70.85 miles, 4:20 moving time, 1,776 ft elevation gain

Peter Day, John James, Jeff, Phillip, Lynda, Bill, Dave M., Ryan, Alvin, Raoul, Ramil, Julien, Mike O., Joe, Sue, Gregg S., Gregg D., Bob, Trevor

Mile 0: Start at Starbucks in Sierra Madre. Beautiful cool Morning.

Mile 5: Pick up at Arcadia 3 Hole Golf. Bunch of members joined us here. Shout out to Tamil, who’s Raoul’s identical twin brother. That was fun. Gregg, Bob and Lynda helped Trevor change a flat at the start. They joined us at Arcadia about 5 minutes after the main crew took off, but they returned shortly after they got to the flooded bath path and the locked alternative.

Mile 8: Side roads to Rio Hondo River Trail. Entered at Santa Anita.

Mile 14: Exit Upper Rio Hondo River Trail. Cross San Gabriel Blvd. Left onto Lincoln. Join Lower Rio Hondo River Trail. Lots of water discharging through dam. All the settle ponds are filled with water, amazing. John got a flat, Bill stopped and supervised.

Mile 24: Merge onto Los Angeles River Trail, crossing Imperial Hwy. There were a bunch of trucks in the River. I believe they were fixing the sewage leak that was reported earlier this week.

Mile 30: While passing a homeless camp, I rolled over some syringes and got a flat tire from a long thin nail. I was in the front of our pack riders. Phillip hit his brakes then Trevor, traveling behind Phillip, hit Phillip. Both guys went down. They could walk it off. Unfortunately, Phillip’s bike suffered some damage. He was able to roll the last few miles to Starbucks in Long Beach. I fixed my flat. Small puncture, didn’t need a boot; just replaced the tube. The sun was definitely high in the sky and warm.

Mile 34: Refueled at Starbucks. Patio was filled. Not a long break for me. Potty, water, pics, then, get rolling.

Mile 51: Bikeway was blocked. Walked over some pumping equipment, related to the waterway / spillage repairs. Nice tail winds all the way back. I can tell because there’s no wind hitting your face. As folks tired, the group spread out. Regrouped a few times.

Mile 66: The sun was heating things up. We were tired and hot. Stopped at a Chevron for a snack and inspiration to finish.

Mile 70: Finished the final ascent to Sierra Madre. Some folks went for a bonus run. I did put on my running gear and walk a half mile.

Great ride. Long, but great.