Mark B
Zen MBB Master
Jack arranged a SoCal Cruzbike ride that took place today, March 21st. Tom Roberts said he would show up, and I invited a couple newer recumbent riders from a neighboring club, Cycling Connection. I met Steve at our 3 club ride two weeks ago when he recognized my bike from perusing this board. He had been researching recumbents before landing on a RANS Rocket. Also along was Jana, who was also reading this board while doing her own research. She ended up with a Bachetta Giro 20.
The morning was cool and overcast. I decided to extend my ride a little, so started about ten miles upstream from where we had agreed to start. I allowed about half an hour to get down to the park where Jack, Tom, Jana and Steve were waiting. We exchanged greetings, admired each others' bikes and then corraled a jogger to take our picture.
L-R Jana, Tom, Steve, some goomer and Jack.
We took off down the trail and being already warmed up, I was guilty of wanting to push the pace a little. I have a nasty habit of doing that, anyway and usually plan to regroup at the bathrooms across the river from the Honda Center. On this day, however, the group I was with was feeling pretty froggy! They stuck right with me and I have to say, I was pretty impressed! Tom can motor on that Sofrider of his! I already knew that Jack was strong, but I was impressed with how Jana and Steve rolled on their bikes, as well. Here's a pic of Steve, Tom and myself motoring down the path. Jana shot the pic and Jack must have been loafin'! :lol:
We made it to the bathrooms and took a minute to catch our breaths, make a potty stop, and pose for a picture of "Team Cruzbike".
Jack and Tom plotting Tom's assimilation. Jack:, "You will be assimilated." Tom:, "How soon can we make this happen?"
While we were shooting the breeze, Tom let the cat out of the bag that he was considering ordering up a Silvio/Campy package. Jack and I volunteered to help him build it, me only if there was beer involved. Tom said he wasn't much of a beer drinker and I said that was OK, I would help him out with his share. He and Jack made arrangements for Tom to take a spin on Jack's bike somewhere during the ride.
At this point, we decided Jack should lead the way. He tried to tell us to go on, he would be content to hang on the back and ride 15-16. Yeah, right... :roll: We finally convinced him to lead the way. I was sitting on the back, visiting a little with Jana and pedaling along when it ocurred to me we were moving right along. Sure enough, I look down at my computer and Jack's pulling to the tune of 20 mph. We all agreed that this qualified Jack as a Sandbagger.
It was a busy day on the bikepath and there were lots of people taking notice of the Cruzbikes. While Jack was pulling and I was on the back, there were a couple guys that caught up and were talking to me about them. After awhile, I took the pull and as I rolled along, I observed a pair of roadies coming up on our back. They worked their way through our pack, so I opened it up a little. They sat right back there and when we slowed for the last bridge, they commented on the bikes in a positive manner. Once across the bridge, I opened it up again to see if they could hang. They stayed with me until an underpass and oddly enough, I opened the gap on the climb up out of it. I even saw them sit up as in, "the heck with THIS!" I kept hammering on down to the beach and eventually passed the other guys that had asked me about the bikes.
Once down at the beach, I dismounted and went up on top of the overpass to take pictures of the gang as they made it down.
Here's Tom and Steve:
Jana arrives, reeling in a roadie:
Here comes Jack!
We continued into Newport Beach and stopped at Newport Burgers for breakfast and socializing
Here's the lineup of recumbents out front of Newport Burger:
We took off from the restaurant and kept a pretty liesurely pace. Tom said we pushed him harder than he normally rides by himself (I think he was sandbagging at this point) and was a little tired. Steve complained that "Team Cruzbike" was killing him. Uh-huh... More on that in a minute. Steve took some action shots as we rode along:
We kept the pace pretty civil for a little while, when all of a sudden, I catch a flash of Steve going around me, full tilt boogie! Tom said "Go get 'im!", so I was off. We kept a decent pace most of the way back, stopping for the others a couple times. Jana hung in there pretty close, Tom and Jack were content to take it a little easier and watch us fools blow up. We got back to the ride start and posed for a few more Team Cruzbie pictures.
And a Team Cycling Connection, Recumbent Wing picture:
Tom got to do his test ride:
Tell me that's not the face of somebody that's just been assimilated! He was grinning ear to ear!
We parted ways vowing to do this again next month. Jana volunteered to arrange the net meeting and as of this writing, has already thrown a tentative date out there of April 18th. We're hoping to get more riders net time; the more the merrier!
I headed back to where I had parked my car and as I rode along, noticed how pretty the river bottom was.
The amazing thing is; this area was decimated last fall by wild fire. I rode it the week afterward and it was horrific. Glad to see this has bounced back so nicely.
I got back to my car and as I was changing/loading, I observed a couple cyclists come rolling in. I thought I recognized them and when I was ready, I followed them into the restaurant. It was my friend Terry Hutt and his daughter, Amber. They were stopping for lunch in the middle of their 140 mile ride. So, I grabbed a beer and sat down to visit with them. I hadn't seen them for quite some time, so it was fun to catch up.
It was a great day of riding. Always good to ride with Jack and it was fun to meet Tom. I always like to have a face to put with a name. It was also fun to meet and ride with Jana and Steve. Thanks to them for bringing their cameras and sharing the pictures you see in this report.
Until next time....
Mark
The morning was cool and overcast. I decided to extend my ride a little, so started about ten miles upstream from where we had agreed to start. I allowed about half an hour to get down to the park where Jack, Tom, Jana and Steve were waiting. We exchanged greetings, admired each others' bikes and then corraled a jogger to take our picture.
L-R Jana, Tom, Steve, some goomer and Jack.
We took off down the trail and being already warmed up, I was guilty of wanting to push the pace a little. I have a nasty habit of doing that, anyway and usually plan to regroup at the bathrooms across the river from the Honda Center. On this day, however, the group I was with was feeling pretty froggy! They stuck right with me and I have to say, I was pretty impressed! Tom can motor on that Sofrider of his! I already knew that Jack was strong, but I was impressed with how Jana and Steve rolled on their bikes, as well. Here's a pic of Steve, Tom and myself motoring down the path. Jana shot the pic and Jack must have been loafin'! :lol:
We made it to the bathrooms and took a minute to catch our breaths, make a potty stop, and pose for a picture of "Team Cruzbike".
Jack and Tom plotting Tom's assimilation. Jack:, "You will be assimilated." Tom:, "How soon can we make this happen?"
While we were shooting the breeze, Tom let the cat out of the bag that he was considering ordering up a Silvio/Campy package. Jack and I volunteered to help him build it, me only if there was beer involved. Tom said he wasn't much of a beer drinker and I said that was OK, I would help him out with his share.
He and Jack made arrangements for Tom to take a spin on Jack's bike somewhere during the ride. At this point, we decided Jack should lead the way. He tried to tell us to go on, he would be content to hang on the back and ride 15-16. Yeah, right... :roll: We finally convinced him to lead the way. I was sitting on the back, visiting a little with Jana and pedaling along when it ocurred to me we were moving right along. Sure enough, I look down at my computer and Jack's pulling to the tune of 20 mph. We all agreed that this qualified Jack as a Sandbagger.
It was a busy day on the bikepath and there were lots of people taking notice of the Cruzbikes. While Jack was pulling and I was on the back, there were a couple guys that caught up and were talking to me about them. After awhile, I took the pull and as I rolled along, I observed a pair of roadies coming up on our back. They worked their way through our pack, so I opened it up a little. They sat right back there and when we slowed for the last bridge, they commented on the bikes in a positive manner. Once across the bridge, I opened it up again to see if they could hang. They stayed with me until an underpass and oddly enough, I opened the gap on the climb up out of it. I even saw them sit up as in, "the heck with THIS!" I kept hammering on down to the beach and eventually passed the other guys that had asked me about the bikes.
Once down at the beach, I dismounted and went up on top of the overpass to take pictures of the gang as they made it down.
Here's Tom and Steve:
Jana arrives, reeling in a roadie:
Here comes Jack!
We continued into Newport Beach and stopped at Newport Burgers for breakfast and socializing
Here's the lineup of recumbents out front of Newport Burger:
We took off from the restaurant and kept a pretty liesurely pace. Tom said we pushed him harder than he normally rides by himself (I think he was sandbagging at this point) and was a little tired. Steve complained that "Team Cruzbike" was killing him. Uh-huh... More on that in a minute. Steve took some action shots as we rode along:
We kept the pace pretty civil for a little while, when all of a sudden, I catch a flash of Steve going around me, full tilt boogie! Tom said "Go get 'im!", so I was off. We kept a decent pace most of the way back, stopping for the others a couple times. Jana hung in there pretty close, Tom and Jack were content to take it a little easier and watch us fools blow up. We got back to the ride start and posed for a few more Team Cruzbie pictures.
And a Team Cycling Connection, Recumbent Wing picture:
Tom got to do his test ride:
Tell me that's not the face of somebody that's just been assimilated! He was grinning ear to ear!
We parted ways vowing to do this again next month. Jana volunteered to arrange the net meeting and as of this writing, has already thrown a tentative date out there of April 18th. We're hoping to get more riders net time; the more the merrier!
I headed back to where I had parked my car and as I rode along, noticed how pretty the river bottom was.
The amazing thing is; this area was decimated last fall by wild fire. I rode it the week afterward and it was horrific. Glad to see this has bounced back so nicely.
I got back to my car and as I was changing/loading, I observed a couple cyclists come rolling in. I thought I recognized them and when I was ready, I followed them into the restaurant. It was my friend Terry Hutt and his daughter, Amber. They were stopping for lunch in the middle of their 140 mile ride. So, I grabbed a beer and sat down to visit with them. I hadn't seen them for quite some time, so it was fun to catch up.
It was a great day of riding. Always good to ride with Jack and it was fun to meet Tom. I always like to have a face to put with a name. It was also fun to meet and ride with Jana and Steve. Thanks to them for bringing their cameras and sharing the pictures you see in this report.
Until next time....
Mark
