2025 New Year's Day 85 Mile California Bike Ride Long Beach to Dana Point

Описание: About 150 riders which included 1984 Olympic medal winner Steve Hegg. Ride started 8:00 in Long Beach, went down Pacific Coast Highway through Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, then headed inland for a while to loop back to Long Beach. I escorted down PCH on my Ninja sport bike and cops were very chill, and so were most drivers. Everyone was kind. THE CAMERA IS POINTED DOWNWARD TOO MUCH BUT IT GETS BETTER AS THE VIDEO PROGRESSES.
Don't try this at home. I'm a pretty accomplished motorcycle rider and I'm basically an outstanding bike rider. I ride 10,000 to 13,000 miles each year, I've ridden with about 30% of the riders in the video anywhere from once to perhaps 200 times. I was a Cat 1\2 track racer, crit racer, road racer back in the 1970s and 1980s. I tried out for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for the points race and missed making the team by one place. The guy that bumped me out was someone I would beat half the time, just not my day that day. I've done at least 5,000 group ride training rides which include Como, FoodPark, Coffee Crew, Montrose Ride, Tuesday Night Ride, Thursday Night Throw Down, Fast N Furious, R5CICLISMO Rides, Team Tempo Rides, Canyon Velo Rides, Simple Green rides and a zillion others that are too long to mention. The point is, just because you know how to ride a bicycle or a motorcycle doesn't mean you understand group ride dynamics and the ability to understand body language, hand signals and a dozen other subtle things that make the difference between looking smooth and crashing. I did this New Year's Ride once and did well at it but decided it wasn't my cup of tea. Too many freds and too many crashes the year I did it, but this year's looked very well behaved.
14:00 Minute Point: Sharp swerve to avoid obstacle on right side of the road.
15:00 Minute Point: Police encounter #1
15:50 Minute Point: Madison assist to help a rider get up a hill.
16:35 Minute Point: Police encounter #2
19:46 Minute Point: Steve Hegg awareness tip, he was right in front on the right side but I passed by.
20:49 Minute Point: I didn't realize at the time but the dude on the adventure bike with the long blonde dreadlocks is Patrick, an excellent rider that I used to ride with all the time at FoodPark. He had a bike shop in Laguna Beach years back. I don't know if he's still riding but he's definitely rocking motorcycles.
20:40 Minute Point: Somewhat dangerous move that could have been bad but wasn't a problem.