What a nice day! I did get up at 5:15 to go ride my bike today, that is amazing ha ha! Ended up riding to Peacock Saddle today. 13 miles up and 3,018 ft of gain. Last couple of weeks have been hell on me going up GMR. But wanting to get back into shape, what better way to do it then just go out and jump on GMR?
Well since I am on local bike forums any longer, I can say that wussies will make excuses as to why they can't do GMR. Blabber mouths on the forum but shit their pants when you invite them. So I have a chance to ride without Gina so I will take advantage of it. Since she goes to spend time with her remaining only son at the dialysis center on Saturdays, I'm doing GMR! I used to do it fairly often before Gina started consistently riding with me.
Believe me, after all the stuff we have been through lately, several deaths in the family, kids with strokes, heart attacks, you name it, I haven't had much of a chance to ride the way I want to ride. heck, even Gina riding with me has slowed me down years ago. I used to ride to the village like nothing. Sure Gina went to the village a couple times but like many other roads, it scares me to have her out there. She descends pretty well but one little mistake at 30 MPH, she's going to get hurt and she only has one remaining kidney. I think about that plenty now after watching 4 people in our family suffer on dialysis, 3 have passed away.
So anyway, I don't think I'd take her on GMR any more. Just worries me but since "I" have a chance to do it, I'm going to do GMR!
Why do I bring up the wussies? Some dip shit on a cycling forum, a local would always say something stupid about our rides. Of course Gina would kick the shit out of him on the Santa Ana Trail if he had the balls to ride with us, but he won't. But the same guy would always be Mr. Tough Guy on the forums. Always something sarcastic to say about our riding the trail. It was not TOUGH enough for him. But of course Gina was averaging 17.5 on the 44 miler and this wuss was averaging like 13 MPH. I invited him several times to ride with Gina but he always had an excuse.
How much of PUSS is this guy? Well, he and his wife parked a car at the coast on a super windy day. They headed to Green River in their car and tried to ride to the coast to set a decent average. Of course it didn't work, the dude is a wuss, his mouth a bigger muscle than his quads ha ha!
But he goes on and on and always seems to say something sarcastic. When I call him out on it, he says, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. Always finds a way to weasel out of it. So anyway, he had been running his mouth so I invited him to do GMR "WITH GINA"! Gina is always the last one up so I told him he would have no problem. But the wuss made 100 excuses. He had a concussion, the doc told him not to do rides like GMR for a while. Of course a year later, he's still blaming the doc. But yet, he boasts about playing co ed softball and taking out the female catcher at home plate to win the game. A little exaggeration of course because I can not remember the exact stories of his awesomeness playing softball with girls in the D league!
Me? I'm out of shape, I haven't been up there much in years. My legs don't push me up the mountain like they used to. Everybody is going to pass me right now. OK really, I suck right now ha ha! But I will say, Mr. Beanz is not a Pussy like that forum member!
Ron (Pinoybenter) saw me on SART one day. He asked if I had been up GMR, NO. He said if I was looking to get back into shape, do GMR. It will get me there vs riding the trail. Yeah he is right! Now I have a chance to do GMR, I'm doing it! I don't freaking make excuses. I went out there 3 weeks ago. In the heat, last week 105 high. You start to remember the little secrets of GMR rides. START early to avoid the heat. I only made it up 5 miles that day. I sucked but I was out there the next week. I made it to the shack with 2 stops. I still sucked ha ha but I made it! But hey Ron, I'm up there again!
Today I went up there with a plan to make the shack non stop. I don't know how many times I have done the village non stop but that was then, this is now! But today I made it non stop as planned! I go there, didn't set any speed records but that was not the plan. I made it non stop, felt great and even decided to go to Peacock Saddle. I was shocked that it seemed easier than I remember. But I still had to ride back and those who know the road, know there is some climbing on the way back. That short little steep climb back up to the shack always gets me. Today, I don't know what happened. I climbed that sucker no problem. The entire return was much easier than I remember. I just used a little patients and did it!
Made me think of that forum wuss! You can sit there, make excuses, think of reasons why you should NEVER TRY or you can just get out there and do it!
The legs felt much better today. Once home I have to climb stairs up to our room. First week I thought I was going to throw up climbing the stairs when I got home ha ha!
Today, my third week, I got home, walked up the stairs and felt some good muscle in my legs. They didn't burn, I had to reach down to touch them to find out why. All I felt were some solid quads ha ha! How often do you do a climbing ride and feel fatigue after the ride? Pretty often I have to say but today was a trip. All I felt was some solid muscle. They might deflate like balloons by midnight for now, I'm feeling pretty dang good!
The other thing is the heat. Another forum big mouth, Pam! Years ago we were talking about doing Ride Around the Bear on the forums. We mentioned Onyx Summit and the increase of temps felt by many participants. I didn't feel it much myself any of the 4 times I did it, but I was in better shape.
Pam starts flapping her gums. Talking about how it is not hot over here blah blah blah! She rode GIANT mountains in Georgia in temps that made Onyx Summit feel like a freezer, blah blah blah!
So after all the flapping, I invited her to do GMR with Gina and Alyce. We had a nice little thing going with some women of age. Like fine wine! But Pam is a sour grape ha ha! Gina is maybe 4 years younger than Pam. Alyce maybe 1 or 2. Another woman maybe a year older than Pam. I invited her to be nice after all the talk of how hard core she is. I should have known when she mentioned crushing some 13 year kid around Back Bay. But she did buy a custom bike, top of the line , way overpriced if you ask me, but that's because I'm pretty much poor ha ha! Anyway, Dura Ace, fancy gearing, whatever!
I invited her as the gals were doing GMR every weekend for about 3 months.
Believe it or not, Big Mouth Pam says it's too hot! OK wait! You ride in the South, 547 degrees but 85-90 is too hot for you here in California??? OK so we start earlier to beat the heat. Early start, avoid the sun by the shade of the mountain. Oh no, it's too HOT! You're kidding me!
So what? I wait a few months and the temp drops to 65. Pam, would you and your flapping gums like to come and ride with Gina and the girls? No.
You'' never guess what her response was! Maybe you will knowing she's a big mouth gum flapper, it' too cold!
Holy crap! Anyway, the moral of the story is, some people talk a lot of shit and some people actually ride when they get a chance.
Like I said, I suck right now, need to lose weight, need to ride more, need to improve. All the things that might go wrong and stop me? Screw them! I'm riding till I get better, no excuses. If I get faster, great. If I don't great, I am still doing GMR and have some balls.
You other wussies, you better stick with the coed softball leagues. The dude who wouldn't ride with Gina, you might want to ask if they'll let you compete in and all female league ha ha! No excuses bitch!
The Shack! Hey, I don't see any of those gum flapping forum members ha ha!
I'm here, again!
My turnaround today!
Magic?
Looking down on east Fork
Next two are the same pic, but one zoomed in as I caught a cyclist descending one of the switchbacks. :-P
Yes, we park way down there! ;-)
