My Weekend...

The Plan
The plan was to do the first part of the RBC ride on Saturday morning, then peel off at La Sierra & head to Kim’s house in Dana Point. Once there, Denise, Ryder, Kim & I would go to the beach. When I got down to GFE, the group had already left, but Steve Hermanson was late too so he & I chased together. The chase ended at the top of Barton Rd. in Grand Terrace where everyone was stopped waiting for Frank Wong to fix a flat. Already I’m behind schedule & I told Denise I’d be in Dana Point around 11. When I told Turner that I was going to ride to the beach, he said I was an idiot. As it turns out, he was right.

Just for fun, I put in a big push going up McAllister that resulted in a five-man break made up of me, Turner, Cochran, Zuke & one of the stronger Citrus Valley Velo dudes. When we got to La Sierra I sat up, waved goodbye & waited a while for the first chasers to roll by. I’m thinking the break may have stuck for the remainder of the ride because the right guys were in it & the chasers were already a ways back. It was pretty freaking hot by Lake Matthews so I unzipped my jersey & as soon as I started descending into to Corona, two bees flew into my jersey & stung me on the upper left portion of my chest. My reaction to bee stings aren’t good, so I swallowed my pride, called Denise & had her pick me up at Imperial Hwy. Our next stop was Sav-On where we bought some Benadryl.

The Beach
Kim, who is moving to Atlanta next month, took us to the beach at Heisler Park. It was a perfect beach day because it was hot, but there were still a lot of people on the beach wearing full-length jeans & shirts. Apparently being fully clothed didn’t bother them because they were out in the waves anyway. Who does that? Oh wait, one old dude was in his underwear. Anyway, it was Ryder’s first official trip to the beach, but I slept through most of it because of the Benadryl. He slept through most of it too because he’s a baby. Despite two umbrellas, Ryder still got a farmer tan on his left arm.

Back at Kim’s, we got cleaned up, met her friend Rebecca, who is supporting her boyfriend’s gambling habit, watched the Colts lose to the Broncos & then had pizza for dinner. I dozed in & out of sleep due to a second dose of Benadryl & watched Bogey the cat throw up on Kim’s carpet before we drove home.

The Clinic
When I awoke the next morning to meet Greg Johnson at Loch Leven for a mountain bike ride, my left peck looked like Lou Ferrigno’s peck due to the bee stings. Discovering that my normal Hector Macho Camacho peck had doubled in size was probably a good sign to skip the ride, but I went anyway. Loch Leven was packed with people doing the same ride. I’d never seen so many cars packed into such a little turn out. Johnson brought his new GPS deal & Ed Heppenstall along for the ride. Once we had climbed to the Angeles Oaks store, my riding partners proceeded to give me a Santa Ana River Trail Riding Clinic. Moments after hitting the descent, I pushed the front end out in a corner & quickly realized that I was going to have one of those days. The two of them banged bars all morning, while I just tried to finish the ride without suffering a big get off. On the way back down, we saw Jose Ole Joy & then Trevor & his brother riding up. A popular day on the SART, indeed. Since it was Heppenstall’s birthday, Johnson treated us to Huevos Rancheros & dos Negro Modello at Casa Maya after the ride. You didn’t know I spoke Espanola, did you?

I spent the rest of the weekend in a Benadryl induced coma.

James Checks in from Atlanta Int’l Airport about Mt. Snow
Getting any kind of online results from Mt. Snow was like pulling teeth, so when James called last night to give me the low down, I was appreciative. He said the course was only about 5 miles long & still took nearly 2.5 hours for the winning Semi-Pro to do four laps. Kabush killed the Pro race in just over two hours. James said there were spectators all over the place & that there was a guy on the side of the course banging drums. Cool.

This morning when I checked the NORBA site, I was happy to see this. Even after missing three rounds, getting taken out in Arizona & blowing apart bad in Deer Valley, I managed 6th in the series. My results at Schweitzer & Brian Head definitely helped my cause. Next stop Mammoth for the National Championship.

Random…

Magan Banfield is of ABC royalty. Her Papa dropped by work today.

Jenna Jefferies' mom is some kind of Big Bear royalty too, but she doesn't have a web page.

A young Trent Lowe just signed with Discovery.

I’m going to Everest Challenge on Sept. 24-25 & to the Tucson Cycling Classic on Sept. 30 – Oct. 2 if anyone wants to share a ride & a motel.

Ryder will officially become a latch key kid this week. Denise heads back to school tomorrow.

Quote: "Bicycle road racing was the only sport in the world." - Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Greg's new Garmin Forerunner 301 GPS recorded our Sunday mountain bike ride.