Dear Listmembers,
Following is the ride report for the second annual "Masi Only" ride which is produced and directed by Matt Gorski. As the name implies, everyone is to ride a Masi. Last year we had 12 riders. This year we only had 8, but a great group of eight it was. Since I have to drive about 110 miles to the start, I have to wake early and get on the road for the 90 minute or so drive north to Belmont Shores. The weather forcast for San Diego was for rain possible by Sunday evening. I think the forcast for the start area was a 50% chance of rain. As I prepared to leave I could see some clouds; but it was reasonably sunny here in San Diego.
As I drove north I could see some areas of darker clouds and hit two patches of rain on my way; but overall it looked to be clearing to the north. By the time I got to Belmont Shore it was just a bit overcast. We arrived one by one and assembled in Mattys' garage. On display were about 6 Masis that belong to Matt, all lined up for inspection. Italian GC's, Carlsbad GC's, and a 3V were represented. Chuck Schmidt brought his 1973 Verona Masi team bike, John Jorgensen brought a nice 1977ish Masi Prestige, Scott Smith has a 1974ish Carlsbad Masi, Matty rode his 1972 Italian Masi, John Morrison rode on of Matts' GC's, Aaron Lipstadt rode Matts' 3V, and Jay Van De Velde rode Matt's late CA Gran Criterium. I brought my 1969 Masi Special. None of us were expecting rain. Must be the common Southern California optimism when it comes to odds of rain.
We got off a little late but we made good time going south on Pacific Coast Hwy, even in the face of a cold headwind. I commented to Matty that the ride back should be nice, since we will have a stiff tailwind on the way home. We rode through my childhood home town of Huntington Beach on our way to Newport Beach and then onto Balboa Island to take the ferry accross the bay to the Newport pennensula, where we began to head back north to our point of origin. The ride was conversational pace the entire distance and I fel I had some chance of making it back in one piece. My legs were in slight pain but I was comfortable enough since I was wearing bib tights along with one other rider; the other 6 were in shorts and most in short sleeves. Not me. I like to cycle hot if possible.
I think we had a flat in Newport Beach on the way back, which gave me time to find a place to take a leak while others dealt with the tire. We were about 10 miles or so from the finish when suddenly we began to feel moisture falling from the sky! A light sprinkle at first. Normally it is safe to ignore such things while riding in So. Cal; but on this day we would soon loose the gamble. Traditionally along about this point the ride pace hots up and the group frequently splits up. As we began to accept that we were going to get wet, we also picked up the pace. I stayed with the four who were obviously fit for a while but decided that I had better odds of survival if I rode my own pace and let the hounds race to the finish. By the time I decided to back off I was in "no mans land"; too slow to suck wheel on the fitter guys but not wanting to slow beyond my comfortable pace to wait for those behind me. I wanted to get out of the rain. At first it wasn't too bad; it was gentle light rain and not too cold. The streets weren't completely wet and there was no rooster tail commong off your tires. No big deal. As I'm about halfway accross the 5 or 6 mile stretch of my least favorite part of this ride (a boring stretch of sand called Bolsa Chica Beach with too much debris on the road) I hear the horrible hissing of a tubular as it rapidly releases it's air from an unautourized orifice. Crap! I almost never have flats. Now, here at junk beach (actually it's a wildlife preserve, it's not that bad, I just don't like that stretch of road) a flat tire, AND IT'S RAINING! I whip out my spare and my pump and by the time I slip on a new tire and pump it up the other three, Aaron Lipstadt, John Jorgensen, and Scott Smith are all there. We set out again together, the rain is getting more intense and we notice a deffinite sudden change to colder air. We ride on and I am again riding at a pace at which I am most comfortable. Suddenly I sight a tandem ahead of me and the thought of a wheel to suck was enough to encourage to catch up with it. Turns out that wasn't a good idea on account of by that time the road WAS wet enough to cause a rooster tail of water to spray off of the back wheel. I decided to stay and ride off to the side. Then I notice my rear tire is going flat again! The spare was going down slowly so I decided to ride it for a little while before stopping to pump it up again since I had a wheel to ride behind. Then the spare blew. Crap again! Again Jay, John, and Aaron rode up, this time Jay had the second spare I needed. By this time it's pissing rain, I'm freezing my California ass off, and I'm soaked to the bone and my bike is soaked down to the primer practically. We're only about two miles or so from Matts' house. As we're all there with the wheel problem we make jokes about what the other 4 guys are doing at Matts while we're out in the rain. Not exactly the finish I was hoping for, but it was good to be with friends, some of whom where probably suffering as much as I was. Murphys' Law was functioning perfectly on this day, because shortly after I got my second tire on Scott had a flat. Had to be the one day during the last RAINY part of the ride when we get all the flats.
We finally made it back to Matts garage where the others were already dry and had changed cloths. The rest of us started in wringing out our socks, trying to get dry, and most importantly trying to get warm. We drank some cold Heiniken!!?? while we stood around and tried to get the bikes dry. Matty, in his generosity, ended up with 4 bikes that got rained on! And all without even a word to that effect; which demonstrates why Matty will be Man of the Year for 2003.
Six of us made it to a nice Italian dinner at Finbars Italian Kitchen in Seal Beach. All in all we had a great time; at least I did. It's always good to get together with your buddies for a vintage ride. Even when you leave from somewhere in So. Cal and through some unexplained circumstance end up riding in weather that is probably more common to Scotland than California. Perhaps it is our tribute to our brothers in Scotland who could not be here with us today. Any chance you guys went out for a ride yesterday where the weather was the typical rain at the start and suddenly you broke into sunshine and 60 to 70 degree temps.? That would possibly explain where this wet stuff came from. I'm thinking this rain actually belonged to someone else; Pergolizzi maybe? It was epic and fun, and COLD for my sorry ass, but I'm a whimp. Looking forward to next year!
Next month we have another bash planned; this time produced by Jay Van De Velde. We will be presenting Matty with his award and looking forward to working on our suntans as we go out for another great trip in the California. Maybe Pergolizzi will be in town by then; at which point the intensity of our fun goes up to 11!
Brian Baylis La Mesa, CA Got frostbite on my buttcheeks; but I don't think anyone will notice!