Neal is our weather talisman, gcheck conditions again…

Cold and rainy? Come up to the PNW in February and we’ll show you cold and rainy.

In that case, as your lawyer, I advise you to drink heavily.:twitchy:

And that’s why we pay you the big bucks.

To be fair to L.A., they did recently get a taste of it.

The Ritchey Breakaway is packed up. I found that it's easier to pack the handlebars separately, and use the extra space for helmet, shoes, and various other items that are needed on this trip. I even squeezed some fenders into the case.

Our cat seems to be wanting to come with.

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Day 1 was the monthly Rose Bowl ride. Yesterday was San Gabriel to Seal Beach, accompanied by [MENTION=491572]Manny66[/MENTION] and two additional harbor pilot locals. Sunny and low 60s as we made our was along the San Gabriel River path.

Manny leads the way!
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[MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] is confused by the lack of rain.
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[MENTION=170517]rccardr[/MENTION] styling as always.
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We visited the Bicycle Stand in Long Beach. Amazing collection of vintage bikes, most for sale at very good prices! A must-see stop if you’re in the area.
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[MENTION=396646]Spaghetti Legs[/MENTION] pays homage to the Queen Mary, reenacting his Navy days:
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[MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION] brightens up the vintage bike photo.
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Great riding with you guys at the Velo Retro - see you at the Baylis ride.

Looks and reads like a super fun tours and meetup so far.
Great seeing all the nice pix.
Looking forward to the SD updates including the Baylis ride.
Hope I can enjoy retirement like this when its my time, rain check please :)

It was nice catching you guys today as you made your way south. I'm glad I had the sense to as that rag tag group sitting and eating if they were making their way south from LA.

Thanks to mackgoo for getting us through San Clemente and depositing us to the approaches to Camp Pendleton. There was a slim chance that I would be able to get us onto the base to avoid riding on the freeway and from that point I rode up to the base entrance but the Marine told me the pass office was closed for today. I rode back to the guys and we were clipping in to jump on the freeway entrance when a guy named Matt showed up on a nice carbon bike and said “you guys need to ride through the base?” Hell yeah! He’s a retired Marine, got us on the base and then guided us through Oceanside, depositing us on our route 1 mile from our AirBnB. Thanks Matt!

Beautiful sunny day, prefect temp for me but maybe a tad chilly for the SoCal locals. 65+ miles of riding with at least 2/3 on bike paths, bike lanes.

Apologies for unedited photos and crooked horizons.

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Rolling out in the AM in Huntington Beach
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Ferry across the harbor to Balboa Island in Newport Beach
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Regroup in Newport Beach, tip of the Balboa Peninsula in the distance.
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Nice day to be on a bike.
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Surfer squirrel taking a break

Nice human encounter story with the marine guiding you through camp Pendleton. Having done both routes to Oceanside, I prefer taking the freeway. Nothing like blasting through gridlock traffic or moving at 25+ mph with the tremendous draft of big semitrucks going at 70mph, The deafening road noise also an unforgettable experience.

What a nice day for a ride through OC coast.

A few of my pics from a great day of riding:

Life’s a beach:
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On the ferry:
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Yeah, but did you guys have any fun? :rolleyes:

Ooorah!, Marine to the rescue, no surprise. :thumb:

Well Monday morning came and I met Bert at the San Gabriel River Trail head., also known as "Chalan Rest Stop" ,A local gathering spot for cyclist that will routinely have a couple of hundred riders stopping by on the weekends to grab a cup of coffee and "Pan Dulce" We both parked at the nearby Circle K and waited a bit to meet up with the Out of Towners . Lots of smiling faces showed up to meet Us and after some sincere Greetings , we were off to Seal Beach. What a beautiful day to be outdoors Cycling in good company. At the Pico Rivera Golf Course we stopped for a bit to exchange Drivers and cyclist as Guggie and his crew had their own Sag Wagon. Hugh took off to the Air BnB with the luggage and eventually met up with us later near El Dorado Park.

At the Golf Course I bumped into an old friend , Julio , who was out riding with the local Major Taylor Cycling Club. I havent seen him in over 3 years so it was great timing.

Another Local Vintage Rider ,Jaime, met us en route on his late 80's Eddy Merckx and rode with us to Seal Beach .

What a Fun group of guys to ride with . I was in Great company the entire way to Seal beach and I had a blast . Myself and Bert were Very glad to be invited to attend the trek South with "The Usual Suspects". The 30 mile return trip was smooth sailing as we enjoyed the tailwind back .

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Pico Rivera Golf Course .
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Wilderness Park, Downey Ca.
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Seal Beach
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Quite a chance sighting seeing you guys in Laguna Beach as I was crossing the street to get lunch. It was a nice day to ride.

I'm glad that you had a guide through San Clemente.

See you all at the Baylis

I always knew you guys were a bit squirrelly !! Sorry , couldn't resist . Probably getting rain today , but you're used to that, Joehttps://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ae007d2f5.jpeg

Today was a recovery day, so 38 fairly casual miles south along the coast Carlsbad to Del Mar and then back (with a taco lunch stop). Beautifully sunny at the start and rain moving in this afternoon, so we’ll spend it in the hot tub. Yes, it’s a tough life out here. A couple of pics:

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Looks like a pretty nice ride. Not as nice as a Gugie-approved TdMIL in the ice-cold pouring rain, but nice nonetheless. I'm pretty sure that all of that sunshine is going to result in dermatologist visits for all of you unacclimatized fair-skinned PNW denizens. See you all on the next precipitation-guaranteed ride!

The last couple of days have taken me through memory lane. In 1977, I was 19 years old, taking the last week of summer before matriculating at Occidental College to ride my bike down the coast from San Luis Obispo to La Jolla.

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1975 Raleigh Super Course MkII, packed for my first bike tour

The second to last day of that tour took me from a YMCA near LAX down the coast to Laguna Beach where my great aunt Bobby lived. Turning up from the PCH to her road was the only place I had to get off and walk. When I got to her house she had a note on the door telling me to park my bike behind her gate and walk back down the hill to meet her on the beach. She wrote to look for the little old lady with a yellow umbrella and white swim cap. When I got to the beach I found about a dozen women that met the description. Luckily she had told her friends that I was expected, so I got a grand greeting. I asked where aunt Bobby was, and they pointed out to the ocean. I saw three old ladies bobbing up and down in the waves. Bobby saw me and started waving enthusiastically just as a huge wave came pounding down on them. I was aghast, here I'd been riding for a week just to witness her demise! After a few seconds she bobbed back up to the surface, caught the next wave, and body surfed back to the beach.

Bobby was a PE teacher at Fullerton JC for a few decades, when UC Irvine opened up she used to drive over and play pick up doubles tennis with women 3-4 times younger than she was. Today we rode to Del Mar, and I remembered that she used to ride her 3 speed bicycle down to "bet on the ponies"; a girlfriend with a station wagon would drive her back up the coast to home. I think right about then I started to really admire people who kept active when they got older. Maybe that's part of the reason I'm still riding bikes and doing tours with my friends after retirement, and will continue to do so as long as I can.

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La dolce vita

That looks suspiciously similar to Big Red. Yet another persistent memory led to the choice of paint for that one?

After letting the rains of last evening dry up, we pushed off today for about a 32-mile ride with 1,500 ft of climbing. The route followed the ocean north to Oceanside then several miles of lovely bike path east along the San Luis Rey River. The rest of the ride was full of punchy hills as we made our way through suburban neighborhoods and office parks. Some pics:

The usual suspects outside the San Luis Rey Mission:
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[MENTION=396646]Spaghetti Legs[/MENTION] re-enacts an iconic statue:
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Beautiful bird of paradise seemingly everywhere around here:
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[MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] tackles the world’s biggest burrito:
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[MENTION=170517]rccardr[/MENTION] summits the killer hill:
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As does [MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION]:
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Afternoon priorities:
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There are a lot of pictures around of me reaching the tops of hills because the people I’m riding with have usually been there for a while with nothing better to do than take pictures.

I didn’t even realize it until after Ed Litton painted it.

A few pics from the past couple of days: Today was easy day but had the most climbing we’ve done yet. Torrey Pines pic, Del Mar in the foreground just past the inlet and Dana Point in the far distance.

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The Squire setting the pace yesterday approaching Carlsbad State Beach
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Looking north from the summit in Torrey Pines State Park. One of my favorite spots in the area.
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Today is ride on the San Luis Rey rail trail. This starts in Oceanside going inland. We rode it for 7-8 miles, not sure how much further it goes , but a very nice and quiet route.
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Neal was either struck down by reverence at the Mission r maybe it was just the hot pink bike.
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Looking other direction from the summit in Neal’s previous post. Pacific in the distance and it was a fast 1 mile descent down to our casita.