I was dreaming of a warm post-Christmas. So I loaded up the wife, child, dog, bike and trike and hit the road to visit Juliette's folks down south.
As you can see, the little one received a nice gift and insisted I fasten the red machine as securely as possible. Can you count how many straps are being used to secure the frame?
Anywho it was a nice trip and the weather didn't hurt. While down there I took the bro-in-law for a ride. He's new to the sport and wanted to "take it to the next level". Even before we started the ride he accomplished this with his HTFU-esque jean shorts.
 |
Reminds me of someone else...
 |
| The elusive Fred Malm in all his glory |
You'll also be happy to know that we experienced the standard new rider catastrophic mechanical in the form of the front derailleur cable snapping early in the ride. We would not be stopped however, for the rose bowl beckoned. All in all, he did pretty well, and I hope he sticks with it.
Later in the week I went big. I was joined by Roy, a good friend of Jules' family, who is always up for distance and climbs. I can count on him every time I go down there. We chose to climb up to Mt. Wilson, 5800'. The climb starts around 1000' and lasts about 18 miles with one little reprieve halfway. About 3 miles from the top some Ritte van Vlaanderen dude came flying by. Once I arrived I took in the view.
It was fun to get to a new location and the weather was so good that this last week my wife thought 62 seemed a little cold. What a climate snob!
