Mr. Beanz

I had invited one of the more difficult posters on the ride. He didn't show up though. But it did come in handy after a big breakfast that day.

TrojanHorse

Note to self: do not draft behind Beanz when he's got a shovel in his pack.

ahultin

Do we think this ride would be conducive to a SAG vehicle? I may try to include the wife by having her drive support carrying water/pump/etc. In lieu of riding so that I can take a crack at the village instead of turning at the shack. While at 130, she clearly has a weight advantage up the hill, she does not ride often and I would hate for her to be miserable and never want to ride again
Thoughts?

Beachgrad05

If she is willing to do it....I say that it would be great to have a support vehicle along!

TrojanHorse

That's up to you! I would say it's better to ride with her but I also agree with your assessment that if she's not ready for it the overall effect could be a big negative.

Cold water at the shack... mmmmm.

You guys are coming all the way from north county right? That's a long way to come to sit on your fingers for four to five hours while you ride to the village. You could tweak your ride by ending at the village, have a little snack at the restaurant and drive home. It took me an hour and twenty minutes to get back to the car from the village for planning purposes. The entire ride (including stops, breaks etc.) took about 4:43 of which 3:41 was moving time. I'm just throwing that out there for information.

CommuteCommando

Potential snag on my attendance. I came down with the @#$% shingles. It isn't as bad as I was led to expect, pain wise, but it is ugly. I'll ride tomorrow during my commute to see if it still might be doable.

PhotoJoe 

Nope. Your name is on the list in INK!

Feel better fast! Glad it's not as bad as you expected.

I have to admit, I've been nervous about not making this ride, too. My back has been wrenched since the shack ride. Thursday-Sat of this week were actually the worst. Seems odd to be getting worse this far out, but it's now getting better...slowly. My wife asked if I was still going. Uh...YES! Pffff. A little back pain is NOT going to stop me. Her response was simply ""

Beachgrad05

I have only ridden once since the GMR ride...(last Wednesday)...

Had my brakes adjusted last Friday (part of the 60 day break in adjustments needed) and had stuff going on so didn't ride Friday. A coworker gave me some slightly used mtn bike shoes with cleats (that actually FIT me) that would work with my clipless pedals that I had on my Mtn Bike but I don't ride the Mtn bike currently...so I swapped the pedals off the Mtn bike to the Hybrid FX. So now on my commutes I can ride clipped in! Yay...

Then Saturday rolled around and had errands and did not want to drive to Santa Monica for my club's ride (gas $ issue). Figured I would get a ride in on Sunday.

NOPE...it just kept getting hotter and I enjoyed sleeping in for a change so was not up early to ride before it got ghastly hot out. I "could" have ridden as I could have filled my water bottles with ice and then add the H2O and maybe even iced up the camelbak for added hydration but I just couldn't bring myself to go ride.

No commute today either as my team in on MNF tonight and want to get home early enough for that.

jeepseahawk

Wow, just saw this post, I'm in. Been to shack a couple times but never to the village, only concern is that I have not put many miles in lately.

PhotoJoe 

Awesome. Glad you're going to join us. Miles are over-rated. Come ride with us anyway!

Beachgrad05

Hoping that the weather plays nice for us on 9/1

Mr. Beanz

I know it is quite a drive for you but before Gina ever did GMR, she'd do SAG for our rides or the both of us would drive SAG for a few members riding up.

She'd see the riders struggling up but making it. It was very inspiring and motivational for her. She'd say, "wow, all the struggling but they made it". After 2 or 3 times, she agreed to give it a try.

Can you imagine what your wife might think watching a group of C&A's riding up? Gina never thought it was possible for a gal like her. Now she's doing GMR and all the posters with fancy bikes are sitting at home reading our C & A reports.

Beachgrad05

I'm trying to figure out how to get my husband to head up and provide a support vehicle.

Or maybe get there early and drive up to the shack with a styrofoam cooler filled with H2O for us and drive back down to that start area....but that probably wouldn't work...

vesteroid

Fixed!

TrojanHorse

I like the way you think Vesteroid!

However, comma, enjoying some brew dogs at the shack and then continuing on to the village would be dicey.

CommuteCommando

Rode a mile this morning. I caught the bus from the Metrolink to shorten the ride in case there was a problem. The good news; cycle bibs are a relief, and I checked with the boss and he's good with me wearing them all day. The bad news is that bending at the hip on the right side is not sustainable enough to get me up a mountain. I rode to work one legged most of the way. I'll have a better idea if I'll be going up to a couple of days before. If the ride were tomorrow, no way.

Beachgrad05

Not sure what you do for a living but that is awesome your boss is allowing you to wear them all day! Hopefully you will be healed up and able to ride on 9/1!

ahultin

Boss lady has agreed to drive SAG
She will want some instructions as where best to stay (behind/ahead/etc) and we have a DVD player in the truck so she can watch movies while she waits

Mr. Beanz

Gina has done an excellent job of driing sag for us on several occasions. She cruises on up to the lead riders, then waits a few for the tail to show up. The further you get into the ride, the bigger the gaps. So she drives back to the tail end making sure all are still on the road. Then cruises slowly back to the front. Repeats several times.

She never sits on the side of the road for more than a very short while at this point. Just in case somebody does need help, it won't take 1/2 an hour to realize it.

IMO, leave the dvd's at home. Driving sag is a pretty busy job. Besides with all the riders up there, one must keep the eyes peeled at all times. Other riders heading down at high rates of speed in silent mode can surprise the heck out of a truck throwing a u-ey in a turnout.

One thing to keep inmind is that if she carries drinks for the riders, it is cool to meet the lead riders for a refill but remember that not all the riders are going to make it to that point with ease. Therefore after filling the lead riders, it is a good idea to head back down to make sure that the less efficient riders are not in dire need of fluids. They just might be the ones that need it most and may not make it to the refill point if things get tough.

Of course it is your sag vehicle and your kindness so do it the way you see best. My thoughts and experience are just hopefully helpful suggestions.

TrojanHorse

I think she should get a bull horn and ride behind ahultin and say things like "GET CRACKING" and "HYAAAAA HYAAAAA"

But then maybe that's why nobody ever asks me to drive SAG.

Maybe she could drive on the wrong side of the road with misters on me the whole time?

But seriously, the prospect of ice cold water at the shack is tremendously exciting.

PhotoJoe 

Is she driving the dually? IMHO, being the GMR expert that I am , I would send her to the shack with supplies, and let us meet her there. We all made it with what we had the first time, I would hope we could do it again. Refill there then off to the village, or maybe she could pick one wide turnout between the gate and the shack, the shack, one turnout above and then meet us at the village.

I used to drive a Chevy dually and I know how wide they are, especially in tight mountain roads. Plus, u-turns turn into 12-point turns with a crew cab long bed. With all the motorcycles and (as Beanz pointed out) cyclists in stealth mode, it would increase the risk to others exponentially the more she's moving around the mountain. And I'm not saying that because of her driving experience. I have been driving BIG stuff for 30 years, have a "B" license and have been a volunteer bus driver for my church for 18 years, etc. etc., and I would not want to be driving around up there any more than necessary.

My .02. However you guys decide to do it, THANK YOU. It's VERY nice of her to be willing to do this for us.

Beachgrad05

My thanks too!

Beachgrad05

I plan on bringing my camelback this time in addition to my insulated water bottles. A couple extra tubes, CO2 and nutrition.

Was even thinking of packing a cooler in my Xterra with some "after ride refreshments" when we get back to the parking area.

TrojanHorse

Ooh, refreshments.

PhotoJoe