jonathanf2

After all the heavy rains, the Griffith Park fire roads are heavily damaged. I think I must of hit a dip which blew out my tire. My wife tells me bad things happen when I get too greedy with my cycling. Especially when I add more miles/elevation to an already strenuous ride!

Oh yeah, earlier in the week I almost got hit by a plow truck clearing the fire roads over at GP. I'm beginning to think I should just stick to trail riding!

CAT7RDR

I did something stupid last week in a school zone when I became impatient waiting for the line of SUVS and tried to weave through the masses.
Sometime the 25 mph zones are not followed and I did not give a good looksy of another SUV doing about 50 mph coming up on the lane I was about to enter.
One more pedal and I was a hood ornament.
Mental note: stay out of school zones and take a long look for fast traffic.

diphthong

be careful all. you are not replaceable. enjoy but within set parameters. revisit my biggest riding regret/dumbest decision ever at least once a week mentally.
was lucky to only suffer weeklong bruises/pain, a $350 bike repair bill and a 6 hr visit to the er after a spectacular, prime-time, place of interest collision on a 92+ degree day.
know that we wanna keep moving but sometimes slow is your friend.

SoSmellyAir

During school drop off and pickup times, I avoid any road with an entrance into and/or an exit from a school and do my best not to be in the vicinity of a school at all.

SoSmellyAir

29 miles (with 1,050 ft. climbing) on my Stigmata around Irvine including the gravel side of the Shady Canyon Trail Bikeway. Much more difficult than riding the paved side on my Synapse, especially after a couple of cold and wet months without much riding.

SoSmellyAir

Hope you get better ASAP. Did the front tire blow out have anything to do with your different front wheel?

jonathanf2

The fire roads at GP are pretty bad right now so it's hard to gauge where all the potholes and random rocks are situated. Plus I have a bad habit of attacking the downhills hard and fast. I probably should have rode a bit slower due to all the debris. That same day I dropped off my front carbon wheel to get re-laced and trued. Part of the reason I ride Griffith Park fire roads so much is to avoid all the cars, but I seem to have more issues riding there than the actual streets!

Eric F 

Saturday...Gravel bike ride to Cherry Canyon - Glendale Sports Complex - Sunshine/So. Beaudry. Stopping to make an adjustment to my bike at GSC, a group of kids from the St. Francis HS MTB team gathered in the area after coming down the same descent I had just finished. With them was their Head Coach, who is a good friend, and a frequent riding partner. I decided to join them for the climb up Sunshine into the Verdugo Hills. It was really fun riding with the group of kids, and some of them were really strong. During our climb, a group from Crescenta Valley HS was going the opposite way. Pretty much every weekend I see various training pods from the 3 HS teams in the area (La Canada HS is the 3rd). It's great to see so many young folks getting introduced to the sport.

Looking towards Burbank and Griffith Park from the top of Cherry Canyon...


Sunday...Happy Hour! JPL - Brown Saddle - The Meadows is quick, dirty fun and just under an hour of ride time from my house. My legs felt a bit sluggish from Saturday's ride, but somehow I managed a PR on the Brown climb. The trail is in better condition that it was just a week ago, with the typical heavy bike traffic smoothing out a nice riding line where it was loose rocks before.

Descending towards The Meadows...

SoSmellyAir

Rode a few laps around my own community learning how to ride clipless (SPD-SL). Learned first hand that Apple Watch fall detection works when I could not unclip in time. Do Ultegra pedals take more effort to unclip than 105!?

Both bike and I are OK. Adjusted cleat positions and learned to unclip at the bottom of the pedal stroke, exactly the opposite of where I lift my foot from the pedal while riding flat pedals. Need to practice this for a few more times before I venture out of the community.

CAT7RDR

I have Ultegra clipless on my endurance bike.
Only tip I can give is it is a solid connection interface and the knack for me is to point your foot down and flick your heel out in one motion.
I had lots of practice on a SPD interface and fell for the first time exiting the bike shop parking lot after they were installed on a new bike!
I would just find a flat area of grass and practice a dozen times until you have muscle memory.

Eric F 

Saturday....Dirty Seahorse (Sullivan Ridge, Dirt Mulholland - Backbone Trail) with a buddy who has been a good friend since elementary school. Great ride on a cool morning.



Sunday...33mi/2 hr solo road ride, spinning easy zone 2 for the first half, heading east from Pasadena to Duarte. Turned up the heat a bit for the return trip along the foothills, with a few good threshold efforts. https://www.strava.com/activities/8512386432

diphthong

27-mile loop thru la mesa, spring valley, bonita, lemon grove and national city. a bit breezy from the north vs the usual northwest.
no clouds tho. still, a few puddles here and there with some mud patches just off the pavement. it'll all dry up just before the next slate of
rains on sunday and tuesday. only the 4th ride so far this year. hoping for something bigger and better tomorrow.

SkinGriz

I think I saw a video or heard in a podcast about increased accidents around school zones because all of the parents drive their kids to school. In the interest of “safety”.

When I was a kid it seemed like most of us walked, biked, or took the bus.

Dang, I’m becoming the old man.

Whether biking or driving It’s a bad mistake if I found myself in a school zone during loading, unloading time.

”Why is everything all messed up?” Look up the street and see a school.
”Aww **** !”

diphthong

80-mile skinny loop from sdsu up to escondido, then west courtesy of del dios hwy, then south from rancho santa fe utilizing via de la valle, el camino real, the 5 fwy adjacent ucsd bike path and the rose canyon bike path. nice day if a tad n/nw breezy. solid amount of single and grouped cyclists out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8524085236

jsigone

North County Hills today. Double Peaks, Jesmond Dean, Circle R, Couser Canyon N, Rice Canyon, Couser Canyon S, Lilac, Old Castle, Black Mt to wrap it up
Pretty good way to break in a new saddle, Fizik Aliante R1 154mm

https://www.strava.com/activities/8545722590

diphthong

biggie!

joesch

jsigone that is very impressive and is a dream ride for me ... I can only dream of such an effort. Thanks for the motivation!

RE: FJR ~ Tour de Hills

Nachoman

.
A bit over 50 miles up and down the coast.

SoSmellyAir

First ride outside community on clipless pedals: 26 miles, 1,029 ft. elevation gain, 0 falls.

Eric F 

Long weekend trifecta - road ride, gravel ride, MTB ride!!

Saturday...39mi easy-paced road ride with a good friend. Arroyo Bike Path - LA River Trail - Glendale - La Canada. https://www.strava.com/activities/8584167522

Sunday...Gravel Bike California group ride (about 40 people). Very challenging - but super fun - ride with a lot of good folks, in an area that I was completely unfamiliar with. https://www.strava.com/activities/8589821387


Monday...Happy Hour. My quick MTB loop to Brown Saddle. Legs were toast from riding and yard work. https://www.strava.com/activities/8595528077

jsigone

Pres day ride up Backside of Soledad + Cabrillo in Point Loma for the tidepools. Great weather minus the winds
https://www.strava.com/activities/8595114314

CAT7RDR

Puttering around La Habra Hgts before the storm hits. Breezy but not bad at all.
No other riders out today.
28 miles and 4.7K of climb.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/10558353005

jsigone

NBD! rolling hills 10 mile loop around Black Mt. before work. Bike is smooth and responsive even with my lack of morning energy. Bottom bracket box on this is massive compared to 1 gen old Pinarello. Uses new T47 threaded shell, one side of external and one is internal allowing for more CF in that zone for stiffness. Geo is nearly identical to the Pinarello GanS, the seat tube angle is like 0.3* steeper. But this bike can clear much larger tires 26c vs Soloist claims 34c. And disc brakes are nice to have to the downhill fun.





still have to dial in fit before getting cables shortened. Maybe try one more spacer removed while riding one the trainer this week. Compare power numbers too.

diphthong

it's on days like this that a 4th of july ride up gmr/grr to the village (beyond?!) and back seems like a pipe dream.

Nachoman

We do that back route all the time and because of that loop under and over that one lane bridge have nicknamed it 'Soledad Euro'.