GMR to East Fork to Hwy 39

Today David Pejsa and I rode up GMR to East Fork. David is a natural, and he quickly dropped me during our ride up GMR. He kept a fast pace and by Colby Trail (I think that's what its called), I dropped off his pace significantly. I couldn't hang, David sped off only increasing his gap with every turn and bend of GMR.

David was chasing a rabbit! Just past the gate, we caught and passed a guy on a black and red Scattante. About the time I dropped of the pace, this guy caught and passed both David and I. As competitive as David is, he couldn't let this guy just blow past him. He quickened his pace and chased him up the mountain. At about the first saddle, David overtook him. By the time I got to the first saddle, Scattante Guy was heading down and David was out of sight.

I rode all by my lonesome, and when I arrived to the Maintenance Shed, David was there eating an energy bar. He'd been there 10 minutes! We rested for a short while, at least I did, before heading down East Fork.

Although the sun was out, the shaded parts of East Fork were extremely cold. Going up GMR there was only one other rider, Scattante Guy, but as we descended down, numerous riders headed up East Fork. The same was true for Hwy 39 and we joked about "not getting the memo." There was a massive head wind going down Hwy 39 and both David and I took turns pulling the lead.

Heading back on Sierra Madre, my quads started to cramp up again! I hate when this happens and I need to figure this one out. During the ride I also had some pain in my right knee cap. This has been happening lately. I went to Coates Cyclery and talked to one of the bike mechanics about this. The said check my cleat alignment. I'll have to report on this one later.

Glendora Mountain Road

I kept checking weather.com for updates on this weekends weather. Was it going to rain or not. All week long the forecast switched between, partly cloudy, light sprinkles, A.M. showers, partly cloudy and back to showers on Saturday morning. Its been three weeks since my last ride and I was aching to get on the bike.

I woke up this morning, the sun was out and few clouds covered the hills of GMR. A quick update from Annette came in at 7 am, "Clear, dry roads and few clouds, lets ride."

It was hard getting started. My knees creaked and quads complained as I started up the first steep grade leading to the electronic sign. By the gate I was warming up and ready to quicken my pace.

Heading up GMR, the weather was perfect. Few clouds, clean air and the warmth of the sun fell off my back as I climbed up the mountain. Off in the distance, Downtown Los Angeles and its skyscrapers could be easily seen. Few riders pasted us on the way up and a group of runners appeared from a trail head leading to Highway 39.

We decided to ride to the top of Monroe before turning around and stopping at the Maintenance Shed. Mohammad greeted us from Whittier. Nice guy with a slender build, his ride would be about an 80 mile round trip. He was training for the Solvang Century to celebrate his 60th birthday. Now that's bragging rights!

The ride down was cold. So cold it was painful and unpleasant. It was 46 - 47 degrees Fahrenheit, I was drenched from my sweat, without leg warmers and the wind generated from my forward motion down GMR, further chilled my body. I was miserable, my left leg was shaking from the cold and I had to laugh, "it's been colder, I know it."

Finally, we made it back to the first saddle and the temperature rose about 5 degrees. We stopped, took some pictures and continued down GMR. We ran into Rick, said hi and promised to meet up sometime for a ride together.

Beach Ride by way of SART

Yesterday, me and some friends rode to the beach. At 7 am it was cold but its always a gamble when it comes to what to wear. Do I over dress and heat up as the day progresses. With that comes the lugging of to much stuff and as the temps rise you have to shed some layers and store them somewhere. No fun lugging too much stuff but again do you suffer and freeze as the temps are 40 degrees or below???

We met in Diamond Bar and headed to SART. Let me see, Grand Ave to Diamond Bar Blvd to Brea Canyon Road to State College to Lambert to Kraemer then enter SART and cruise to Newport Beach!

The trip to the beach was 33 miles and took about 1 hour 45 minutes. Our average speed there was about 18 - 19 mph and in some spots we were cruising at 26 - 27 mph.

We spent about 10 - 15 minutes in Newport, just enough time to pee, stretch, buy some food and snap a few pictures.



I wasn't looking forward the trip back. All uphill and I was sure my group was going to keep a fast pace, and they did! We stopped at a rest stop near the Honda Center to pee and stretch. It was there i saw Mr. Beanz. Beanz is a SART regular and you can see his adventures on bikeforums.net. We chatted, snapped some pics and headed off again!



At mile 50 my legs started cramping BAD. I need to figure this one out (How to overcome cramping) and I slowed my pace down significantly. The two other guys sped off and I was solo for the rest of the ride, babysitting my badly cramping legs.

The trip was 67 miles round trip but I only completed 63.92 miles. Christian made it back to our meet spot, grabbed his car and picked me up just shy of three miles to completion! I swallowed my pride loaded my bike and hopped into his car. My legs were toast!

My bike computer said, 63.92 miles, 16.2 average pace, ride time 3 hours 56 minutes and about 3900 calories consumed. 3900 calories! I didn't feel so bad when I ordered up a cheese burger and fries at Legends in Glendora with Kevin.

Mr. Beanz got me on video!

San Gabriel River Trail

This was the first time this year riding with Annette and funny enough, it wasn't on GMR. GMR is Annette's stomping ground and after a little coaxing she agreed to SGVT. From her house we headed out towards the base of Azusa Canyon. It was 9 am and still very cold. I was riding my fixed gear bike and going Sierra Madre was a challenge.

We entered SGVT from the base of Azusa Canyon and headed south to Santa Fe Dam. At the dam we stopped a short while, took a few pictures before starting up our trek to the 10 FWY.

At the 10 fwy we turned around. Somewhere between the 10 and Santa Fe Dam we stopped to help a fellow cyclist from DT Los Angeles. He flatted twice and had two failed attempts filling his tubes with a CO2. Annette had a mini pump to led and soon after the guy was back on both wheels.

Bonelli Park 12 mile loop

Yesterday, Mike Y, Mike T, Carl, Kevin, Meme and I rode around Bonelli Park. Mike Thompson is an old high school friend I reconnected with on Face Book. When I found out he rides, I sent him a few invitations to ride. Its been years since I've seen Mike but he looks the same to me.

Our Bonelli trip was our standard 12 mile loop.

Goddard Middle School to Azusa Canyon to East Fork to GMR and around Bonelli

Last Saturday, Mike, Christian and I did a nice big loop that took us through Azusa Canyon, up East Fork or "Little GMR" and finally a half loop around Bonelli Park. Once completed it was a 50 miler.

We started at Goddard and met up with Kevin and Carl. I tried to talked them into joining us but they chose to head up GMR and meet us at the Maint Shed.

Christian, Mike and I headed to Azusa Canyon (AC). There was a noticeable headwind and its always a "trip of the brain" when you have to pedal to go downhill. In my mind I think, "I should be resting on the downhills. Why am I working so hard to maintain a decent speed?"

I was surprised how quickly we came up on East Fork. We took a small pee break before heading up. East Fork to GMR was harder to climb than Sierra Madre to Maint Shed. The latter is 8 miles, the former is 6. East Fork to GMR is called "Little GMR".

At the top of GMR we spotted Carl heading up. We stopped, talked and together headed back to Goddard. It was a fast downhill ride with lots of motorcyclists. Christian was a speed racer and at one point, I was certain he was racing the motorcyclist.

At the bottom of GMR, Christian, Mike and I were feeling pretty good so we decided on a half loop around Bonelli Park.

Kevin made it about four miles up, or to the first saddle, before breaking a spoke. He's working on getting to the Maint. Shed and if he keeps up his training, he will be there by Spring!

I found Puffy on GMR!

It was a lonely, last minute ride up GMR today. Sundays are typically reserved for Church, but with the whole family sick, I was able to sneak in a GMR ride. GMR was quiet with only a handful of hikers, motorcyclists and cyclist. I made it to East Fork in a fair amount of time before turning around and heading home.

On the way up, I spotted "Puffy" the resident dragon and protectorate of GMR. I snapped a picture and sang Puff the Magic Dragon while coming down.

Bicycling

When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day's sensations: bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay's call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature instead. I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization. The world is breaking someone else's heart. ~Diane Ackerman

Chillin' with Glendoramtnroad.com

Today there was a chill in the air, but with partly cloudy, partly sunny skies, I took my chances and headed out to meet Annette with "Minimal" cold weather gear. I was really running late, so I hustled to meet Annette at the corner of Sierra Madre and Glendora Mountain Road.

Fortunately, so was she and I beat her to our designated meet up spot. From there we headed up GMR. It was a nice easy ride to the first saddle and it was there Matt caught up with us.

Together we rode to the Maintenance Shed took a short break. I ate my Chocolate Chip Cliff Bar and downed some water. It wasn't a hot day, or even a warm day by many means but we were all soaked from our sweat. Matt headed back down and we all complained about how cold it would be heading home, soaking in your own sweat, only to have it evaporate off, cooling our bodies on an already cold day! As I said, Matt headed back down while Annette and I headed to Fork plus 2.5.

After any rest, the initial start is always hard, bones ache and muscles burn until you have "spun" enough to get your body back in motion. This was especially hard for me on this cold day.

At Fork Plus 2.5 we decided to head back. I zipped up my windbreaker and pulled my beanie over my ears. Annette put on her toe booties/covers and wool socks. Actually, she put the wool socks over her hands as a poor mans winter glove. I laughed because, she had her long sleeve jersey, leg warmers, wool socks (The ones on her feet), toe booties, not to mention her Polar High Tech Power Meter, Full Carbon bike and for winter gloves she's sporting socks! Socks, I think someone needs to get her an early X-Mas present!

Photoshop is Awesome!

Marshal Canyon - The Posse is out watching over Bambi

Meet at 7:30 am and on the trails by 7:50, Meme, Carl and I headed up Marshal Canyon. It was an easy ride, a fun ride without the mashing of gears or racing to the top. After the plateau, we met up with Bobby and Richard. Bobby's Mounted Assisted Unit, Sheriff Posse, was out at Palmer Ranch (I think that's what the place was called). They were doing some type of out-reach program for less than fortunate kids, giving them horse rides around the arena. We stopped a few minutes to say hi.

We made it to the Gazebo before heading down Jump Trail. Down at the bottom of Jump Trail we spotted two fawns. I snapped a picture before they strode off the trail.

The weather was fair, a bit chilly in the morning but once we got moving we quickly heated up. At the top there was a fine layer of haze that kept the air chill.

After the ride we met with Kevin and Deanna for lunch.

The Shadow Ninja Fixie

I've never seen a Pirate riding fixie.

Y.M.C.A to Santa Fe Dam

Ah what a great ride. Today, Meme, Peter, Carl, Kevin and I rode down 605 Trail, I think the correct name is San Gabriel Trail. It was nice to see Kevin after his 5 - 6 month hiatus. For him, its back to business and he did really well. On the way to Santa Fe Dam he hung with both Carl and Meme.

We saw many things like some dude in a Chucky Mask on a bike. It was funny but I think that dude must have been hot and sweaty in the plastic mask!

There were many riders, runners and we saw two guys on horse back.

Skid Marks - Recent Developments

Riding fixed gear is no easy task, sure its a throw back from the days of old, the first type of bicycle. I picture some dude in knickers, sports jacket and handlebar mustache riding his fixed gear on some back country road.

Fast forward to 2009 FG bikes are all the rage so being the enthusiast that I am I had to build one. Well I did and riding has been a blast and learning experience.

First, just riding a bike with NO freewheel was something to adjust to. My natural inclination is to stop pedaling when at the apex of a hill or "coast" on the down hill. Even in a turn, you don't think about it but you really stop pedaling, re-adjusting your pedal/crank in perspective to the ground to avoid pedal strike. I was quickly reminded I can't do these things on a fixed gear. With a fixed gear you have no choice but keep pedaling, period.

The Stop: Stopping can be tricky. I initially built the Green Hornet with no brakes but quickly axed that idea when cruising around my block. Stopping quickly is impossible. Sure you can romanticize on the idea of being one with your bike, the beauty of a simple machine. The oneness of human and bike maybe a romantic notion but without brakes it unsafe. I don't know how those crazy messengers barrel through the streets of New York, weaving through crowded boulevards and in and out of traffic without brakes. No way no how is that for me. I have neither the strength nor the skills to stop on a dime without a brake.

The bottom line, I installed a front brake. The front brake is what actually slows you down and I can apply enough back pressure to the cranks to stop sufficiently. I have also been practicing my skid. It took me a while to figure this one out but thanks to Sheldon Brown (Google him, he knows everything about bicycles), clipless pedals and determination, I finally learned how to skid on a fixed gear bike. The trick is to pull up on one pedal while applying mad amounts of downward force on the opposite. This function will effectively "skip" the rear wheel and if your are going fast enough you'll break into a skid.

Cal Poly Insect Fair - A Day Out With Grandma, Adam and Fran

Spent day with Grandma, Adam and Fran. We went to the Cal Poly Insect Fair and both kids had a chance to touch a millipede, a hissing cockroach, a walking stick, a big hairy tarantula and many more bugs. I bought some honey for Jamie.

Glendora Mountain Road with Bicycle Friends

Met Annette, Bill and Matt on GMR for a nice ride. This was my first time back since the Station Fire and lots was burnt.

We rode Fork plus 2 or 3 met many cyclist and a few cars/motorcycles.

A few more pictures from Potato

Potato with a few Bicycle Friends

It was a cold cloudy morning when Carl pulled into my driveway. At 6:45 am it was still dark and the clouds hung low in the air. I loaded my bike and we were quickly off to meet Grace and Sarah for a big mountain bike ride. Today I had hopes of riding to Potato. The ride was a lot of fun and we made it to Potato.