another low-60's day with mixed clouds/sun and plenty of wind in metro san diego. hadda stop at the ole bike shop to get the front wheel trued. it was banging against the new brake pads even with the front caliper wide open. 30 mins late and a lunch stop for a burger only yielded a 15-miler. hadn't planned on going farther than 25 miles anyway.

Before the rain starts Friday night I rode to and from work today. Got to strut the new to me PDM jersey

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Joined the My Gang MS Ride Friday group ride yesterday morning for a 28-mile loop through north Irvine on my gravel bike since I have been too busy / jet-lagged / lazy to change a flat tire on my road bike. So hard to keep up on the flats, and even more so after a light when learning how to clip in on SPD pedals, which is totally different than on SPD-SL. Got a tougher workout than anticipated.

Good to be true to your ride :)
Its actually pretty easy to keep wheels true with a spoke wrench, lots easier than building wheels.

Saturday...Gravel bike ride to Cherry Canyon and Glendale Sports Complex. A little cool and breezy after the morning rain. There were a few soft spots, but the mud wasn't significant, and most of it was really good. I love how well my area handles water. Spring is starting to spring. (16mi/2000')
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Sunday...Morning rain kept me off the bike, so did the afternoon wind. I did mixed-tempo garage laps for a bit over an hour.

I rode up in Portland, Oregon last week. Big props flying Alaska Air for waiving baggage fees on all bikes (not e-bikes). For my travel case I just picked up a used bike box from the LBS. While in Portland it was wet part of the time, but towards the weekend it was blue skies and sun! I actually find climbing LA to be more challenging, but descending from Council Crest (highest point in Portland) to be a much better road descent with faster speeds, less traffic and a scenic view. It's also really easy to get around the city with bike infrastructure that actually makes sense, as opposed to LA with bike lanes that lead to nowhere.

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Awesome!! I love Portland (and other parts of OR). Cool that you were able to take your bike easily.

I'll never use a dedicated bike case again (usually I borrow a friend's roller case). A cheap/free cardboard bike box from the LBS is both easier to pack, manage and recycle after use. Also I want to go back to Portland again in the summer just to ride the entirety of Forest Park. Mt. Tabor is fun for short interval climbs and there's also Mt. Scott which has a nice long uphill road climb. Also lots of long flat bike lanes to mash the pedals. Though it's hard to decide which bike to bring, because there are both excellent road routes and off-road trails. The dirt for gravel bikes is also more forgiving, even if it rains the trails tend to be soft packed with a good amount of plant debris/peat moss to keep them firm with minimal mud. LA dirt is either dry/dusty or muddy/caked after a good rain.

The only thing I find different in Portland (since cycling is more common) is the lack of bike camaraderie. In LA, I'd say more than half of cyclists will acknowledge each other. In Portland barely anyone will look your way!

Amen! I just tried, without success, to brush off the caked mud from Saturday's ride.

I will next try to hose off just the tires and the wheels. I am hoping to avoid a full bike wash for a while.

Depends where you ride. Brown and Cherry Canyon/GSC are mostly decomposed granite with almost no clay, and nothing gets significantly sticky. The pic I posted yesterday was on the GSC trail, after going up and over Cherry Canyon, just a couple of hours after the rain stopped on Saturday.

made it out to borrego springs (roughly a two hour drive from metro san diego) and enjoyed the upper 70's temps. 8-10 mph winds from the east (salton sea).
was planning on toodling for 40-60 miles but rear tire degraded significantly at mile 15. had a few tubes but forgot to restock boot kit so limped back 11 miles at 9-14 mph
on a flat rear tire. at least i had a decent tailwind. not the best riding day but the scenery and warmth (mostly) made up for the lack of miles.

usually rock the conti gp5000's but had some low-end vittorias in the closet that needed to be used. got maybe 600 miles out of the rear tire but tossed them both. grrr.

My Vittoria Corsa G+ (purchased as a set of 3) also did not last very long. Maybe because I am chubby, consecutive rear tires worn thin in the center rather quickly and became very susceptible to flats. Like yours, the front seems fine but I am going back to GP5000s.

Tuesday Happy Hour on the MTB...Brown Saddle - Millard Canyon - Alta Crest Trail (9mi, 1600'). Clearer than it's been in a while. Great view of DTLA, with Palos Verdes and Catalina Island on the horizon, on a very pleasant warm and sunny afternoon.
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Getting ready for a Ride to Descano Gardens right now. Should be a 30 mile round trip

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cool vid, glad you didn’t run over an hobos.

Make one descending GMR. That would be dope

This weekend hopefully I can hit East Fork and record the descent.

good ride too. The decent is much easier on that road. Be careful on the weekend, bunch of fake racers (cars) that take over lanes.

For Thursday I did a quick 23 miles back in LA. I spent the day before installing a new electronic groupset plus an 11-34t 12 speed cassette. Honestly I think I screwed myself. Electronic shifting is awesome! Shifts were instantaneous and for some reason my bike feels totally different. I'm now worried I'm going to end up converting the rest of my bikes to electronic!

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Thursday...Rose Bowl laps. Did 4 laps solo at a steady sweet-spot tempo effort, then joined the group ride as they rolled out...and the rain started. Thankfully, I was dressed warmly, but I did not have a rain jacket, so things started getting wet pretty quickly. I stayed around for 2 hot laps with the group, and then headed off for a wet ride home. I'm pleased with where my fitness is right now. The high-intensity surges of the group were not a struggle, and I was able to recover fairly quickly. The Belgian Waffle Ride is 4 weekends away, and I'm feeling much better prepared than I was last year. (28mi, 1:32)

Detoured to the Whittier Hills after initial plans to ride up to Santa Fe Dam. All good. Plenty of company in Turnbull Cyn on a brisk morning.
Managed 39 miles and 4.8K of climb and regaining some fitness.
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From Rideout Drive overlooking Spyglass and Mount Baldy in the far background.

I was planning to do a long ride on Sunday, but this week I was in the process of rebuilding my bikes. One bike received 12 speed electronic shifting and the other got the full mechanical Ultegra hydraulic brake makeover. What should have been an easy process on both bikes, became a tedious PITA. The one frame I converted to electronic, despite having Di2 cable port holes, is near impossible to route the cable through the rear chain stay. I had to Macgyver a way to route the battery cables to the seat post battery tube. Thankfully my frame is black, so I used black electrical tape to protect/hide some of the cabling. The other frame has the most annoyingly tight internal cable drop bars, making me wish I went electronic with this bike as well!

Anyways, I did a short ride on Sunday just to get fresh air, and then went back home to finish off the mechanical Ultegra bike. This week I plan to redo the cables/hoses on my gravel bike as well! Not looking forward to it! Lol

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Saturday...MTB ride to the top of Brown Mtn. Rd., and descent via EL Prieto Canyon. It's been a long time since I've ridden El P, and it was really enjoyable, but - as always - very technically demanding. My confidence for handling rocky steep stuff is coming back slowly, and this was the first time I rode a couple of sections that I have walked in recent times. I wasn't trying to go fast, but just stay focused, and enjoy the ride. It was a lovely afternoon (14mi / 2300').
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Sunday...Coffee Ride. Very easy pace from South Pasadena to Duarte. Spice level turned up at Encanto Park. Put in a deep effort on the Winston climb, took a few pulls through Monrovia and Arcadia, and hit hard again on the climb into Sierra Madre, shedding all but 1 other rider. I felt okay, but the efforts from the day before took some juice out of my legs. (37 mi, 1400')

40-miler in the la habra heights and whittier heights areas. late start so got a little toasty and me with (not the best conscious decision) no water bottles.
low traffic. only came across 3 gardening trucks in the "heights" parts of the ride. survived the busier parts like mar vista, colima, gale and the mile long drop on hacienda from the light/w. skyline down to the park/encanada. mixed pavé. some freshly paved parts, some def in need but most just dandy. quite a bit of soil deposits here and there from the recent storms but wasn't going fast enough to really mark it as a major concern. if you're a speed racer tho, take note. really enjoyed the ride and it was pretty challenging given the current (lack of) fitness level. did mix in a few choice efforts like ardsheal and valle/arioso. turnbull canyon rd some road repair on the southern end/base. need to make it back to the area in the next few months. fantastic views to the san gabes and san berdoos. peevee/dtown/catalina views were a bit hazy.

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came across a guy in a white/blue/red jersey with a white helmet on a dark-colored bike that had (southbound) likely descended hacienda and turned left (heading east) on east st. maybe CAT7RDR?!?! i waved. he waved. only saw 3-4 cyclists entire ride but did see two coyotes on (old) fullerton rd. by the puente hills trailheads around 3pm.

A quick 17 miles at Griffith Park today. Beautiful weather and worked up a good sweat. I definitely drank more water as well. Also on this frame, I recently swapped my chainring to a 52-36t while keeping my 11-32t cassette. I felt a tad faster, but I'm still getting used to the slight gearing adjustment.

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