Monday, December 12, 2011

Chicks that do brunch...

Let's get together for a Christmas brunch ride.  We will meet at Karen's house, I don't think Aliso Viejo has hills, really.  Everyone but Suzanne was able to come, along with Theresa's husband, Steve and daughter, Jessy.
It was Karen's route, she really thought the trail was paved, time to plan a new destination

We had a great 18 mile ride in Aliso and Woods park, some beautiful scenery and easy bike path.  There were a lot of people out enjoying the outdoors.   At the end of the paved trail we turned around for the uphill return trip.  Not so bad in the park, but as we exited and rode to the end of the Aliso Creek Bike trail, we were back on Aliso Viejo city streets which meant an uphill on Glennwood and then on Moulton Parkway.
Turn around point


Although a couple of chicks hadn't been riding in several weeks everyone attacked the hill well.  Jessy kind of smoked the experienced riders and didn't stop even once. Ah to be young and strong...


After the ride we popped the champagne for mimosas and hibiscuses and enjoyed fruit, Belgium waffles, homemade omelets and cranberry bliss bars.  I know there are men who ride so they can drink beer, well the chicks must ride so they can eat and drink bubbly.
Restroom break, this time Stacy didn't take her bike into the porta potty with her.

Pat and Karen surprised us with a memento of our year - a Lucite photo frame for our desks at work with photo of our group.  We do enjoy celebrating.

Our next ride is planned for January, we will do a flatter (but perhaps longer) ride in Huntington Beach.  Watch for the email.
Cheers!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Chicks that do charity events

Well you girls missed a great night at Rock 'n Road Cyclery Diva Night.  Karen, Pat and Theresa showed up of course, we heard there would be tacos and margaritas.  Not sure where Karen's head was but she wanted to meet for margaritas before hand.  I guess to get "event worthy"?

The Divas threw another great event.  There was a lot of women there many of whom brought gently used shoes to donate to the Soles 4 Souls organization.  We had tacos, chips and margaritas and met other women who loved to road and mountain bike ride.  After we got our goody bags we went into the store which was set up as a mini lecture hall. We wandered around looking at all Silent Auction items.  We were outbid on the "Girl's Night Out" Limo and dinner one but figured we need to put together our own Girl's night out since we can't ride in the evenings right now.

After a little socializing, we took our seats for the informative program.  A rep from Serfas was there demonstrating lights and offered a 30% discount for any lights purchased that night.  After that we heard from a Physical Therapist from Rausch PT and Sports Performance.  They feel it's really important to prevent injuries before they happen and to keep the core strong.  They also offer some Yoga and Pilates. 

The featured speaker was Pua Mata, a beautiful young woman from Hawaii who has been racing mountain bikes professionally since 2005 and has won 6 national titles in endurance racing.   She talked about how she got into riding and how she attacks each race.  Then she answered questions from the crowd.  She had a constant infectious smile and you could really tell she loved being on her bike.




The evening and silent auction was a fund raiser for 88 Bikes.  They showed a quick video on this great organization that provides bikes for underprivileged kids who other wise may never own a bike of their own.   More smiles on these kids that were so excited to get these bikes.  Each kid that gets a bike from this organization also gets a photo of the person who donated money for the bike.  (No Pat, you didn't have to buy one of the Specialized S works we were sitting by for them).  This evening we were hoping to have raised money for over 20 bikes (about $88 each).   So we posed for a huge group photo that will be put on a card with the donated bikes.

We should think about doing something in the spring when we meet for weekday rides. Maybe a spare coin jar where we can collect each week and at the end of Fall may have enough to donate a bike. Chicks collecting pennies...

When the formal program was over we were able to do a little shopping with a Diva Discount.  Karen bought a couple little Serfas lights and CO2 Cartridge kit so she doesn't have to be afraid of flats anymore.

We've really missed riding during the week.  Last weekend since Theresa was camping and Pat was in Arizona everyone was on their own.  Theresa rode with the old guys from her camping club on a little tour around Back Bay while Karen did the Shady Canyon loop.

This weekend we are planning Santiago Canyon on Sunday as long as the SantaAnas don't make it too hot.  Perhaps we will try a little side trip up Modjeska canyon?  Hope you can join us.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Chicks that ride inner city trails

Oh how we've missed our twice weekly rides.   We've been trying to get some miles on the weekend, but there is just something about that evening after work, de-stressing ride that can't be replaced.  We hear Becky has been doing spin classes and Theresa is trying to hit the pool but without the camaraderie of the chicks it's hard to get through the work day.

The group of us from Scantron decided perhaps there is still some light left before the time change to squeeze in a ride.  If we leave from the office instead of spending the precious time in the car fighting traffic getting to the park starting point, and if we leave on time.    Trouble is the office is right smack dab in middle of very busy streets in South Santa Ana, nothing like the Irvine streets with marked bike lanes.  

With inspiration from the Trek Breast Cancer Awareness ride from Two Wheels One Planet where the group rode through the Pizza place parking lot, we decided to attempt it.  The plan was take the short trip through the neighboring office parking lots, to the back side of Burger King and then go north on Holiday to Goetz where we met up with the off road bike trail paralleling the railroad tracks.  This should take us almost all the way to the familiar Santa Ana River Trail.

Since we were fighting impending darkness and wandering around some "iffy" neighborhoods we kept an eye on the time and decided upon a turnaround time no matter how far we got.  It's always an adventure on a chicks ride.



The first part of our ride was on a nicely paved path although some local residents were setting up camp for the night.  We also were treated to some interesting mural artwork, OK some call it graffiti.   Then the path turned into a morning glory lined pretty area backing up industrial buildings.   With each street crossing, we needed to push a button and wait for a cross light.  When we got to MacArthur the bike path rode along the sidewalk where we wound our way to the river trail. 



Parts of the trail along Alton was very rough and obviously hadn't been serviced in quite some time.  Several of us wished we had our more forgiving mountain bike tires, but we made good time and were able to get a 10 mile ride in.   As we got within 1/2 mile office, Stacy noticed a flat on the front tire.  We were in the local "camping" area and it seemed to be getting dark fast, so we didn't want her to attempt to walk it. 

Theresa pulled off the wheel, found a thorn in the tire and changed the tube while everyone else checked their tires for thorns since we had all ridden along the same path.  Karen paid close attention so she could do her own flat change next time.   We returned to the office before dark and were off in our cars almost about the time we normally leave work for the day.    Shall we try it again next week?