Although unable to compete with Le Tour de France for stunning images and commentary, nevertheless I bring you the latest RCY news. This July morning saw 13 able-bodied riders show up to form our own peloton as we left for the climb up Chumash Trail. But quickly there was a break-away group and RCYs were spread across the mountain climb. I had real problems with today's climb. I think there was some sort of evil alien electromagnetic force field that sapped my energy. My legs felt weak. Although it was not that hot for a July morning, I was sweating profusely. I had difficulty steering the bike, running into rocks and bushes at trail edge. I crashed once going uphill. Then someone said that they thought they saw that infamous lawyer Uncle Louie by the side of the road, but it proved to be but a distant relative.

When I finally reached the top of Chumash at the Rocky Peak fireroad, I discovered that I was not alone in my assessment of the difficulty of today's climb. Several people commented on the difficulty. Andy thought it was the humidity. I'm sticking with the evil alien force.

It was at about this point that the group broke into two--the aliens were trying to divide and conquer. One group (Andy, DavidR, Dean, Jamshyd, John, & SuperMario) decided to make it a bit of a shorter ride and go down HummingBird Trail. I considered this option but based on my fatigued, possessed condition, I feared that I would kill or gravely maim myself attempting to ride the very technical trail. So I headed down Johnson Trail (quite technical in its own right) with Mitch, AaronA, James, George, Joe, and Reuben.

Near the bottom of Johnson, we discovered a newly constructed Rebar "fence" that is being put up across the trail. After negotiating our way thru that obstacle, we learned from another cyclist that it appears Johnson is going to be slightly re-routed due to all of the home construction nearby. We then headed for the newly discovered trail that allows us to bypass some of the residential streets as we wended our way towards the Santa Susana Pass Road.

After climbing up the pavement of Santa Susanna Pass, a quick descent brought us back to the cars where we Johnson Seven met up with the Hummingbird Six, who had arrived only minutes before us, relatively unscathed (Andy had come under the alien influence and suffered some trail wounds).

Only Jamshyd, David, Dean and I headed over to See-U-Latte for a bite to eat and also to acknowledge another in a long line of birthdays for Dean!!! Happy Birthday, Old Man....although you'll never quite catch up to this old guy.

Oh, and a little heads up on next weekend's rides....the plan is to ride Strawberry Peak (starting at the intersection of Angeles Crest and Angeles Forest Highways, about 9 miles north of La Canada) in the San Gabriel Mountains next Sunday. So start convincing your significant other, hook up for carpools, and don't forget an Adventure Pass. I suggest that we should meet at about 8 a.m. at the above intersection, ready to ride at 8:15, but I'm sure there will be several hundred emails thru the week with other thoughts and ideas ;o)