Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today, I got to go on the Saturday club ride for the first time since March. The ride was out to La Verne. It was a nice day, but the humidity was high by SoCal standards, so everyone was complaining about it.

As always, the group fragmented immediately at the start. Gene and I were the fast group. When we got to Gladstone St, we saw the PAA Coach Rick ride go by. This was the ride that I went on once last March. A couple of the guys in the group were people we knew, so we chased them for a couple miles to catch up and talk. Then they turned off and we continued on to La Verne.

We stopped at Coffeeberry, since they have a nice shaded patio. Then we continued on past the L.A. County Fair Grounds. I told everyone how I’m entering my blueberry muffins in the fair this year. Then we rode into Bonelli Park, around the lake and then headed for home.

On the way back, I saw a trailer park where the front street was “Space St”, and the cross streets were named for the original Mercury astronauts. I think this will have to be a sightseeing trip some time in the future.

It was a nice ride.

58 miles.
cycling

A week or so ago, my girlfriend was telling me about her friends who live in Shadow Hills. That’s the horse neighborhood off Sunland Blvd in the northeast San Fernando Valley. She said that their neighbors have an emu and a llama named Lorenzo living in their front yard. So of course I had to find out where so we could do a sightseeing ride up there. It turned out that it was only about a three-block detour off the “No Tuna for Me” route that we do. So this was today’s bike ride.

It was a perfect day for riding. We started off across Pasadena and Eagle Rock, and then across Glendale into Burbank. We took Glenoaks Blvd up to Sun Valley and turned on Peoria St, just before the big dump. And then we headed into horse country. We wound around in there a bit before we ended up in front of the llama house.

There was a sheep, a goat, an emu, and then Lorenzo the Llama. They were all friendly and curious, and they came up to the fence to check us out. So we all got souvenir pictures with them. It was a good piece of weird Los Angeles sightseeing.

The route back went through Tujunga and Montrose. Then we stopped at Goldstein’s for a bagel before heading home.

It was a nice ride.

44 miles.
cycling

I bought Lucinda a new bike last Monday, and she’s been excited to go riding. So we’ve gone on a few short rides in the evening, and today, I took her on a small sightseeing ride. She asked to go somewhere without hills, and not too far away. So we rode down to see the weird castle-house I found in Pasadena some time ago.

It was a nice day for riding, and we even stopped off on the way home and got a new lamp for the house at a yard sale.

After work this evening, I had a little free time before the main part of my evening began, so I went for a short bike ride. I did my usual route down through San Marino and then up the water tower hill in South Pasadena. Then up to the Rose Bowl. I rode around the Bowl two or three times before it was time to head home to get cleaned up. Then I took my usual route home through Altadena. It was a weird day. The sunlight and the sky were reddish, like there’s a big brushfire somewhere far away. It made everything look strange, but there was not smoke smell, so it was fine for riding.

26 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was an old favorite. Out to Glendora for a snack at Classic Coffee in Old Town. We also decided to take a little side trip to see Rubel’s Castle.

It was a perfect day for riding. We started out from the park, and we saw a nice abandoned couch on Sierra Madre Blvd. Then we continued on out through Arcadia and Temple City to Irwindale. We saw the topiary teddy bears along the way. We also saw the original hot rod mailbox.

We stopped for our snack at Classic Coffee, and then we headed up the hill to Rubel’s Castle.

The route back was the standard route through Monrovia and Arcadia. When we got back to the park, I had 37 miles and nothing pressing to do. So I kept riding. I rode down to South Pasadena with Jon, and then I headed up Arroyo to the Rose Bowl. I went around once and then went up the hill to collect the hot rod mailbox I’d seen last week. Then home through Altadena.

It was a nice little ride.

60 miles.
cycling

I went riding this evening after work, but there are no pictures. About five miles out, I realized that I’d left the camera on top of the filing cabinet by the back door. D’oh!

I rode down to the Rose Bowl to meet up with some other riders, but on the way there, I saw smoke from a brush fire over the hills behind the Bowl. So as it turned out, Verna was the only one who showed, since the others she had talked to had decided not to go after seeing the smoke. So we rode around a few times. The north end of the loop was kind of smoky, so it wasn’t good for riding hard. We tried going up Lida, but the smoke was thicker up there, so we bailed and headed back. Along the way, we passed another hot-rod mailbox in the neighborhood there. And I was very disappointed that I’d forgotten the camera. So we’ll have to go back to get a picture for my collection.

After a few laps, the smoke was getting thicker, so I bailed and headed home by way of South Pasadena and San Marino. There was no smoke there, and the ride home was fairly pleasant.

So it was an all right ride, but not especially good.

31 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was an old favorite of mine. Down to Hollywood, then up the hill to Griffith Observatory, and then over Mt. Hollywood to Burbank and the Valley. This was the first time we’ve done this route since last year.

In Los Feliz, we saw a house with an unusual roofing pattern. Then we headed up the hill into the park. At the observatory, I saw solar-powered Botts Dots. I also got my picture taken with the great astronomers.

Heading over the hill into the Valley, we got to enjoy a nice winding downhill. I got some good action shots of Don and John coming down the hill. Then we went to Priscilla’s in Toluca Lake for bagels.

Coming home, we rode across Glendale and then up and over the stupidly steep little hill on Glenoaks before the long grind up Chevy Chase and Linda Vista. Then the nice sweeping downhill to the Rose Bowl, and then back to the park on Orange Grove.

It was a very nice ride.

45 miles.
cycling

On Saturday morning, I unexpectedly found myself with a couple of hours free. So I went for a bike ride. I went with John from the Sunday group, since he had been planning on doing a short ride, too. We met up near the Rose Bowl and rode down to South Pasadena. Then up and over the hill with the water tower. Then back up the arroyo to the Rose Bowl, and up Linda Vista to La Cañada. We took the bike path back across the dam there, which was new to me. That had a nice view of JPL and the arroyo. Then we headed home by way of Altadena.

It was a very pleasant little ride.

25 miles.
cycling

On Monday, I had a rare free evening, so I went riding. I did my usual route down to South Pasadena, up the hill to the water tower, and then down to the Rose Bowl. I rode around the Bowl a few times. Along the way, I saw an attractive young girl with some major tattoos running there. That’s a sight that always brightens up my day. I also met a guy who had more stickers on his bike than I do. After a few times around, I headed home by my usual route through Altadena. It was a very pleasant way to spend the evening.

30 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike club ride was an old favorite. The Mt Washington route that goes through La Cañada and down into northeast Los Angeles. Then home by way of South Pasadena. It was a typical summer day. Cool in the morning, but it got hot later on.

Tommy joined us today for the first time in a long while. So I got to chat with him and tell about all my adventures of the past year and a half, from the sublime to the ridiculous. It was fun to get caught up.

We rode up past the Self Realization Fellowship on Mt. Washington, and then down the other side and into South Pasadena. We stopped at Kaldi’s for a bagel and juice. Then we took the slightly roundabout route home in order to plump the ride up to the normal 40-mile distance. It was a very fun little ride.

40 miles.
cycling