I solo rode the Five Rivers 300k staff ride yesterday. We have been pretty lucky with detours this year but there are still some changes to the route so read carefully.
The biggest issue is the start location. Someone has opened a night club right next to the Motel 6 so half the motel is filled with Thump-Thump music on Friday nights. This is not acceptable so I have moved the start across the road to the Best Western at 1084 Pomona Road. It is literally a 60 second bike ride away from the Motel 6 if the light is green, The Best Western is more expensive so you can make whichever choice you want. If you stay at the Motel 6 make sure you get a room away from the north end (ie towards Pomona Rd). Those of you who have already booked the Motel 6 can cancel without charge up to the night of your stay.
There is construction along Pomona, under the 91 freeway, and along Green River Drive. Be careful going under the 91 - I strongly recommend having tail lights running through here. There are metal plates and the road narrows and forces you into traffic. Other than the first and last four miles, we got pretty lucky.
I ate at the GoodFellas restaurant the evening before. After a massive plate of fettuccine pesci my glycogen and cholesterol levels were both through the roof. It's a great restaurant and right next to the ride start.
The weather was perfect - cool, dry, overcast, calm. You should have such great weather. Or maybe not. Who knows? I rolled along on my aerobars having a wonderful time mainly in my big chain ring. I grabbed a tuna sandwich at the first control at mile 35 and ate it while riding. At one point I rode through a big cloud of gnats and, looking down, I saw the exposed tuna salad was covered in tiny black flecks. It didn't seem to affect the taste too much though.
I completed the first 100k in 3:40 - a new personal best by quite a large margin. Surely I had a tailwind? Nope - actually I had a net headwind.
I got to the control in Duarte at mile 85 too quickly for pizza so I settled for a cream cheese, ham, and tomato sandwich. Wow that was good! I added a cheese danish for later and set out again. I was five minutes at the first control and fifteen minutes here - pretty fast. The wind was choppiest around Duarte - I guess it was coming out of the mountain passes.
About ten miles north of the Long Beach control the usual headwinds hit, slowing me down to 16mph even on the aerobars. This would have been a good stretch to have a riding buddy. In Shoreline village at mile 120 I went to a tiny place called Twisters and Coffee. They sold me a home made garlic pretzel and a mocha frappe that went down a treat. There was a chap strumming on his guitar just practicing. He wasn't very good but it was fun to listen to anyway. I poured half the mocha in my water bottle for later. Twenty minutes here and I was off.
Exiting the control, the Long Beach bike trail is open again and it is lovely. Down on the aerobars with a strong tailwind I was really able to open up. The peds have their own trail now so it's safe to ride 20mph through here. I covered the first 200km in 8:01. Another personal best by a wide margin.
I stayed on the beach path all the way to Newport Beach. With the cold and overcast the path was very quiet and it avoids all the stop lights along PCH. With the tailwind I just stayed on the aerobars in my big chain ring and span along at 18mph with no effort.
The underpass that takes you safely under PCH and inland on Dover at mile 142 is closed for construction. You have to make a tricky left in traffic. Please be very careful here. Once you've made the turn onto Dover get up onto the sidewalk as soon as you can otherwise you might miss the bike path up to Castaway Park. And I mean UP!
Headed inland I picked up the expected onshore flow which allowed me to continue rolling along with a tailwind all the way to the last control in Lake Forest at mile 150. I got to the control more than an hour earlier than last year. A rice bowl with veggies, chicken and extra teriyaki sauce for the salt. Soda to dilute into my water bottles. I used a fork instead of chopsticks because it's faster. I was out of there in fifteen minutes. With only four controls, you can keep your off-the-bike time below an hour with some discipline.
Last stretch has some climbing. Curses! Who designed this route? Oh yes - me! No tailwind now but it's perfectly calm. I'm still holding 17-18 on the flat without too much effort. The hills slow me down because my knee is starting to bother me but everything else feels great.
Right at the end of the bike trail, where we enter Green River Drive I felt an unfamiliar sensation. I had a flat! I never get flats. I pulled the rear wheel off, pulled out the tube, checked the tire (nothing), slapped in a new tube, filled it with CO2 and prayed. Eight minutes! Go go go before it goes flat again.
I finished the ride in 12:56. Another personal best by 75 minutes. My goal had been to break 14 hours. How on earth did Willie ride this in 11:29?
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Sunday, January 17, 2016
It was one of those days...
It was one of those days when everything goes right. The weather was perfect - overcast with a touch of sun, cool, calm, dry - perfect. For some reason I was firing on all cylinders. I couldn't believe I was holding 22mph on the bike path at about 80% effort. I kept checking my computer to see if somehow it had slipped into km/h mode. There was no perceptible tailwind - I was just in the zone. I was carrying some food with me so I didn't have to stop except for two minutes to grab more fluids.
I got to the beach market in Newport Beach in record time. Huge waves were rolling in off the Pacific and the wind started to freshen from the northwest. Yes - I would have a tailwind headed inland. I turned around and the wind continued to freshen until I had close to a 20mph tailwind. I was a little tired by now but I was still able to hold 20mph on the bike path. Riding in traffic was slower but I destroyed my previous record for the course.
Yeah it was a good ride.
I'm on a short course of prednosone, an oral steroid. Now I know that they don't have any of the muscle building effects of anabolic steroids, but I couldn't help thinking "I'm Floyd Landis". Maybe my strength was purely psychosomatic. Wouldn't that be cool. Hope I can avoid the 'roid rage and shrinking genitals.
I got to the beach market in Newport Beach in record time. Huge waves were rolling in off the Pacific and the wind started to freshen from the northwest. Yes - I would have a tailwind headed inland. I turned around and the wind continued to freshen until I had close to a 20mph tailwind. I was a little tired by now but I was still able to hold 20mph on the bike path. Riding in traffic was slower but I destroyed my previous record for the course.
Yeah it was a good ride.
I'm on a short course of prednosone, an oral steroid. Now I know that they don't have any of the muscle building effects of anabolic steroids, but I couldn't help thinking "I'm Floyd Landis". Maybe my strength was purely psychosomatic. Wouldn't that be cool. Hope I can avoid the 'roid rage and shrinking genitals.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Anaheim to Oceanside permanent populaire
I was planning on riding the Malibu Coastal Cruise 200k brevet on January 1st with the club but when I took the Serotta in for a new chain the mechanic told me my rear rim was full of cracks. The bad news is it wouldn't be ready for the ride and would cost me $220. The good news is that the wheel didn't collapse while I was riding it.
I have a spare Trek 520 touring bike set up with mudguards, rack, and rack bag. It has a un-broken-in Brooks B17 on it and weight about 30lbs more than the Serotta. So I decided to skip the Coastal Cruise and rode my Anaheim to Oceanside permanent populaire instead. It's a lovely ride that starts with a stiff climb over Santiago Canyon and then a long slow descent down to the coast and heads to Oceanside on the usual route.
We had headwind all the way. Normally this route is very wind friendly but we had a 15mph headwind freshening to 20mph. Lugging the Trek up Santiago canyon is hard enough without a headwind. We got Cook's Corner too late for breakfast but the lunch menu is almost as good. It was a lovely day so there were lots of bikers there. Last time we did this ride the weather sucked and all the bikers stayed at home - I reckon that's how they keep their motorbikes so clean! Pussies!
It was very cold on the descent to the coast especially with the headwind but the sun came out once we were in Dana Point. I had iced coffee when we got to San Clemente but Amber was still so chilled she needed hot coffee. We weren't making great time so we headed out quickly with Amber's coffee in a water bottle. Really didn't work out very well.
There is a sign at Las Pulgas road that says the shoulder of the I5 is still closed to cyclists and there is a shuttle. It was there last year. I need to figure out if CalTrans simply forgot to remove it or if the restriction is still in place. Last year Camp Pendleton was allowing cyclists through all night.
We got to Oceanside with an hour to spare before the train so we ate at Angelo's as usual. I go my breakfast burrito fix there. Not as good as Cook's Corner. At least the wi-fi was working on the train and we managed to get seats this time.
I need to start planing the staff ride for the 300k Fiver Rivers brevet which is coming up in a few weeks.
I have a spare Trek 520 touring bike set up with mudguards, rack, and rack bag. It has a un-broken-in Brooks B17 on it and weight about 30lbs more than the Serotta. So I decided to skip the Coastal Cruise and rode my Anaheim to Oceanside permanent populaire instead. It's a lovely ride that starts with a stiff climb over Santiago Canyon and then a long slow descent down to the coast and heads to Oceanside on the usual route.
We had headwind all the way. Normally this route is very wind friendly but we had a 15mph headwind freshening to 20mph. Lugging the Trek up Santiago canyon is hard enough without a headwind. We got Cook's Corner too late for breakfast but the lunch menu is almost as good. It was a lovely day so there were lots of bikers there. Last time we did this ride the weather sucked and all the bikers stayed at home - I reckon that's how they keep their motorbikes so clean! Pussies!
It was very cold on the descent to the coast especially with the headwind but the sun came out once we were in Dana Point. I had iced coffee when we got to San Clemente but Amber was still so chilled she needed hot coffee. We weren't making great time so we headed out quickly with Amber's coffee in a water bottle. Really didn't work out very well.
There is a sign at Las Pulgas road that says the shoulder of the I5 is still closed to cyclists and there is a shuttle. It was there last year. I need to figure out if CalTrans simply forgot to remove it or if the restriction is still in place. Last year Camp Pendleton was allowing cyclists through all night.
We got to Oceanside with an hour to spare before the train so we ate at Angelo's as usual. I go my breakfast burrito fix there. Not as good as Cook's Corner. At least the wi-fi was working on the train and we managed to get seats this time.
I need to start planing the staff ride for the 300k Fiver Rivers brevet which is coming up in a few weeks.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Channel Islands 200k brevet
Yesterday I rode the Channel Island 200k brevet hosted by PCHRandos in Ventura. I stayed the night before at the Motel6 on Harbor Dr which was a mistake. There is no sound insulation in the rooms so I heard everything that happened in the parking lot. I can state with certainty that someone arrived at 12 midnight, at 1:15am, and at 2:30am. Also someone left at 4:30am and at 5am. Didn't get much sleep! Need to add this motel to the "Do not stay" list.
The ride started at the Bott house at the civilized time of 6:30. It was much colder than I expected, being 47F according to my car's thermometer but a couple of cups of coffee from Larry warmed me up and offset much of the damage done to my sleep patterns by Motel6. There were nine of us and we took off as a group excepting David Hartson who was still unloading his bike as we left.
Shai got a flat after a few miles and told us to continue. It turned out the be the flat from hell, requiring three attempts to fix it. David caught up and stopped to help him - nice guy. Shai rides a fixie - in fact he has the only bicycle I've ever seen with a belt drive - but he is one of the strongest riders in the group.
Jonathon was riding his orange velomobile and struggled to stay with us for the first ten miles. When I say he struggled I mean he struggled to ride slowly enough for us to stay with him. After the third info control he gave up and shot off the front. I chased but he was holding 20mph into a headwind and I couldn't bridge. There would have been no point anyway because there's no draft off a velomobile.
The first receipt control at mile 40 in Somis was a long time coming because a) I was bonking and b) The burritos there are magnificent. I struggled the last five miles and was thankful to stay with the pack. I polished off my 1lb egg and potato burrito in less than five minutes and headed out slowly ahead of the others to let my stomach digest at leisure. David and Shai caught up with us at the control.
I was testing my new navigation system which is the ridewithgps app. I run a usb cable from my hub generator to my Carradice bag which contains my smart phone - where it is protected and has the screen turned off. I have bluetooth ear buds and use the verbal directions from the app. Problem is the app had gone into auto-pause mode and wouldn't come out. It turns out the trick is to manually pause, then unpause. Once I figured that out at the Somis control everything worked fine. I need to find a way to disable the auto-pause feature or have ridewithgps fix it.
The pack caught up soon enough and we completed the loop back to the Bott house for water and anything else we needed. Then down to the beach to head up the coast to Santa Barbara. The wind was crazy all day - strong and coming from all directions. At one point it was a strong tailwind - strong enough to turn the leaves over on trees so they showed us their pale undersides. Then literally two miles later it was doing the same thing in the opposite direction and yet we hadn't changed direction.
We got to Santa Barbara marina and ate at the turnaround at Sushi-gogo (love that name). That one burrito from Somis had powered me over fifty miles. The special at Sushi-gogo is a great deal and the marina is a fun place to hang out. While we were there we heard that Craig had DNFed back at the Bott house. But we still had 33 miles to go so we climbed on our bikes one last time. Jonathon, David, and Shai were all ahead of the rest of us (Greg, Linda, Kerin, Foster, and me) so we were the lantern rouge of the ride.
We got lucky with the wind and had a 20mph or so tailwind for most of the return. We had a couple of close calls within a mile of each other in Carpenteria. First as we were approaching the left turn onto Carpenteria Ave a woman in a white Hyundai drove within inches of our left elbows. I actually reached out and put my hand on her roof as she drove by. Second we were riding to the right of a line of stationary traffic when someone coming the opposite way tried to make the left turn in front of us. I slammed on the brakes and fortunately Linda - who was behind me - was paying attention and avoided me. Scary stuff!
Foster and the ladies brutalized Greg and me on the few climbs and soon rode away from us. Greg and I finished together at 4:26 for a 9:56 ride time. Boy was I spent!
Thank you to Linda and Larry Bott for hosting the ride and to everyone who showed up to ride.
The ride started at the Bott house at the civilized time of 6:30. It was much colder than I expected, being 47F according to my car's thermometer but a couple of cups of coffee from Larry warmed me up and offset much of the damage done to my sleep patterns by Motel6. There were nine of us and we took off as a group excepting David Hartson who was still unloading his bike as we left.
Shai got a flat after a few miles and told us to continue. It turned out the be the flat from hell, requiring three attempts to fix it. David caught up and stopped to help him - nice guy. Shai rides a fixie - in fact he has the only bicycle I've ever seen with a belt drive - but he is one of the strongest riders in the group.
Jonathon was riding his orange velomobile and struggled to stay with us for the first ten miles. When I say he struggled I mean he struggled to ride slowly enough for us to stay with him. After the third info control he gave up and shot off the front. I chased but he was holding 20mph into a headwind and I couldn't bridge. There would have been no point anyway because there's no draft off a velomobile.
The first receipt control at mile 40 in Somis was a long time coming because a) I was bonking and b) The burritos there are magnificent. I struggled the last five miles and was thankful to stay with the pack. I polished off my 1lb egg and potato burrito in less than five minutes and headed out slowly ahead of the others to let my stomach digest at leisure. David and Shai caught up with us at the control.
I was testing my new navigation system which is the ridewithgps app. I run a usb cable from my hub generator to my Carradice bag which contains my smart phone - where it is protected and has the screen turned off. I have bluetooth ear buds and use the verbal directions from the app. Problem is the app had gone into auto-pause mode and wouldn't come out. It turns out the trick is to manually pause, then unpause. Once I figured that out at the Somis control everything worked fine. I need to find a way to disable the auto-pause feature or have ridewithgps fix it.
The pack caught up soon enough and we completed the loop back to the Bott house for water and anything else we needed. Then down to the beach to head up the coast to Santa Barbara. The wind was crazy all day - strong and coming from all directions. At one point it was a strong tailwind - strong enough to turn the leaves over on trees so they showed us their pale undersides. Then literally two miles later it was doing the same thing in the opposite direction and yet we hadn't changed direction.
We got to Santa Barbara marina and ate at the turnaround at Sushi-gogo (love that name). That one burrito from Somis had powered me over fifty miles. The special at Sushi-gogo is a great deal and the marina is a fun place to hang out. While we were there we heard that Craig had DNFed back at the Bott house. But we still had 33 miles to go so we climbed on our bikes one last time. Jonathon, David, and Shai were all ahead of the rest of us (Greg, Linda, Kerin, Foster, and me) so we were the lantern rouge of the ride.
We got lucky with the wind and had a 20mph or so tailwind for most of the return. We had a couple of close calls within a mile of each other in Carpenteria. First as we were approaching the left turn onto Carpenteria Ave a woman in a white Hyundai drove within inches of our left elbows. I actually reached out and put my hand on her roof as she drove by. Second we were riding to the right of a line of stationary traffic when someone coming the opposite way tried to make the left turn in front of us. I slammed on the brakes and fortunately Linda - who was behind me - was paying attention and avoided me. Scary stuff!
Foster and the ladies brutalized Greg and me on the few climbs and soon rode away from us. Greg and I finished together at 4:26 for a 9:56 ride time. Boy was I spent!
Thank you to Linda and Larry Bott for hosting the ride and to everyone who showed up to ride.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
SART 200k with friends
Several weeks ago I received an email from Julie Hua Ni, a rando from SFR, asking to ride my 200k SART permanent on Tuesday. As I still needed to ride my November 200k I decided to take the day off and ride with her (like I need an excuse to take a day off!). I posted an open invitation on the PCHRandos website and Mike Bratkowski took me up on it.
Tuesday came around with a slightly ominous weather forecast that indicated rain in the evening but hopefully we would be able to arrive at the end of the ride before the storm did. We started slightly after 8am as Mike moved his car to a spot less likely to earn him a ticket.
I was trying out a new navigation setup. I have been struggling to find a way to use the ridewithgps app on my smart phone in a way that protects the phone while letting me read the display. I had not been successful. Even moderately bumpy roads had the phone jolting violently and me wondering about the quality of the single bolt that stood between my $600 smartphone and a brutal death on the pavement. I've been looking at a $100 bluetooth Wahoo RFLKT that sits on the handebars and shows upcoming turns, but the reviews haven't been that great and I was still worried about readability in direct sunlight (of which we have a lot here in SoCal).
So I have some bluetooth earpieces from Best Buy that I use at work to listen to music for which I paid $40. The RideWithGPS app has voice cues (it just reads from the cue sheet at the appropriate distances). So for this ride I kept the phone in the case and put it in my Carradice bag, running the RideWithGPS app but with the screen turned off. The earpieces are supposed to have a seven hour run time but they were still going at the end of a nine hour ride. I spent 15 minutes on RideWithGPS editing the cue sheet, mainly removing unnecessary cues.
As I rode I heard vocal cues as clear as a bell and it even warned me when I deliberately went off course and directed me back on. For longer brevets power will be an issue but I can power the phone from my dynamo hub and I have an external battery that would probably work with the earpieces. As it was we rode a 9 hour 200k and both the phone and the earpieces lasted the entire trip. This setup solves all the readability, battery life, and phone safety issues I've been having. I never even have to take my eyes off the road to navigate. Of course I will still have a cuesheet for backup because the battery never dies!
The three of us rode well together and we made good time until we hit a headwind about 25 miles from the beach - much earlier than usual.
The headwind slowed us down a little but it was for less that a couple of hours and I was looking forward to a commensurate tailwind on the way back. There's a new deli at the Newport Corner Market and it was taco Tuesday so Mike and Julie grabbed the taco deal but I fancied a steak burrito. All good.
Heading back we immediately picked up a tailwind that just got stronger as we headed through the Corona gap and was still blowing strongly when we got to the Lucky Greek in Corona for our last stop. Fries and Coke (Mike had a shake which looked delicious) - Julie snacked on grapes and nuts. I don't know how she rides so strong while eating so little.
The tailwind stayed with us for a while longer only petering out in the last ten mile stretch. It finally got dark enough for my Luxos to turn on about fifteen minutes from the end of the ride and we finished at 5:18pm for a 9:08 ride time. According to my RideWithGPS we had a 7:27 ride time for a moving average of about 17 mph and an overall average of 14 mph.
Unfortunately Julie's husband was stuck in traffic somewhere on the 60 near Rosemead so we all went to a nearby Jack-in-the-Box to wait for him. Finally he got to San Bernardino around seven and we were able to deliver Julie safely to him.
Tuesday came around with a slightly ominous weather forecast that indicated rain in the evening but hopefully we would be able to arrive at the end of the ride before the storm did. We started slightly after 8am as Mike moved his car to a spot less likely to earn him a ticket.
 |
| L-R Mike, Terry, Julie at the start |
So I have some bluetooth earpieces from Best Buy that I use at work to listen to music for which I paid $40. The RideWithGPS app has voice cues (it just reads from the cue sheet at the appropriate distances). So for this ride I kept the phone in the case and put it in my Carradice bag, running the RideWithGPS app but with the screen turned off. The earpieces are supposed to have a seven hour run time but they were still going at the end of a nine hour ride. I spent 15 minutes on RideWithGPS editing the cue sheet, mainly removing unnecessary cues.
As I rode I heard vocal cues as clear as a bell and it even warned me when I deliberately went off course and directed me back on. For longer brevets power will be an issue but I can power the phone from my dynamo hub and I have an external battery that would probably work with the earpieces. As it was we rode a 9 hour 200k and both the phone and the earpieces lasted the entire trip. This setup solves all the readability, battery life, and phone safety issues I've been having. I never even have to take my eyes off the road to navigate. Of course I will still have a cuesheet for backup because the battery never dies!
The three of us rode well together and we made good time until we hit a headwind about 25 miles from the beach - much earlier than usual.
 |
| Nice day for a ride |
 |
| Awww so cute and so friendly |
The tailwind stayed with us for a while longer only petering out in the last ten mile stretch. It finally got dark enough for my Luxos to turn on about fifteen minutes from the end of the ride and we finished at 5:18pm for a 9:08 ride time. According to my RideWithGPS we had a 7:27 ride time for a moving average of about 17 mph and an overall average of 14 mph.
 |
| Happy at the end |
Sunday, November 15, 2015
... and then a miracle occurred
Amber and I rode The Crema today. We needed a short ride because Amber needed to study for some exams and there was a storm coming in. In a previous post I mentioned that I had been inspired by a video that was attached to a brevet application. For The Crema I mounted my GoPro on my light bar and set it to take one frame every five seconds.
We had normal headwinds on the way to the beach but an unusual tailwind on the way up the coast to Seal Beach. We put the favorable winds down to the approaching storm and resigned ourselves to a headwind on the return. The speed limit along the beach path is 10mph but that was hard to do with a 20mph tailwind so we "compromised" by riding at 18mph.
The wait at The Crema was thirty minutes so we rode over the the pier to watch the surfers enjoying the high surf. The food at The Crema was fabulous as usual and eventually we climbed back onto our bikes to face the headwind. And then a miracle occurred - the wind had turned at least 90 degrees and we had an even stronger tailwind on the way back south! It was literally blowing up a storm. At one point I stood on the pedals and the wind blew me along at 12mph for a while.
We turned back inland on the SART and had a strong cross wind with a slight tail component that was a little tricky to ride with but we completed the 50 mile ride with about a 2:45 ride time.
When I got the GoPro home I looked at the timelapse video and didn't like it so I chose some key frames and annotated them. Then I created a slide show and added some Vivaldi. Take a look at https://youtu.be/dz7N_XqlffE
Lots of snow outside right now and thunder and lightning. So cool!
We had normal headwinds on the way to the beach but an unusual tailwind on the way up the coast to Seal Beach. We put the favorable winds down to the approaching storm and resigned ourselves to a headwind on the return. The speed limit along the beach path is 10mph but that was hard to do with a 20mph tailwind so we "compromised" by riding at 18mph.
The wait at The Crema was thirty minutes so we rode over the the pier to watch the surfers enjoying the high surf. The food at The Crema was fabulous as usual and eventually we climbed back onto our bikes to face the headwind. And then a miracle occurred - the wind had turned at least 90 degrees and we had an even stronger tailwind on the way back south! It was literally blowing up a storm. At one point I stood on the pedals and the wind blew me along at 12mph for a while.
We turned back inland on the SART and had a strong cross wind with a slight tail component that was a little tricky to ride with but we completed the 50 mile ride with about a 2:45 ride time.
When I got the GoPro home I looked at the timelapse video and didn't like it so I chose some key frames and annotated them. Then I created a slide show and added some Vivaldi. Take a look at https://youtu.be/dz7N_XqlffE
Lots of snow outside right now and thunder and lightning. So cool!
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Good weekend and a cool video
I got a request to validate a new permanent in San Diego and it came with a link to a video. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPb1eegegkE&feature=youtu.be. Who wouldn't want to do this ride after seeing the video? I want to make one for my rides too. It looks like a lot of work.
I rode my Lucky Greek 100k Friday after work. I was cruising along at 22mph thinking I was getting really strong. Then I noticed the trees were being blow inside out by the tailwind. This is gonna hurt on the way back, I thought. I was right. Even on the aerobars I was was struggling to hold 12mph on the flat. I burned through the large fries and coke that I ate at the turnaround and finished the ride hungry and thirsty but with a decent total time of 4:21. I tried one of those cheddar, onion burgers on a buttery bun at Jack-in-the-Box. It was pretty good.
On Sunday I rode my Seal Beach to Duarte 125k permanent with Amber. This is actually the first time we have ridden it as a permanent. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would - it was kind of boring. I got a flat right at the start (first one in about a year). The tip of a thorn had worked its way through the tire and caused a tiny puncture. I put a new tube in and flatted again after about 20 miles. This time the new tube had failed at the base of the stem.
One of the problems with getting very few flats is that my spare tubes tend to hang around for a long time and they have a limited shelf life. The other problem is I tend to buy my tubes during those half-price Tuesday deals and I swear the bike shop is just trying to get ride of old tubes.
We still rode too fast to get pizza in Duarte so Amber and I ate too much 7-11 cuisine and Amber had really bad stomach problems on the way back. We had to deal with a couple of assholes flying down the Los Angeles River Trail on midget motorbikes at 30mph. I gave one the finger, he gave me a finger back - it's important to communicate!
Ate at the Schooner or Later restaurant at the end of the ride. The food is better than the name.
I rode my Lucky Greek 100k Friday after work. I was cruising along at 22mph thinking I was getting really strong. Then I noticed the trees were being blow inside out by the tailwind. This is gonna hurt on the way back, I thought. I was right. Even on the aerobars I was was struggling to hold 12mph on the flat. I burned through the large fries and coke that I ate at the turnaround and finished the ride hungry and thirsty but with a decent total time of 4:21. I tried one of those cheddar, onion burgers on a buttery bun at Jack-in-the-Box. It was pretty good.
On Sunday I rode my Seal Beach to Duarte 125k permanent with Amber. This is actually the first time we have ridden it as a permanent. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would - it was kind of boring. I got a flat right at the start (first one in about a year). The tip of a thorn had worked its way through the tire and caused a tiny puncture. I put a new tube in and flatted again after about 20 miles. This time the new tube had failed at the base of the stem.
One of the problems with getting very few flats is that my spare tubes tend to hang around for a long time and they have a limited shelf life. The other problem is I tend to buy my tubes during those half-price Tuesday deals and I swear the bike shop is just trying to get ride of old tubes.
We still rode too fast to get pizza in Duarte so Amber and I ate too much 7-11 cuisine and Amber had really bad stomach problems on the way back. We had to deal with a couple of assholes flying down the Los Angeles River Trail on midget motorbikes at 30mph. I gave one the finger, he gave me a finger back - it's important to communicate!
Ate at the Schooner or Later restaurant at the end of the ride. The food is better than the name.
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