GMR to the Village with Hillbasher 10/13/10

Seems we were the only two up there on bikes haha. Well did see another dude, got his pic and caught him on video. Just a mellow ride to the village on a nice day. S'posed to be 97 but the weather was very nice other than the headwind that seemed to last the entire climb. Cruised back and farted around with the cameras for some pics. Not much happening but I made a video anyways, if anything just to listen to Dream On by Aerosmith.

Chance Meeting with Member "Cachequatch"

Gina and I were at a local shop just browsing. But as I walked by the service dept, one dude looked at me and said,"you aren't going to make any videos are you?". I was stunned for a second cause the face didn't look familiar. He introduced himself and although I have read several of his posts, I had a registering the name. Heck, I never really was sure how to pronounce it anyways haha! And prolly still can't hehehe!

Spoke for a while and it sure was nice to find out the he's just as nice a guy as his postings in the forums. I had seen him post in the clyde forum in the past but wasn't really sure why after seeing him in person, the dude looks very fit! I figured he'd lost some weight , come to find out, he's dropped 100 lbs since the start of his cycling days! If I remember correctly, 6'3 and 200 lbs. But the dude looks 160!

Darn good job and darn nice guy!

Oh, and to the ladies that had to wait a little bit longer for their bikes (if you read this), again, sorry, I didn't realize you were waiting for your bikes while I held the guy up!

Cellphone pic. One of those times you think about bringing the camera and recorder but don't!:(

A nice FLAT ride with Gina and El Monarcha on SART. 48 miles, a few more than our usual 42. I'll leave it to you to see if you can figure out why the few extra miles! Just some fun and laughs with the gang. BoyLd, The Legend Greg, Bad Bob, Julie and El Monarcha. Gina's really feeling the benefits of GMR and liking it! Bad Bob played photographer for a pic, nice job. Another rider also snapped a shot, won't mention names hehehe! A little off center but I did the best I could to center it haha!

Nice ride up GMR with Gina to the shack, the plan as we had yet ANOTHER birthday party to attend in the afternoon. Ended up running into the famous Glendora Mountain Road blogger (check out her blog, great site, link to the right hehe!). First the ride. Wow! Glendora Mountain Road played the "I'm slow" card at the beginning of the ride but a few miles later, holy Jeepers, she was tearing off my legs on the climb. I ran into her a couple years ago and now way was she this strong. Today she was puttin the hurt on me! Didn't help that later on Jeannie rolled by. I know she's a very fast climber and MTB racer. Now she came rolling by me while talking on the phone to her coach. OK, so I can handle that but then they two gals start talking while Glendora Mtn Rd picks up the pace even more. Holy Smokes, I'm slowly falling off the back. That's the point I had to really stomp the pedals and hope that I can catch back up! She was nice, she let me! The woman is strong! It's actually funny when an itty bitty little gal about one third my size is dropping me like a bad habit haha!

At the shack, a rider rolls up and says that the Leaky Ftn boyz are on their way up. Uh oh, this guy must know me. Turns out to be LateBraking from bikejournaldotcom, #17in the socal club standings. We chat for a bit then he jams. I did see Broken Rider on the way up as we headed down but I was looking for more LF Boyz for a stop and maybe a pic, but I didn't see any others! Another rider at the shack on an MTB, living proof that GMR isn't all that hard and should be experienced by those that have this image of the ride being too tough to enjoy. ;)

Then the good part! Pretty sure Glendora Mtn Rd was getting tired of my plastic baggie I use to carry my camera. I use it to protect the camera from sweat contamination. Well she actually pulled out her very own camera protector and gave it to me. Cool deal, nice but I do feel kind of bad taking it. She says she can get another and she was really sick of my baggie hehehe. Well if she ever wanted it back, I'd be more than willing to return it. If not, that was very sweet of her to give it up.

So we chatted some about blogs then she pulled out her card. The two gals posed with her card. I had thought about that but I didn't realize others were actually doing it! We're digging the card when Bill pulls out a coin then hands it to me. Wow, this dude actually has his calling card on a coin, SWEET! OK, camera protector, coin, cool people and sweet gifts! I'm hoping for a new cycling shoe in a size 11 by Christmas haha! That's a joke but if someone wants to hand me a new carbon Colnago....

Glendora Mtn Rd - girlie in yellow
Bill - white/black jersey with red helmet
LateBraking - white jersey and Camelback

Hillbasher GMR/GRR 10/7/10

No video today, just a few pics of our ride up GMR and a section of GRR. Nice and warm at the bottom but with the way the clouds looked, we knew it would be cool up the hill. Nice cool weather for climbing but cold on the ridge. The downhill was cold too but once you hit the 2 mile point on the way down, you could feel the difference in temps. Down at the lot, toasty. Never can tell on GMR what the weather will do. Harley Dude Richard happen to stop by for a chat on the ridge. He's got some interesting stories haha!

It was cold but no snowflakes so I'm not exactly what Hillbasher was trying to catch haha!

Gina GMR + 6 More on GRR 10/3/10

Good ride today! LOTS of riders today! Old forum friend Jason went flying by. At one point I stopped to take a picture as another rider rolling down shouted out "Beanz". Too fast for a good look but I don't think we've met, not sure.

Gina did very well today. I could tell by the way she was rolling up most of the ride compared to her grinding up GMR in past weeks. Our planned turnaround was the shack as usual but I could tell she was feeling much better today so after mentioning it, she decide to go a bit further. Good for her, and who am I to deny her of the joys of climbing? We hit the next planned turnaround but again, she was ready for more, let's go! Finally about 1/2 mile short of the turnout lined with the rock wall, she decided to turnaround. If I had known we were that close to the wall, we'd have gone to that point. I didn't realize we were that close, 2 miles after the rock wall turnout, the sufferfest ends and you're pretty much on easy street to the village. After the ride, Gina and I went to eat then decided to go back for a drive up and across GMR/GRR to the village. She realized how close she was to the village and said, " I could have made it!". Won't be long now.

I had told her to give GMR a chance. Give it a few weeks and it will get better. She was doubtful after 3 weeks so I told her that if it doesn't get better after 8 weeks, we'll discontinue. After this ride, she said it was much better. Good job Gina, you just bought yourself another 8 weeks on GMR bwahahahahaha!

GMR to the Village 10/2/10

Saturday...42 mile son GMR to the village. ABEC's first trip to the village. Alex2 also joined with us a couple miles up the road. Man, I sure had my hands full trying to keep up with these two guys on the way to the village. ABEC on his way to "animal" status. Alex is already there. We rode to the village, returned to the shack then Alex headed back to the village one more time, geeze! Even the return trip was a workout trying to keep up on the short climbs. We did get a few raindrops here and there but no lightening strikes.I have plans to ride GMR again with Gina in the morning. I'm thinking she's going to spank me on the ride!

I did run into Matt who was in a hurry. I snapped a pic but it was a no show.:( But nice to see you up there Matt.



Alex2 and Abec: Caught a pic of ABEC at an intersection, true cyling fan, car rack and Lance band. Also a pic of his new "first time to the village" celebration shoes!