Oh...I know Mom!!!

So we're at the grand opening celebration for the new local bike shop in town, Surf City Cyclery and while we were waiting for the raffle to begin, we started browsing their selection of bikes. The tiny bikes caught Marcel's eye, but in an effort to keep him from hopping on and plowing into the titanium Litespeed bike, I encouraged the kids to keep walking and looking at all of the pretty new bikes.

That's when it happened. Two junior sized road bikes caught the eye of my eight year old, Gavin. Now the boy has been asking for a road bike since the day that I brought mine home and up until today, has been satisfied with my reply that they just didn't come in his size and that he would have to wait until he was oh...ten...yeah ten...that's how old he'll be when he'll fit onto a road bike. We round the corner and his eyes fix immediately on two bikes sandwiched between cruisers and mountain bikes.





There was no denying it at that point. He's tall enough for a junior road bike and he knew it. His eyes lit up as we checked out the Bianchi and the Specialized Allez Junior and he turned to me and said, "if I had one of these road bikes, I could ride with you mom." My heart melted and then I turned over the price tag...yikes. $570 for the Specialized Allez Junior and that was on sale. Luckily, Gavin had the perfect solution.

"Oh...I know Mom!!!! I can ask Santa for this bike for Christmas and then no one will have to pay for it!" Ahhh...if he only knew. Looks like it's time to start saving for Christmas presents from Santa.

I might have melted...

just a little bit. Yesterday I met up with a group of posters from Bike Forums for a ride from Irvine to Oceanside. When I saw the weather forecast a few days prior to the ride, I started my whining right then and there. They were calling for 94 degrees in Irvine and needless to say, that's entirely out of my comfort zone for sedentary activities...I couldn't fathom what it would be like cycling in it. Not wanting to be a wuss and back out, I decided to give the ride a shot and I'm glad that I did.

We met at 9:45 a.m. at the Irvine Amtrak Station and quickly started introductions. I knew that I would never be able to keep all of the usernames and real names straight, but I tried my best. I was thrilled to see that one of the forum members had brought his wife along and that another poster had brought another female friend. Nothing against the guys, but it somehow made me more comfortable to know I wasn't the only girl out there on the ride.



At 10:00 a.m. we were off and I soon realized that this ride was not going to be like any other ride I've done. It was fucking hot and only getting hotter. You have to understand that I'm a total wimp and that I normally avoid the heat entirely by riding at 5:15 a.m. More than once, the thought that I bit off more than I could chew crossed my mind. Of course, my ego was able to quiet those thoughts and I kept on pedaling, downing more water than I thought was humanly possible. At the time, had I known that it was hovering somewhere around 104 degrees while we were riding through Camp Pendelton, it probably would have killed the ride for me. I'm glad that I didn't have that confirmation until the ride was long over!



The promise of ocean breezes and cooler temperatures carried me through to Oceanside where we stopped for lunch and contemplated our next move. Some of the guys were planning to turn around after lunch and ride back to Irvine and two of the guys who rode up from Oceanside to meet us in Irvine were calling it a day. My original plan was to take the Amtrak or Metrolink back from Oceanside, but it seemed as though most of the group was going to continue on to Solana Beach. It was so much cooler in Oceanside and the rest of the ride promised oceanfront views and breezes, so I decided to keep on going after lunch. Our food choices in Oceanside were pretty limited, as not many places had outdoor seating that could accomodate all of our bikes. We finally settled on Dairy Queen, but not being able to stomach the thought of consuming actual food (if you can call it that) from there, I snuck off to the Mexican restaurant next door to grab some good food. One other rider had the same idea and we were thrilled to grab some yummy carne asada burritos, which we brought back to eat at DQ with the rest of the group.



After refilling our waterbottles for the second time, we were on our way to Solana Beach. The ride was gorgeous, though sketchy and unnerving at times with all of the cars parked alongside the road. I was feeling good up until the very last stretch when I thought to myself "I'm DONE!!!" Fortunately, the Amtrak station was a mere block ahead, so we really were done...with riding that is. We arrived at the station and had logged just over 62 miles for the day. It was my second longest ride so far, but with the rolling hills and the heat, it was by far my most challenging. By the end of the ride, I was a human salt lick.



Amtrak was having "issues" with a train and they were running behind schedule by several hours. When they finally got the train up and running they told us that no bikes would be allowed because the cars were full and that another train would be along shortly...of course, that didn't happen and we were finally allowed to board the third train. It was after 10:00 p.m. when I finally arrived home, exhausted and glad to see my kids who thought I had abandoned them.

Thanks to The Fixer who was our official photographer on wheels. I swiped some of his shots to add to my flickr site.

A big thanks to all of the riders yesterday who kept me going with their encouraging comments. It was more than a little intimidating to know that I would be riding with all of these experienced riders, but they made me feel very welcome.

It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes...

Why hello Mr. Armstrong. This my friends, is proof that women do indeed ogle men. This picture was mentioned on a thread entitled "Lance eye candy" on a women's cycling forum and damn...did I mention that it's getting hot in here? One of the posters said that she had a framed Annie Leibowitz print of Lance Armstrong naked on a bike in the rain and I had to see this myself. Feeling confident that Google Images would not fail me in my quest, I set off on my search...

Annie Leibowitz Lance Armstrong-nope
Annie Leibowitz bike-nope
Annie Leibowitz Lance-nope
Lance Armstrong nude- little tiny picture...but getting closer
Lance Armstrong naked- nope
Lance Armstrong Vanity Fair- ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.

Damn! Can I say damn anymore in this blog? I probably could and will, but look at him. Damn! Now that's some nice eye candy.

The Unexpected Metric

4:05 a.m. That's the time that my alarm went off this morning. I got out of bed, threw on my shorts and jersey and started making breakfast and coffee. Oatmeal with protein powder and frozen strawberries...YUM! After eating and gathering my gear, I set out to meet Tiff and Clark at a park near the Santa Ana River Trail in Huntington Beach. Clark is a Spinning instructor at our gym and has had to endure our neverending road cycling questions for the last couple of months, so we thought it was only fair to invite him along on a ride with us.



In case it looks like Clark is bordering on giant status, he is. The man is ginormously tall...six foot eight to be exact. We figured that we'd be safe riding through the darkness with him in tow. We set off across the wooden bridge where I'm never sure if I'll actually make it to the other side, or if today might be the day that I plunge to my death into the Santa Ana River bed below. It seems like every fourth plank is loose and riding across it makes an awful racket. I'm still trying to decide whether the *ride it as fast as you can and get the fuck off* or *take it slow and steady so if the bridge collapses you have a chance to grab on* approach is best. I pretty much alternate between the two and I've survived. So far.

Since the Santa Ana River Trail is flat with the exception of the underpasses, the ride was less challenging mentally than the hilly ride that we did last week. The biggest challenge was sitting in the saddle for an extended period of time. It was nice to do a steady ride to gauge our endurance for the upcoming century. I was able to get the hang of eating on the bike and not having to stop to refuel and I felt much better over the course of this ride than I did last week. It's amazing what a difference eating just a few hundred more calories over the ride make. Well...that and no hills ;)





If you look closely in the upper right corner of my picture above, you can see the sign that says "Orange County Line." I say it on almost every ride that I take, but it still amazes me how cycling makes the county seem so much smaller to me. Maybe it's because I don't really enjoy driving and sitting in traffic, but I'm finding that I totally enjoy riding to someplace that is 30 miles away.



Our timing on the ride back was great, the headwinds hadn't picked up too much yet and we were able to keep a good pace. Clark had a lunch meeting to be at, so after we crossed the bridge we said goodbye and he headed back down to LeBard Park, while Tiff and I continued down to the beach, determined to finish the entire Santa Ana River Trail. As we approached PCH I asked Tiffanie where we were mileage wise and she said that we were at 58 miles. I looked at her and said...you know...if we ride up the beach trail for just a little bit before turning around, we'll bag a metric century. She started talking about having to go get her TB test read at the doctor and I turned the pleading up a notch and she quickly changed her mind. Honestly, it didn't take much to sway her. As soon as we hit the beach path the headwinds hit us and it felt like someone turned the air conditioning on. Relief from the soaring temperatures...it felt so nice! We turned around before we got to Newland and started the ride back. Damn. There went our nice air conditioning and now it felt like the oven was on. No worries though, we were almost done. The ride back was quick and when we pulled into the parking lot we realized that we had gone over 63 miles! It was a great ride and we exceeded our mileage goal for the day by six miles. Can't wait for the next one. :)

Stats:
Riding Time: 4:28
Total Time: 4:49
Distance: 64 miles
Avg Speed: 14.2

On the road to Los Angeles

Okay...it's not far, but I did have to drive on two different freeways to get there. Our trip today is brought to you by the manufacturers of NoAd sunscreen. Thanks to their crappy product, my kids are one burn closer to skin cancer (insert mommy guilt here) and our weekend plans to lounge around the pool and be lazy were thwarted. Being stuck in the house with three children arguing and whining didn't sound like a ton of fun, so I needed an alternative that didn't involve large amounts of sunshine. When James announced that he was carpooling to work today, I jumped at the opportunity to snag his little 38 mpg car and drive the kids up to use our museum passes in LA. I've been promising them a trip, but I'm boycotting longer trips thanks to my gas guzzling truck and my propensity for being a cheap ass.

Normally we head up to Exposition Park and visit the Natural History Museum and California Science Center, but today our destination was a new one. They've resumed their summer excavation of Pit 91 so we headed up to the George C. Page Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits. The minute that we got out of the car the kids found a fenced off tar pit in the parking lot and they immediately bombarded me with non-stop questions. Why is it bubbling? Where is it coming from? Is it hot? Are there dinosaurs in there? Why is there trash in there? Why would an animal go in there? Why couldn't they get out? Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Stop shouting at me and wait until we get into the museum young ones, and all of your questions will be answered.


We wandered around inside of the museum for a few minutes before deciding to heading outside to Pit 91 to check out the excavation before it closed for the day. We carefully studied the chart that listed the Ice Age fossils that have been found this season...sabertooth cat, ground sloth and coyote among others and we matched up the colored flags to the bones down in the excavation pit. Moving on, we took some time to look at some of the other pits around the park and enjoyed watching some big bubbles form in one of the larger pits.



Starting to melt from the heat and realizing that we were supposed to be inside and out of the sun today, we walked back toward the museum. Perfect timing, we walked in right as the educational movie was starting so all of the questions that the kids had were answered, and then some. After the movie we wandered over to the paleontology lab and then onto a great display of over 400 Dire Wolf skulls, which represent just a small portion of the number that they have discovered at Rancho La Brea.

Brandy on Santiago Canyon Road

Brandy on Santiago Canyon Road
Originally uploaded by cyclemama.

Tiffanie on Santiago Canyon Road

Tiffanie on Santiago Canyon Road
Originally uploaded by cyclemama.

View from Santiago Canyon Road

View from Santiago Canyon Road
Originally uploaded by cyclemama.

Tiffanie choking down a Clif Shot gel...she almost puked after I took this picture!

Originally uploaded by cyclemama.

We did it!!!

The clock is ticking and the Cool Breeze Century is just six weeks away. Tiffanie and I decided that we needed to step up our mileage this week, so we've been rising before the sun and getting out for some early morning riding before it gets too hot. Monday and Wednesday we did just over 25 miles each day and the plan for Thursday was to do a long and hilly ride.

I mapped our route and came up with a plan to leave the Back Bay area in Newport Beach and ride through Irvine and up to Santiago Canyon Road looping back around through south county and back to our starting point. As I planned the route, I noticed that it had a little more climbing than we were accustomed to. Okay really. It had a shitload of climbing in comparison to the very flat routes that we normally take along the coast here in west Orange County. Feeling great about our rides earlier in the week, we felt ready to take this one on.

3:45 a.m. and my alarm is going off. As I walk down the stairs I hear little voices...no...it couldn't be...yes. 2/3 of my kids are awake and sitting at the kitchen table drawing. What the hell?!?!? James tells me that they woke up when he got in from work a little after 1:00 a.m. and they were just so cute that he couldn't send them back to bed. Ummm...okay. They're your problem now buddy, I'm going riding! I ate breakfast gathered my things and drove off into the darkness.

I arrived at our starting point and noticed that today was street sweeping day where I had planned to park. Okay...plan B. Off to the Ralph's parking lot up the road. Some employees were arriving and I asked one of them if they had a bathroom inside that I could use and the guy tells me that the store is closed. Fine. I'll just pee in a bush in your parking lot then. Thanks.

After the illegal public urination, we set off into the early morning and quickly hit the San Diego Creek Trail. It was a beautiful ride with baby bunnies hopping on and off of the trail every so often. Once we hit Harvard we hopped off of the trail and onto the road. We worked our way through Irvine and up to Portola, finally hitting Jamboree and facing our first climb of the day. Ho-leeeeeeeeeeeeee shit. As a climbing novice, I actually thought I could take this in my middle ring and gave it a damn :::huff::: good :::puff::: try :::huff::: before :::puff::: figuring out that NOW would be a good time to drop into my granny gear. Whew! That's better! Spin, spin, spinning up the hill, we reached Chapman and our turn onto Santiago Canyon Road.

One small hill out of the way and we decide it's a good time to stop and try out some gel for the first time. I had the PowerBar gel in Strawberry Banana and Tiff had the Clif Shot Razz flavor. It was our first experience with gels, and with great reluctance and uncertainty, we ripped open our tiny packages. First taste...not too bad, ewwww...it's sweet and thick...too sweet...ewwww...need water pronto! I look over at Tiff as she's sucking hers down and snap a picture. Right after I took it she was seriously on the verge of hurling...wish I would have captured that moment!

Setting off from our gel experience, we enjoyed the rolling hills of Santiago Canyon and come up on our first downhill. I keep hearing cyclists talk about how the fun descents make the climbing worth it, but as a new cyclist I was terrified of the thought of going downhill...until today. What a rush! I didn't even think once about braking and once I was down that first hill I was thirsty for more and couldn't wait for the next one. I turned around and could tell right away that Tiff was feeling the exact same way. The cool cloud cover, the smells, the beautiful scenery, it was all perfect!

The rest of the ride on Santiago Canyon went by too quickly and before we knew it, we were passing Cook's Corner and the Aliso Creek Trail entrance. Oops! Luckily Tiffanie noticed right away, so we turned our bikes around and hit the trail. We had planned to take the trail down to Muirlands but we were stopped by a detour sign and another cyclist turning around mentioned something about a large tractor on the trail and he told us to cut over to Los Alisos and then hop back on the trail down the road. After a detour through Mission Viejo we finally hopped back on our planned route in Irvine and made our way back to the San Diego Creek Trail. I was feeling a little bit hungry at this point, but we decided to keep pushing and eat after the ride. As we came up on Back Bay and the turn onto Eastbluff I hit a wall. I don't know if it was the smells of fresh asphalt and smoke as the workers re-paved that section of Jamboree or the fact that mentally I knew that I was a mere 1/4 mile away from the car, but my body just didn't feel like going any more. I slowed way down up the last little section of Eastbluff, but I made it to the truck and by that time I was starving! Tiff mentioned that stretching would probably be a good idea and I agreed. It's a little hard to hold stretches when you're greasy and grimey from sweat and sunscreen, but I did my best and then we were outta there.

We drove over to Starbucks on PCH and Bayside and made a beeline for the bathroom where I splashed my face off with water. Feeling slightly more presentable, I went to join Tiff in line and placed my order. Venti Coffee Light Frappucino, chicken caesar salad sandwich and reduced fat banana chocolate chip cake. Food never tasted so good! As we scarfed our food we both felt our mental alertness coming back to us...we had both been feeling a little fuzzyheaded after the ride. We realized that we should have stopped after we got off of the Aliso Creek Trail and grabbed some food to refuel at that point. 50 miles on one energy gel and one Luna Bar just wasn't enough. It was a good lesson learned though and we'll know better for next time.

Stats:
Riding Time: 3:58
Total Time: 4:38
Distance: 51.9 miles
Avg Speed: 13
Max Speed: 30.7

Photographic evidence...

that bringing a flat iron camping with you is a good thing. Look at that hair. Does that look like the hair of someone who had already been camping for five days? Good hair...one of the important things in life, even when you're camping.

The trip

Well we've been back for oh...11 days now and I'm just getting around to blogging. To spare you all of the details, I'll try to sum it up quickly.

July 8th. Left HB. Arrived in Goleta. Saw the Aids Life Cycle riders. Hiked (walked really) to Nojoqui Falls. Played at Refugio State Beach. Watched the aftermath of a tree falling on a tent. Packed up. Stopped in San Simeon to see the Elephant Seals. Arrived in Big Sur. Ranger led hike around on the Big Sur River. Met some cool people from OC. Enjoyed a day at Pfeiffer Beach. Hiked to Pfeiffer Falls. Drove to Point Lobos State Reserve. Hike the Sea Lion Point Trail. Packed up and said goodbye to Ticia and family. Drove to San Jose. Invaded Maribel's showers with three funky children. Lots of wine. Met some MD friends at the park. Build a Bear, Mexican food and cake for Avery's birthday. More wine. Made homemade tortillas. Packed up. Drove the 5 fwy home. Almost died from boredom. Met James at IHOP near LAX for dinner. Arrived home safely. Spent a whole day uploading and labeling pictures on flickr.

There you have it...the 10 day trip in a nutshell. After 11 days home, I've got nothing else. Moral of the story. Blog when it's fresh in your mind. I need a laptop!

For your viewing pleasure, I present...

El Capitan State Beach

Elephant Seals in San Simeon

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

and last but not least...

The invasion on Maribel's house

On the Road...Really

Tent...check
Mummy bags...check
Food...check
Flat Iron...check

Yes...I'm bringing my flat iron camping with me. We're not really roughing it, I have three kids with me and half of the belongings that we own are packed in the truck, so I figure, why not? The bathroom at the campground has an outlet and my hair might as well look nice while I'm sitting around the campfire, right? I'll be back in a little over a week, ready to bore you to tears with the 487 pictures that I have taken.

Let the procrastination begin...

Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I'm a procrastinator. I'll try to play it off by telling you that I work better under pressure, but that's bullshit. I'm a procrastinator plain and simple and at no time does the procrastinator in me rear it's ugly head more fiercly than when I have a camping trip coming up. You would think that packing for camping trips would be a fairly simple task for someone who took six trips last season, but it's the same feeling of panic over what clothes to pack, what food to bring, shopping, cooking the food, etc. that sends me into a mode of bitchiness, irritability and ultimately procrastination in the days leading up to a trip. We leave Thursday and if I was smart, I would spend the day today getting some stuff done. This blog however, serves as evidence that I'll find anything...and I mean anything to do besides pack when I'm supposed to. Off to brush my dog's teeth.

Overheard...

Marcellus: gimme summa that candy Aveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Avery: no
Marcellus: gimme some!
Avery: No!
Marcellus: she won't gimme any of that candy
Me: maybe you could ask in a nicer voice
Marcellus: GIMME SUMMA THAT CANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Avery: no
Marcellus: YOU ARE GREEDY AND YOU ARE A FOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!


Can you feel it? Sibling love at it's finest.

The 2.9 Mile Ride

Today was the day. I set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. to get in my very first early morning ride. After one push of the snooze button, I dragged myself out of bed, put on my long sleeve jersey and knickers and wandered downstairs to eat half of a bagel. By the time I was ready to roll the sun was up, so I took off from home instead of driving down to the beach path. My goal was to ride the same route that I did yesterday...Magnolia to the end of the Newport beach path, turn around and ride north to the end of Bolsa Chica State Beach, then back to Magnolia. With six extra miles added in going to and from the beach from home, I was looking at getting a 32 mile ride before the crowds hit the paths.

Of course, the best laid plans...blah, blah, blah. You get the picture. Shit happens and my shit just happened to go down right in front of Huntington Beach Fire Station Number Four. I'm riding down Magnolia feeling great and enjoying the cool morning air when my smooth ride starts to feel not so smooth anymore. Damn...I've flatted in the front. So I hop off of my bike, fairly confident...okay, truth be told, I wasn't confident at all because I'd only changed one flat and it was in my living room and it took me an hour. I figure that I don't have any choice but to change the thing, so I flip the bike over and get to work. Just as I'm getting started, the fire engine pulls into the station. One of the guys pops his head out and asks if I'm okay. I tell him that I think that I can handle it and he says "Okay, well if you need anything we're all awake and there are four of us that can come over, stand around and watch you." After struggling for several minutes I finally get the tire off of the rim and start checking for a leak. I found the hole in the tube pretty easily, but can't find anything in the tire that might have caused it, despite checking for a good five minutes. I put in the one spare tube that I had and put the tire back on the bike, wave goodbye to the fireman and I'm on my way. For a minute. Something isn't feeling or sounding right and let's face it...I'm a total newbie and I was just pretending that I knew what I was doing back there. I turn into the park behind the fire station and after riding there for a couple of minutes, the little voice inside of me tells me to call it a day and bag the ride. I decide to swallow my pride and go make friends with the firemen.

I explain the situation to the fireman who had been checking up on me while I was changing my tire and he asks me if I'd like a ride home. I accept and ask if one of them has a truck. He tells me that they can't break the crew up and that I'd have to ride home on the fire truck. Now who would turn down a ride like that? They load my bike into the hose bed on top of the truck, open the door and ask me to take a seat. We chatted about kids, their schedules, my husband's job and the fact that if this had happened yesterday instead of today, that one of their firemen is a roadie and would have been able to fix it in five minutes flat. Before I knew it we were pulling up in front of my house. As they're unloading my bike I hear them shouting across the road to the firemen at Fire Station Number Three which is about 300 feet from my front door. Good natured ribbing at 6:40 a.m. which I'm sure that my neighbors appreciated. What do I care though? I got to ride home in a firetruck. Yeehaw!

Sprummer...

doesn't feel like spring, but technically it's not summer...yet. The weather has been amazing this week and the countdown is on. This morning while riding, it dawned on me that in approximately three weeks, every public school in the Huntington Beach area will be on summer break. You do know what that means, don't you? It means that the number of days that I can ride on the beach bike path are limited. Gone will be the days that I ignore the sign telling me that the speed limit is 10 m.p.h., speeding down the path encountering pedestrians every half mile or so. In their place will be the masses. The masses that flock to our local beaches to enjoy the sand, surf and sun. The masses that walk out onto the bike path without looking first. The masses that send their tiny tots walking out into the bike path alone. The masses that decide that they forgot something in the car and leave their coolers and beach chair sitting in the middle of the path while they go and retrieve it. The masses that let their dogs wrestle with one another on a long leash smack dab in the middle of the path. The masses that are just that...massive numbers of people in one spot. Sprummer is leading the way to summer and the masses are slowly starting to make their appearance. So here you go masses...I'm gifting the beach path to you. I'll probably be safer riding on the streets this summer.

Tiff's maiden voyage

So my good friend Tiff IM's me first thing this morning and tells me that she'll be kid-free for a couple of hours and that she is going to take her new road bike out for a spin in the park. Not wanting to miss her first ride, I immediately called Grandma and begged her to watch the boys for a couple of hours so I could join her. As I pulled up to her house she was standing outside eating breakfast and she actually jumped up and down with excitement, it was so adorable. Ready to go, we headed for the park by her house and she soon realized that she was not going to be satisfied riding in circles for an hour. We left the park and headed down to the beach where we rode down to the end of Bolsa Chica. Periodically during the ride she would get an ear to ear grin on her face and shout out "this is so much fun!" It's exciting to see my good friend with the same enthusiasm that I have for cycling. Today our total mileage was 17.3 miles and that was only because I was pressed for time and needed to get back to pick up the boys and fetch Avery from school. I know that she could have kept going and going. We're going to have many, many wonderful rides ahead of us. Now I just have to convince her that she should take the plunge and sign up for the Cool Breeze Century. I know that she's stronger and more ready than she thinks she is.

Tour de Orange County Bike Paths

You know that the cycling bug has hit when it starts affecting your life in the subtle ways. You're more worried about finding the perfect jersey than the perfect street clothes, the guys at the local bike shop start remembering your name and you stop at one drink while you're out a bar the night before a group ride.

I set the alarm for 6:10 a.m. and I was up, eager to start my day and get ready for my first group ride. I was meeting some members of the Team Estrogen forum and our fearless leader Pam had put together a great ride for us. Our meeting point was in Tustin Ranch at Cedar Grove Park. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was greeted by the smiling faces and waves of Pam, Tracy and Cathy. I knew right away that I was going to like this group of enthusiastic women. As we were getting ready to ride we snapped a few pictures and talked our heads off.

More riders trickled in as time went on and Pam's friend Wayne kindly changed my rear tube which had a slow leak that we noticed as Pam was inflating my tire with her floor pump. As we were all getting ready, the guys from Paramount Racing were getting ready for their ride as well. I thought about joining them on their ride, but I didn't want to embarass any of them with my lightning fast speed, so I opted to stay with the Team Estrogen group ;)

Before long we were off on our journey which Pam had dubbed "Tour de Orange County Bike Paths." We jumped from path to path, starting off on the Mountains to the Sea Trail and then hitting Hick's Haul, Walnut Creek, Quail Hill, Shady Ridge and San Diego Creek Trails before reaching the Dover side of Back Bay.


After a white knuckle descent on the trail running parallel to Dover, we pushed on to Balboa Island with the intention of taking the ferry across to Balboa Peninsula. Plans changed as we got a glimpse of the holiday traffic and the line of cars, pedestrians and people on bikes waiting to cross on this Memorial Day. We backtracked off of the island and headed for the shopping center across the road for some lunch at Java City. I don't frequent Java City very often, but when I do I have to order the Vegetarian Sandwich with three cheeses on wheat. This is quite possibly the yummiest sandwich ever. Yum.

Our bellies full from lunch and feeling much more energetic, we headed across Pacific Coast Highway and through Newport Dunes RV park where we crossed a bridge that was so bumpy that I'm pretty sure that I'm now a victim of something similar to shaken baby syndrome. Leaving the "Ritz of RV parks" we found ourselves in Back Bay. It was absolutely gorgeous out and the views were amazing. One short but tough climb at the very end and we were back on the San Diego Creek Trail heading back to Tustin. The ride back was almost entirely bike path and went by really quickly. About two miles before the end of our ride our fearless leader Pam flatted, but was quickly back on the road with Wayne playing the part of mechanic and changing out her tube.

As we rode back in to Cedar Grove Park I was informed that our ride was 42.5 miles...my longest ride yet! My first group ride was a success. Saying goodbye to new friends, we were already plotting our next ride. I am so thankful that I landed with such a nice and friendly group of cyclists. Walking away, I felt like I was a better cyclist after this group ride and I learned so much today. Can't wait for next time!

Just me and the bicyclette...

the kind in the bottle, not to be confused with the one that I ride. The visiting best friend dropped off a bottle of syrah along with her daughter this evening. I believe her words were "you might need to drink this if my daughter is spending the night." I'd like to say that the children are driving me to drink, but alas...all is calm and they are upstairs watching a movie. I really have no excuse for sitting here drinking red wine by myself. I guess I could go out on a limb and say that I'm being proactive...just in case they get all wild and crazy later. I have a head start.