IBOHUNT

@MikeRides - hope you just put the power on 240W, like @TrojanHorse would do, and drug the group then with 10 miles to go you boiled the frog.

MikeRides

The ride went well. Great bunch of riders and the organizers did a fantastic job at making it a stress free ride. The whole group split up after the first 5 miles. I almost made a rookie mistake of starting out too fast to keep up with the faster guys, hit the first meager hill and had a eye opener. I ended up mashing up it in a high gear. I knew if I kept that up I wouldn't make it 20 miles not to mention the full 50 so I backed off and got into an comfortable cadence. Ended up sticking with a smaller group of five guys, taking turns "pulling" each other up the many rolling hills we faced. We skipped the first rest stop (at the 13mi mark), stopped at the 2nd stop at the 30 mile mark which required a 20 minute wait at a RR crossing (AMTRAK was loading when we showed up). Made it to the last five miles before my rear end started hurting like crazy, faced with a headwind (the last 10 miles had us riding on open roads vs the "shielded" back roads) I dropped down into the small chain ring and just concentrated on finishing without having to walk. Ended up finishing with a ride time of 3:35, elapsed time was 4:11.

It was definitely an experience I'll never forget and I learned a lot about what I need to focus on this step forward. I have a solid base of miles down, but need to work on speed/strength. I'm definitely planning on doing this ride again next year, possibly even riding this route again solo (unorganized) later this summer.

dagray

Glad you had a good ride Mike.

I finished up a 30 mile goal for the week yesterday on the trainer due to sustained winds of 20+mph and today did an extra 10 miles on the trainer to catch up on some miles missed earlier this year. Now to have a beer.

jsigone

legs are still trashed, I need to crack open one of these bottles I earned yesterday

TrojanHorse

You didn't tell me Lost Abbey was sponsoring! I mighta signed up!

jimincalif

I was wondering about this - congrats, definitely need to take a heavy dose of that recovery fluid!

jsigone

coulda swore I told you it was the Waffle n Beer ride. For some (including myself) it's what kept me going thru most the day....dreaming of cold beer and hot food at the end of the torture ride. 146miles in high wind advisory...sooooo glad I brought my CX bike w/ lower gearings 36x27 granny

jimincalif

36x27 is what you call a granny? You're killing me! I run a 34x30 and sometimes wish I had lower.

RubeRad

Looks like a blast!

The Cervélo Belgian Waffle Ride presented by SPY

All those pics, fattest tire I saw was maybe 700x25? My CrossCheck with 700x50 (and 39x34 granny) woulda tore that course up.

(With a stronger, lighter rider, anyways...)

TrojanHorse

Yes, my point is Lost Abbey >> regular beer.

Remind me to show you what a granny really looks like next time I see you.

jsigone

I think the average was 25-28c tires, allot of road frames. A hand full of nut cases bringing their MTB to do the entire ride...kudos to them. I ran 28c, saw a few with 32s. Anything wider than 28s is too slow. Hell even the 28s might have been to slow in the all the epic head wind we had.

RubeRad

Psh, I saw some pretty rocky trails, anything higher than 60psi is too bouncy, lotta energy lost that way.

jsigone

it was very very mixed terrain. I ran 85front/90 rear. Its what I've been training on, no pinch flats, don't hit rim on the rocks and not toooo bone jarring. Pretty reliable

RubeRad

Found a 5gal kettle at Salvation Army last night for $4.50. Now to troll CL for carboys...

TrojanHorse

Nice!

Take sterilization seriously.

RubeRad

Absolutely. I got myself the tiniest bottle of StarSan. Instructions give ratio for diluting in 5gal of water, I asked the guy at the homebrew shop what if I wanted less, he thought I was crazy and it couldn't be done. But I realized later I could just do the math in ml instead of oz. Turns out it's just over 1tsp/1gal. I happen to have a dedicated tool in my kitchen for measuring 1tsp of liquid. It's called a teaspoon.

(Although, we're talking about a boil kettle here, not much can go wrong with all that heat, it's the fermentation vessel and bottling process you really gotta be careful)

TrojanHorse

I had a couple bottles go bad out of my first batch. As far as I know I treated them all the same, so I guess it's just par for the course.

Bottling batch #2 tomorrow morning instead of working. Shh.

indyfabz

Coming to my town next week:

Brewers Association Craft Brewers Conference

Earlier this week I attended a continuing legal education class on IP issues. The last session of the first day featured a big wig from Deschuttes Brewing in Bend, OR and one from Yard's here in Philly. They talked about trademark issues in the industry. Afterward, they gave out free beer.

RubeRad

I guess that happens. Glad it's a few isolated exceptions.



I'll be at PP San Clemente tonight for dinner.

And at PP Carlsbad tomorrow for lunch (Pliny the Elder on tap this weekend!)

And at PP Solana Beach tomorrow for a beer and wings.

And at PP Ocean Beach tomorrow for dinner.

In between, I'll be on my bike.

Also wife & son and half a dozen church friends.

TrojanHorse

You better go to the one in CBad first if you want some Pliny! That stuff sells out fast whenever anybody gets any. "The Bottle Room" in Whittier periodically gets a keg or two and it lasts maybe a night. People hear that it's in and it's like the gold rush all over again.

RubeRad

That's not The Route. We train to San Clemente (although at least one couple is riding up from OB), spend the night, and hit all the PP (except the new Bressi Ranch -- why did they have to expand away from the coast?) on the way down.

If it's gone, it's gone. PP has a few other drinkable options.

PhotoJoe 

I was taking pictures of my friends '26 Ford T-Bucket on Sunday. He's selling it and wants glamour shots. I had a complete brain-fart and leaned in to get a better angle on the back of the headlight can, but leaned too far and hit the hot headers with my left leg. I now have two fairly large second-degree burns on my leg. I'm off the bike until they heal up a bit. I was sweating a bit at work yesterday and the pain was intense. I can't imagine the pain with sweat from riding. I'm such an idiot. I know to respect those pipes! ARGH!!!

This is the only photo I'll post. I'll spare you the pictures of the burns. Just imagine my leg looking like two pieces of pepperoni. You're welcome!





And the offending image:

RubeRad

Well at least you got a nice pic for your trouble! I would have expected a blurry accidental shot as you reacted to the pain!

PhotoJoe 

Yah, this was after I went back to get the shot that I missed because I was screaming like a school-girl. Notice that I'm not totally square behind the can? I wasn't going to risk it again.

vesteroid

sucks polishing that skin off those chrome pipes