Today was a birthday ride for a local racer who does endurance type races. The route took us into the local mountains and about 40 riders showed up including a lot of local crit and road racers and a Cat 1 woman who has won a world cup race.
Everyone was extremely friendly and all types of road bikes were there, including some vintage iron. A mtb guy pulled out an old Peugeot that had not been ridden in years. Chunks of rubber were coming off of his tires, so he took it easy on the descents. I also saw a perfect Trek 760 steel bike alond with every carbon wonderbike you could imagine.
A friend and I skipped a spur road climb to Mount Wilson so we had a long break at the cafe on Angeles Forest, where a 77 year old English gentleman rode in on a 50 year old Norton motorcycle and told us he raced the Tour de France in 1951 and '52. He had some stories! He then switched to racing motorcycles in the mid '50s. I asked him if he had raced the notorious Isle of Man course and he showed me an Isle of Man sticker on his bike! A highlight of the day, meeting this guy.
A perfect day in the mountains!