CAT7RDR

^^^^^Too many learning experiences lately. Think I'll take up Bocce Ball or Croquet.
Thought of rowing, but rotator cuffs are shot.

mackgoo

My typical. Talega to PCH up to Dana Point down to San Clemente and back.

TakingMyTime

Glad to hear you're ok. Hope you heal soon.

Eric F 

Glad you're not more damaged. Heal fast.

Eric F 

Last week...

Wednesday (singlespeed MTB) - JPL, Flint Canyon Trail, lower Cherry Canyon loop, and back the way I came. Pretty hot out, so I took my time - and a couple of short breaks - on the Cherry climb. Good dirty fun. 12 miles, 1200'.


Friday (singlespeed MTB) - Brown-Millard loop. I'm an idiot. The heat and the steep grades of the climb to Brown Saddle forced multiple stops. I was at my absolute limit most of the time, sometimes only managing a few minutes of progress between stops. That said, the descent to the Millard Canyon campground was awesome. This a loop is used to do frequently, but the last time I had 20 less birthdays, 20 less pounds, and 20 more gears. This time was brutal. 11 miles, 1900'.


Sunday Coffee Ride (So Pas, San Marino, Arcadia, Duarte, Monrovia, Sierra Madre) - A good-size group of very experienced riders (aka "old guys"). Easy tempo for the first half. I put in a couple of max efforts in the spicy sections, and managed a new PR on a short climb. Felt strong, but the lack of recent miles had me feeling a little less sparky on the mostly-uphill roll from the end of the ride back home. 38 miles, 1600', 39 sec PR on Winston segment.

Eric F 

More singlespeedin' in the dirt. Looking north from the top of Cerro Negro, with Cherry Canyon below. The group of buildings on the right side of the frame is JPL. Some excellent singletrack takes you back to the bottom of the fire road climb. There is a nice network of trail options in this little area, that I'm still exploring. The climb has some nasty pitches to it, which makes things kind of brutal on a SS, but my strength is improving for these kinds of efforts. I'm still trying to sort out some fit issues on this bike with regards to handlebar and stem setup. I'm also finding that when the weather is warm, I prefer carrying bottles and tools on my bike, rather than using a hydration pack. This ride was an extended version of my route from last Wednesday. Total ride: 14 mi, 1600'

My ride last Friday was on the roads you can see cut into the mountains on the other side of the valley.

jsigone

enjoying the cooler weather and took drop bars to Black Mt here in San Diego

TakingMyTime

62 miles yesterday from Huntington Beach and then throughout Irvine etc. Mostly bike paths, PCH > SART > then though Santa Ana > Santiago Creek Trail > Jamboree to Portola > Peter's Creek trail > San Diego Creek Trail and then meander through Newport and Huntington back home.

jonathanf2

I also rode the trails around Cherry Canyon this week, though I'm not as brave to try it with a single speed!

Eric F 

That trail looks like it is on the south side of the tower. Where does it go to?

2seven0

Friday my wife & I celebrated my 59th with a nice Santiago Cyn ride. Sat. did Brea Cyn/Pathfinder/East-West Rds. Clear & sunny both mornings perfect riding weather.
West

jonathanf2

It's just a side trail that runs adjacent to Ridge Motorway, though I ended up back tracking towards the tower because the south end of this trail was just too loose with dirt to safely ride.

Also the next day, I thoroughly cleaned my chain by removing it and scrubbing it with degreaser. All this trail riding gets geared chains dirty faster with the loose dirt.

Eric F 

Cherry Canyon is becoming my Monday habit. It's a challenging ride with some good fun that I can get done in 1.5 hours after work before I need to get my kid to her softball practice.

Here's looking the other way from almost the same spot as jonathanf2 last week...


Overlooking the Glendale Sports Complex (nice signletrack loop over there that I hope to ride this coming weekend)...


Upper part of the trail that returns to the bottom of Cherry Canyon. This is the payoff section of the ride...

diphthong

a 28-spot around the new metro san diego crashpad. tapped into much of the old neighborhood default ride
since it had been three weeks to the day of the last ride. much too much too long. pavement hasn't gotten better
except for one quickie stretch. absolute ton of people out on a tuesday at the sd zoo and balboa park. waterfront not too crowded tho.

joesch

Nice pix and love the old school hard tail

jonathanf2

Did the Fern Truck trail exiting Rising Hill Road. El Prieto loop is just too technical on a gravel bike, it's doable but really rough. Also I realized on Google Maps it says the upper section of Rising Hill road is private, but I'm not in the mood to take the steep road out of Milard. I started at the Rose Bowl to loosen my legs and took the trail from the JPL/Gabrielino trail to go up. In total I did about 16 miles. I find riding this way ultimately satisfying, mainly because you work hard on the trail going up and it's a fast downhill all the way down with both single track and tarmac. I almost hit 50mph on the descent and even witnessed a coyote snatch a lady's cat as she was chasing after her now-deceased pet!

A lot of drama on these rides!

TakingMyTime

42 miles on Monday and another 62 yesterday. Mostly just the usual meandering rides along the coast, SART and lots of Santa Ana, Tustin, Irvine etc. I'm really feeling good about finally being able to get some bigger miles in.

I've been doing almost all these rides on my Trek fitness bike. It's starting to creak in places, needs a new middle chainring and chain so it's getting a major maintenance tear-down and lube these weekend. Everything's coming off and going to be looked at.... everything. While this one is in the "shop" I'm going to be transitioning to my Road bike and using that for the majority of the summer. Due to the difference in weight and performance I'll be able to increase my mileage without too much additional effort.

CAT7RDR

First ride in two weeks after my crash. Followed the first rule and kept the rubber side down.
Rode on familiar quiet roads in La Habra Hgts on the 29er and made a loop out of it incorporating Fullerton Rd, Cypress, Skyline, East-West and Colima.
Only saw two other cyclists on a holiday so that was rather odd.

25 miles and 3400 feet of climb while shaking off some rust.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7070492592

TakingMyTime

2 rides of 12 miles each on the 4th. The 08:30 ride down to Seal Beach on the SGRT was packed with bike club riders zipping by. It wasn't as crowded as expected but it was still a lot more crowded that my weekday rides. The 2nd 12 was over to a relatives for some burgers.

Eric F 

Saturday - Montrose Ride. Not a huge group for this ride - less than 100, probably - but plenty of firepower. A few sections in the first half were 30+mph, which is some of my favorite riding. I was good on the fast flats, but started bumping against my limits when the roads started tilting upwards in the last few miles. Despite being really stretched, I managed to hang on and finish among the lead group. My fitness is still a ways away from being able to be a force at the front at any part of this ride. (46mi, 1500')

Sunday, dirty Sunday - Singlespeed MTB ride. Extended my usual route to a new section that included lots of fun, but some significant suffering. The best part was running into a good friend and sharing dirt for a little while. (19mi, 2400')

jonathanf2

Did a quick ride this Sunday. Started at Griffith Park, rode the LA River bike path south to the very end (now fully open from construction), made my way to Historic State Park, then did some hill climbing in Elysian Park, went down Stadium Way towards Sunset Blvd. and looped towards the LA River bike path and back where I started at Griffith Park.



I saw a few low key MTB'ers and gravel riders at Elysian and I'm thinking they're probably dirt trail riding around the park on the down low. I was tempted to explore more of the trails, but I was on my GK slicks (I prefer my knobbies) and had to head back home. I'll definitely come back to check out more of the terrain though, since there were some paved fire roads that looked like fun if I didn't want to get busted by the park rangers on the hiking only trails!

diphthong

26-spot from the haus nearish sdsu out to la mesa/grossmont/mt. helix areas and back. beer stop at a new place which had the second best new ipa i’ve had this year (and there’s plenty of “research”).
late start? check. hot? check. humid? check. some hills on the vintage 1988 nishiki. just nice to be out. brand new pavement top section of mt. helix.




https://strava.app.link/juxzcwOVEhb

diphthong

meandering 40-spot incorporating lemon grove, el cajon, santee and la mesa. a few steep hills. another late start. ride morphed into a beer/bbq ride about halfway through.

TakingMyTime

This is just a weekly report since I haven't been posting as much as before. 2 x 60 miles and 1 x 13 miles this week. My friends and I are exploring the bike paths out in the Irvine area. That area sure has a lot of nice paths. Yesterday we spent some time on the Shady Canyon Trail. We were out at the Great Park and all those adjacent areas. Even the bigger roads like Portola are pretty empty on a weekday.

Anyway, the bikes are working fine and I'm starting to get in some big mile rides (50+ miles for me) and really having a great time with my friends.

2seven0

Wife & I spent our 17th anniversary riding around Big Bear prepping for the Tour next month. Hot & balmy even for 7000' up!