By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)
6/8/13
Special Beach Report
The plan for the Saturday ride was a bit of an organizational problem but I think all parties involved did a very good job. Metric Man was leading a group from Colton to Huntington and I had a group I was moving to Yorba Linda top meet up with them as they got to Green River and follow them to the Beach. Metric man had to push his group to get to the Weir Canyon entrance to the SART and all I had to do was get everyone away from Starbucks and down to Yorba Linda between 8 and 8:30am. We almost made it because I had seven of our nine riders on the SART just as Metric Man and MacGyver arrived. They left just before I had my last two in tow and they took Bloodhound with them. We followed just a minutes behind and headed west about 8:20.
Highlander was back with s after a week off and Quicksticks had decided to ride with us, at least to the beach, and have his wife pick him up at lunch. So I set an easy pace of about 18 mph as we headed down the path and to the first bridge crossing. You could almost see Chrissy’s, (Quicksilver) smile as we rode over the wooden planks of the bridge and came out on the other side of the river bed. I was still out front pulling when I noticed Quicksticks drafting off of my back wheel just like in the old days.
We moved along pretty good as we started to roll under several of the major streets and soon I decided to give up the lead and let someone else pull. Highlander took over for a while as did Digger and after I pulled again Doug came from behind and offered to give me a break.
As we got to the park on Katella the fast group was just leaving. We stopped and refreshed ourselves a bit and tried to give Quicksticks a chance to recover some after getting back on the bike with nearly a year’s lay off. He wasn’t interested in stopping so he took the opportunity to get a head start on us. We took off in pursuit and managed to catch him not far from the golf course. He fell into line and we cruised to the last bridge crossing before the beach. Quicksilver was still smiling after scooting along for more than 20 miles in a pace line with the group.
We didn’t make it to the beach however because they had some king of construction going on just past Victoria and we had to go back and cross over the road to the other side of the river trail. Quicksilver took the lead as soon as we were on the other side of the channel and took us almost all the way to PCH. When we came out onto the highway we met Metric Man and his group heading back for home.
Once they were on their way we headed north on PCH towards the Huntington pier. There were several groups of cyclists heading in our direction and soon Bloodhound had moved to the front of our group the help pull us past Beach and up to Subway for lunch. It took a while for us all to regroup but once we did we grabbed something to eat and sat out on the plaza looking out on the ocean.
It took us a while to work our way back towards the golf course and before we got to it Bloodhound, Doug and Highlander pulled away from us and Ruby Tuesday and I ended taking turns pulling back to the big A. We moved over to the Honda Center and around to the park to regroup with our fleeing threesome. Once we had rested and refueled we were back on our way with Bloodhound leading again. For the most part the group stayed together as we headed back towards the 91 underpass.
Highlander and I pulled for quite a while and soon we were under the 91 and headed towards Imperial. We knew we were getting close to the end of the ride and somehow that seemed to refresh the legs somewhat. We started to string out just a bit as we got to the winding tree covered part of the SART before the last bridge.
Highlander and I kept trying to slow down Bloodhound but as we got closer to the last bridge he was like controlling a puppy that wanted to run. After a few attempts we decided it was best to just fall back and stay with the main group and see if he would slow down once we crossed the bridge and were headed for Yorba Park.
Sure enough he slowed down and we were able regroup before we hit the last river crossing. He let me get on the wooden bridge first and I got to pull us out onto the last stretch before the Park.
Like I mentioned before it seemed like people were feeling fresher just knowing we were close to getting back to the vehicles. In fact Highlander insisted on taking a picture to prove that even I had a smile on my face.
As we headed back towards weir Canyon I noticed that as strange as it looked this little trickle of water known as the Santa Ana river did provide some habitat for some wild life. Maybe that is one of the reasons we see so many people with cameras standing on the side of the path as you pass Yorba Park.
Still we had a mile or two to go and Doug took a short jump out front that only encouraged Bloodhound to pick up the pace. I felt I had enough to close the gap and joined them and indicated to Bloodhound that we were about the make the turn off of the trail and up to LaPalma. Soon we were all back out onto the street and headed for the parking lot. We got back to the vehicles almost two hours sooner than I expected. We all made it safely and we were all satisfied that we had a good ride and a good effort. Sometime group cycling is like a a flock of birds. We all leave for a destination from a destination and there is satisfaction on leaving and even more in making it safely to where you want to go.
Highlander was back with s after a week off and Quicksticks had decided to ride with us, at least to the beach, and have his wife pick him up at lunch. So I set an easy pace of about 18 mph as we headed down the path and to the first bridge crossing. You could almost see Chrissy’s, (Quicksilver) smile as we rode over the wooden planks of the bridge and came out on the other side of the river bed. I was still out front pulling when I noticed Quicksticks drafting off of my back wheel just like in the old days.
We moved along pretty good as we started to roll under several of the major streets and soon I decided to give up the lead and let someone else pull. Highlander took over for a while as did Digger and after I pulled again Doug came from behind and offered to give me a break.
As we got to the park on Katella the fast group was just leaving. We stopped and refreshed ourselves a bit and tried to give Quicksticks a chance to recover some after getting back on the bike with nearly a year’s lay off. He wasn’t interested in stopping so he took the opportunity to get a head start on us. We took off in pursuit and managed to catch him not far from the golf course. He fell into line and we cruised to the last bridge crossing before the beach. Quicksilver was still smiling after scooting along for more than 20 miles in a pace line with the group.
We didn’t make it to the beach however because they had some king of construction going on just past Victoria and we had to go back and cross over the road to the other side of the river trail. Quicksilver took the lead as soon as we were on the other side of the channel and took us almost all the way to PCH. When we came out onto the highway we met Metric Man and his group heading back for home.
Once they were on their way we headed north on PCH towards the Huntington pier. There were several groups of cyclists heading in our direction and soon Bloodhound had moved to the front of our group the help pull us past Beach and up to Subway for lunch. It took a while for us all to regroup but once we did we grabbed something to eat and sat out on the plaza looking out on the ocean.
It took us a while to work our way back towards the golf course and before we got to it Bloodhound, Doug and Highlander pulled away from us and Ruby Tuesday and I ended taking turns pulling back to the big A. We moved over to the Honda Center and around to the park to regroup with our fleeing threesome. Once we had rested and refueled we were back on our way with Bloodhound leading again. For the most part the group stayed together as we headed back towards the 91 underpass.
Highlander and I pulled for quite a while and soon we were under the 91 and headed towards Imperial. We knew we were getting close to the end of the ride and somehow that seemed to refresh the legs somewhat. We started to string out just a bit as we got to the winding tree covered part of the SART before the last bridge.
Highlander and I kept trying to slow down Bloodhound but as we got closer to the last bridge he was like controlling a puppy that wanted to run. After a few attempts we decided it was best to just fall back and stay with the main group and see if he would slow down once we crossed the bridge and were headed for Yorba Park.
Sure enough he slowed down and we were able regroup before we hit the last river crossing. He let me get on the wooden bridge first and I got to pull us out onto the last stretch before the Park.
Like I mentioned before it seemed like people were feeling fresher just knowing we were close to getting back to the vehicles. In fact Highlander insisted on taking a picture to prove that even I had a smile on my face.
As we headed back towards weir Canyon I noticed that as strange as it looked this little trickle of water known as the Santa Ana river did provide some habitat for some wild life. Maybe that is one of the reasons we see so many people with cameras standing on the side of the path as you pass Yorba Park.
Still we had a mile or two to go and Doug took a short jump out front that only encouraged Bloodhound to pick up the pace. I felt I had enough to close the gap and joined them and indicated to Bloodhound that we were about the make the turn off of the trail and up to LaPalma. Soon we were all back out onto the street and headed for the parking lot. We got back to the vehicles almost two hours sooner than I expected. We all made it safely and we were all satisfied that we had a good ride and a good effort. Sometime group cycling is like a a flock of birds. We all leave for a destination from a destination and there is satisfaction on leaving and even more in making it safely to where you want to go.
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