Fathers Day Bicycle Ride

Today is Fathers day and for a treat the Monrovia Bicycle riders went on a little hill climb up through South Pasadena and into Montrose up over the Rose Bowl. Today is absolutely beautiful with the weather never better. If everyone could see how really wonderful the day is here in Southern California we would have a land rush. Really, this is one of the perfect days here.

We all started out at Stan’s Velo Monrovia Bicycle shop and headed toward South Pasadena. Greg and Pricilla are two of my good friends that I frequently ride with. Today was so wonderful. Everyone felt strong on the climbs and the temperature was perfect 72 degrees.

Stan Potts is the Grand Marshal of these rides which originate from his shop. He is quick to tell you that he is not sponsoring the rides for legal reasons but we all start from his front door.

The rides from the Velo Monrovia bicycle shop on Sundays have a standard type of route to a little coffee shop in South Pasadena. This short ride is about 12 or 14 miles to the rest stop and usually is pretty fast. Greg and I have a saying, “It’s all about the scone”. You see the coffee shop usually only has one of the cranberry scones and who ever gets there first gets the scone. You can see where this would put a little tempo into the ride which tends to be quick anyway. Greg rides a fixed gear single speed and can turn the peddles over at a good clip. Getting there before him is rare for me and only when he stops to help out a rider or slows down for his wife Pricilla. In the end we usually share the scone because they are a little large. This is what happened today.

One of the great things about riding with a group which I do on Sundays is that you meet really great people. Richard and I have been riding together now for a couple of years on the Sunday rides. In the past year or so he has really become a strong rider. Maybe it’s just the Asian thing but he hangs back and never blasts off of the front but he is capable of it. There was a Sunday several months back when he must have had too much Wheaties before the ride because he took off and no one could catch him. He was sitting at the rest stop drinking a cup of coffee when I finally rolled in. Richard is a great guy and today he was in really good riding form.

Another of the fellows that ride consistently with the group is Chis. About 6 months or so ago he built up the Merckx MX Leader frame. This is the steel bicycle of the famed Motorola Team. I really have bicycle envy over this frame. Chris is a very strong rider and is able to pull the group very quickly through the entire ride. He is very powerfully built and rides like a freight train. Keeping up with him is always a challenge. Today he kept the pace down and did a great job of keeping everyone on and the group together. Maybe some day I will be able to ride on of those frames that he is sporting now. Hmmmmm that is something to think about.

Finally I have included a picture of our leisurely rest stop. For the most part we stay here too long. Part of the reason is that we wait for the stragglers and we all leave together so it makes for a long break. After the rest stop the group breaks up into 2 or sometimes three different rides. Today the total group was small because of Fathers day. A lot of people were away out of town with family commitments I guess. Anyway, our small group of maybe 7 riders took off after the rest stop for some climbing up through Montrose above the Rose Bowl. The climb was really a good one and toward the top I was wondering where I could get a lower gear as I was standing the last hundred yards or so. All in all there were three climbs with maybe up to 800 feet or so of total elevation rise. That is not too much really just enough to let you know that you were up something. The weather was perfect and the temperature mild so the climbs were not difficult as far as heat is concerned. Just a perfect day.

This afternoon I received calls from the children, my daughter Elyse and son Joel. Actually they both called at very similar times. Talking to Joel who now lives in New York was a treat. We talked about the entire goings on there in the Village and the craziness that is New York. I lived there on the Lower West Side during my early childhood years and remember the place well. Elsye has been busy with work for the Ventura County and these past few days have been down with a touch of food poisoning. Yuckkkkk. We will get together next weekend for sure – that’s the story and I am sticking to it. All in all it has been a great Fathers Day. You can tell from my smile.