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Ashley and Zube trace PRT's July 2026 midsummer reset, from Brandon van Baggen's Long Ride Home and veteran mental health mission to SDIT results, Big Bear, service work, and the next road-racing block.
The PRT Monthly Ride Report is the official monthly podcast of Padyak Racing Team, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cycling organization in South County San Diego. Each episode brings the latest from the PRT newsletter to life with updates on road racing, crits, track, multisport, juniors, women’s riding, team events, volunteer opportunities, sponsor spotlights, and the community work that powers our club. Whether you race, ride, volunteer, or support the team, this is your monthly connection to the people, events, and mission behind PRT.
Ashley: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Padyak Racing Team Monthly Updates. This July 2026 check-in has a very different feel from the last couple of months, because the spring surge is behind us now. The huge race weekends happened, the podium photos happened, the long volunteer days happened, and what you hear in July is the club settling into summer. It is hotter, it is a little slower on the road-racing side, and it is also, honestly, a really good moment to see what PRT looks like when the calendar is not all pointing at one single weekend. You get the regular rides, the small acts of service, the people planning mountain getaways, and one really powerful story about why somebody rides home in the first place. So yes, hydrate, because everybody in the club is saying that right now. But also, this month feels like a reminder that momentum is not only about speed. Sometimes it is about staying connected through the middle of the season.
Zube: Yeah, exactly. June was quieter if you only looked at road-race results, but if you actually look at what PRT was doing, it was still full of motion. It was just motion in a broader, more human way. Brandon van Baggen started a two-thousand-two-hundred-kilometer ride from Portland to Coronado on July 7. The multisport crew raced the San Diego International Triathlon on June 28 and put together a really solid day. Members were already looking toward Manhattan Beach on July 12, Costa Mesa on July 19, and the Dick Evans Memorial in Hawaii on August 23. There is volunteer work happening, there are conversations with local civic leaders about cycling access, and there is even this very charming new marketplace that tells you the club has become its own little ecosystem. So the theme of July, to me, is that PRT is not coasting after a big spring. It is regrouping, widening out, and showing all the ways a team can matter when there is not a finish line right in front of you.
Ashley: We should start with Brandon's Long Ride Home, because that is the emotional center of this whole month for me. A lot of people in the club know Brandon as a racer, a ride leader, a volunteer, or just somebody who has been part of the rhythm of PRT for years. What some people might not have realized is that after more than twenty-one years in the U.S. Navy, he began terminal leave this summer and is set to retire later in 2026. And to mark that transition, he started this huge ride on July 7 from Portland, Oregon, down to Coronado, California. That is more than two thousand kilometers on the bike, which is already a massive undertaking. But what makes it land so hard is that it is not just an endurance project. It is tied to veteran mental health, identity, service, and the question of what it means to find your way into the next chapter of your life.
Zube: And the details really matter here. Brandon structured the ride around twenty-two checkpoints, representing the veterans the country loses to suicide each day. He partnered with Project Echelon, which is a veteran nonprofit that uses cycling and community to educate, equip, and empower veterans beyond their military service. That is such a specific, grounded idea. It is not symbolic in some vague way. It is deeply connected to the actual challenges veterans face when service ends and the structure of everyday life changes. What I also loved is how clearly Brandon tied that story back to PRT. He basically said this ride would not exist without cycling, and cycling would not have become such a major part of his life without the team. He came through the club from being a Category 5 novice to becoming somebody who now mentors newer riders. So this is one person's journey, but it also feels like a PRT story about how a bike club can change the shape of a life.
Ashley: Totally. And I think what makes it feel so inviting, instead of distant, is that there was a way for the broader community to take part. The virtual version of the Long Ride Home ran from July 7 through July 28, and people could ride indoors or outdoors, log miles, and support the mission from wherever they were. I love that because it lowers the barrier in exactly the right way. You do not have to be the person crossing state lines on your bike to be part of the energy around it. You can show up for the cause, you can donate, you can follow along, and you can let the ride remind you that veterans do not have to navigate those transitions alone. The line that stayed with me was veterans do not fight alone, we ride together. That is simple, but it says so much about why cycling communities matter. They give you a reason to keep moving, and they give you people to move with.
Zube: And once you zoom back out from that story, the rest of the month starts to make more sense. July is full of the ordinary club rhythms that support the big emotional moments. The Wednesday Chula Vista Coastal Hills Loop is still there at eight in the morning. The Saturday Donut Ride is still rolling out from Coronado or Imperial Beach depending on where you jump in. The Border Loop is still there from Trek South Bay for riders who want a friendlier mixed-pace option. And PRT keeps reminding everybody to RSVP when they are coming, because the club is big enough now that logistics matter. That sounds small, but it is actually part of how this thing works. A mature club is not only about who wins races. It is about whether the weekly touchpoints feel dependable, welcoming, and organized. July has a lot of that. Heat, hydration, steady miles, and people still finding each other week after week.
Ashley: Another summer thread I really liked was Tour de Big Bear on August 1. Even though it is a single event on the calendar, it sounds like one of those weekends that becomes a memory people talk about for years. Dan Mahaffey described it as this really well-run mountain ride with options for road, gravel, and mountain bike riders, plus the expo and all the post-ride atmosphere that makes it feel like more than just a start line and finish line. And Freddy apparently secured a cabin for the weekend, which changes the whole energy of it. Now it is not just, hey, show up and do your ride. It is a little PRT summer trip. You drive up, settle in, ride hard, hang out, and get that mountain air reset after months of local racing and local logistics. I can see why that would appeal to both competitive riders and members who mostly want a strong, beautiful weekend on the bike with friends.
Zube: Right, and that fits with the road-racing update too, because Jesse Moniz more or less said June was a recovery month. There was no racing in June, and after the first six months of the season that sounds earned. People got some family time, got in good group rides, and started preparing for the next block. But the competitive side is definitely still simmering. The Racer Cup top three stayed tight with Gael Sosa at one hundred twenty-seven points, Amelia Conkel right behind at one hundred twenty-five, and Sergio Lugo at ninety-eight. That two-point gap between first and second is still spicy. From that July moment, the next road-race block ran through Manhattan Beach Grand Prix on July 12 and Costa Mesa Grand Prix on July 19, with Hawaii's Dick Evans Memorial on August 23 still ahead, and PRT was even covering Airbnb space for eight people. So July is not sleepy. It is more like the pause between efforts, where everybody is recovering just enough to go hard again.
Ashley: I also liked the sponsor spotlight this month because it felt very grounded and local. Dalton Subaru is a first-year Silver Tier sponsor, and what stood out was not just that they are backing the team financially. It is that Jose Deanda, the sales manager, is an avid local cyclist, and Monica Salem on the marketing side is clearly invested in the relationship too. Then you hear that at La Copa San Diego they brought two vehicles, a canopy, cold water, electrolytes, swag, and even gave away a bike hitch rack to one of the women on the pro podium. That is the kind of support people remember. It is not abstract. It is there on race day, helping the event feel looked after. I think after all the June talk about La Copa delivering on every level, it was nice to hear a July follow-up that showed one more way local partners were part of making that weekend feel real.
Zube: And then you get to the service side of the month, which is maybe the purest expression of PRT being bigger than racing. Dzuyen Tran's update starts with the June Adopt-A-Highway cleanup and a volunteer list that is small enough to feel personal: Edward Sarinas, Freddy Lindo, John Fischer, and even a Facebook community member named Mark who just showed up and pitched in. The next cleanup was set for July 11, and there is this steady invitation to keep showing up for that kind of work. Then Dzuyen reminds people about the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility, where even one hour a month walking a shelter dog can make a difference. That is such a specific ask. Not save the world. Just give one lonely dog a walk. And on top of that, the June Volunteer Initiative Program winners were Edward Sarinas, Elsa Cortez, and Miguel Sosa. So the club is rewarding service while also making service feel accessible. That balance is hard to do well.
Ashley: Yes, and that community-minded energy carries right into the local leadership piece. PRT spent part of this period meeting with Chula Vista Councilmember Jose Preciado to talk about the needs of cyclists in the city, and I think that matters a lot. It is easy to imagine a club staying focused only on its own events, its own kits, its own race weekends. But this is the opposite of that. This is a team saying, okay, what would actually make it easier and safer for more people to ride here, from recreational riders all the way to racers? That is how you help cycling grow beyond your own membership list. And then right next to that is the velodrome note, which I thought was great. Track season is still going through September, and if riders want to get a one-day race certification for Tuesday Night Racing or Friday Night Racing, they can reach out and get involved. So you have civic engagement on one side and a new discipline on the other. That is real breadth.
Zube: The multisport side had that same breadth in July. Mario Valdes highlighted the San Diego International Triathlon from June 28, and it sounds like a very PRT kind of event because the course itself is so scenic and so local. Spanish Landing, the ride up toward Cabrillo Monument, the run along the harbor, that is beautiful terrain. And the results were strong too. James Wersal and Mario both took second in their age groups. Joshua Sappington got third. Jessica Flores was fourth. Karla Vejar-Preece was fifth. Cruz Rodriguez finished seventh. Then Giancarlo Coca went and did the La Jolla Shores Pier-to-Cove swim in rough water, which is just a very different flavor of hard. And, and beyond that one day, there is a bigger progression happening. Road to Ruidoso training is complete. Two athletes are preparing for Ironman seventy point three Ruidoso at altitude. Solana Beach on July 26 carried the San Diego Tri Series forward, with Chula Vista, Mission Bay, Santa Cruz, and the rest of the fall still ahead from there.
Ashley: Can we also spend a second on the new PRT Marketplace? Because it is not the biggest story in the month, but it is maybe one of the most revealing. The minute a club launches a member marketplace, you realize it has reached a new stage of life. Now it is not only about races and rides. It is also about the circulation of gear, trust, and inside knowledge. There is something very funny and very lovable about a list that goes from a ten-dollar Dura-Ace front hub to a fifty-five-hundred-dollar Cervelo frameset, with team socks and saddles and wheelsets and bar tape in between. It feels like a clubhouse bulletin board for people who have fully embraced the sport. And I like that Jesse framed it around current members treating buyers with integrity and kindness. Even this small thing is being set up in a way that reflects the club's culture. It is practical, a little quirky, and very community-first.
Zube: That is why my main takeaway from July is that it is a connective-tissue month. It is not trying to overwhelm you with one giant result sheet. It is showing how all the pieces stay linked together between the headline weekends. Brandon's Long Ride Home ties personal transition to club identity and to a cause bigger than the bike. The weekly rides keep the community visible. Big Bear and Hawaii give racers and recreational riders something to point toward. Dzuyen's volunteer notes and the councilmember meetings show that PRT wants to be useful where it lives. Multisport keeps broadening what the team can look like. The marketplace even says something about permanence, like this is a club with enough density now that members can help each other find their next bike or their next pair of socks. It all adds up to a team that knows how to hold momentum without constantly needing a single marquee event to prove it.
Ashley: And maybe that is the best way to put a bow on it. July 2026 sounds like PRT in the middle of the season learning how to pace itself well. There is still ambition everywhere you look. The Racer Cup is tight. Big races are coming. Triathletes are stacking results. People are talking about track certification and mountain weekends and Hawaii travel. But the month also makes space for reflection, service, and care. Brandon's ride gives the whole update a real emotional spine, because it reminds you that the bike is not only a machine for competition. Sometimes it is how people process change, honor people they care about, and carry themselves into a new life. So if you are part of PRT right now, keep showing up. Hydrate. RSVP. Walk the shelter dog if that is your lane. Pin on a number for the next road or tri start if that is your lane. Support the rider crossing state lines for veteran mental health if that is your lane. There is room for all of it. See you out there.