Saturday May 9

A large Saturday cycling crowd was amassing on GMR south of Sierra Madre. It was good to have company on the road after a solitary Wednesday ride. I played "leap frog" with a rider wearing a Pittsburgh Jersey. He passed me, I passed him. Finally we road together. Rick explained Pittsburgh is a great place to visit. Rick got motivated to ride one day and can pedal a century or double century with out even blinking now. Rick set a lively, yet doable pace and I took great pride passing four other cyclists on the way up. A rare treat for me.





Met Barry and Marianne at the shed.



Note Barry's beer view mirror. He had to drink a few beers before he got the bottle cap off just right!




Rick had a story about a previous encounter on Glendora Mountain Road. He was riding his race pace when he spotted a rider 300 yards in arrears gaining on him. Rick did his best to keep his lead, but the gap was closing and closing fast. He figured the rider would breeze past, leaving him in the dust. The rider pulled up along side Rick and said, "Hi, my name is Matt." I have yet to meet a cyclist on GMR who doesn't know Matt.

Matt's story was the hike to the top of Mount Baldy left him a bit worse for the wear. Matt was proudly showing off his brush with the other side.



I kept up with Rick until fork plus 4.5 when the hip flexor complained. He sailed up the mountain. I plugged on at a slower pace to fork plus six and then headed down the hill. It was a good fast ride.