily. He was happy to seeing none of the others were helping. I pulled them for about a mile and a half but had to stop for water. Plus I like to do solo efforts. 

As I did, the guys were  shouting thanks! So that was nice. 

I used the facilities  refilled then headed off again.  I ended up passing one of the riders who fell off the pace. He was struggling but I wasn't in slow down to help a buddy mode today.

20 Solo Ez Finding Another Light

 20 solo easy miles today. As easy as one can go seeing it was windy on the way up the San Gabriel Trail.  Then windy on the way down. What's up with that? This trail seems to be this way 9 out of every 10 times I ride it. 

Heading up to the base of the mountain,  I saw something out of place. I didn't recognize it at first.  So I looked again then noticed it was a red tail light. It looked broken to me at first sight but I checked it anyway. 

Hmm, just about new little light. One of those CR battery types.  Turned it on and boom, worked pretty decent. 

Score! Second light I've found. The other about 8 months ago. I have 2 cygo lite headlights but had been thinking about getting a more expensive model. One of  the 100 dollar models but boom! I see one lying on the trail. The 100 dollar model. Must be broken but brought it home,  charged it and there ya go, works like a charm. 

I did post on strava both times, then and with today's light.  The first light no response but can't say I'm broken hearted about that because it's been a great light.

Plus a few pics.

Working in the heat

But enjoying the weekend with Gina on Saturday at Black Angus 

Strange that I work in the sun, ride in the sun, but wear long sleeves all the time but I still get a funny watch tan.

Here we go,  today's ride. $20 and still my favorite jersey. 

The headlight from months ago   time expired and the little light from this morning.