Biker395 

That was Francis of Adobo Velo.

Jeez, those Adobos are great. The biggest problem of the day was that there were too many people I wanted to ride with!

CritEastwood

So, where are Fred's grip-o-pics and report?

Edit: I had to work, otherwise would have just showed up unannounced.

urbanknight

Same here. Sorry I had to miss it. I was supposed to attend a teacher's lecture, then woke up with a stomach bug.

idoru2005

Yep, that's my wife you met. I stayed home to watch the lil one. Would've been nice to ride with you all. BTW, her name is in fact spelled as Yoana. Of course in her native tongue (Bulgarian), it is spelled in the cryllic alphabet as Ioana.

She said she had a great time. Been practically asleep since she came home. She'll be feeling the pain tomorrow.

JanB

My first time up GMR and what a perfect day and a great time! It was nice to meet everyone and a big thank you to Mr. & Mrs. Beanz for the support!

idoru2005

Yep, that's my wife you met. I stayed home to watch the lil one. Would've been nice to ride with you all. BTW, her name is in fact spelled as Yoana. Of course in her native tongue (Bulgarian), it is spelled in the cryllic alphabet as Ioana.

She said she had a great time. Been practically asleep since she came home. She'll be feeling the pain tomorrow.

KiddSisko

Hi! She mentioned you and the little one back home. I was quite impressed that she did this ride (as well as the century last Saturday) and was walking around normal as can be at the end. I remember my first attempts at climbing. Tell her thank you for joining us afterward.

umd

A bunch of pictures on my blog. kuf took a bunch too, but won't be able to post them until next week...

A sampling:

Group about to start


Ben calling KiddSisko after everyone left. Where are you???


Oh, is that all?


Smile!


kuf following us


Baldy in the distance


Ben working a steep grade


At the lifts


Back up Baldy Road


Me and Ben at the Village


Data too if anyone cares...

Alex2

I start little later than I was planning about 8:20 from Encanto park, it was my first time from there but I made it past few rider on the way up met some others at Baldy village & ride back with Beanz.
It was a great ride with lots of rider my spacial thanks to Gina for the cold water & sandwiches, Beanz thanks for the pic. & video

herbm

That must be her....she did an incredible job riding up there!!!

herbm

She did great!!!

Mr. Beanz

Wow, what a nice ride! I'm really shocked at how well everyone did on the ride. Most of the time we have a number of riders that don't complete the ride. This time, only one newbie rider that gave it a shot after a month or so of riding. I hung back with him as promised and after a good attempt he then decided it was best not to push it. Heck, no shame in that, good decision not to hurt oneself. So I was at the tailend figuing I'd catch a few riders along the way, boy that was a task. I needed video footage so I needed to catch up. JanB, AlBundy of Temcula started the ride a little late so they were at the tailend too right ahead of me. Heck, I'll catch the group and get a shot or two. I did catch Al and Beth on the tandem, barely. Another 6 months or so and forget about it. Al must be a darn good climber and Beth is very far along on her way to greatness. 10 years old and boy she does great! I also saw them sligthly ahead on the descent, no problem, I'll catch them, maybe get a head for a picture. Again, forget about it! They were flying. Like I said, Al is good and Beth is a monster (in a good way as in great) stoker)!

Forgot to mention. I only caught the tail end as my head was turned. But I did see a gal hand Gina a bag of fluids and other supplies as a contibution to the support sytem. She vanished behind the group before I could make her out. Whoever it was, Thanks! It's all appreciated by us and all the forum members!

Thanks Lou Ann!!!!!

So back to trying to catch JanB. I see her and her friend slighty ahead so heck, I'll swing right on up for a chat. Wrong! I know Jan is a great rider from past rides but talk of doing Ride the Bear in the past on the forum (I beleive she was one of the gals) I didn't know if she could climb, YES she can! OK, so I'm not catching her and I'm starting to huff and puff. OK, now she's pulling away. Her friend (can't remember name) is a cool guy and a very good rider. He's dropping back chatting with me then swings up to Jan. Back and forth no problem. So now I'm going to hold my pace cause trying to catch Jan will burn me out and I have a long way to go. I'm feeling kind of bad cause Jan is dropping my arse but after I watch her overtake a few riders, heck, I don't feel so bad anymore, the gal can climb!

So I get to the shack and just about all the forum riders are there. Gina's there with the truck, water and stuff. Also Adobo with a gang of riders and a support vehicle. They were nice enough to offer some of our riders food and drink too. I don't think all the members knew Gina had supplies so I offered and they hit up the truck too. I was woried about taking Adobo's stuff knowing we had supplies as well, thanks Adobo! Had a chance to chat with some of the forum members at this point as well as Matt and GMR Blogger Annette. Poor gal has a new manager's position and hasn't been able to ride as much. That aint right Annette! So I stayed there for a while Gina passed out goodies. I waited till all the riders headed out then took off. I always wait till Gina leaves making sure she for some reason doesn't get stranded with a flat or similar in the truck. But Tammy and Alan had a late start....again! That darn Alan, get it together MAN! But Hillbasher was also in a vehicle driving support of the support so along the road, I asked that he make sure Gina was back on the road with no problems since I had to leave or be an hour behind the others.

So I did manage to catchup to MTBLrker, GrekK, Mel and their friend Lynn (sp?). The little group that also contained idoru's wife Yoana. I'm not sure but I think I may have head it was Lynn's first time on GMR, that would explain why I could keep up with the Mighty Gregk and the explosive MTBLrkr. I had a chance to chat with Mel, what a great gal! Funny, personality and completed Breathless Agony! Yoana at one point asked, "how can you guys talk and ride?" We had a little fun going through the routine. It's all an act sister, you smile and say something friendly when others are around but when they're out of sight, you grunt and grimace haha! All were doing great but at a support stop I heard Lynn fell while coming to a stop. Mel and Lynn were doing great but decide to turn back after the fall. I heard she was ok but I know what bummer it can be, so if it were me, I'd turn back too. That really throws a damper on a ride. Bummer! BTW, Yoana, you did a cantury last weekend and my legs were somewhat fresh. So if I had done a century last weekend, I wouldn't have been talking on the ride, more like crying haha!

I continued on as the small group stopped for support. Surprised but Mr.Clyde the organizer had hit the saddle then turned back for extra mileage. So I had someone to ride with on what IMO is the toughest part of the ride. Wow, this dude has lost 45 pounds and it shows in his riding. He floated up the tough section with a smile and didn't hear a huff or puff in his conversation. Just then, JohnR rolled by on the descent, turned around and rode back up with us for a pic. I figured he and his group would be up and down before I even got started. JohnR is one bad dude but a super great friendly guy and very modest about his abilities. Everest Challenge a few times and if I remember correctly, has a champ jersey in the tandem division of the challenge. His friend Sherry was on the ride too but like John, they were so fast I never even caught a glimpse haha!

I finally reach the village. Quite a few riders at the post office, including forum member Lesper (forgot the numbers). A regular on GMR and finally we get to meet. Cool when you have an image of a person on the forums, you find out in person just how nice they really are. Dude was cool and after some of the rides he posts, I had a different image in my head. Although always nice on the forums, I expected a somewhat cocky arrogant dude, boy I was wrong! Totally cool! Lesson learned as they say. Genaro and I figured there would be more riders at the lodge so we cruised up. Yup lots of riders! We hung for a while with Gina, refreshments while waiting for the late starters to arrive. I managed a couple of pics with the Rebels inside the lodge enjoying their goodies. JimmyNH, played photographer so I could get in one. Then outside a few more cameras and pic taking with a few interviews.

I made the decent with Alex, ABEC and Genaro. Tried to catch Beth and AlBundy but couldn't, that's one mean 10 year old gal! Plus had some friendly chat back at the cars

Well all in all, it was a great ride. No, not that I felt good and peformed well or set record times, but Like VerticleBob mentioned, it's great to see the group do this type of a ride. Everyone I encountered was great and I think we all had fun! Many of the members were new to the forum rides. Heck, if we can getm ore of the vets out, we'd have a BIG HUGE FUN RIDE! Maybe Encanto to the sea, more of an all level riders' ride just to get the troops out. Heck, I know I had lots fo fun and it was great to see riders Like BigJohn, JohnR, meeting Genaro, Psalm, Mr Clyde, Yoana, seeing the regulars again. The Rebels, JanB, ALBundy,and the Temecula group again. Nic to meet Veticle Bob for an actual meeting for the first time although we've crossed paths before. Bloggers, Annette, Matt, Bill and anybody else I might forget at this moment.

I am sad that I didn't get as much ride video or ride pics. But being behind everyone, I did what I could. Gina's idea of riding in back of the truck might have been a good idea haha! Some of the inteviews were rough too. I watched some of it and there are Lots of voices going on so I will do what I can with lots of editing. Plenty of pics too.

Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Right now, I'm going for a ride then getting started on the material. For the typing and grammar police, I'll proofread it later and fix stuff, if I feel like it! haha!

Al Bundy

Many thanks to Gina and Mr Beanz,
It was a great turn out and perfect weather and we finally got that sandbagger JanB to GMR!
The clouds in the afternoon suggested enough pending doom to make us work to get back before the weather got cold.
Beth and I had a lot of fun, and worked hard all day as we were trying to pace at a set heart rate in preparation for Tucson.
We concluded we're not yet ready for the ski lifts

"Monster" is pooped so it will be a quiet Sunday
)

Hillbasher

Was unable to do the ride because of working until 6:30 AM, so I thought I would tag a long and take a few pics. I do not know most of the riders in these shots. so if you could ID yourself and maybe the jersey you had on, it would be appreciated. Not sure if all these are pics of Forum riders or of the other groups that were there also, but everyone is riding and looking like they are enjoying themselves. Have ID'd the riders I am sure of. Sorry about not knowing names, am sort of
November 6, 2010 .jpg(click pic)Matt lead rider, GMR yellow, over 50 ?
November 6, 2010 .jpg???
November 6, 2010 .jpg???
November 6, 2010 .jpgYou tell me
November 6, 2010 .jpg???
November 6, 2010 .jpg???
November 6, 2010 .jpg???
November 6, 2010 .jpgGMR

JimmyNH

Well, I had a great time too until I decided to go up to those goddamn ski lifts. This is the toughest, meanest, nastiest hill I have ever ridden. I declare it unusually cruel and inhumane punishment, and I'm not going up there again. Well, unless you guys organise something to go watch the Tout of CA there - then I might go up halfway… maybe. By the way - thank you John R for the insider's tips and especially for the warning about that concrete piece of shít near the top of the hill. I sure would have gone through it as fast as I could because of the little uphill on the other side.
It was nice meeting everybody and it was nice riding with MrClyde up to the village. That guy might still qualify for a Clydesdale, but he climbs as if he is not more than 160 lbs. I took a few pictures at the start, glad didn't drag my camera up those hills. You can view them at the OC Rebels web site.
And just to make it like the Grammies - I want to thank the two Misters (Clyde and Beanz) for organising the ride, to RickOCRR for posting a note about it on the Rebels web site (otherwise I would have missed a great ride) and to Gina for driving SAG and looking after everybody. She went way beyond the line of duty on this one!

umd

Jimmy, here is that pic I took of you at the village. It was nice meeting you.

umd

Fwiw, I had a conversation with one of the local pros today about this ride and he is looking forward to doing it in the Tour of California. Although I imagine it will be brutal. As many times as I've heard the route explained, and even now riding on part of it, I still don't completely understand it.

Genaro

It was really nice meeting everyone. Glancing up towards Mt. Baldy today I realized that the Cycling gods were on our side yesterday with such great weather. Can't compare riding up GMR alone than with a bunch of cool people.
Beanz, thanks for the descending tips and to Gina for the PB&J.

mtblurkr

Good to see everyone! Thanks for the Gatorade and PBJ sandwiches Gina and Mr. Beanz!


Just in case you didn't see Mr Beanz pointing his camera at you....


A couple of pics of the mountain

littlewing6283

I wish I could have joined you folks. I didnt know there was a Socal BF ride. I guess I gotta spend more time over here than in the 41

Biker395 

https://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...3&d=1289155258

That handsome gent in the red over 50 jersey is none other than RickOCR

I'm the big nosed gent to his right.

Mr. Beanz

Pictures: Any objections by the subject, let know, I will be happy to remove the pic.

Mr. Beanz

Mr. Beanz

Mr. Beanz

Last of them. Some pics I missed but picked out of the video.









Support vehicle loafing on the job!