Southern California - Sunday SART Ride with Jose from River Velo

Another 42 on the trail today with Gina and El Monarcha (Jose). As soon as we entered the trail we ran into Jose from River Velo. Jose did 96 yesterday and 68 today, wow! But as soon as he joined us he flatted. He stopped for a quick fix while we stopped at the Honda Center park for the facilities. Nice ride back to Yorba where he started as we stopped under the trees for a stretch. Then David the multi time Iron Man runs up for a quick visit.

We then part and head to the coast. Pretty windy today so Jose asks if he can take a pull. Sure, go right ahead ha ha! He did very well and kept a nice pace for a few miles while I enjoyed the ride. Nice day at the coast but not as hot as yesterday. We head back as Gina has some stuff to do.

Funny, yesterday I told Gina I dusted off my Cannondale so that I could ride it today. I showed it to her after it was polished. This morning when I loaded it on the truck, then we started riding. As soon as Jose from River Velo pulled up he said,"oh, you're on a different bike today". Then Gina asked, "you are?" then started laughing cause she had no idea, uh OK ha ha! Either way, the bike rides nice. The Madone is full carbon and the Canni is CAD3 but man, I just don't see much difference in the ride, if any at all. I guess I'm just a lead butt I guess! After swapping the rims to the Madone, my poor Canni has franken bike wheels ha ha. But it still rides great IMO.

More pics in blog if interested


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBklfQVHy5w

What it takes to ride the B Train:

Pain

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/IMG_1922.jpg

Determination

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/IMG_1923.jpg

and lots of humor ha ha!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/IMG_1924.jpg

Rode SART to PCH to SGRT. Alphabet soup ride. Went into Long Beach to have lunch with a buddy & new GF. You're right about the wind, there were whitecaps in the San Gabriel river. Must have missed you guys, looked at your usual roost & saw no familiar faces.

I did the full SART on sunday, but didn't see any familiars either. The wind did seem stronger than usual by 2-3mph. It made that ride to the beach a little tougher, but I still hit my time goal (it was just harder than I expected).

Beanz, surprised you can't tell the difference between the 2 bikes. I can feel slight differences between my 2 Roubaixs, and my Al Trek hybrid is on a whole other harshness level - even with 32mm tires.

Beanz, I went later in the day this time trying to spot you - even took the kids and told them to keep an eye out for a guy on a beater Trek who knows everybody on SART. No dice! The kids put in 15 good miles on SART and the head wind was serious at 5:30 in the afternoon. I dropped them off at Yorba park and my wife drove them home so I could ride home... you can tell exactly where in the ride that happened too, pretty funny.

My daughter complained that it wasn't scenic... I said sorry, did you prefer the cement rivers on Coyote Creek?

Trojan, we must have crossed paths. I did my ride 3:45 -> 6:35pm yesterday on the full length of the SART. How old is the kid that complained about the scenery?

My 2 year old just reads books in the trailer, doesn't seem to care about whats going on in the world outside the trailer yet.

told them to keep an eye out for a guy on a beater Trek who knows everybody on SART. ?

:roflmao2:

I think I might have recognized you if we did, or at least I would have drooled in the general direction of your bike. Maybe you did pass us, given the time I don't see how you couldn't have - there were four of us. Not too many groups of four dawdling along the path yesterday :). My daughter is 11 (the complainer), son is 9. We were up between Yorba and the big a from 5:30 to 6:30 and then I rode down to Tustin and headed north. We might have been stopped at one of the 42 required water breaks. :D

Even a life-long native such as myself can never call SART a wonder of nature. The turd farm at the end kinda sums it up. The trail does get a lot of use, and holds a lot of fond memories for me.

Came home around 4:00 pm. The tail wind was welcome.

Trojan, yeah, sounds like I was in your area. I try slow way down for kids, so hopefully I passed slowly enough. I'll often say howdy to the parents, but I don't remember doing so yesterday. Neat seeing kids on bikes out there, makes me excited for when I get to ride with mine.

Merkel, I think the section of the SART from the beach to the stadiums is pretty ugly (the beach access being the only reason to ride it), but from the stadiums northward I think it's scenic enough. "Wonder of Nature"? Yeah maybe not, but still nice. You get a view of Baldy and Chino Hills state park, water in the river with a dirt river bed, big egrets walking around, bunnies trying to get caught in your spokes, no gang bangers, sections shaded by trees, less urban, etc.

Also, I may have crossed paths with you too. It looks like I headed back from the beach around 4:30 on the SART.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/202146268

Would be nice to meet more of you guys. I saw a guy in a Reddit jersey yesterday I thought was neat - instantly you knew he was on that particular cycling board.