We don't want Ironman or Long Rides to Interfere with the Club Saturday Ride?

Did the club ride this morning. It was a 78 miler from Sierra Madre to Long Beach. This would be my longest ride in 2 months, and the last 20 were hurting. Knee held up, just probably pushed it down there a little too much, didn't drink enough, as it was a little overcast on the way down, and then it heated up to 90 degrees on the way back. I was worked on the way back and team Pakistan left me in the dust in the last 2 miles. :-o

I noticed a few people missing who definitely need some long rides right now as they are training for IM Canada, and I learned that they asked to post on the message board a different ride to accomodate their distance and ride profile and were DENIED. Apparently, there is an opinion that offering rides to club members that are not the club ride is off limits--read that as "you IMers go do your own thing, and don't poach our people." Given a whole 15 people showed up the ride today (usually about 25 on saturday and about 30+ on wednesday bricks), I doubt any of those individuals would have chosen a different ride anyway. After all, we were putting in a tough 78 miles. The Saturday rides are typically social rides with one of every four being a distance ride or a mountain ride. Okay, maybe two out of five. Anyway, I think more new members would be attracted to the club if they saw more variety, and more support of those going long. I wont' get off on a rant here, but I'm sure there's a better balance than an outright no--you can post any saturday rides that might steal our people.

I also learned that the filtering for the message board has been increased (we must live in a third world country that blocks the internet from its citizens). It's also taking longer and longer for posts to be posted, sometimes making them meaningless, as timeliness is sometimes relevant. I think my post about pirating the Hermosa to Manhattan Beach Pier 2 mile swim tomorrow has been "filtered". Maybe I'm just paranoid.

After the ride, had a smoothie at the finish with the club members, then got home, watched Burn Notice, had a salad, and then took the dog for a swim at the parent's pool (they are in Vegas). See above. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture (the camera on the iphone is a Piece O Crap) has two tennis balls in her mouth. She is friggin obsessed when it comes time to play ball.