Ryder, Riding & Roasting

It’s hard to believe, but Ryder is almost 14 weeks old. He’s already able to roll over & can almost sit up on his own. He laughs all the time, sleeps through the night & speaks gibberish. He’s also got cankles, which should translate into more power to the pedals.

Speaking of pedals, Ryder will take his first big trip this week when we go to Brian Head, Utah for the sixth round of the NORBA Nat’l Series. We’re driving up with Josh & Jeannie. Jeannie’s parents have a time-share up there, so apparently we’ll have a nice place to stay. Nicer than Deer Valley? That will be hard to beat. The trip officially begins Wednesday night. We’ll stop the first night in Mesquite, NV where we’ll laugh at the gamblers throwing away their money (P.T. Barnum was right). By noon the next day we should be at 8,000 ft & in Brian Head. Apparently the race course takes us up to about 10,000 ft. Sounds more like a cruising altitude for a big jet airliner than a place for a bike race.

In an attempt to stay out of the heat, I spent the weekend riding in the mountains and at altitude, which was an excellent option over the 100 degree temperatures of the Inland Empire. On Saturday, Greg Johnson, Tom Bielaszka & I started at Loch Leven & rode up to South Fork, then across the Santa Ana River Valley back home. Frequent stops and a casual pace made for a long day, but it was just what I needed. After the ride, I went home & got cleaned up so Ryder, Denise & I could go see my parent’s new dog. They got a 6 month old chocolate lab that we named Molly. Unfortunately we couldn’t name her Coco because that name has already been taken by an infinite number of chocolate lab owners. My mom kept saying that Molly has papers, which to a life-long mutt owner like myself, means that Molly either rolls her own doobies or she has earned her American Citizenship.

On Sunday, Josh & I were out the door & headed up to Big Bear in the van by 7:00 AM. We parked at Pong’s Oriental Delights where we met James, Larry Long, Trevor Downing & a dude named Dean. James & Longo took us on an epic ride, but I can’t say where because if the wrong people found out, we’d all get thrown in the slammer & being little bike riders, we probably wouldn’t fair too well behind bars. I will say this: 30 miles of perfect singletrack & we only ran across two hikers, who weren’t really hikers. They were more like two lesbians out walking their dog near the trailhead, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I digress. Anyway, Longo & James sure know how to show you a good time. As we were finishing up the ride, it started pouring. Unfortunately the ride back to Pong’s was mostly on pavement, which made for a cold cool down. My hands were numb before it was all over.

FAST FORWARD 1 HOUR & I was home working in the back yard pouring sweat. It’s funny how 5 or 6-thousand feet of altitude can change your body temperature & spirits at the same time.


South Fork was raging this weekend.