Solo Drunk Bastard 35

 Pico to the base of the Azusa mountains and back.  35 solo.  Nice day but tough not wanting to get out of bed this morning. 

Getting up at 4 am everyday as mentioned for work, rough getting up to ride ain't happening no matter how much I want it ha ha ha.  

But this weekend was different.  The manager asked me to work Saturday.  What, and no Saturday morning ride? 🤣😂🥰

But I did because they've been so good to me.  Making more money 💰 than ever and easy work sitting in the AC running computer measuring machines.  

But I made it and settled for a Sunday ride.

Did have to do the damn dam 3 times to get this shot, only the upper section thank goodness. 

Did get some Fajitas and a smoothie after work preparing for my Sunday ride. 😄

Yeah, Sizzluh again. Got my petite steak again but this time the salad 🥗 bar all you can eat 😋. My $2 per week adds up quickly. $4 per week when I work OT. 😄 Made a waitress happy with a 20. We go about once a week for nearly 2 and a half years now and though it was very busy today, this waitress made sure we didn't have to ask for refills or extra plates/bowls. First time ever so she earned the 20 spot this week. 😁 I'm getting old cause I can't pack it away like I used to! 🤣

BTW, I bought these socks, a few pair different colors at Wally World a bit over 3 years ago.  3 pair for $2. 😲

I posted about them on a cycling forum but people said they'd fall apart within a month.  I had mentioned how nice they felt and here we are more than 3 years later still going strong.  I thought they were much better than the PI types I've bought for much more and now much more expensive. 

But here, 3 plus years later,  6 pair going strong and haven't had to buy socks since.  Sadly I haven't been able to find them since. Probably stopped selling them because they're too durable and losing money on the manufacturing side.

Not to mention the L and the R that doesn't allow me to put the wrong sock on the correct foot. Just can't seem to go against the grain ha ha ha!

Solo Sunday

 Pico to the Santa Fe Dam and back. Easy 20 miles. 90 degrees when I started and a high of 98. Nice and easy, as easy as the wind allowed. Hot sweaty legs at the end of the ride ha ha ha! Just another nice ride then to the cemetery to take my Dad some flowers on his 6th anniversary. How time flies by.

Then dinner with Gina at El Torito. Boy, talk about going downhill, El Torito is it ha ha ha! Expensive now and the quality sucks but still a good time with Gina.

Saturday with Tony and John

 About half solo 43 miles. Tony set up the ride but didn't feel well when we started. I guess he had 3 hours sleep and couldn't function.  So he did the first part of the ride, the train station to Yorba Park. Then cut out. Ran into John (Octico on the forums) heading back to ARTIC after Yorba. Passed him as he stopped on the side of the road to turn around. He called out my name and after seeing his face, I was puzzled for a bit wondering who it was. But then finally clicked, it was John. Didn't recognize him as he has dropped 70 to 80 pounds. Looking good!  Riding well too finishing up his 40 miles turning out at ARTIC with Tony who stopped his ride early not feeling well.

SO I headed off alone after that. To HB and back. Not much going on other than the wind. Though on the way back, ran across some chick on a bike making hand signs. She was making a hang loose sign and sticking out her tongue as we passed. I guess she had no idea that I had a go pro so I captured her. The lady behind her busted out laughing after she saw me whip out the go pro ha ha ha!

Well, from far away, she looked like Pamela Anderson. Up close, not so much ha ha ha!

Met Gene and Susan at the end of the ride. Brother and sister team who had done cross country tours over the last couple of years. So we had some good fun bike chat. Good people and good laughs.

                                                                     Youtube video

Tony's images

After, Gina and I ate at Casa Jimenez in Claremont. Made a little youtube video of our friends there. Best Casa Jimenez around, of the maybe 10 that I've visited.

St. Jude

 I'm not a really big religion person but sometimes, you gotta have some faith.  I made a deal with the Big Man Upstairs. Seems he kept His part of the deal so I paid mine.

Just made the one time donation to St. Jude Cancer for the kids. Just gets me every time I see the commercials thinking of how rough that would be. Seeing Gina go through rough times with her two sons before passing away. 20+ years of medical issues, hospitals, you name it !

So I felt this would be the charity if I was ever to donate.  I did tonight and feel good in more than one way.

One time donation but should get my t-shirt in about 45 days it says. Much sooner would be nicer but oh well !

Chased by a Bear Tour

 Solo 20 miles from Pico Rivera to Bellflower and back. Didn't feel too warm but I see the high was 104.  Hot I guess but I did stop for a few repeats to take some pics. Somebody's got to do it and I didn't see many others out there ha ha ha!

Did get chased by a red bear but luckily I was fast enough to outrun him ha ha ha!

Tried to go very easy but the wind doesn't allow me. At one point I saw 12.5 with a good effort.  Trying to keep the effort and HR down and seemed to do so, so I can't complain too much ha ha ha!

Big Red Bear is one of the faster of the bear species. But I was able to snap a pic and STILL, outrun him ha ha ha!

Forgot to mention, second day on the Kootu saddle. 46 yesterday and 20 today. Getting ready I noticed there were no sore spots along my chamois area. Ahhh happy balls ha ha ha!

$23 on ebay, I'm totally surprised just as I was with the $30 Charge Spoon saddle that has served me far better than my $200 Terry Fly.

I could go back and forth swapping saddles if I wanted. Giving a slight edge to the Kootu. Hopefully it lasts a long time. Heck, I'd buy another and probably will after the month or so durability test. Read about the Kootu on a Facebook group page. People were hassling the dude about his review but seemed like something that would serve me and for $23, I'll give it a try. I see plenty of ads on FB advertising super comfy saddles for $300-$400. Wow, if I can have comfort for $23, I'll take it and it has entered my mind to break down and get one of those super expensive saddles. But I seen a few negative comments from users so like any other saddle, not every set of buns is the same. Meaning even the super expensive stuff might not work.

Back to work Monday. Gotta pay for them expensive saddles! 

Funny thing, just found out that the gal that quit left because she said this was too difficult. She left and found out they asked me a couple weeks after she left, to swap over to the nuclear power plant product line. Testing parts that are used at nuclear power plants. Got an explanation of the parts from an engineer.

One guy there 8 years and another gal 2 years. I ask questions they can not answer. They don't understand the technical stuff. Problems with a machine, engineer comes down to check it out and explains things to me and I understand and ask questions and the other two are puzzled. I didn't know that, they say ha ha ha ! I guess I know more of the technical stuff having a bigger background in QC compared to them as well as working on measuring machines.

So the switch was good. They needed someone who knew something and my job is much easier in this department. They wanted me to learn 1 machine in 2 weeks. I picked up 2 machines in 3 days then another , the third machine in 5 days ha ha ha!  Now the engineers are asking me questions because the others don't understand. Hmmm!

I guess I'm not as stupid as I look ha ha ha! I remember years ago, a supervisor telling me, "you play dumb but I know you're a lot smarter than you pretend not to be" ha ha ha! I guess so but if people know you're smart, they ask you questions.

Solo SART and Some Ron & Dixie

 Mostly Solo 46. Video for now and a shout out to Mountain Bike Mario and his carpet cleaning/Auto detail business. Rode with Ron and Dixie for about 10 who looked strong. Chat with Alyce.

So I headed out to SART which I don't ride much anymore. Figured I'd get in a nice long smooth ride seeing the trail is much smoother than SGRT. But as usual, a late start. I see my ride start time at 10:44. I'd be getting warmer than I wanted but just can't seem to get up at 6 am, as usual. Blah!

Max of 102 means it's warm. I did see Alyce at the start, midride I believe as she was heading to the coast meeting some friends for coffee. I headed inland a bit after Ron and Dixie. I skipped my usual stop at Yorba Park missing my stretch. Felt it later after passing Edna Park. Boy did my back start to hurt.  I don't think it had anything to do with the new saddle as I felt this coming on at work around Wednesday. The monitor on the SmartScope is a bit too low and before I realized it was not good for me, my back was acting up. Blah!

But I did arrive at the coast as R&D were getting ready to leave. But they hesitated some so we could chat. Ron found a new friend wanting to chat about clipless pedals so I chatted with Dixie as I ate my granola bars. Yeah, the cheap Walmart brand ha ha ha! Dixie being a super nice lady, I always enjoy chatting with her. Great couple too!

We headed back so I got some  footage for my video. Good thing because I'm sure the cycling world is tired of seeing my face ha ha ha! They roll out pretty fast whereas I take a few miles to warm up. Right away they were up to 18.5, 19, 20 and my usual warm up speed on that section is about 17. So I was struggling a bit to keep up and knew it would take a bit to go up front to help them out. Sure enough,  5 miles later I finally found it in me to move up. Of course hitting the downhill before Moon Park, they rolled by at 24 mph. That's when it's tough to keep the speed with one hand hoping to keep up for some video footage ha ha ha!

They were rolling pretty good so about 7 miles in, my back got tight again. Blah!  Reaching the bridge at Edna, I told them I was stopping to stretch my back. They rolled on and I stopped.  Bummer but did me good.  The next day, only did 20 but the back felt much better. So mostly solo other than the 10 with R&D.

Of course a little plug for Mtn Bike Mario. We had made a couple of videos few years back. He sent a text a couple days ago asking me to help promote his business. I'm guessing my blog and videos. Yeah Ok, seemed like a good guy back then. Actually the only guy who ever offered to pay for a cycling video. Sounds good but you know me, I ain't no professional videographer so I couldn't accept payment seeing I do it for a hobby. But that told me a lot about Mario, dude is willing to give some and not worried about losing a little money if he had to pay for something. I respect that vs the guy who won't let you borrow a pump without paying for the air ha ha ha!

SO yeah, a variety of cleaning services ranging from Rancho Cucamonga to Pasadena. Even Hermosa Beach, willing to travel if the price is right and makes business sense. All I can say is, Mario is a good dude. If I had the need, I'd give him my business.

Hot Solo Sunday

 Another 20 for the weekend. Went easy knowing it was going to be hot. 96 when I started out and it wasn't going to get any cooler. Kept it easy and a low heart rate just spending time on the bike and taking pics ha ha ha!

Strange that I stopped to take pics once near the top but I sure didn't feel hot at all, Actually kind of cool with a little breeze, I'll take it!

Then a nice meal with Gina after at Outback.  Ok stuff but boy I sure am getting spoiled with good home cooked meals. A couple places still seem good to me, Casa Jimenez with the fajitas or all you can eat and Avolios with the salad and pizza. The rest of the places are ok but not really outstanding or THAT good. Good enough but expensive considering the enjoyment factor, could be better for the price.

One sad thing on the trail is the trash tossed by the homeless. So they keep tossing trash along the trail near the top City of Hope area. The authorities clean it up then sure enough, it's back a couple of weeks later. How about this? Arrest those ass hats for the day, feed them a ham sandwich then make them clean up the mess and place it in a trash truck. I bet they'd start thinking twice about tossing crap along the trail. And the dude with a car parked down in the river with a tent. Nothing more to worry about other than flying his kite. Must be nice! If I parked my truck down there, it would be towed, I'd be fined and probably have to spend a couple thou trying to get my truck back. At least get some work out of those morons.

Which reminds me, starting work on nuclear stuff tomorrow at work. OK! Ha ha ha!

Update: First day in the nuclear area at work running a smart scope. Managers at work asked me to transfer to the nuclear dept saying they knew I had the experience and ability to run the scope and lacking the skilled people to run it, asked me. Um ok! Today was the first day. They said I would receive 2 weeks training. After the first 3 hours, I was running the computerized scope on my own. The gal training me said she was surprised that I picked up on it so soon as the last person they hired to run it said it was too difficult and quit.  Surprised, I'm Mr. Beanz Dammit! Ha ha ha!

So I did celebrate with and 31 flavors today with my Honey. And dang, my $2 pre week allowance adds up quickly. And this is after giving away a few 20's to people I thought should have a 20 ha ha ha!

                                               The chump change I carry around in my pocket.

Hot but a nice day!

Wow, looking back on the time I built my Madone. 29,000 miles later, no sign of a glitch in the wheels. One minor true and tension at 12,000 miles. Haven't touched then since and 29,000 miles, still doing well.