Hello! Yes it’s crazy Rylo back at the Blogging–Yippee!  What is the occasion you ask? Ryloride2! Now this is about as different as you can get from last years ride in that 3 of us are going it alone but we are doing the fun part of the ride–Santa Monica to San Diego. We are replicating the last 2 days of the CAF ride (SM to OC, OC to SD) so we can end up in San Diego for a day or 2 of relaxation and ROBERTOS!  The reason for the ride? I turned 50! I know can you believe this knucklehead is 50 (photo from my 2 day Photography class from Monterey to 70 miles down the coast!).

I get so excited. I digress, so I turned 50 and Nathan mentioned meeting in SD for Robertos and after a lot of intense thinking Ryloride2 was born! To begin I will introduce you to my 2 bike mates–aka The Players.

First we have Mr. Bobby Jaskolski my former boss of 12 years and my still friend of over 20. Bobby does live in Jersey and has 5 kids but his zest for life and enthusiasm for outdoor adventure has led him to head West to tackle the 150 mile 2 dayer.  Although this would qualify as a very long ride for Bobby he is in fantastic physical condition and was recently on American Ninja Warrior. Bobby is the youngest of 19 children and his father was a famous mobster who killed over 100 people before entering the Witness Protection Program. Oh wait, sorry, that was the documentary I was watching the other night my bad. I guess I dont know much about Bobby ( we will change that!) other than he was born and raised in Detroit and attended Univ of Michigan where he was valedictorian and the Starting quarterback.  In college his nickname was the motor city madman but as he aged he became an avid Kid Rock fan. I am actually serious on this one. He has seen tons of concerts and even went on a Kid Rock Cruise. Yes, I guess they have those. After so many concerts I think Bobby is starting to look a bit like Kid Rock but maybe that’s just me–Ladies and Gentlemen– I give you Bobby J!

The second participant is Mr. Nathan Rose.  Nathan attended the finest University in the World, UCSD (wait, I went there!) , but I met him when he was the Jr Buck at one of my accts in LA way back when. I guess I am like a dumb mentor to Nathan. Nathan is probably 34 and although he has never ridden a bike–as in never–he is a runner and can bang out a marathon just behind the guy from Kenya. Nathan is 6’8″ or so and was married just over a year ago to his lovely wife Taylor.  Taylor graduated from Tulane where she was a Rhodes scholar and the Captain and #1 Violinist For the Tulane Musical Group “The Wicked Strings”. Here we are at his wedding last september:

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Like Bobby J Nathan lives back east currently residing in a fantastic home in Brooklyn where he sits on many Boards. Even though Nathan isn’t a rider he comes from a family of extreme and well decorated athletes–Between them they have 3 Olympic Golds and Countless World Cup Titles.  When I asked Nathan what his training technique was going to be he responded “well I’ve been researching other riders and I read some books and ummm they had some techniques in them that ummm I might try out.” Well I hadnt seen Nathan in a while but I do think he looks a bit different, no? 

He told me we need a big cooler for some reason or other.

And, then there is me. Yes, the 3 of us. Nobody else except our awesome support staff of one–but there is the possibility that our staff might double to 2 so I will leave that for another day! The bikes are almost ready (yes we are using my 3 bikes) so the journey begins Monday when I head out for LA in my new used bike car–the 2011 Highlander! Get ready its gonna be fantastic.