Incycle Saturday Morning Ride - You In?

If you are from around here in Chino Hills, every Saturday morning between 8-9:30, you will find a very large peleton zooming through the hills and pastures at times with smiles, jokes and grunting.  The InCycle Chino bike store facilitates this ride every Saturday with an 8:00 a.m. sharp rollout.  Click here for a MAP/Stats

Brian and I had planned to ride to the beach via SCART and meet up with the wives for breakfast and hitch a ride home.  However my sick daughter (Judah) and Brian's son (Braden) kept that from happening - so we decided to ride local.
You meet up first at the Incycle bike shop parking lot and you get a chance to say "Hi" and "good morning" as you check out each other's ride.  Usually the carbon 80mm wheels are the difference among the group as well as an occasional vintage bike with downtube shifters.  This ride is about your legs and the ability to attack up the hills, bar none.  If you can keep up with the pack that trolls around 21-24 mph on the flats, you are in good standing.

Gearing up for the ride at the InCycle Chino shop

The warm up consists of mainly flat surface with minimal road roughness, and light traffic for a rather busy street at any other time (Shaeffer).  After crossing the 71 underpass, you will enjoying the quietness of the Shoppes of Chino Hills as most stores are closed at this time.  You will then briefly notice a slight uphill roll up Peyton as you enjoy the timeline of Chino Hills - The old and new Sheriff station, post office, Ayala HS, horse ranches on your right, and the relocation of Community Park.  Brian and I kept an easy pace but stayed close to the upper half of the group.

Once you cross Chino Hills Parkway, you will then notice the first attack from the peleton.  You are delivered a modest Cat5 climb that last about 5 minutes with rollers in between.  This is where you get put into place....go too hard in the beginning, you will find yourself falling in the ranks - start too slow-find yourself weaving through traffic of slower riders.  Brian and I maintained a good spot in the upper 1/3 of the group.  Thankfully everyone waits up on top (reasonably) for the group to "re-group".  Then a quick roll through the trees of Woodview, farms and a golf course keeps you on edge as you avoid potholes, wandering pedestrians, and parked cars.

The peleton regrouping at the top of Peyton

The more enjoyable part of the route as in smoothness of the road is enjoyed going down Butterfield ranch.  As a large group, we easily take up the whole lane for about 1 mile, pissing off plenty of drivers!  When the group crosses Soquel Canyon, the peleton once again lines up for a chase.  I've led this chase before and man, when you are alone in the front, the group catches you quick!

After rolling through Butterfield, you will cross over the 71 freeway as it turns into Euclid Avenue.  This part is subject to be open; if there is heavy rain, this section may be flooded out.  That happened last year for about 3 weeks and a different route onto Soquel was the result.  The last part of the ride is a slight increase in elevation all the way back to the shop.  Euclid is a fast moving pace street with trucks going along with you.  The only thing that is sane is the "bike" lane is super wide so you have room to work with. 



Enjoying a brief downhill breather before heading north to the beginning.

 In the end, we end up with about 24 miles of riding and it goes by pretty quick with the engagement of riding with a large group.  Talk with others, meet new friends and compare gear....go bike nuts!

What rides have you done with groups that you would like to share?