My Jewels!

No, not those jewels! I see our bikes like jewels, nice clean shiny sparkling jewels. At times we are walking through a mall and see a beautiful watch in the window of a jewelry store. Gina's says it's a beautiful watch then says we could swing it if I wanted it. No thanks! Give me a new cassette, a chain, a wheel and I'm happy.

I just put a new front wheel on her bike (DA/Fusion) to match ther rear wheel (DA/DeepV). I installed a new casette and chain then figured I'd take an updated pic of the bike for my photo album. I stepped back and took a good look. Wow, what a jewel! It's not a fancy bike, not a $20,000 TDF bike, not even a racer but damn the thing is beautiful!

It's her bike but since I maintain it, it's still one of my jewels. Thinking about it, I feel the same way about all our bikes! Offer up a nice thousand dollar watch or chain and cassette, I'll choose the bike stuff every time! ;-)

                        Cleaned up and ready to go for a ride this weekend, hate to see it get dirty!

                                                              The new DA/Fusion

 I would have liked to build the wheel myself but after the cost of parts etc, the price was not much or to have my buddy Mark build it for me. I do build all my own wheels after years of bad experiences with local builders( being a heavier rider) the one and only guy that I trust other than myself building my wheels is Mark. Talk about a good mechanic, I've followed him around over a span of 16 years. He's good enough to have opened his own shop and still the only guy I trust with my bikes! Mark and Dave's bike shop (corner of Carnelian and Baseline Rancho if you ever need a good builder).

MTB Claremont Hills Wilderness Park

Had a chance to ride the MTB today for a test run with the new Go Pro. Trying to figure out the helmet mount, handlebar mount positions. Oh, and the between the legs seat post mount ha ha! I'm guessing the guys that can mount it on the seat post have some skinny legs. I had to ride with my legs apart like a bow legged pregnant lady ha ha! Not bad but I'm not so sure I see any advantages over my Flip.

I do know it takes for ever to load an HD video. 1080-6 minutes took 3 hours on my computer whereas the Flip takes me about 40 minutes. Not so sure I see a big enough difference in quality. That's just me though, maybe my eyes are old. High speed Verizon DSL but we will be getting cable at the end of the week so hopefully it's a faster, better be according to what the cable rep at Best Buy says.

I climbed the east side of the trail (I forget the names). I have to say the damp ground made the climbing feel twice the workout. I was sweating bullets. Maybe my legs are just getting old along with my eyes ha ha! Ran into some dude and his friend at the little gazebo on top of the trail. He says walking is better with better traction, maybe I should have walked he he he! Dude's name is Victor and his camera shy friend Jackie.

The cool thing is that the upper parking lot is being enlarged. Looked totally different and closed for now but  it'll be a blessing once it's done. Heck, I don't MTB nearly as much as I did a few years back because I can never find parking.

All in all a cool day but I better load in a lower resolution till the cable guy comes!

SART 11/24/12

Another 42 with Gina on SART today riding the singles.  Very late start. Seems we haven't gone to bed any earlier that 2 am over the holiday weekend. Yeah, I set the alarm for 7 am but end up resetting it for 9:30 ha ha. Well today we didn't even start the ride till 12 noon. Seems to be a little more wind on the way to the coat but less traffic on the trail so it ain't all that bad.

With the late start and the way it looked yesterday we expected to be pretty much alone as far as familiar riders. But as soon as we pulled into HB, we were right behind Herb & Alyce who had just finished their Bay Bay section of their loop. Then Alex2 appeared out of thin air. Next JohnR and his main squeeze pull up on a tandem (she's a marathon stud).  Yes JohnR, forum member and Everest Challenge stud! I believe he has one or two records on EC as far as tandem category. I didn't realize it at the time but I believe he  is was wearing the jersey today as seen in the pics. Unless he has some other championship he hasn't mention. Ya never know, the guy is strong! I like JohnR! Much like JMX, the guys are badazz's but yet still find the time to stop, or slow on the bike to say hello or a friendly chat. These guys are keeping it real! Got to admire that!

Then Mark and Gail show up for a visit. Thought maybe we'd have big group for the return but Herb & Alyce had to leave so they headed out. The way back was nice! Mark kept a good steady pace for most of the return. I took a pull then Gail and Gina switched off a bit. Always nice to have a few buds along for the ride!

BTW, Mark's comments along with Alex's were not coached or blackmail ha ha! The two guys were talking about the videos, blog and how it has been a good deal for local cyclists getting to know one another. I did not pay them ha ha! So thanks for the good words guys! 

JohnR & Leslie

                                                                    Herb & Alyce

                                                                   Mark and Alex2

                                                                    Gina and Gail

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!