Greg,

To ride fast you need to ride fast. You can do intervals by yourself, or better yet--get with a group of guys who ride fast.

You can just throw in some hard one or two minute intervals with some five minute rest efforts in between on almost any ride. If you do this a couple times each week, you will get faster. As you progress you can lengthen the intervals to 4 or 5 or 10 minutes.

I used to ride with a group out of the Incycle Bike shop in Chino (just south of the 60--on Mountain, I think). They ride about 50 miles on Saturday mornings. It usually is several short race efforts punctuated with slower riding and waiting for the group to come back together at 7 or 8 designated spots along the way. They start around 8. If you call the bike shop they can tell you the time to meet. If you can't hack the entire 50, you can always break off and ride back--I've had do do it a few times, and it's not uncommon.

A great place to ride and do interval work alone or with others is GMR--Glendora Mountain Road out of Glendora. If you drive up the hill from the HS, you stay on the road through the left turn the and then make an immediate right on GMR up the hill. You can park at the hight school below or about 1/2 mile up GMR at the wide spot on the left.

I use to ride this a lot also--used to love it. Take your time starting out in your lowest gear to warm up for about ten minutes, and then just do some hard one minute efforts with 3 or 4 minute "rest" intervals between. You can do this anywhere, on a hill like GMR, or on a flat course where it's easier to rest between hard efforts.

GMR is on your way home from Pasadena, and, during the week and also on weekends, there's almost no traffic.

There are a lot of guys who race in your area and many of them love to swoop down on an unsuspecting cyclist while on a training ride and "smoke" him at speed as they go by. I used to ride in your area myself and have done it and had it done to me frequently. It's a game.

For coaching/training advice buy and read CYCLING PAST 50, by Joe Friel--far and away the best book for an older rider who wants to get fast. It's very comprehensive. Joe has also writen THE CYCLISTS TRAINING BIBLE and has an interactive web site for those who use him as a coach. Another guy that's good to read is Coach Carl online. He's a bit eccentric but fun and knowledgable.

I used to live in La Verne before moving to North East California. I miss racing and some of the cycling down there, but not the smog and the traffic.

Best of Luck Greg--and keep riding. Dave