Donuts to Daisies

April 14, 2018

Donuts to Daisies

The last time I pulled a one hundred mile day I came in well under six hours. Pretty typical, right. When I got back home today after six hours (admittedly not all saddle time) and realized that I had only ridden twenty miles I fell to the floor and cried. No. That last part didn't really happen, after all I never expected this mornings (and afternoons) Donuts to Daisies ride to be a speed fest. Honestly, if this ride had happened in some more distant locale, it would probably not have been on my radar, but since it started and ended in the old hometown I wasn't going to miss it. Turned out to be a darned good idea.

Sponsored by Metro, hosted by SoCal Cross, and C.I.C.L.E., and I don't know who all else, or in what capacity, Donuts to Daisies was a mini-tour de Claremont followed by a spin out along the Pacific Electric Trail (PET) as far as Trailhead Park in Rancho Cucamonga. Along the way, the ride visited Grizzby's Biscuits and Donuts where Chefs Travis and Matt had a selection of donuts and coffee waiting for the appreciative group, and gave a little background talk about what it is that makes the Travis Flood fare unique, the Chefs Tour (No Kid Hungry), and... well, I don't know because at that point I went back for seconds.

Feeling not the least bit sluggish after those two donuts we headed up to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden where, I was surprised to see Joan (who I knew from the CSBG, as well as the city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee) waiting for us. While she led the bulk of the group on a short tour of the gardens I settled in to voluntary guard duty, watching the bikes that they would not suddenly bolt from their corral. All the while I kept thinking that my fellow guard looked awfully familiar. Once we started talking one thing led to another and it turned out that there was a reason for the familiarity, as I discovered he was / is Johnny Lam of Milestone Rides fame. (Doug, fair warning, he may be contacting you about Montana.) Cool.

Back in the saddle, and now finished with the Donuts to Daisies part, we headed down through the Claremont Colleges, stopping for photos here and there; I did recommend one unplanned turn to ride through the water surrounding the Cube, but was hard pressed to not suggest other turns to see this or that (I guess I really need to get serious about putting together a bike tour of C-town with stops at all the things I think should be seen). Next came a spin out along the PET, where we suffered our one and only flat of the day, and then back to Upland for pizza and beer at Rescue Brewing Company - deja vu all over again (good thing there is the riding before and after). Looking back now, and considering all that, six hours turns out to have been perfectly acceptable.

Thanks to Metro, Dorothy (SoCal Cross) and C.I.C.L.E. for this completely fun way to spend my Saturday. (The Donuts to Daisies ride is one of Metro's BEST - Bicycle Education Safety Training - series of "family-friendly" tours held in various parts of Los Angeles County. I wish I could direct you to a single site that lists all upcoming rides, but am not aware of such. They do seem to be hosted by bicycle groups such as, in this case C.I.C.L.E., so you can usually find information on upcoming rides through them or others like the LACBC, or Bike SGV, etc.