A partly overcast day and an occasional drizzle greeted the throngs who arrived for the CORBA (Concerned Off-Road Bicycle Association) Fat Tire Festival and Poker Ride at Malibu Creek State Park. Only 4 RCYers--Rod, Matthew, Joe and I--showed up at the appointed time of 7:30 for our ride, but other members were either volunteering with CORBA--Molisa, GaryS, Reuben, Mandeep--or showed up a little later to ride and/or participate--LynnR, Nelson and his son Patrick, DavidN and his 2 children. So I figure that we were well represented....maybe someday we'll have our own booth :o)!!

Well, although the 4 early guys met at 7:30, we ended up "messin' around" for about an hour....looking at the booths setting up, nabbing some free goodies, registering for the poker ride, and learning that the special guest of honor, pro rider and downhill goddess Marla Streb, would not be attending due to a family emergency :o( .....and so we did not start riding until probably after 8:30. But the weather was cool as we started on the "advanced" 15 miler, and we soon started drawing the cards for our poker hands.

After that stop we headed back for the climb up notorious Bulldog Fireroad--the second time in 2 weeks for the RCYers--but fortunately for us, the poker stop was only about 1/3 to 1/2 the way up the killer climb.

While most riders turned around at this point in the ride, Matthew wanted some more punishment and so we compromised and rode as far as the steepest rocky section on Bulldog and rested there along with several other riders.

Next we descended the rest of Bulldog, traveled back thru the "rock garden" and then over to the final poker station at the north end of what I think is the Grasslands Trail. Joe, Rod, and I had lousy poker hands while Matthew had two pair, aces high. But none of us won anything for our poker hands. On the way back along the Grasslands Trail we had some drizzle, just enough to lightly muddy the bikes.

When we arrived back at the parking area, the festivities were in full swing. Lunch was quite tasty--rigatoni marinara and veggie lasagna [which they ran out of before I could get some :-( ] for the vegetarians and do-it-yourself tacos (beef, pork, or chicken) with condiments plus salad and birthday cake for CORBA. After lunch there was the much awaited raffle and free swag "toss" which was fun for all, especially the big winners. None of our group won any BIG prizes to my knowledge but, then again, I don't really know much.

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