Mr. Beanz

2/20.....Wasn't going to ride today as it rained most of the night hear at home but a call from El Monarcha saying it was sunny on the trail talked us into riding. Nice headwind to the coast, as usual. Caught a glimpse of Octico and his wife. Haven't seen them in a long time. Near the coast we ran into RoadKing56 and his wife so we stopped for a chat. Nice people, funny too! El Moncarcha ended his ride early so we thought we were alone at the coast. Only us and the birds. Haircut Crew came by for some laughs so we invited ourselves along for the return ride. Couple guys ended their rides so we had a personal escort (The Legend) back to the Leaky Ftn. Nothing real exciting on the bike but the company was funny! Did see Alex at the coast but he came and went in a flash!


The video


RoadKing56 and his Karen Harem (wife on left and friend in center, both named Karen)


Getting a glimpse of Octico and wife while sneaking up on LewisAClark from behind


Kev_Jones


The capture, never even knew we were there!


Have no idea who this guy is but he looked happy (in black)


The Loverboy


Angry Bob


The Legend Greg

hammond9705

Have you ever crashed taking pics?

The people who live in the north must hate your reports with all of the sun. It looks great even compared to Dallas where it was 50 yesterday morning.

Mr. Beanz

15 years of riding and 4 years with the camera, never a crash, knock on wood. Before taking pics or a video, I size up the subject and riding habits. If the rider is squirrrely, I put the camera away. I keep my distance most of the time, if I see the rider is holding a realy good straight line, I will move in for a close up of the legs or wheel.

I've had a couple of riders sway from one side to another for no apparent reason. If I had been any closer, they would have taken out my front wheel. So I'm always aware of this, if I see any signs, I pack up the camera!

If I'm not sure, I will tell the rider that I'm shooting a pic so don't make any sudden movements. Most rides are pretty good but there are a couple that can't hold a line if ya paid them!

What scares me is encountering a rider like the guy in black I mention above in the "I don't know this guy" picture. The three of us were getting ready to pass him and his friend ( far behind in white). We were doing a much better pace than the two so before passing, I rang my bell and gave the friendly "3 of us passing on the left". I always notify another rider of the number so they don't swing into one of my riders after "I" pass.

Well this guy lifter the pace and stayed on my shoulder and wouldn't allow me to move back into the lane. I'm not sure what he was trying to prove by ditching his friend and staying on my side knowing there were other riders behind me. He kept up for about 1/8 of a mile heavily panting then fell off the pace. That's why I shot the video at that point. If he hadn't fell off, I would have slowed the pace and let him ride off alone in safety sake.

It's totally unsafe IMO when a rider won't let you pass, especially when he know he can't keep the pace for more than 1/4 mile. This happens every so often, I'm not sure what the riders are thinking. Geeze, if I'm doing my pace and another rider catches us and rolls by, I/we move to the right so that he can pass safely.

Sometimes if I'm recording and I see a shakey rider, I will tell Gina to back off the group and we'll fall back. For the record, I have to scold Gina ever once in a while when I see her make a sudden movement in a group or if she doesn't hold her line well. Sometimes he will take it for granted that there aren't any riders behind her. I tell her it doesn't matter cause ya never know in a group!

10 Wheels

Nice pics.

TrekDen

Nice vid, and the stills seem better than usual. Might be that extra coffee I had this morning. Not sure, but the unknown cyclist above might be kind of new to cycling. The way he checks out El Monarcha's bike as he passes is my first indicator. I remember doing that a lot when I first got back into this, thinking it must be the bike they are riding instead of the engine on mine, ha ha. Now I wait till we take a break to see what everybody is riding, and figure out why they are passing me.

Mr. Beanz

Yeah, I figured he was newb. I don't get upset knowing. Just concerend......This does happen often, newb are understandable, some vets, NOT!

It is funny when other look at your bike wondering. I've had some ACTUALLY say they could probably keep up if they had a bigger gear. I usually pointout that I'm riding my 39 ring and not the 53. The guy in the video that rode back with us won some road races back in his day, still does some races. That's why we call him the legend. We were crusing in the video at 20 mph when I shoot the footage of is pedals. He's in the small ring too.

Mr. Beanz

Must be the coffee!..I'm not happy with the stills but carrying a dig cam would be too much. I usualy only extract stills to point out the forum members. Some because they are the #1 lurkers of my thread in the So California section! ..Gotta give them credit so I post them too!