Southern California - Who are you? Where do you ride?

SoCal asks:

Who are you? What do you look like? What do you ride? Where do you ride? You like to pose?

Post pics! On the bike, off the bike, posing, whatever!..:D

ok.... i'll edit mine!

i'm caligurl! and i ride in the desert! if there is an organized century or double metric within say... 3 hours drive time... i'm probably there too! i'm the queen of the organized rides! (they give me junk food to come ride a route they supply for me!)

i started riding a bike when i dropped a wine bottle on my toe (yes... really!) i have an evil coach (errrr hubby) who had me climbing our local hill on our first rides out on my new road bike! since then i've been climbing all over the place... never fast... but i always get to the top!

here i am climbing "cali hill" in my queen of the mountains jersey!






and here i am... imitating a terrorist! (it DOES get cold in the desert!)

OK, so my name is Pam. Live in Orange County. Photo - see avatar. Have been riding all my life, but some years more seriously than others. This is not a serious year for me. Did the CB Century last weekend which will probably be my one and only organized event for this year.

Have always been a roadie but several years started mountain biking more seriously. Became a docent for The Nature Conservancy/Irvine Ranch Land Reserve and have been leading MTB tours for them for the last 3 years. The tours I lead are mainly either in Limestone Canyon or out of Irvine Regional Park (Weir/Blind/Fremont). But my favorite place to mountain bike is Chino Hills. Usually meet friends either Tuesday or Friday night to do North Ridge/Sycamore/Telegraph (or in reverse). Really haven't ridden much in the So. County Parks (Laguna and Aliso Woods). Last year did Aliso with a friend, had a bad fall on Mathis (required a number of stitches) and haven't been back. I know I need to mount that horse once again but am in no hurry. It seems I can't go a year without a serious injury. In 2003 broke the collarbone, in 2004 tore my r AC, 2005, the stitches plus had surgery in November on the collarbone. 2006 so far so good. Geez I hope I didn't jinx myself!:(

Back to the road, I usually ride with BCI (Bicycle Club of Irvine) and occasionally with OC Rebels. Can't beat the roads here in OC. My favorite ride is what we call the "3 bumps", Skyline, Canon and Amapola. If riding alone during the week, I usually do Skyline, Newport Blvd. to Santiago and down Jamboree. Just love the view at the top of the hill! Also love anything around Back Bay (what's not to love about the beach area).

Sorry for rambling - finally to important stuff: my bikes - road - 2002 Lemond Zurich, MTB: Specialize Stumpjumper M4 hardtail (slightly upgraded from the original) and a 2006 Spec. Stumpjumper FSR. I also converted an old touring bike into a road singlespeed. Still trying to get use to that but its fun to do down to Back Bay.

If any of you roadie types are interested in trying mountain biking let me know. I have a couple of great rides coming up I would love for you to join! In addition, if you are not familiar wth the rides offered by the Nature Conservancy, go to OCWILD.org, "Let's Go Outside". "activities" and the rides are listed. Note Sept/Oct calendar will be posted shortly (if not already).

Really haven't had the chance to ride or meet most of you. Did do the Santiago Canyon ride and of course Cool Breeze and might join some other rides in the future.

I'm Brandy, 30 year old stay at home mom to three and I live in Huntington Beach. I usually ride here in OC...PCH, Back Bay, San Diego Creek Trail, Santiago Canyon, Laguna Canyon, etc. I look like this...


and sometimes like this...


I have three offspring aka "the fruit of my loins" that look like this...


I just started riding in mid-May and completed my first century last Saturday with a bunch of you goofballs! Okay...enough about me for now, I still have to finish packing for Mexico. Adios!

Hi there,
My name is Herb. I live in Burbank, my buddy Mark and I usually ride around the SFValley, La Tuna Canyon...Foothill Blvd and out to the Valley Circle in the West Valley...but we also ride the San Gabriel River Trail to the beach and back.
We just did our 2nd Cool Breeze...unfortunately, I could only do the mini-metric..with a few extra miles...on my mtb as I am recovering from a apparent stress fracture on the bottom of my foot!
I think I saw Thompson sagging...Sorry I didnt stop you to say hello...I was riding with 2 girls. We went back up the bike trail towards Ojai an extra time to get a few more miles...

We have also done the Stagecoach century ( long drive , but incredible ride), Tour de Palm Springs, and we ride for Diabetes in their Tour de Cure..

Pix of all of our various rides are at (cb pix will be up there soon):

http://www.meyerowitz.net/bike/bike.htm

We keep saying we want to try GMR, but I am not sure I can keep up...I am terrible on hills!
herb

hi herb! yikes! even the mini metric on a mountain bike is awesome! i HATE riding my MTB on the road! after 2 miles i'm ready to go home (or hit the dirt! THEN it's ok!)

you can do GMR! and our GMR ride on the 2nd is no drop! there will be super fast animals there... but also slower riders! if you can... you should come! since it's an out and back... you can turn around at ANY point you decide you are done!!!!!! but you'd get to meet a bunch of nice people!!!! (well... mostly they are nice! tee hee)

Hi, I'm Josh. Since I live in the Antelope Valley I do most of my riding up here in the high desert. Not a particularly great place to ride since its always windy and very hot in the summer and can get pretty cold in the winter. Theres not a lot of climbing but lots of open flat roads. I also did the metric Tour De Cure in Thousand Oaks this past winter.

Hey Cali...
I have been lurking on BF for a while...so I feel like I know everyone!
I think I saw a bunch of BF'ers at Cool Breeze...but was looking for the star (red I think) on the bibs..but really never say any...My buddy and I did put a red star on ours...no one commented...oh well...
I did change to a 1.5" slick tire so that helped...but I forget how darn heavy that thing is...I was unable to wear my road shoes..too stiff for the sore foot...my mtb spd shoes were more comfortable...
of course while i was riding on the 101 heading towards Bates Rd...a group went by and I tried to jump on the back....needless to say on that clunker I couldn't hang very long...

I think I can do GMR, just very slowly....unfortunately we will be down in Temecula..I am hoping I can ride a bit while we are there...I am taking this weekend off to let the foot heal a bit more!
My next big ones are Rosarita to Ensenada ( have never done that one) and then the High Desert Bike Club is doing a century, 1/2 century on 10/21
herb

Hey, I’m Garry. Good idea setting up this regional forum.

I ride mostly down here in San Diego. I ride with the San Diego Bike Club occasionally on Saturday mornings and have ridden in a few organized centuries in the So Cal area. I rode the Cool Breeze last week.

I commute to work on my road bike and if the family let’s me, I take “extended trips home along the coast line.

My favorite ride in the area is an 80 mile loop from my house that takes me into some of the hills east of the city and ends up along the coast. The route has three major climbs (Poway Grade, Hwy 67 and Torrey Pines) – almost 10,000 feet in elevation gain and has some really nice scenery. The picture below is from the last Tour De Palm Springs. I’m in front with the blue jersey.

I would love to join one of your organized rides in the coming months – especially if you every decide to come south. Lot’s of dedicated bike lanes and other cyclists down here in San Diego

I'm Jason. See my avatar for a pic. I like hilly rides. I'm a grad student in San Diego. My parents live in Claremont, just off of Mt Baldy Rd. I consider Mt Baldy Rd my home climb even though I've only done that climb twice so far in 2006.


My favorite ride in the area is an 80 mile loop from my house that takes me into some of the hills east of the city and ends up along the coast. The route has three major climbs (Poway Grade, Hwy 67 and Torrey Pines) – almost 10,000 feet in elevation gain and has some really nice scenery.
Details please! :D

Im Donald. New to the forum and new to cycling. I live in San Pedro and work in Brea. Just saying hi.

My name's Alex.
I live in Santa Clarita...you know, where Six Flags is?

Been riding for less than a month, and am really enjoying it.
I hope to do some longer rides in the near future. I'm doing my first 20 mile ride this Saturday (20 days since I got my bike), and pretty shortly I'll move up to the 40 mile ones.

I'm a senior in HS. Just started last week. But thankfully I still have ample time to get in some riding 5 or 6 times a week. I plan on doing some riding with bbp shortly, and maybe I'll make it to some group rides, depending if I can find transportation or not.

I'm Matt. I currently live in Moreno Valley, just east of Riverside. I got into cycling when I was in college in Sacramento. I was in a head on accident and used some of my settlement money to buy an MTB. I never really rode it until gas prices went through the roof, then I bought slicks and started commuting on it. I was hooked and logged 200 miles in my first month of riding. When I graduated, my parents bought me a Trek 5200 so I could properly enjoy road cycling. Since I got it in June, I've logged close to 1000 miles, most of them solo.

I usually ride from my house up to and around Lake Perris. Sometimes I'll just ride where ever I can in hopes of finding a new loop. I even convinced my dad to take our bikes when we went on our annual extended family vacation and we rode from Ventura to Ojai. Our goal was to be ready to ride in the Amtrak century put on by the Orange County Wheelmen, but we missed the registration date. *argh*

I'm David. I've been working in San Diego for ~2 years now; moved here from Toronto, Canada.

I've just started cycling again 2 months ago; mainly as a weekend rider. I haven't been exercising for 6 years, so I'm quite out of shape. I ride with the San Diego Bike Club every Saturday, and sometimes the SR-56 bike path (flat/rolling hills) on Sundays.

MY sweet wife Gina. She's soo sweet and everybody loves her!





And this is me, Mr. Beanz. Everybody loves me too. I'm ugly but almost always very friendly!

We ride on the SA Trail just about every Saturday and Sunday. Usually start at Imperial (behind In-N-Out) and ride down to the beach and back(42 miles). Average is anywhere from 16.3 to 17.7 so if anybody ever wants to join in, lemme know! Usually start about 9:30 on Saturdays (I work till 3 am sometimes) and early starts on Sundays are easier.


Sometimes we start at Weir Cyn, ride down to Kraemer then thru Santiago Cyn to Laguna then back along the coast for a century with a lil bit of hills thrown in. I have friends that frequent these routes and would love company if ever interested.

But my favorite place to mountain bike is Chino Hills. Usually meet friends either Tuesday or Friday night to do North Ridge/Sycamore/Telegraph (or in reverse).
Pam, do you happen to know if the Bovinian Delight and Raptor Ridge singletracks are clear of brush now? I rode Bovinian a couple of months ago and it was so overgrown, I was getting eaten alive by ticks.

Pam, do you happen to know if the Bovinian Delight and Raptor Ridge singletracks are clear of brush now? I rode Bovinian a couple of months ago and it was so overgrown, I was getting eaten alive by ticks.


Have you ever tried Claremont Hills Wilderness Park(top of Monte Vist/Padua Av.)?

Fire roads but there is a trail that goes up to Potato mtn, good ride!

I ride with my son and wife. I mostly ride in the North O.C. Area...Fullerton hills, Placentia, I was MTB rider last year I bought a road bike and now I am hooked attached is a pic of my son and myself at The Tour of Palm Springs in early spring this year. If anyone is looking to do some riding in Fullerton area let me know.
John

Hi all,

My name is Luwin, and I am a 26 year-old graduate student in my final year working towards a masters in Marital & Family Therapy. I have a lovely wife named Holly whom I met while working as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines a few years back, and an 8-month old daughter Addison. I love country music, and am distraught that KZLA seems to have disappeared. My other active interests include cars, music, food, and other sports such as basketball, football, and tennis (playing and watching).

I currently reside in Pasadena right near Paseo Colorado/Old Town, and usually am at the Rose Bowl either early in the morning around 6:30-7am or in the evening around 6 or 7. Looking forward to some group rides once I get my feet wet. Been part of the forum for a few weeks now, and have been reading up on ride reports, and the camaderie between you guys seems great. I look forward to meeting you guys in person soon!


My daughter and I on a recent trip up to Washington to visit the wife's folks -




The wife and kid -




Me and the wife (while we were just dating) -

I'm Tracy, I live in Canyon Lake (South Riverside County) I've been back on my bike (after taking about 8 years off) since March and just completed (barely :p ) my first century.

I usually ride around Lake Elsinore/Temecula/Murrieta and also tag along w/the OC bunch for rides on the weekends sometimes...

Here's a picture at Cruisin' the Conejo


and here's one w/my youngest...


Hope to get to ride with everyone again soon!

Tracy

I'm Bob, I live in Long Beach with my wife of 26 years. I do most of my riding to and from work, but also ride either the San Gabriel river trail or PCH to the south.
This is a picture of me riding the Heartbreak Hundred.

Have you ever tried Claremont Hills Wilderness Park(top of Monte Vist/Padua Av.)?

Fire roads but there is a trail that goes up to Potato mtn, good ride!
Nope, never been. I'll have to check it out sometime...

Hi all,

My name is Luwin....

Hey Lewin.......I ride at the Rose Bowl most Thursday evenings between 5 - 7 pm. Maybe I'll spot you on of these evenings...:)

YO! Mac representin' L.A. I ride my touring bike around the foothills and mountains of Angeles National Forest in La Canada, Castaic Lake in Santa Clarita, and the beach in Santa Monica. Just for the hell of it, I took a few days off of work and rode to Mexico. :D For my next tour, I'm going to ride up to Oregon. If I can get enough time off of work, I'd really like to ride up to Canada. :) All of my non-touring rides begin and end at my front door. I ride for fun, for a workout, for mental relaxation, and to see new places. I have no desire or interest in bicycle competitions. I always ride solo, but like meeting up and saying hi to other cyclists along my route.

Hey mac......welcome back! You disappeared there for a while right at the beginning of the World Cup. I assumed you were on a long tour or something....:)

Hey mac......welcome back! You disappeared there for a while right at the beginning of the World Cup. I assumed you were on a long tour or something....:)
Aw crap... I tore my calf muscle on June 4th the day after my Castaic Lake ride. :( Been hanging out in Foo while recovering. I just started riding some flat, 15-mile out-and-backs per my PT's recommendation. I figure I won't be back in touring shape until 2007. How you doing?

Aw crap... I tore my calf muscle on June 4th the day after my Castaic Lake ride. :( Been hanging out in Foo while recovering. I just started riding some flat, 15-mile out-and-backs per my PT's recommendation. I figure I won't be back in touring shape until 2007. How you doing?

Yikes....sorry to hear about your injury. Now that we've got our own little regional forum here there will be frequent rides happening almost weekly. Hope you can join in on one of the milder flatland routes for starters til you're back in shape...:)

Yeah, I'll look into it. :) Tell you the truth, though. I got into cycling because it was a solo sport. I'd spend time in the gym and on the football field with my teammates, but cycling would be "my time" away from everyone and everything to clear my head.

Hi, I'm Brian, live in Orange, near Jamboree and Santiago Canyon, so have some great road riding outside my front door. I've met a couple of you, although I haven't been on any BF rides yet. Being super busy at work and having a one year old son has cut into my riding time quite a bit, that makes it hard for me to go on club rides or BF rides. So most of my riding has been commuting to my workplace in south OC - that and a longish ride on one weekend day gets me to 100-150 miles a week. Still, I try to get out for a couple organized centuries. I manage to do the Bear every year, as well as one or both of the SLO bike club rides (good excuse to meet a Bay Area cycling friend half way). When I was kidless I used to do a lot of short multi day self-supported tours, culminating in a solo cross country tour in 2001. I've also got a place in the local mountains so I also do some weekend climbing rides outside my front door there. Pictures to follow soon...

Hey, caligurl, maybe this should be a sticky thread also?

I'm Emile, I live in Orcutt, North Santa Barbara County. I've been riding for a little bit than a year now. My weekend ride is from my house to Los Olivos and back thru Foxen canyon. Any local riders want to share the ride?

I'm Emile, I live in Orcutt, North Santa Barbara County. I've been riding for a little bit than a year now. My weekend ride is from my house to Los Olivos and back thru Foxen canyon. Any local riders want to share the ride?

I enjoyed that film, 'Sideways'.....shot in your neck of the woods....:D

yep, many teams train locally, including disco; sometimes you can see them on San Marco's pass.

I'm Jim. I live and ride in Riverside. Here's a picture of me at work.

Hi. I'm Steve. I live in Woodland Hills and have been riding for about 32 years.
I ride mostly in the Santa Monica mountains and points north. I also ride a 20 mile (round trip) commute every day.
I rode the CB last weekend and looked for red stars but didn't see even one??

I'm Jim. I live and ride in Riverside. Here's a picture of me at work.

You look like caligurl in that picture.

You look like caligurl in that picture.

lol! good thing i left that pic when i editted my post... or noone would know what you are talking about!

Tell you the truth, though. I got into cycling because it was a solo sport. I'd spend time in the gym and on the football field with my teammates, but cycling would be "my time" away from everyone and everything to clear my head.

I understand completely. Many riders I know prefer to ride solo as well. As a matter of fact, a good portion of my riding is done solo.......but also enjoy group riding at least once a week...:D

I'm Jim. I live and ride in Riverside. Here's a picture of me at work.

Nice smock!:D

Nice smock!:D

HEY! where's your write up of who you are and where you ride!? and your pic?????????????? i KNOW there are good pics of you and mrs pico... heck... "I" took a really cute one of you two!

My favorite ride in the area is an 80 mile loop from my house that takes me into some of the hills east of the city and ends up along the coast. The route has three major climbs (Poway Grade, Hwy 67 and Torrey Pines) – almost 10,000 feet in elevation gain and has some really nice scenery.




Details please! :D


Sure…

The route starts along Rancho Penisquitos Canyon, just a smidge north of Mira Mesa in PQ. I ride EAST all the way along Scripps Poway Parkway for almost 10 miles. The road is pretty new and has a dedicated bike lane. This road is quite popular with cyclists because it ends with the famous Poway Grade – that many will be grinding up in the Poway Century in October. The grade is about 2 miles and climbs about 1,000 with a steady 7% grade. Fun climb!

After climbing the grade – turn right on HWY 67 and descend for over 5 miles. Dedicated bike lane again and you can scream down at 40 miles per hour. At the bottom on the decent there is a quarry that you can turn around and then begin clibing back up from where you start the decent from. A monster climb of 1,200’ over five miles. Some pretty steep stretches and my legs start to burn.

Once you finish the climb you go down the Poway Grad the way you came up and have a very fun two mile decent where you get to rest your legs. I ride back to where the ride started and fill up water bottles. I then head out towards the ocean and pass a really cool stretch of rollers around and past the Del Mar Race Track. After this section I end up at the 101 and then take the road south up another great climb of the Torrey Pines. Another 2 mile climb. There are actually two options for this climb. The road is slow and gradual climb, but you can also use the very steep switchbacks inside the park that will bring that burn back in your legs.

After Torrey Pines, I head home with another hill along Sorrento Valley to keep you honest at the 70 mile mark.

The attached map from the Garmin Training center should give you an idea of the route. Not the greatest map, but it should provide orientation.

I try and ride this route about once a month and is a great training for a hilly century. Always willing to ride with others. I start at a park on Calicristobal Road with lots of parking.

I'm David. I've been working in San Diego for ~2 years now; moved here from Toronto, Canada.

I've just started cycling again 2 months ago; mainly as a weekend rider. I haven't been exercising for 6 years, so I'm quite out of shape. I ride with the San Diego Bike Club every Saturday, and sometimes the SR-56 bike path (flat/rolling hills) on Sundays.

Hey David. I'm in San Diego as well and moved from Toronto six years ago. I occasionally ride with the SDBC group on Saturdays as well. I usually am wearing my team Canada Jersey. I am out of town next couple of weeks, but should start riding with the group again in September. Introduce yourself if you happened to see me. Always nice to meet another Canuck down here – especially if they are on BF.

Cheers - Garry

This is what I do to pay for my habit.

Tell me more!

Nice smock!:D
Technically, it's a "bunny suit". Don't ask me where the name came from.

isits is a bunny!

Technically, it's a "bunny suit". Don't ask me where the name came from.




Hey, looks familiar. Maybe we should form a bunny suit club.

Isits, what are you doing gowned up at 7:10? Are you in a GMP or BSL-3 facility?

http://www.redbikephoto.com/2006_heartbreak_double_century/image177.html I'm John from the SFV and I've been riding road bikes since 1985. I once did 12000 miles in a year (1990) but now am lucky to get 5000. I ride with the SFVBC and have ridden with about 10 BFers. My group usually has to wait for me as I am old and fat, but they don't seem to mind. Looking forward to riding with more BF members.

Yeah, I'll look into it. :) Tell you the truth, though. I got into cycling because it was a solo sport. I'd spend time in the gym and on the football field with my teammates, but cycling would be "my time" away from everyone and everything to clear my head.
Welcome back, Mac! Try one of these BF rides, they are social and great fun.

Sweet! does it come with a chamois?

Hey, looks familiar. Maybe we should form a bunny suit club.

Isits, what are you doing gowned up at 7:10? Are you in a GMP or BSL-3 facility?
genedoc, I work in a semiconductor fab. (I've been doing it for 24 years) My shift starts at 6:00 AM.