Up the Road: A Perfect Storm of Cycling

At some point during any given year there is this one weekend, some years more than one, on which the cycling gods get a good laugh at our best laid plans, and, depending on your perspective, this could be construed as either good, or bad. The weekend of 7 & 8 October is one such weekend.

Not only is Saturday the first day of the weekend, but it is also the easiest of the two days to wrap my head around, so I will start there. Kicking things off is the monthly Ride Around Pomona (RAP) which, taking its cue from the month, is projected to visit some of Pomona's old cemeteries. The morning hours might make it less spooky, but it should still be interesting. Saturday also opens up the SoCalCross Prestige Series calendar - Krosstoberfest Weekend - two days of cyclocross racing at Irvine Lake. Fortunately the festivities go from dawn to beyond dusk, so it will be possible to RAP in the morning and Cross it up in the afternoon.



Sunday is not so kind, and it is technically impossible to do more than one event. So which do you choose - the Pomona Valley Bike Coalitions ever popular Pumpkin Patch Pedal, CicLAvia, a second day of cyclocross, the Mt Wilson Bicycle Associations Pancake Breakfast, or perhaps the opening day of a weeks worth of track racing at the Velo Sport Center?

With a relaxed start time of 9:00am, the always family-friendly Pumpkin Patch Pedal leaves from Shaun Diamond Plaza, downtown Pomona for a flat ride to Cal Poly's Pumpkin Festival. There will be time to check out the festivities, buy a pumpkin, or two, or three, or more before the return ride.

If you prefer, cicLAvia returns to downtown Los Angeles for the latest edition, my favorite route just because there is so much to see.

It is a hellish, never-let-up climb to Henninger Flats, but well worth it - you will be ready to dig in to a plateful of pancakes. You can made a contribution to the org up there, or renew. Not only that, the MWBA's pancake breakfast raffle is one of the best around.

Finally, and to throw a little speed into Sunday, many of the world's best track racers will converge on Los Angeles between October 8th and 15th for the UCI Masters World Championships.

That's just too much good stuff. I mean, I like choices and all, but this borders on the  ridiculous. 






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