8 weeks has come and gone. During these 8 weeks Vince and I worked pretty hard on losing weight. Not only did we both benefit, but the City of Hope also benefited from our little contest. You can see the total monies raised on the right hand column. —–>

Vince and I both agreed that our contest will be based on the percentage amount lost from our starting weight. So here’s the final stats….

RL

242-226 = 16lbs
16/242 = 6.61%

Though Vince will be wearing a dress at this weekends ride at the Fullerton Loop, personally I feel that I could have lost more. The contest maybe over, but I plan on shedding more flab of my body and eventually drop an additional 25lbs, making me a lean, mean, single speed riding, sexy machine!

Anyhow we’d like to thank all of the supporters of the contest, especially our families, the MtnBikeRiders.com crew, KHS Bicycles and little baby Jesus for helping us through our contest.

Here’s our before photos:
Vince chowing down on some In and Out Burgers…weighing in around 241lbs.

RL with the red sleeves…weighing in around 210 at that time. But started the contest at 202lbs.

and here’s our After Photos! Viola! Man we look Hot! Well we really were! Vince and I were at a wedding reception when this photo was taken this Saturday…and it was HOT that day! Um…ladies, I’d like to address my next comment to all of you that are reading…those two hot pieces of biking @$$ belong to their respective wives…Ruby owns Vince and Priscilla owns RL. So I’m sorry to disappoint y;all, but we are happily married. Ok now that I got that out of the way, feel free to indulge in the masculine hunkiness that you see in front of you…heck if you want an autograph, I’m sure we can accommodate!

To fulfill the bet that Vince and I made, this Saturday will be the “Dress Ride” at the Fullerton Loop, followed by a BBQ at the home of RL and Priscilla. So make sure you come out and ride with us, then join us for some grub afterwards. If you’re interested in coming out this weekend, feel free to leave a comment so we can include you in our mailing list for this event.

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Saw this and had to share it with you.

Has the increase in gas prices changed how you get to the trail? I’ve found that I’ve been carpooling more often and have even ridden straight to the trail, if it’s close enough. I’m also using the car that gets better mpg to drive to the trailhead. What about you?

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MtnBikeRiders.com set up a last minute ride at the Fullerton Loop. Priscilla, Moe, I as well as our friend Anthony decided to get a quick ride in for Father’s Day Weekend. I normally send out a weekly ride invite and one fella said that he’ll try to make it. Well what do you know, the dude actually got up early enough and made it…Vince Rodarte of KHS Bicycles. That’s right, my weight loss nemesis and friend, was able to join our ride today. It’s not all too often he gets to come along, so this was a definite treat for us.

Shown in order, Ryan, Lance, Moe, Priscilla, Anthony and some random stranger on the right side.

Vince rode his old skool KHS Single Speed. This machine was actually the motivation for my Sette Reken single speed build project (right behind the KHS). What made today a unique ride was the fact that 3 of us, Vince, Moe and I, were all riding single. Another thing that made this day a bit more sweet was the amount of KHS Bikes we had on the ride. Moe had his Solo One, Anthony was riding the AM2000 that we built, Vince was on his KHS, and well…me, I had a KHS fork, that should count!

Here’s the Three Single Speeding Amigos…

We’re always trying to have fun when we ride. As always, I try to document our adventures…enjoy the video!

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Being an internet celebrity that I am, thanks to MtnBikeRiders, BikeCommuters and the rest of our sites, I constantly get bombarded by fans and the media. So on that note, I took a lesson from many gansta’ rappers and started riding with an entourage for protection as well as prestige.

So here’s the first rule. Find riders that have inferior riding skills and assign them roles. The first would be the Lead. This person is “in charge” of leading the pack. Then you find a REALLY slow rider with Massive Amounts of Discipline, or M.A.D, assign them to be the “sweeper.” Assigning roles to mediocre riders will give them a sense of pride and purpose.

These inferior riders will also be required to dress the part, meaning they should at least look good while riding. Thus the pads, gloves, Fox jerseys, $200 helmets and $3000 bikes. The essence of the entourage is to ride in a pack.

Without the pack, then you look just like a group ride. But the entourage makes you look legit…like a force to be reckon’d with. Here’s an example of a “lead” of the ride.

Here’s a picture of a “sweeper” with M.A.D. Notice how I’m taking the photo in front of him. Do that on occasion and send it to them via email…makes them feel cool.

Keep in mind that you occasionally have to ride up to the Lead and give them a few encouraging words to help motivate them. Say something like, “Hey your calves look bigger, you’ve been riding more huh?” or “Dang man you gotta slow down, I can’t keep up!” Words like that will help boost their self esteem…

One last great thing about an entourage is having people there to show off your skills…cuz remember, none of them can do any of that stuff…especially if you’re Fast And Technical, or F.A.T like me…

To get more information on how to roll with an entourage, send me $19.95 for a CD that will explore all facets of being a Mountain Biking Internet Celebrity.

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I just wanted to boast about how great it is to have massive amounts of discipline in my life. As some of you may know I have massive amounts of discipline in my life but I really don’t like to show it off. I may boast about it but to put it out there for everybody to see/read is disrespectful. Anyways, I exhibit this m.a.d. by making difficult tasks look easy.

For example: I always play the sweeper role on all group rides, a difficult task. I ably play this role because I have m.a.d. in my life. Some people think I ably play this role because I’m slow but this is not the case. It’s because I have m.a.d. If I didn’t have m.a.d. I would be the total jerk and leave everybody in the dust because I am actually super duper fast. Sometimes though, I don’t play sweeper but that’s because I am too impatient with everybody’s slow pace not because I lack in massive amounts of discipline in my life.

As a sweeper, this is my view. Thankfully I have m.a.d.

Another example of the m.a.d. in my life is how I never drink beer after rides, a very difficult task. Some people think I don’t drink beer because I hate the taste of beer but this is not true. I actually like the taste of beer as long as it comes in a tasteless, no calorie, no sugar, no hops, no barley, clear version – somewhat akin to water – if it looks like beer and tastes like beer, I don’t like it. Making difficult tasks look easy, the result of m.a.d. in my life.

Lastly, I never like boasting about how good a rider I am, a supremely difficult task indeed. When the time comes to clear some nasty technical portion of the trail I always get off the bike and walk it because I have m.a.d. and I don’t like showing people up. In reality I could totally clear that 17 foot drop on my rigid 29er but if you can’t do it on your 8� freeride bike, I exhibit m.a.d. in my life and I walk it… just like you. Most people incorrectly assume I do this because I have no skills, but this is not true. It’s because I have m.a.d.

My m.a.d. prevents me from one-upping Ryan Leech

In conclusion, I have massive amounts of discipline in my life. If you would like m.a.d. in your life too come ride with me and my m.a.d. might just rub off on you.

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Check it out! The Huffy Lakota Women’s Bicycle from Toys R Us. It comes with an inverted fork that decreases the rake of the bike and throws all those geometry numbers out the window. Who needs geometry anyway? All we’re doing is riding bikes.

Also, make sure to check out the XC race friendly front brakes. The brakes are located behind the fork to reduce drag and increase breaking… I mean braking power.

Click here for more info!

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This weekend two groups from MtnBikeRiders.com headed out to Turnbull Canyon for some trail riding. Moe and I conducted our own ride while Jeremy and his posse hit up the trail from the other end. Though we were all essentially on the same trail we never did see each other.

Both Moe and I rode KHS Bikes, he was on his Alite and I was riding the KHS XCT 535…sweet bike.

We made a little video showing how much fun we were having out there…check out Moe’s moves around 1:03.

We then finished it off with a great breakfast in Downtown Whittier.

Hopefully Jeremy’s group had a fun and safe ride.

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Hello Sirs and Madams,

My name is RL Policar, mountain biker extraordinaire. I would like to petition your company as well as your competitors to please start making saddles that don’t feel like a brick.

We understand that the bicycle seat industry has tried so many variations to make the rider more comfy…but WTF is this? It looks more like a spoiler that goes on a badly customized Mazda…

Then you guys came up with this thing…it looks like a prostate exam that’s waiting to happen…and it doesn’t call you back!

But what was funny is that a few guys kinda took matters into their own hands and designed a bike around the best place to sit…on a couch.

So rather than trying to look cool with your shinny carbon saddles, anatomic cut outs and stuff. Why not ask the regular guy what they would want. I’m sure they’d all agree that a saddle that combines the comfy-ness of a couch and performance like that prostate exam thing you guys made would be a great saddle.

Thanks for listening,

RL Policar
Mountain Biking Aficionado

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Yesterday I was riding solo again. But I realized that any time I saw someone ahead, it motivated me to ride harder and eventually pass them up.

Now keep in mind, I’m not the fastest person on the trail, but when I do see someone in front, I start playing the songs from The Collective in my head and pump my legs so they’re spinning as fast as a little hamster on a wheel. Sometimes this is hard to do since my SS’s drive train is only 32/18, but it sure feels good when I say “on your left.”

Let me give you a detailed account of my break down of the peleton out on the Fullerton Loop yesterday. Once I got to the parking lot, I got ready and by this time, I had seen at least 3 groups that had already left. So that meant I was already plotting my “attack mode” on the trail. The first goal was to catch up the last group. About 5 of them, 4 men and 1 woman. The woman was the last person on the train. I spun my little legs through the the first single track and when it split into a Y, I called out “on your left!…Good morning!” Remember all this time I’m playing music in my head. This time it this song from the opening scene of the Collective, something about “trippin.”

Anyhow, I see her other trail buddies, and they’re cruising at a pace that would be considered relaxed vibe, but I’m not cuz’ I’m mentally in a race and I’ve got my bibs and an actual jersey on, so that means I’m riding in XC style. Now the music changes….to Celine Dione…What? Wait no…let me hit the FFWD button in my brain! Ok now we’ve got some Barry Manilow…WTF!?! NO! FFWD again…ok got some Slackstring playing Sunday Jen…ok much better, I get back into my “racing” groove and I steadily pick off one rider after another. Eventually I’ve managed to completely pass that whole group. Yes it still counts even if they stopped to wait for the other riders, I still passed them…so it counts!

Now I’m cruising along towards a gradual climb. This section of the Loop goes through a farm like place where the group ahead of me is obviously taunting me because they’re riding super slow. The knee high socks, backwards helmets, and jeans make me think these guys are either newbies on the trail or it was a clever ploy to disguise themselves since they were actually some fast XC racers. You know the kind, all skin and muscles…yup that’s what they were! The MGX and Mongoose mountain bikes they rode look like they were from Wal Mart, but I think they used these bikes as their training bikes….Anyhow, I pass every single one of them without a problem…

Now I’m getting to this gradual climb that really just sucks. It’s a pavement climb along a park that is right after Rosecrans Ave. I spot my next group of victims…3 guys on big heavy all mountain bikes. I pluck them off one at a time and I get to the top of the hill ready to hurl…By this time my mental music player is blaring some Rocky music…Eye of the Tiger!

As I make my way through the trails I only encounter one more group. But I gave them mercy and shut off my racing mode and even turned down the music in my head, that way the I can hear the voices that normally talk to me….what? No I didn’t say anything about you! Shut up!….Sorry, that was Bad RL wanting to come out and play. So back to my pretend racing. By the time I got back to the car, I felt great because I had just gotten on the podium! That’s right I placed in this race and as I look out into the crowd, my kids are cheering, and Priscilla is winking at me! Not bad eh? I didn’t even pay an entry fee!

I know you guys can relate because mental racing makes riding solo a bit more fun!

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The last time I reported about Lil’ Bryan, I mentioned that he was missing. Well I found him swimming in the washing machine…yeah I felt bad since I left him in my shorts pocket when I did laundry…So to make up for it, Lil’ Bryan and I spent some quality time this weekend.

We started off our Saturday morning by waking up at 3:45 am and dragging my 3 daughters to the Newport Beach Pier for some fishing. Lil’ Bryan likes to see where we’re going so he hopped onto the dash board but I scolded him and said that it wasn’t safe to ride with out a seat belt.

With that said, he agreed to get cozy in my overalls pocket.

Once we got the pier, we quickly got set up and Breanna caught a fish, I think it was some sort of Croaker. Our friend Brian and his kids had joined us that morning.

Lil’ Bryan wanted to get close and see the fish she caught…

He got a little too close, and fell in the bucket in which the angry fish tried to eat him! Luckily Garret saved him…

Here’s my girls, Aleah, Breanna and Alyssa in front of the Dory Fish Market next to the pier.

Lil’ Bryan felt left out, so he insisted that he got a solo shot of him…

Then later that day Breanna and I went down to the Fullerton Loop on the Xtracycle to see if we can get some bamboo for a bicycle project that I’m working on. Lil’ Bryan came along.

We found a perfect bamboo tree to pick a small piece from.

Lil’ Bryan helped picked the right one.

As the weekend rolled through, Lil’ Bryan literally went everywhere I went. In fact he was at church with me this morning, but I forgot my camera…

Next weekend we’ll be going somewhere special, so stay tuned for more Adventures with Lil’ Bryan!

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