GMR 11/05/11

So THAAAAANKS to Alyce we hit up GMR again ha ha! We had a nice easy ride planned but Alyce asks the question last night, "we doing GMR?" Ha ha, there goes our nice ride and now Gina's got to work on the ride. Funny but out of all the riders I know, Alyce is one of the only riders that ASKS for GMR by name ha ha! Cool though, if it weren't for Alyce, we would have been slackers today!

So our plan was to do GMR on Sunday but the rain forecast changed that, Alyce asked so we hit GMR. A few short notice invites to those who had been interested in GMR. So we connect again with Raphael and Jessa. I am a little confused cause last time we met, they had different names ha ha! But they did bring their buddy Dave to the ride. Another invite to JeepSeaHawk of the forums so he was along for the ride.

Figuring R$J were double century riders, my plan was to hang for a while then drop back for Gina. But the whole group was cool. They stuck to our plan so we were able to stay together as a group for pretty much most of the ride. all did very well on the climb including Jessa who has a remarkable story. Wow, the things people overcome!

At the start we caught a glimpse of GMR and Matt heading up. Seemed to be in a hurry but we got in a quick wave. Later we run into Mr GMR at a turnout. Short chat then he was on his way. Always nice to see Bill! Ron on his hybrid rolls up to the shack as we hang around. He keeps eyeballin' the bikes saying they look familiar as if he'd seen them on a site or blog. Nah, not my bike ha ha! We chat for a bit then he continues on to the village.

At the end of the ride, we figure a quick plan for some eats. Hey, what about the rib and chicken joint I mentioned earlier in my post? It was on and we hit up the $5.50 special. I think just about everybody was happy with the meal.

But it was the cycling stories after the meal that were entertaining. Wow, Raphael and Dave are evil ha ha! Some great funny stories and lots of loud laughs going on. Some good stuff, we arrived at the rib joint about 1:30 and didn't leave till nearly 4:00. Like I said, Raphael and Dave are evil ha ha! Great stories! Jessa? Wow, nice lady, very pleasant, sweet but yet a darn good rider. Lots of fun today!

I Love a Clean Bike

Just cleaned our bikes. Gina's Pilot 5.2 has 14,700 miles and still looking good. Mine is the Madone 4.7, new frame with old components (26,000 miles). Although they are always pretty clean, I polished them today. Sadly, it's raining outside and rain in the forecast for Sunday, bummer!

Just messing around with the bikes showing them some love! We can't be riding dirty bikes!

SART 10/30/11

Nice day on the trail, another 42 miles. Ran into EricAnderson at the start, riding his Specialized Roubaix. Guy is hard to spot when he's not on his bent. Then Flying Merkel again at Edna Park. A little chat on bikes. Off to the coast where we ran into Jeff and Angie on their tandem. Later Alan and Tammy ride up so we all head back together.

Alan insists on being back up camera man so he exercised his rights today. Hey, I wanted to see what the new frame looked like ha ha! I left in some raw footage of his comments. The other side of the camera sans music.

SART 10/29/11

Maiden voyage for the new Madone Frame. Joined by El Monarcha for a portion of the ride along with JeepSeaHawk of the forums. Ride was nice. Most people said that once I rode full carbon I'd see a big difference in the ride quality. Yeah, little nicer but not much as far as road absorption. The one thing that I did notice was the scary light feeling of the frame. Wow, little twitchy at first on the steering but the frame felt really light. I swear the bike felt like it was going to come out form underneath me. But like most new things, I'm sure I'll grow to appreciate the frame over a period of a month or so. Don't get me wrong, nice ride but so was the 3/5 carbon Lemond. Biggest difference was the scary light feeling.

Back to the ride. JeepSeaHawk, another " I dunno if I can keep up" rider. As usual we do a warm up pace to Imperial then a good effort to the coast against the wind. Seemed the guy had no problem at all keeping up. Not used to riding with others, he did a pretty good job of riding in a small group. Nice safe rider, nothing scary thank goodness.

On the way to the coast, a guy goes flying by and says, "nice bike!" Fist thought is, somebody knows I just got the frame but I'm not sure. Then a gal comes up and asks, are you Mr. Beanz?" Yup, that's me! So she explains that they recognized us from the blog and read about the new frame.

We get a chance to chat at the coast. Turns out to be Mariana and her hubby Rodrigo. They are from Brazil. Turns out Rodrigo's friend searched bike rides from Brazil and my blog turned up. So he mentions it to the M&R and they check it out. Cool, Marianna says they know me in Brazil ha ha! Nice couple and beautiful bike. I love her paint scheme. From Brazil, to Hollywood, to SART! Cool, they travel all the way down here just to check out the trail after seeing it on the blog! Well, I do touch up some of the pics I post and Marianna is worried that hers might not come out well. But when I get home, I look for flaws but don't find any. So I use a softener on their pic and nothing, looks the same ha ha! Sorry Mariana, I tried to edit it but she is just too dang pretty, didn't need it! That's a compliment Rodrigo, don't hurt me!

So they ride off into the sunset and we hang at the coast for a while with JeepSeaHawk, Gail and Mark. A brief visit with Alex2 and MTBLrkr. Not sure what happened to Alex2 but he didn't show on the return portion. I though the was right behind us. Another thing I wondered about were those little white tablets MTBLrkr was popping. Hm, all I know is that a few miles down the road, he took off like a bullet. OK, a third thing I was wondering about. Did he give some of them tablets to Gail? Cause she took off like a rocket from the start. It took us about 6 or 7 miles to catch her. Not to mention, after she rested on the back for a while, she made another move 2 miles later. You can see in the video, she shoots off the back and takes the front.

Everybody rode well and strong but Gail and Gina took turns pulling. Today was a "Gurl crush Boy" type of ride. Maybe I said something to upset Gail or maybe she was upset with hubby Mark, but she was punishing us today!

I love the scene at 6:55 Music kicks back up and Gail shoots around to the front to lift the pace once again. "Roll Me Away"

Well it Looks Like A Bike

Well I built it!:-D Finally got the headset bearing last night. I needed a star nut as well so the dude at the shop said $12.00 to cut the fork and install the nut. He had to set up the headset as well while doing so.

I gave him $20, saved me from having to buy a hack saw ( I lost mine).

So building it took about 3 hours, most of the time cleaning the components real good and swapping wheels with the other bike. Assembly was easy. Hardest part was removing the ugly warning sticker from the fork. ;-(

Well looks like a bike and tomorrow is the maiden voyage. I expect to make a few adjustments on the ride as the cables adjust.

GMR 10/23/11

So this was a special event, Jed19 on GMR for the first time. Wow, what, 2 years trying to talk Lucas (Jed19) up and finally ha ha! As so many others, kept away by the forum myth that GMR was the unthinkable. But today he found out just how nice this ride can be! Yes, a good ride, takes some effort but no, you don't need those 20tooth chain rings and 34 cogs.

My standing plan taking up GMR news is to stop after a couple of miles to stretch the legs. Then again at 4 miles. Not because you really need it but a newb finds these stops a pleasant treat to the legs. I must say Lucas made the ride look somewhat easy. Yes, sweat, some huffing and puffing but he did very well. As he said, the ride is the toughest climb he's done but he made it. He can't fool me, he had some extra gas in the tank. I know this because on the last stretch, he lifted the pace and really worked hard. Nice hard effort on the last stretch, that means something!

We did the early start, 7 am which made it very nice! Not hot and not cold but much appreciated by Gina who had a much more wonderful day on GMR compared to the last 2 weeks and hot 11 am start times. She worked too but made it with a smile!

On the way up, a rider flying by said, "Mr. Beanz". He told me his real name but didn't seem to get a forum name from him. We had a short brief chat then he blasted off up the mountain. Maybe he was just being forum name shy. Either way, I won't post his name but his pic came out great (orange jersey).

At the end of the ride Genaro rolls up. We saw sooo many riders on the road that I wasn't sure if it was him or not. Took me a few seconds but yeah, that's Genaro. Nice tough ride for the guy, Fontana to Baldy Rd (via Euclid, the hard way), Baldy Village then back down and across.

Well, just a beautiful day on GMR. We beat the heat, I guess that has something to do with it! Congrats to Lucas (Jed19) on a job very well done!

Gina picked the song.

SART 10/22/11

Gina was off today so I had a free ticket to ride at will. Most of the ride was pretty lonely as I got a somewhat late start. But I was joined at the coast by Tony, Alex2 and Jordan. Pretty cold at the beach today and not many people around at all. Dark, gloomy, almost looked like a drizzle.

We sat at the coast for a while then headed back. Good thing I had my ClifBar and Gatorade cause these guys were hauling. Jordan rode back with us for about 2 miles and Tony 6 maybe? But those 6 miles were like he was trying to murder us ha ha! Nice fun ride!

I was hoping to have the Madone built up by for today's ride but after waiting a week an a half for the head set bearings, guess what! They shipped the wrong ones, Grrr! But they should be in early next week.