RIDE ALWAYS, RIDE SAFE !!

07/13/07

King Marty has finally been promoted to THE KING OF LAGUNA. By unanimous decision, the Team voted that the 3-day weekend Tour de Pantanes was a great success. We were able to do 3-days of riding, 3-days of eating, and 3-days of harrassing each other to no end.  King Marty pulled out all the stops and did an excellent job of organizing the trip, the rides, and the festivities. It was a FANTASTIC WEEKEND with great weather and great company.

The Team also celebrated the 50th Birthday and the Official Retirement of Mr. Pantanes himself. The Pantanes put on his thinking cap and decided that with King Marty being promoted, someone needed to inherit and preserve the title of King Helmet-head. To see who inherited this dubious honor, check out all the pics in the picture gallery below. I hope you enjoy them.

PS: Any of you homies who took additional pics and want them published for the whole world to see, e-mail them to me and I will add them here.                           

The Pantanes Weekend Diary

June 29, 2007 Friday -

Left Las Vegas at 8am. Breakfast at The Mad Greek in Baker with Ed, Tim, Gina, and Carol. Arrived at Vacation Village, Laguna Beach early afternoon. Nice 25-mile warm-up ride up Laguna Canyon, El Toro, Aliso Creek, Moulton, and returned via Crown Valley, Laguna Niguel, PCH. Ed did not want to do a very steep downhill and instead decides to do the Top of the World climb, the steepest climb in Laguna Beach. Way to go, Ed! Group dinner at Marty's favorite Mexican restaurant Javier's.

June 30, 2007 Saturday - The Pantanes 50th Birthday

The group swelled to an amazing 14 riders. Started at the San Juan Capistrano train station. The Pantanes got Happy Birthday wishes the entire ride. Most of the group headed to Solana Beach for lunch and then took the train back. Cary and Antigone rode back to Oceanside for a few more miles before catching the train back. Laguna Beach Cyclery owner Patrick and his side-kick Mark rode back to Laguna Beach. I also turned around with my two local San Clemente homies (Don and Roland) to ride back to Laguna Beach. In San Clemente, I got stung by a bee on my right thigh. No biggie as my body has handled bee stings before; however, 2-days later, it still itches like heck. It was a great 100-mile ride on my 50th Birthday.

Group dinner at Romeo Cucina was such a big treat, courtesy of Cary and Antigone. As an added bonus and to the delight of everyone, accompanied by Romeo's pianist, King Marty serenaded the entire restaurant with Desperado, his favorite song from the Eagles . And of course, an Italian dinner is not complete without gelato. So off we walked to the local ice cream joint. Some in the group still had energy to burn and headed on to the White House for dancing, while most of us were done for the day.

July 01, 2007 Sunday -

Started the day with a 22-mile coffee ride around  Newport Coast, Bonita Canyon, Corona del Mar, Crystal Cove, PCH. With our bikes and gear all loaded up in the truck bed, we could not leave the truck unattended and could not find street parking, so brunch at Javier's got scrubbed. Headed to Laguna Hills to have subs at a local Subway. Then we went to Performance Bike Shop to get supplies. Tim purchased a Time VSX Edge frame at a really great rock-bottom-closeout price. They did not have my size, otherwise, I was going to get one myself.

King Marty's team domestiques were (in alphabetical order): Antigone, Brecker, Carol, Cary, Don, Eduardo, Gina, Mark, Marty, The Pantanes, Patrick, Roland, Rusty, Stewart, Tim, Traci, and Zoie.

Click on each photo to see a larger version

Friday dinner at Javier's Mexican restaurant	American Idol celeb Simon Cowell and Traci	Cary sleepy from the long drive? Or was it the wine?
King LaJuna, LaGina, and Simon Cowell	The 3 Amigos - Carol, Tim, Gina	Cary is so well behaved; Alex, Antigone
Carol and Tim ready to dance at the White House	Carol telling Tim it ain't cool to pick your nose in public.	Saturday ride starts through Camp Pendelton
Big smiles from Gina, Cary, and Stewart	Gina hogs the shot and blocks Cary's face <LOL!>	Tim leads out King Marty but lost sight of Ed ...
... and Eduardo pips Tim for the money shot	Too late for Marty and Don to catch Eduardo's sprint	Gina (sneaks in again on another shot) with Roland
Traci flexes those legs preparing for Ironman.	Antigone with her multi-colored blue and red rims/tires	Antigone chatting it up with Traci
Group shot #1; Ed the camera is in front of you!	Group shot #2; Ed the camera is still in front of you!	Marty makes it up the hill before Eduardo
Rusty makes it up the hill before Eduardo	Antigone makes it up the hill before Eduardo	Cary and Tim nursing Eduardo up the hill
Sunday ride via Newport Beach ...	... returning via PCH ...	... stopping at Crystal Cove vista point

 Click here to see who holds the title of the new KING HELMET-HEAD !