Cycling this week - 11-04-2012

This past Saturday, Irit and I rode up to the Santa Fe dam and back, 23 miles in total.  She said she only wanted to ride 15 miles, so conveniently, I had another bout of dyslexia. We were both proud of her when we got home.  On Sunday, I drove out to Santa Clarita and rode up to lake Piru with Nabeel, 50 miles round trip from his house.  Both days were very warm with Santa Ana wind conditions.  One of these days I'm going to have to ride Hwy 126 to the beach and back when we have a normal wind pattern, I'm sick of the dusty headwind.  On the way back up 126 we were passed by a red Ferrari going much faster than the speed limit, and a quarter of a mile back a Hwy Patrol car in hot pursuit.  We caught up and passed them while the Hwy Patrol was writing the guy a ticket.

Here we are over looking lake Piru - it's pretty dried up.

Cycling this week - 10-29-2012

I decided it was finally time to get caught up on this blog after a few weeks of silence.  So let’s see, back on October 3^rd and 4^th, I commuted to work for 30 miles.  Then I took two weeks off the bike and traveled back east to visit my folks. When I returned, Irit and I rode 13 miles up through Monrovia and back.  On the 21^st I rode 26 miles up the river trail to the Santa Fe dam and back.  This past weekend I rode 20 miles with Irit, up to the Rose Bowl and back.  Yesterday I rode up over Glendora Mtn. Road with Nabeel. We took a little detour through Monrovia and Sierra Madre on the way back so we could indulge in some Coffee Bean goodness.  I don't think the weather could have been much better, unlike back east where everyone is bracing for the frankenstorm, but you know, I think I might have gotten a little sunburn on my legs while I was sipping my ice blended mocha.  That ride was 64 miles and about 5,000 feet of climbing.  So there you have it, only about 150 miles this month, I’m going to have to get my act together if I’m going to keep up with my buddies on the Tour de Foothills in two weeks.

You never know what you'll see up on top of GMR.  Here was an old car, a Pope Hartford, that was driven up here by a brave sole.

 

Here we are in front of it.

 

 

Here is Nabeel with his "Death Ride" jersey on - in celebration of Halloween.

There's nothing like a chocolaty, icy, coffee drink accompanied by a chocolaty pastry to cure your hunger pains late in the afternoon.

 

Here is some uneditied video I shot with my old Blackberry phone.  I'm going to have to get better at this, but it shows more of the old car and the crowd that gathered out in the middle of nowhere.

 

 

Cycling this week - 09-30-2012

It finally started to cool down a little this past work week, so I commuted to work and back on Tuesday and Thursday, adding another 30 miles to my total for the week. 

On Saturday, it started to heat up again.  Irit and I rode over to the Santa Fe dam and up the river trail to Duarte.  It was Irit’s longest ride to date, 25 miles.

On Sunday, I rode down the LA river trail to Long Beach, Then up the San Gabriel river trail back home.  It was scorching hot the last 20 miles.  When I got home, it was 104 degrees in the shade.  I told Irit that now I knew what her broiled Tilapia felt like, if you had peeled back my skin, I would have been tender white flaky flesh, broiled to perfection.  I rode 72 miles.

 

Here is a picture of Irit at the end of our ride on Saturday.  She felt pretty good for just finishing the longest ride of her young cycling career.

 

Here is a stitched together picture of the Long Beach harbour taken from the lighthouse on Sunday around 11:45 AM - there are 6 pictures put together here, so you will have to click and open it up to see it in full size.

 

 

 

Hre is a picture of a sailing class that was taking place just off of the Belmont pier.  The instructors were on the pier yelling down to the students.

 

And last, but not least, this guy was just sitting on the railing of the pier, watching the people walk by, and not paying any attention at all.

 

 

 

Cycling this week - 09-23-2012

On Saturday, Irit and I rode up to the Rose Bowl and back.  UCLA was playing a football game against someone, I mean, who really pays attention to UCLA anyway. Despite the potential for crowds, we decided to go and see what was happening, and check out all the tailgaters.  When we got down into the Rose Bowl, the security told us we had to leave, so we convinced them we would leave via one of the other exits.  After riding along and checking out the tailgating for a while, we had almost reached the exit.  Just then, two policemen on motorcycles stopped us and told us we had to leave.  We explained that we were on our way out, at which point I jumped on my bike and started riding towards the exit.  Irit thought she might have a conversation with them and started asking them questions.  To her surprise, they were in no mood, and told her to go, several times, as she thanked them for not arresting her. 

After riding out of the Rose Bowl, we stopped at the Gamble house for a break.  Irit took the opportunity to use a few choice words to describe her encounter with some of Pasadena’s finest.  We rode about 20 miles.

On Sunday, I rode out to Glendora and back.  I was on my way further East, but the temperature just got to the point where I had to turn around.  When I got home, it was 102 degrees in the shade.  I rode 40 miles and almost died from heat exhaustion.  No pictures from Sunday's ride, its just the same old stuff.

From Saturday, here is Irit taking a break at the Gamble house.

 

As it turns out, being chased by the cops is tiring.

 

 

 

Cycling this week - 09-08-2012

This past weekend Nabeel and I drove up to Mammoth for the High Sierra Fall Century.  We got up there just before midnight on Friday night and managed to sleep to 6 AM, so, not too bad a start.  We stayed at the Shilo Inn, which had a pretty good free breakfast and it started at 6 AM, so we had plenty of time to chow down before the ride, which, it turns out was a good thing. 

The weather was great, it was about 65 degrees and sunny when we started at 7:50 AM, and it only got warmer throughout the day.  The ride starts at a 7,000 foot elevation and goes up and down between that and about 8,100 foot elevation throughout the day.  The total climbing is about 6,000 feet, which isn’t so bad, but when coupled with the elevation, makes for some pretty heavy breathing.  Throw in a pretty good headwind on the second half of the ride, and it becomes pretty challenging. 

The ride itself was probably the most beautiful ride I have ever done.  The scenery is just magnificent, (look at the pictures) and the roads had very few cars.  The rest stops were not stocked with very much food, unless you liked orange slices and trail mix.  The second to the last stop was the only one with anything other than water to drink.  Nabeel and I relied mostly on our large breakfast and what we brought with us for nutrition.  At the end of the ride, all they had was barbequed pork sandwiches.  If it wasn’t for the beer, they would have been in big trouble.  If I do this ride next year, I’m bringing my own Subway sandwich. 

All in all, it was a good day, the scenery made up for the lack of food.  We rode the 95 miles in 6 hours 38 minutes.

 

Nabeel and I at the start

 

Nabeel going on down the road (Hwy 395) during the first 15 miles

 

Mono Lake

 

Nabeel in front of Mono Lake

 

 

Me in front of Mono Lake

 

Just some scenery off to the side of the road

 

 

Nabeel is having a good time

 

More good times

 

Some more scenery off to the side of the road - about half way through

 

More scenery

 

 

Nabeel in front of scenery

 

 

Me in front of scenery - look at the clouds

 

 

Nabeel at one of the many summits, this one is Wildrose

 

 

Me at the summit of Wildrose - still smiling

 

 

More scenery

 

 

More scenery

 

 

The clouds started rolling in about 1:30 PM

 

 

 

Nabeel crossing the top of yet another summit

 

 

Lucky for us, the rain stayed off to the side of the road - looks like we were going to be beamed up to the mother ship

 

 

A river runs through it

 

 

Here I am close to the end, probably complaining to Nabeel about something

 

 

 

 

Cycling this week - 09-02-2012

Labor day weekend means I can party after riding on Sunday because I don't have to get up and go to work the next day.  Jen, Rich, and Nabeel met at my house on Sunday and we rode down to the beach and back.  We stopped at Chronic Tacos in Long Beach for our usual grilled fish tacos, then headed over to Seal Beach for our usual iced mocha coffee drinks at Javatini's, then we rode home with our tummies full and our bodies caffeinated.  Once home, we commenced our party and BBQ activities.  We rode 72 miles.

Here is Rich, Jen, and Nabeel before we left my house in the morning.  They all have their "King of the mountains" jerseys on.

 

Here is Jen, rocking the pink sash that says: "It's a queen thing"

 

Here they are down at the lighthouse in Long Beach.

 

Here we all are in Long Beach.

 

Here they are in the evening, Simon joined us for dinner.

Cycling this week - 08-26-2012

On Saturday, Irit and I rode up to the Castle Green hotel in Pasadena to check out the grounds and see where my oldest daughter Lauren is planning on getting married.  Afterwards, we made our way back through Pasadena to San Marino where we stopped for a break at Lacey Park.  We rode 14 miles in all.

On Sunday, I rode down the Rio Hondo river trail to the San Gabriel river trail and up to the Santa Fe dam.  After last weeks double metric, I just didn't think I had taxed myself enough, so I then rode up Azuza canyon to the bridge that leads to East Fork.  I watched the off-roaders for awhile, then turned around and came home.  I rode 59 miles in 3:40.

Here is Irit on the way up to Pasadena, she's looking pretty cocky lately, oh, I mean confident.

 

She must not of had a very big breakfast, as she is catching flies again, or maybe she's just reacting to something I said.

 

 

Here I am traveling up the river trail toward the mountains. The ones you can barely see in the background are the ones that I rode up later.

 

 

On the way up Azusa canyon (Hwy 39).

 

 

The intersection where Hwy 39 and East Fork come together at the bridge.

 

 

Here is the bridge that crosses the river and leads to East Fork.  Off roaders drive aound the river bed below it.

 

 

On the way home I stopped by the ranger station to refill my water bottles.  Here is a metal statue out in front of the station