Saturday was the first day of July and shouldn't it just now be getting warm for summer? It seems to me like it's the middle of summer because of what seems like weeks of unrelenting heat. And today was no exception. Another hot--although at least it was not so humid--day. But maybe it's not just the additional degrees on the thermometer that have been getting to me....maybe it's the additional years piling up on my aging body. But whatever it is, I was nonetheless glad to be out on the trails with my off-road brethren.

But at ride start--the East Coast Bagel parking lot--it was not only the RCY mountain biking group that showed up this morning, but also our sister road riding group, the BBKings. Roadies Uncle Louie, Bruce, Mitch, Greg, Larry and other nefarious dilettantes were there with their skinny tires. The skinny-tired road riders headed out for their trek to PCH while the manly 6 who were riding fat tires headed for the Los Robles Trail. The real men were DavidR, Jamshyd, Dean, Joe, George and moi (that's in honor of the Tour de France....and no, I'm not doped up).

As we climbed the fireroads leading to the Los Robles Trail, the day quickly heated up. Besides pedaling, it was an almost full-time job just trying to keep our insides hydrated while wiping our outsides dry. Eventually we arrived at a rest point just before the Los Robles switchbacks where another cyclist took our photo.

Up we headed on the Los Robles Switchbacks, the sun beating down mercilessly. From the top of the switchbacks we got some relief riding the cool shaded singletrack that eventually brought us to the bench at the top of Rosewood Trail. After a brief respite for hydration and refueling, it was a fast and fun frolic down Rosewood.

From the bottom of Rosewood we continued for a short pavement ride which brought us back to dirt and eventually back to pavement at the end of the whoop-de-doos. It was about here that half of us took a little out and back detour on the beautiful Los Padres Trail while the other half headed for home on the pavement. But we all met back at the parking lot where 4 of us dined not only amongst ourselves but also with a contingent of the BBKings who arrived back from their ride at about the same time. Thus occurred an epicurean convergence of dirt and asphalt lovers after biking on a hot day to start July.