brandy and tiff.... what an AWESOME ride!!!!!!!!!

so now you know... i didn't want to go! lol! didn't want to drive 2.5 hours and spend $65.00 in gas.. but hubby made me! well... i'm REALLY glad we went! not only did i get to finally meet you and tiff... and a bunch of the guys i'd been "talking" to for months over at BF..... plus i got to meet a couple other gals from here!

i was SO worried on the drive down (and pissed at hubby! lol!) cuz it RAINED.... POURED for about a hour of our trip... i'm like "we're gonna be the only ones that show up!" fortunately we drove out of the rain and it was cloudy but no rain in newport beach!

i was SHOCKED at the size of the group when we arrived at the park! WAY more than anyone anticipated! a LOT of BF folks had shown up! we were all ready to take off... and i realized i had forgotten to reset my edge.... so there i was trying to reset it (it was being testy...) i told hubby to go.... "i have a route slip" which i'm quite caple of following! (which, by the way was WELL written and very easy to follow! much better than a lot of organized ride route slips!)

the roads were great.... hardly any traffic.... a bunch of us were snapping pics... we were on a four lane road with a bike lane... so to get good pics... we'd sneak out into the lane.. but no biggie... the streets weren't busy at all!! and we looked first! so everyone was safe!! lol!

we all regrouped at the first sag! (they picked a good spot!) then set out to climb santiago canyon... very pretty but very COLD! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

the lunch stop was also an awesome pick! lots of choices for those who wanted to eat or grab a snack! everyone waited til all were in and had a bit of time to get some food... then some were getting antsy to get back on the road (i, for one, am not a sit around at rest stops kind of person... i like to tinkle... get water... grab a snack and eat on the bike! lol!)

so a bunch of us took off... we thought the others were behind us... but they weren't... but we continued ahead... cuz the ones who hadn't followed were actually a larger group... so NO ONE was left alone... they had over 2/3 of the group with them!

the bike paths.... and then the view of the ocean on the downhill.... were gorgeous... breathtaking!

backbay was so pretty!!!!!!!!! i can't wait til we get to do the second "tour de sugar shorts!"

GREAT JOB brandy and tiff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! everyone made it back safe and sound! everyone i talked to LOVED the ride!!!!!! and LOVED the route!!!!!