SART Tandem 11/23/12

                     A nice 42 mile ride on SART with Gina. Figured we'd ride the tandem again for kicks. Got a late start so the trail was not very crowded at all. Pretty uneventful other than a quick hello while crossing paths with Condorita till we reached Edna Park where we ran into Big Vic and his crew. Big Vic has a youtube channel and has left comments on my videos so that is where I discovered that he covers a big range of coastal rides. He claims there are more chicks and bikinis in his area, I've watched his videos and yeah, I've seen a few. His channel is "iberevbrick". He's got a bold but mellow voice so his commentaries are entertaining. Sometimes giving you the feeling of listening to a radio dj casting out dedications to the audience ha ha!

Big Vic and his buddies ride Cat Trikes. Pretty cool machines. a bit scary with the stopping power as demonstrated by Carlton, along with a story of a scary panic stop and some knuckles to the back of the head from another rider. Let's just say, those things can STOP! We chat for a while, record each other then we're off to the coast.

Time change makes things look weird. 1:30 pm looks more like 5 pm. The sun on one side of the trail and the moon on the other. Hmm, I didn't even know that was possible, now I know ha ha! Near the coast we see Bad Bob and Ben heading inland. Looking back toward the coast, wow was it foggy! From half a mile back, PCH wasn't visible. The beach empty while the sun tries to crack through the clouds. It did for about 30 seconds then vanished once again. To cold to hang out there so we jammed!

Right as we were leaving the coast, I saw JMX approaching the coast. Looking like he had been working pretty hard. I guess he was after looking at Strava times. Wow, the dude can fly! He did catch us on the return. Always nice enough to stop for a chat then he zoomed off  at JMX speed. You know, next time we meet, I'm going to have to check that guys bike for one of those hidden seat tube motors ha ha!




                              

                                                      Big Vic (iberevbrick on youtube)

                                                                           Jerome

                                                                              Carlton

                                                                                Us

                                         Caught in the act. That's why I set the timer on 3 shots

GMR 11/20/12

Have some time off so figured I'd hit GMR cause I reeeaally need to get back into shape. Missed the weekend rides due to rain and threat of rain. Hey, that's enough to convince me to skip the ride and take the parents out to breakfast ha ha! Any way, I headed up and realized yes, I reeeaally need to get back into shape. Average temp was only about 74 but it felt warm on the climb. Not sure I remember having that much sweat drip from my helmet in a long time. Maybe it's  sign I reeeaally need to get back into shape. I did eat better last week but the weekend blew it. All I got to do is make it past Thanksgiving Thursday then I'm hitting it hard cause I reeeaally need to get back into shape. My target to day was to make it up without any breaks. Heck, might as well skip the break at the shack so I figured I'll just mosey on down he he! Times are slow but the elevation graphs always look cool!

SART 11/11/12

Ha ha! I just realized that on a Strava segment, we hit #254 out of 2048 riders on the "Glassell Lincoln" segment. I should sign Gina up on Strava and post her times according to my Garmin since we ride together most of the time. That might blow the minds of a few riders. ha ha!

Another 41 miles on SART today. We decided to ride the tandem for a little something different today. Jose joined in for the ride from the start. Along the way we met up with Jeff and Angie for a short bit till they vanished into thin air. Louie for a hello at Edna Park and picture. Gina says she's jealous cause Louie looks prettier than she does side by side ha ha!

Near the coast we ran across Bad Bob who was kind enough to turn around and head back to the coast with us. So we had a few laughs and a short few miles together. Then Pleasant Peggy and Sarah showed up at the beach stop for a visit and a few laughs as well. Then it was back into the wind. Not sure what the problem is but the wind isn't cooperating ha ha!

Jose (El Monarcha)

                            Gina says she's jealous cause Louie looks prettier than she does ha ha!

                                                          Jeff and Angie tandem team

                                                                   Pleasant Peggy

                                                   Meh! We'll just call her Sarah Ha ha!

Windy SART 11/10/12

My Garsh what a windy ride! Our first time back on the trail in 5 weeks. Windy, chilly and (did I say) WINDY? But at least we got to ride. Couple of GMR rides and lots of birthday parties over the last couple of weeks made this ride tough. 41 miles figuring I'd use it as an easy ride to get my new shoes fitted properly but it turned out more of a struggle. One of those rides where the wind seems to be against you in all directions. Rarely do I get a ride like this, one way with wind and a tailwind back. Today, we head south, big headwind. We cross a bridge heading west, headwind, cross east, headwind, then return north, BIGGER headwind. Too much time off the bike and too many parties! Hopefully we can get back on track and make it through the holidays.

We ran into Herb & Alyce for a short chat. Not sure but I think Alyce was still in her pajamas ha ha! OK, so it was a huge tee shirt. I'm so used to seeing Alyce in tank tops, I didn't even recognize them when they rolled by. A fly by from The Legend Greg and a shout "Frijoles" from OCTICO,  chat with Alex2 at the coast and a visit with Tammy & Alan.

Alyce did tell us that a due named Victor from Mission Viejo recognized her form the videos. I';m not sure who it was or maybe the old age is getting to me ha ha!

Gina happy it's about over

                                                  Alex2...too cold, too windy, no smile!

                                                      Sand is in the air, darn wind!

                                                      Jose after the warm up stretch

                                                               Alyce and her lollipop

                                                                Alyce in her pajamas?

                                              Herb waiting for Alyce to finish her lollipop

                                                                    Tammy & Alan

                                     Windy, clear view of Catalina but some very choppy water

                                        Alan punished again. Tammy sat him in his corner ha ha!

GMR Night Ride

Forum member JmX

                                                                     GMR at night

                                                        Everybody lining up for a picture

                                            How many cyclists does it take to set p a tripod?

                                         Hmm, everybody's having but but Hillbasher is crying

                                                           Hillbasher and OCRRick

                                                                         Still at it ha ha!

MTB.....Base of Potato Mtn

Well I'm using the MTB trying to get back into shape. Plus the trail is real close to where we live. Today I figure I'd head up toward Potato Mountain. Not sure how I would feel but hey, I was alright today. During the ride I figured I could make it all the way up but my brain says working into it would be smarter. No need to rush, gains take time. Plus 1600 ft gain in 3 1/2 mile is decent, especially in the dirt.

MTB always freaks me out a bit knowing there could be animals up there. I have no problem wrestling a bear but the element of surprise is what freaks me out. I figure if I have to wrestler a bear or a lion, they may get the best of me but we're both going to the hospital. OK, maybe not ha ha!

Didn't help that on the way up I see a gal standing real still on the trail. As I roll up I ask hoping it's not a lion. Nope, just deer. I stop to take a picture and I'll be darned if I couldn't see them all. That didn't help with the "WILLIES" factor later on in the ride. As you get higher, there ain't nobody around. If there are animal, you can't see them but knowing they see you is a little scary.

So I make the climb and pretty happy with my performance. Not racing, not setting records, just making it felt good. So I start my descent and half way down, AN ANIMAL ENCOUNTER!!!! I'm rounding a blind turn when I see an animal on my left. I'm thinking lion so I get ready to jump off the bike if need but then I realize it's a dog. Then I see the owner sitting under a tree so I shout, "the dog scared me, I thought it was a lion". Thanks goodness it's only a dog but then I realize it's a Pit Bull and it's chasing me!  Thank goodness it was an obedient dog. It ran back to the owner after he shouted the dogs name 3 or 4 times. The the owner shouts SORRY! I guess it's still better than a lion with no owner ha ha!

So I make it back to the truck with all limbs in place. Some dude in the lot whips out a real nice shiny 29'er. Wow, that thing is pretty. Then I look over at  my dirty bike and think to myself, "just a bike and they are meant to be ridden, and mine did the job well today". I don't now, Gina keeps saying I should get a 29'er but why? If I ride it. it's gong to get dirty too. Mine, I just clean the drive train after every 2 rides. You can see the dirt in the picture, looks like way more than 2 rides. So if I get a nice pretty new shiny 29'er, I'll spend more time polishing it than riding it ha ha!

I took pics at this section where you can see how it progresses. Start of the section, mid, then what seems to be the top but isn't. Believe me, still  lots more climbing left.

Kind of tough setting the timer then trying to turn around for the pic ha ha!

                                                Lots of dirt..that's what MTB's are for, dirt!

                                         Meh! Who needs a 29'er? MY  26 incher gets me there!

                                                                         Some stats

                        Scary! Animals are there but you can't see them 3 in the pic, better deer than lion.

                                                        The profile. 3 1/2 up then down

MTB Monday

Man, I had to get one "A BIKE"! I wanted so bad to ride the tandem this weekend. I had it all polished, frame waxed and ready to go but the darn weather forecast. I had connections in OC that said it was wet in the morning. Figured it would dry up but the only thing that happened was it started raining here too. Gina was not thrilled about getting wet and neither was the tandem so we sat out, bummer! Sunday much the same according to a report form one of my connections. Later another connection said ti turned out nice after the early rain, DARN! Now I really feel like I missed out. ;-(

But Monday came and I HAVE to get on a bike or I'l go crazy. So I picked the MTB since it's close and if it rains, not big long wet journey home and who res if the MTB gets dirty ha ha! Well I did one loop clockwise for starters. I felt like I should do a second loop so I started in the opposite direction but the pizza I ate last night said don't do it! Sitting around all weekend eating is not very good training for the climbs so I went up a little bit then turned around. Then I went up a little bit on the other side again. Just far enough to snap a few pictures for a blog post he he he!  I really wanted two loops but something told me that I shouldn't push to hard too soon, there are many days to follow. Heck 1,300+ feet gain in 8 miles ain't too shabby!

Well nothing exciting but a reminder that I need to start doing more of this type of riding to get into shape. Close to home and a good workout.