Beach Ride by way of SART

Yesterday, me and some friends rode to the beach. At 7 am it was cold but its always a gamble when it comes to what to wear. Do I over dress and heat up as the day progresses. With that comes the lugging of to much stuff and as the temps rise you have to shed some layers and store them somewhere. No fun lugging too much stuff but again do you suffer and freeze as the temps are 40 degrees or below???

We met in Diamond Bar and headed to SART. Let me see, Grand Ave to Diamond Bar Blvd to Brea Canyon Road to State College to Lambert to Kraemer then enter SART and cruise to Newport Beach!

The trip to the beach was 33 miles and took about 1 hour 45 minutes. Our average speed there was about 18 - 19 mph and in some spots we were cruising at 26 - 27 mph.

We spent about 10 - 15 minutes in Newport, just enough time to pee, stretch, buy some food and snap a few pictures.



I wasn't looking forward the trip back. All uphill and I was sure my group was going to keep a fast pace, and they did! We stopped at a rest stop near the Honda Center to pee and stretch. It was there i saw Mr. Beanz. Beanz is a SART regular and you can see his adventures on bikeforums.net. We chatted, snapped some pics and headed off again!



At mile 50 my legs started cramping BAD. I need to figure this one out (How to overcome cramping) and I slowed my pace down significantly. The two other guys sped off and I was solo for the rest of the ride, babysitting my badly cramping legs.

The trip was 67 miles round trip but I only completed 63.92 miles. Christian made it back to our meet spot, grabbed his car and picked me up just shy of three miles to completion! I swallowed my pride loaded my bike and hopped into his car. My legs were toast!

My bike computer said, 63.92 miles, 16.2 average pace, ride time 3 hours 56 minutes and about 3900 calories consumed. 3900 calories! I didn't feel so bad when I ordered up a cheese burger and fries at Legends in Glendora with Kevin.

Mr. Beanz got me on video!

San Gabriel River Trail

This was the first time this year riding with Annette and funny enough, it wasn't on GMR. GMR is Annette's stomping ground and after a little coaxing she agreed to SGVT. From her house we headed out towards the base of Azusa Canyon. It was 9 am and still very cold. I was riding my fixed gear bike and going Sierra Madre was a challenge.

We entered SGVT from the base of Azusa Canyon and headed south to Santa Fe Dam. At the dam we stopped a short while, took a few pictures before starting up our trek to the 10 FWY.

At the 10 fwy we turned around. Somewhere between the 10 and Santa Fe Dam we stopped to help a fellow cyclist from DT Los Angeles. He flatted twice and had two failed attempts filling his tubes with a CO2. Annette had a mini pump to led and soon after the guy was back on both wheels.

Bonelli Park 12 mile loop

Yesterday, Mike Y, Mike T, Carl, Kevin, Meme and I rode around Bonelli Park. Mike Thompson is an old high school friend I reconnected with on Face Book. When I found out he rides, I sent him a few invitations to ride. Its been years since I've seen Mike but he looks the same to me.

Our Bonelli trip was our standard 12 mile loop.

Goddard Middle School to Azusa Canyon to East Fork to GMR and around Bonelli

Last Saturday, Mike, Christian and I did a nice big loop that took us through Azusa Canyon, up East Fork or "Little GMR" and finally a half loop around Bonelli Park. Once completed it was a 50 miler.

We started at Goddard and met up with Kevin and Carl. I tried to talked them into joining us but they chose to head up GMR and meet us at the Maint Shed.

Christian, Mike and I headed to Azusa Canyon (AC). There was a noticeable headwind and its always a "trip of the brain" when you have to pedal to go downhill. In my mind I think, "I should be resting on the downhills. Why am I working so hard to maintain a decent speed?"

I was surprised how quickly we came up on East Fork. We took a small pee break before heading up. East Fork to GMR was harder to climb than Sierra Madre to Maint Shed. The latter is 8 miles, the former is 6. East Fork to GMR is called "Little GMR".

At the top of GMR we spotted Carl heading up. We stopped, talked and together headed back to Goddard. It was a fast downhill ride with lots of motorcyclists. Christian was a speed racer and at one point, I was certain he was racing the motorcyclist.

At the bottom of GMR, Christian, Mike and I were feeling pretty good so we decided on a half loop around Bonelli Park.

Kevin made it about four miles up, or to the first saddle, before breaking a spoke. He's working on getting to the Maint. Shed and if he keeps up his training, he will be there by Spring!