Eric F 

Rode up to Mt. Wilson with a friend today because the hot dogs are really good. Also, 55mi for my 55th b-day.

jsigone

Solona Beach to Dana point and head North/East Irvine via Santiago Canyon. Back to San Juan and took train back south. Climb back south on Santiago after lunch was heavy on the legs. Took a while to digest and able to make power again, mile 80 to 90 on that climb. Long day, 109 miles total. Most of the climbing on on the later half. I should have drank and ate more while on the bike. 4 x 24oz bottle used. 3 with calories and 1 straight water. Plus managed to snap the carbon bottle cage when jamming the bottle in there when the red light changed green.oops
https://www.strava.com/activities/9907682969

jonathanf2

Happy Birthday Eric! Weather was great that day! My birthday is also coming up soon, I only have to ride 10 less miles than you!

SoSmellyAir

Happy birthday Eric F.

Mad props on choosing a challenging route for your birthday ride. I would need to pre-plan a known flat route to ride as many miles as my age.

Eric F 

Go climb. Have appropriate gearing and budget enough time for your pace. Remember, all the climbing up, results in coasting down!!

malcala622

Critical Mass tonight with the wife and children.

roadfix

Last Saturday I rode the fire road from Red Box ranger station to Mt Lowe Trail Camp, met up with a few of my backpacking friends, set up camp, & spent the night in the rain. The next morning, from camp, I rode the fire road all the way down to Altadena…

jonathanf2

I was sick all last week. I even tried riding 10 miles on day 2 of being sick, thinking it'd help, but day 3 I was even worst and I couldn't even get off my couch! Anyways, I finally recovered enough to go on a bike ride this Monday. Knocked out 23 miles and even did some climbing. Though my lungs were not at 100% and was breathing heavier than normal. Another cyclist I rode with snapped a pic of me after doing a climb and sent me the shot!

San Rafael Hills:

TakingMyTime

Great picture!

jonathanf2

I did 24 miles on Wednesday, but I'm beginning to wonder if I got hit with a COVID variant last week when I got sick. My body feels a bit more fatigued and breathing has been more strenuous. I really don't care for getting sick since it messes up my cycling routine!

Somewhere in S. Pasadena:

jsigone

racing daylight at Torrey Pines golf course. Last 8miles or so was with lights.

malcala622

I had the same thing happen to me last month after 2 weeks of not riding. I felt sluggish and like my breathing was slow. I'm fine now and hopefully you've recovered since then.

jsigone

Del Mar to Dana Point n back, via i5 since my base pass expired since the last ride.. Foggy start til we got to Carlsbad, Got a solid sun tan after that.
https://www.strava.com/activities/9996388448

Eric F 

Saturday...Montrose Ride (8am, short). Felt decent, but not great. No issues with speed on the flats, but struggled to stay with the lead group over the hills in the last part of the ride. Chased back on once, but not on the surge before the final climb, and rolled into Sierra Madre with another dropped rider. Added a few extra miles on the route home (49mi, 1500')


Sunday...The Dirty Seahorse ride. MTB with a couple of great friends in the Santa Monica Mountains. Sullivan Ridge - Dirt Mullholland to the Hub - Backbone Trail to Will Rogers. This is such an awesome ride! Good climbing and 5+ miles of fantastic (mostly downhill) singletrack. (26mi, 3200')

jonathanf2

On Sunday I knocked out 24 miles today riding up Elysian, climbed the hilly side streets of Echo Park with a few 17-22% grade climbs and then cruised the LA River back home.



Anyways, I heard the craziest bike accident story from a Uber driver dropping me off at home last night from a concert. A few weeks ago the Uber driver (while not working) was cruising his MTB on the bike path near the beach. A fast roadie tried passing left while coming from behind, but cut too close resulting in contact making them both crash on the 2-lane path. The Uber driver (while on his MTB) broke a few ribs, while the roadie crashed so hard he knocked himself unconscious! Now the roadie is the one suing for damages for a lot of money! Luckily for the Lyft driver, he had a GoPro camera and showed me the whole video. From the looks of it, the roadie didn't try slowing down while passing, didn't take into account the two-way traffic of other weekend cyclists and the MTB/Uber driver stayed in his right lane the entire time. It's the same scenario any of us deal with when riding on a bike path.

The fact that this roadie just had s**t bike handling skills, caused a two-cyclist crash and then had the nerve to sue someone just makes me shake my head. We already have enough to worry about with cars trying to run us off the road, but now we have to worry about other cyclists trying to sue us for their own mistakes?

CAT7RDR

It's pretty crazy on the MUPS these days. The Sunday morning before last while on the SGRT heading north, I was rudely passed at about 40 mph by two full on gas Dune Buggies. They exited an open gate right past me where the confluence of the San Gabriel River and San Jose Creek merge. Gas fumes, dirt and pebbles were kicked up into me. Such BS going on. I'm going to stick to the roads nearby, so much safer than the A-holes on MUPS!

This Sunday's ride was a perfect blend of climbs and weather. Sunny and started at 74F and ended at 86F. Little to no traffic.

roadcrankr

8AM version = toughest group in our area. You did well.
I envision you came off on Bradbury Hill (Winston), then chased back.
I got dropped there more times than I can count. Strava ought to give me a laurel wreath!
My strategy tended to involve getting to the front for the turn, with fifty riders passing me before the top. lol
Tons of beasts on the ride, so no shame letting them surge ahead on the final uphill.
Probably five years since last doing the 8 o'clock variant. 745 goes too fast and 730 followed suit. Nobody in charge.

Eric F 

The stronger riders are mostly doing 8am/long. I'm good with the speed on the flats before the ride splits, but I don't have that depth of fitness any more to ride with the strong folks. I have done the 7:45/long ride a few times when I feel like getting more miles in my legs. The pace in the hills tends to push me pretty hard in places, but is tolerable.

The last couple of times I've done 8:00/short, I've been able to stay with the lead group into Sierra Madre. This Saturday, I'm not sure if it was just more strong guys, or I was feeling off, but - yes - I came off over the top of Winston. I had a good effort on the hill (51sec for the segment - not my best, but not bad), and was still in contact with the group up the climb, but was unusually empty for the punch over the top. The lead group was only about 10-15 riders, so there wasn't really anywhere to hide or fade back through. There was another guy who had the same struggles on Winston. We chased together and caught the lead group on Foothill with enough time to recover a bit before heading uphill again. I came off for the final time before we crossed Santa Anita.

By design, no one is in charge of the Montrose Ride. If/when someone gets hurt in a crash, people "in charge" get blamed and sued (this has happened with this ride).

cweb99

Hello all. So Cal native been off this forum a while had to create a new account. Did a great Torrey pines ride this weekend 30miles

cweb99

Anyone know some intermediate group level rides around Pasadena area?

SoSmellyAir

Sigh. Makes me despair at humanity. Maybe I should have got the RCT715 instead of the RTL515.

trailangel

There is the Pasadena retro ride. You don't need an old bike to do it. All are welcome. They stop in Sierra Madre for a break.
I thought the break was too long, drank a cup of coffee and went on... before my body got too rested.
Nice group.
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...sadena-ca.html

There used to be a ride from Performance Bike shop every Saturday morning. Dennis leader.... it was called the beginner ride 20-25 miles.. but many times would end of being a 35 miler. I kept telling Dennis "you need to tell me when you decide to extend the ride so I can have more than a cup of coffee and a piece of toast before the ride." I really miss that ride.

TakingMyTime

50 miles. El Dorado Park up the SGRT to the Santa Fe Dam and back. That's about 13 miles more than I'm use to and boy am I tired. I was hoping to maybe catch a Santa Ana wind on the way home but that didn't work out well. Seemed to be a pretty decent headwind from the Pico Rivera golf course all the way home, D'oh!

jonathanf2

Rose Bowl has their Tues & Thursday laps. Pasadena Athletic Association has rides on the weekends. I believe Incycle Pasadena does a Tuesday night ride.

jonathanf2

Today I did 24 miles and 2100 feet of climbing riding at Brown Mountain trail. I'm in the process of waxing all my chains soon, so I'm looking forward to having a cleaner drivetrain with my bikes!