Third time is the Charm

For the third time in as many weeks, I found myself bicycling on the Santa Ana River trail.
I decide to start out earlier to see if Could get a metric in. I got down there about 6:15 and rode back up to Green River
I made to green river and decided to celebrate by taking a pic:

Unfortunately, this section of the trail will be closed for three years in October. It happens to be my favorite section.
I made to the park and spotted Wille, we slowly started to gather. It was a popular day to ride the trail, as the parking lot was full.Mark and I counted the riders. I think if you count everybody who rode pat of the way with us, we had about 20-25 folks show up
some milling around prior to the ride start:

The Gentlemen in the orange helmet cover is from New Hamphshire . he was here visiting his son
Glenn borrowed one of Ted's bikes since his trike was broken:

From 7-11-2009

we got ready to roll out when I heard a voice crying out"Stop". we had another rider who had trouble finding some where to park. So we waited:

Our first regroup was at Katella Ave/Honda Center:



we were off again ,and we did stop until we go to the beach. we also picked up a couple on a tandem



we then Proceeded to "invade" Newport Burgers, where there were yet more recumbent riders:


After a nice brunch and conversation, we headed back at our pace , with another regroup at the Honda Center:


Once we got back to Yorba Park, we found a nice shade and sat on bikes a talked./ Try that on a "real" bike!

Just another day

I've been itching to take my new recumbent out for some long distance ride, so Today I decided to do my beach perm
Things started out well I had one my red white, and blue jersey, and got to the first control at sunrise. I really didn't have much problems going down to the beach, but didn't want to stop, as I knew I wanted to avoid the heat and winds in the afternoon
I did do my usual stop at Anaheim Stadium. The halo wasn't lit up, so The Angels must have lost last night.

I made to beach at about 9AM

so I stopped at the circle k (alas, no Bill or Ted) before heading back out.
I took some photos of the river going back:


Eventually, I came to the place in Yorba Linda where it had burned last year, The damage is more a apparent


Finally at the end. CalTrans and OCTA(Orange County Transportation Authority) wants to close this section for 3 years starting in October so they can do work on the freeway


during this time I had discovered that I had lost my bite valve for my camelbak (about at the Honda Center) I still had some water, so I was the shutoff valve to keep water in . It did make it hard to drink
Quintessential so Cal. In-n-OUt go the idea to cross the palms from the move "it's a Mad Mad Mad world"

I stopped at the control in Mira Loma about 1, which was at a Von's grocery store. I wasn't sure it was open, but it was, as was everything else in the shopping center. I was gong to take detour earlier when I was in Yorba Linda to see about getting another bite valve, but I thought the would be closed. Turns out it was just another day(sorry, Mr Mellencamp's music doesn't allow embedding)
coming out of Vons, I saw an unusual sight for here: a corn field

The I turned on Mission, and things went awry.
By then the temp was 96 and I was riding into 16 mph wind with 20mph gusts(yes, these are the official figures from Ontario Airport) for about 10 miles , plus I doing the most elevation gain. If you've been on Mission in Ontario (yes I should have taken a pic), you know , it's stereotypical California desert. I almost detoured on Campus instead of Euclid figuring it would be shadier, but I thought Euclid would faster. hit every light.
I stopped at 7-eleven store in Upland to refuel, and almost headed for home, since it was only two miles. In retrospect, I should have stopped at the AM/PM at Grove and mission.
Speaking of AM/PM, the one in Claremont was my next stop. The only problem was that I started to cramp up real bad going over the 210 freeway. I had to ride out of my pedals and stop after light to massage my legs. but I eventually got back to the shopping center. I was debating which coffee to reward myself at It's a Grind - The Funky Monkey or the Road Warrior?
Turns out it wasn't just another day for them. I wound up next door at the smoothie place
hope you had a better fourth than I did.

Do what you like, like what you do

Today was another day off.(I have to work all Fridays in June, so I have Yesterday and Today off in compensation) I was going and try and ride my beach brevet today, but yesterday I had an emergency root canal, so I didn't think that was such a wise idea.
I was going to make a metric century (100 kilometers, or 62 miles), plus I wanted to try and do the Santa Ana River Trail on a weekday.
But I also wanted to sleep in.
I did sleep a little later, and finished the latest Ann Rule book I had checked out from the library, while misplacing my copy of the Daily Bulletin(Ontario Newspaper).
I got on the road at 7 , heading for Yorba park. I was afraid that I would get caught in rush hour traffic on the 91, but it was actually free flowing.
And the Santa Ana River Trail is different on a weekday - I noticed a lot more homeless, I debated photographing some, but decided against it. sticking to usual sights (honda center, Angels Stadium, the beach).
My dentist called to see how I was doing while I was at the beach, Fine I told him.
The ride back was fine, but I was getting a little pooped when I went back by angels stadium, so I decided to end the day at Yorba instead of going all the way to Green River.
and I enjoyed it! I always think that if you love what you are doing, the rest will follow.
And I'd like to close with some comp sci thought.
I've been trying to learn the Java language. While I've gotten the basics down, I'm still having some problems with some of the additional packages.
So I thought it over(with a little help from my invisible friends) and decided to try something different, namely the Ruby language and the Ruby on Rails framework.
So Far , I like it a lot. Granted, they aren't as many openings for Ruby/Rails as Java, but I'm hoping my axiom will prove itself:
And I'll leave you with a program that solves one of sciences oldest riddles :) enjoy!
num_bottles = 99
while num_bottles > -1 do
if num_bottles > 0
if num_bottles > 1
puts (num_bottles.to_s + " bottles of beer on the wall.\n")*2
puts 'Take one down, pass it around.'
puts ' '
else
puts (num_bottles.to_s + " bottle of beer on the wall.\n")
puts (num_bottles.to_s + " bottle of beer on the wall.\n")
puts 'Take it down, pass it around.'
puts num_bottles.to_s + ' bottle of beer on the wall.'
end
else
puts 'No More bottles of beer on the wall.'
end
num_bottles -= 1
end
PS. I tried the *2 trick on the 1 bottle puts, but it keeps on giving me an error. I need to learn some more

Oh my God, you're riding a Real bike!

So said Pauly. she trier to correct herself to say I was riding a "normal" bike . Made me feel like this guy:

But before I did the ride, I decided to go up Lytle Creek road. even tough had the "June Gloom" fog, it made for pretty pictures:

From 6-20-2009

Crossing Lytle creek:

From 6-20-2009

The fog finally got too thick:

From 6-20-2009

.
My glasses fogged up coming back the mountain, but surprisingly ,we had a record turnout:

From 6-20-2009

I made up to the first regroup in record time (for me)
I chatted with Fred and Sylvia Santiago, who had gotten a new Tandem:

From 6-20-2009

From 6-20-2009

Tom and Mary Lou Logsdon pulled in on "el green-go":

From 6-20-2009

We decided that maybe I should change my name to theChameleon
Then I went and had my hair down before heading out to bent up to get new brakes put on my bike.
One of the strange things about bent is that Lot of folks test ride trikes by riding them around inside.
Dana had his kids there (This is father day, after all)
And let wave to farewell to Andres , who's busy putting together a Catrike.

MC Donalds is your kind of place

We had our second SCARS ride today. Since it was on the upper Santa Ana trail, I decided to ride over and take the train back.
Things went well until I got to Rialto. It started to rain. It has been cloudy all week long (we call it the "June Gloom"), but it's usually just low lying fog trapped by the mountains, not actual.
So I kept on going.
I decided to do a little tour of downtown San Berdoo.
Orange Show fairgrounds:

From 6-13-2009

The Inland Empire 66'ers Stadium

From 6-13-2009

an old office building:

From 6-13-2009

Finally, I came to what I was looking for:

From 6-13-2009

What you say McDonald's is from Chicago? well now, but in the post war period. Dick and Maurice McDonald had a virtual gold mine at 1498 E St. So much , they had four milkshake machines. A certain milkshake machine named Ray Kroc wondered what a place the middle of the California desert needed four milkshake machine for. the rest is history. Except for the McDonald's cook, Glen Bell. He really liked Mexican food (As in Taco Bell) his cooks, in turn started Del Taco. so a lot of history happened here - here's a link I'd urge to stop if you're ever in San Bernardino

From 6-13-2009

From 6-13-2009

and there's an old motel across the Street:

From 6-13-2009

some more old motels and neat old church:

From 6-13-2009

From 6-13-2009

I did eventually get to the ride start, still raining:

From 6-13-2009

From 6-13-2009

We did have two rider from Yuacaipa pull in and decide not to ride in the rain. Maybe they were afraid that thier Carbon fiber would delaminate....
I decided to ride sweep, that is to position myself behind the last rider. We always kid Steve Albano about his being our paparazzi. I decided to turn the tables on him

From 6-13-2009

when we crossed under the 60 Freeway, the rain cleared out. We made to our eventual goal, the Santa Ana park

From 6-13-2009

From 6-13-2009

From 6-13-2009

We encounter several different kinds of riders. I talked with hime for good fifteen minutes (the rider not the horse. Wilbur!)

From 6-13-2009

We started to head back. I took of a photo of the aqueduct bridge over the Santa Ana . Doesn't look like the Roman one , though:

From 6-13-2009

The railroad bridge does. This is supposedly the longest arch bridge in the western US

From 6-13-2009

We stopped to decide to have lunch in Riverside or San Berdoo,to do some wrenching and to regroup:

From 6-13-2009

From 6-13-2009

We ran into a Animal Control officer, who had trapped a young Coyote:

From 6-13-2009

We decided to have lunch in riverside, Steve and Ted needed to go home

From 6-13-2009

From 6-13-2009

I was going to conclude with some photos of the San bernardino station, but Rachel
offered to take me home(She also lives in Rancho Cucamonga)

The Jacarnda tree

Today is almost like feburary here - rain and high only in the 60's
I decided to take my old bike. The problem was which ride to do. The Fontana Days half marathon was today , and my bike club usually run support for it. But It's and early start, and probably a late finish, and I need to go to BentUp in Van Nuys to get some stuff.
So I was going to do the "grind" ride. But I woke up at 4:45 tossing and turning. So I got up and decided to see if you could up to Lytle Creek Road by 6:15. I made it at 6:45 oh well!
I got to the coffee shop early, so I went inside and got some joe. My mascot had stay outside:

So I did the medium version of the grind. I didn't want to teh long version with the climb up Mt Baldy road since I had ridden the bike since my accident, only except there was no one there at the turnaround point:

It was that bad, But I think my girly part need to get used to being sat on! I also noticed that I spinng a lot more.
I made it back and found Bruce Taylor and Tom Tisler conversing (apology's for the condesation on the photos)


I had wondered what happened to Bruce and thought about e-mailing him. It turns out he had been hit by a car, too. I order my usual coffee and cookie (although I made a mistake and order an iced coffee)
i went by the bank to cash a check. and rode home. I remembered to wipe my lens and took a photo of a Jacaranda tree (we had talk about the ubiquitous trees at the Bikejournal reunion), ate, and took off for Van Nuys.

and of course, I forgot some stuff I went out here for until I got back here. I decided to stop by REI while I was out. when I coming down Day Creek, a Rancho Cucamonga Police car pulled out in pursuit. I only mention this beacuse it was set up for filming the TV series "Cops". They had pulled some one over in front of REI (probably for shoplifting in Victoria Gardens) I thought about going to Wal-mart, but maybe another day
Why Jacaranda tree? They bloom this time of year , and I thought it was nice reminder that it is indeed spring

How to turn 80 miles into 60

Well, today was the date of our first recumbent only ride
The only problem was that I wanted to 60 miles, no problem, just get there early.
And then my settlement check arrived - I didn't want to leave that big of a check waiting until Monday
So I decided to ride to the ride and take the Metrolink back to Rancho
Thankfully the sun was out about 5:30. or maybe it was , as we are having the "june Gloom".
I had to help with our gates (not they're not open, and then try a less potholey way to Fontana.
I managed to find a way and stopped to take a pic at the AutoClub speedway

From 5-30-2009

It wasn't as bad going through Fontana and Rialto as I thought it would be. I did get lost in Colton , and was wondering if I would make it to the ride in time. Thankfully, I did:

From 5-30-2009

We took off and made a stop at the Redlands library:

From 5-30-2009

From 5-30-2009

We started climb up through the hills and the nice houses , before taking a break at the Mormom Temple:

From 5-30-2009

From 5-30-2009

We did some climbing to get to the Greenspot store, and then had the treat of descending Greenspot road

From 5-30-2009

after Greenspot, The group ws going to ride somewhere and have brunch. I decided to see if I could catch the 11 train from San Berdoo to La. I'm not sure what was the biggest challenge, the pavement in Highland , or the bums in downtown San Berdoo. I was just about to the train when I turned off Mt Vernon and found out they had torn out a block of pavement! the dirt was hard enough I could ride it. Then I found out there was a shopping center between me and the station! I finally mad to the station, and found the ticket machine.
To continue my tale of woe, I found out that there was two trains at the station. Thankfully, there was a conductor, so I asked him.
I was concerned that my bike waould fit on the train, no worries

From 5-30-2009

I had about 10 minutes to wait and half hour later, I was back in Rancho:

From 5-30-2009

I made to the bank and spent about an hour divvying the money up into various accounts before heading and getting the wheels for my upright bike trued up