Ride Report June 15 Saturday

On Saturday, there was a big group ride (20 Adobos) in Encanto, and another group ride in OC.

The OC group from Laguna Niguel had 4 riders, Vic, Randy,Eric and Chris. They made a round-trip to Newport and back, totalling 36 miles. Randy reported they each burned 2,ooo calories, giving him an excuse to feast on aCarl's Jr. Western burger. They started early at 6am, headed up north along PCH. There was a nice climb up Newport Coast, and up Ridge View Dr. Stopped at Starbucks and had an entertaining conversation about our house pets.

The Encanto Duarte group started at around 8AM. The parking lot had riders from BikeForum and LAWheelmen. Their itinerary was to go up Angeles Crest Hwy, then down via Crystal Lake/Rte 39.

We Adobos on the other hand decided to go up Hwy 39 to E Fork, then Little GMR, then return via Big GMR and Sierra Madre.

The Adobo riders were well represented. We were 20 RIDERS all in all (photos). Four riders from Cerritos decided to save on GASOLINE and get EXTRA BASE MILES by riding all the way from Liberty Park, Cerritos (30 miles): (1) El Presidente Jesse Santamaria, (2) Jaimer Rodriguez, (3) Richard Dones, (4) Ben Aragon. The other riders were: (5) Deo Asuncion, (6) Pete Primavera, (7) Francis Ignacio, (8) Ed Morente, (9) Roy Adeva, (10)Manny Amit, (11) Rhey Abad, (12) Victor Dakila, (13) Ricky Herrera, (14) Louie Navarte, (15) Jesse Agrezor, (16) Felix Bautista, (17) Doc, a neighbor of Felix, (18) Manolito Dionisio, (19) James, and (20) Mandy Genato.

Jesse had just arrived the night before from RP, and was still jet-lagged. But he was very excited to resume riding with the group. He biked straight from his house in Covina to meet us at E. Fork.

While we were going up Little GMR, a bunch of Pasadena Triathlon cyclists were there too. Much later, when we were going home along Sierra Madre, we saw paramedics and fire engines at the park past Azusa Ave. It turns out that one of the Pasadena riders crashed from hitting a raised crack in the asphalt. We learned that he separated his shoulder, but did not crack his collar bone, according to a rider we spoke to later at the parking lot.

While going up Little GMR, Mang El would come down to check on the "pasyalan" riders in the back. Deo (Mr Olympian) too was riding in the back, but he was "pushing" the laggards. I mean literally pushing them one by one with his right hand, making the rider zoom up. First he pushed James, who zoomed past everyone in the back group. Then he pushed Manolito, who leapfrogged everyone. Then Ricky went ZOOM too. Then Victor. Then Mandy. Then Deo did it all over again. And again. It was AMAZING! Mr Olympian is out of this world. To top it off, he was the one pulling everyone on the climb to Mt Baldy.

When the group got to the top of GMR, they chatted a bit. The Pasadena group was there too. A pretty woman cyclist from the Pasadena group came over to the Adobo side, and walked up to Felix, and asked him "Are you Felix?", and gave him a warm, tight hug. She said they should ride again. Felix was just nodding his head. Later we asked Felix who that was. He said he didn't know her. A case of Mistaken identity. That's why he never took off his shades, so she won't
realize her mistake.

The Adobos split up at GMR. Seven "astigs" went up Mt. Baldy: Deo, Pete, Francis, Ed, Roy, Manny, Rhey. The Liberty Park group split early to make the return trip to Liberty Park, to complete almost 100 miles. The rest followed about 10 minutes later to Encanto via Big GMR/Sierra Madre.

The Mt. Baldy group was led by Deo & Pete. Mang El described it as "a murder." He was falling behind purposely to wait for other riders, not realizing that there was no one in the back, since everyone else already turned back to Encanto. He was the last one to reach M. tBaldy. Then then left from MtBaldy before 12 noon & got back to Banana Leaf before 1:30PM.

The Liberty group of Ben, Jaimer, Richard, and El Presidente in the meantime arrived at Liberty Park a little after 1pm. Along the way they stopped by a taco stand along Sierra Madre/corner Azusa to satisfy Jaimer's craving. They later saw the other Adobos (Mandy, Vic, Jesse, Manolito, Louie, Doc, Felix and Rick) pass by. Then they loaded on drinks and resumed the ride. As usual they rode against the wind. They applied El Prez' "counter clockwise" pace line at a steady rhythm through the Sante Fe Dam. They were having so much fun they didn't realized they were almost home.

(By the way, Ben says someone earned a new nickname, "Datu". But he did not explain. That will have to come later. It's a "a can of worms" he says.)

Meantime, the "pasyalan" group of Victor, Ricky, Louie, Jesse, Felix, Doc, Manolito, James and Mandy returned via Sierra Madra. At the Grand Ave hill there was a little competition. James put on his turbo and sprinted and put a little gap. Felix overtook him at 3/4th of the way and took "KOM". Mandy and James got to the top together. The rest were taking it easy in the back.

After the ride, all of us then went to Banana Leaf except the Liberty riders, Jesse (he went home at Azusa, Manolito (got handcuffed by commander when he got home), Rhey, and Doc. That restaurant probably got about $200 in business from AdoboVelos on that day.