Happy Birthday Esquire!

Where was the cake? I showed up rode up the freeway and turned around and obviously missed a bit of action. Good seeing everyone today for a short while, I'll get in better shape and try and keep up soon. Those of you healing up, heal quickly!

Hello Everyone,
This ride certainly lived up to it's billing. It was an Epic!

We had more mishaps than expected but that just adds to the "epic-ness" of the ride. I'm happy to report that Rick Martz is OK with no broken bones. Just major bumps and bruises. Robert Ramirez is in the market for a new 2009 kit since he left most of his old one on the Jalama Beach Rd. pavement. There's more to the Ramirez drama but I'll get to that later. David Jurist was able to saddle back up and finish strong after his little meeting with the street.

I'll bet we could do that ride fifty more times and never get weather that nice again. Perfect temperatures, no wind, courteous drivers... that was awesome!

Without Randy in the Chicken Rig, today could've been a disaster. We might still be out there! Randy you have officially fulfilled your team community service requirements for the rest of your life. You were absolutely phenomenal! Thank you so much!



We have to thank the Pros who came out and throttled us today. Reminding us all why they are Pros and we're.....not Pros. Tim Johnson, Jesse Anthony, Kim Anderson, Ken Hansen, Phil Southerland, and Joe ? (I can't remember your last name). You guys we're great. Thanks for putting up with a bunch of amateurs for the day. You pushed us all to the limit, and pulled us all the way home.

We covered 111 miles in 6 hours with 6500ft of climbing. Not too shabby for a days work! Dave Lettieri thought he was the official "Winner" of today's ride after his crafty late ride attack on Cathedral Oaks got him through the Fairview traffic light just as it was turning yellow. But there was a protest and video review shows that he left Jalama Beach 30 minutes ahead of the group so he was unceremoniously DQ'd and the victory was given to.....Kim McDaniel. Even though he did technically "cheat" by having his wife pick him up at the intersection of the 101 and hwy 1. and drive him to the Chicken Ranch. But since today was his birthday that small discrepancy was overlooked and the victory is his. Congrats Kim!

Great to see Jose Murillo, Ray Turon, and Gabe Garcia all of the "Ventura Chapter" make the drive to ride with us. You guys did great! Except for Gabe he just did OK.

So as Kate Meehan is riding back along the 101 she happens upon a CHP on the side of the road with a mangled road bike with blood on it and a confused look on his face. He said, "We can't find the body to go with this bike?" Kate made a quick call to Randy in the truck and was able to confirm that it was indeed Robert Ramirez's bike that had fallen off the roof rack! It had blood on it from Robert's earlier crash. The officer was relieved at having solved the mystery with relatively little investigative effort and proceeded on his way. Randy and Robert on the other hand had to turn around and drive back to pick up Robert's bike.



I had a blast today riding and suffering with all of you. I can't wait 'till we do it again! I'll send all the pictures to Knowles so he can post them on the blog. I didn't get that many so if you have a few please send them to Greg or I when you get a chance.
More adventures tomorrow! See all you MTB'rs bright and early at 7:00am at ROCO.

Thanks for a great day!

Matt