Stan’s Obligatory Blog

This is the story of my pump. It was my prize for 4th place in a race on May 22, 1977. It’s not the best pump, but it’s still special, since it reminds me of a very good day. And for 30 years I’ve been using it to pump up my tires before every ride.

The race was the Maryland Road Classic in Baltimore. I was racing as a Junior. The race was a criterium around a school. It was mostly flat, but with one small hill. The distance was about 15 miles. This was one of those races where the pack was, for lack of a better word, lazy. They never really got going very fast. Nobody wanted to push the pace.

I rode with the pack, just staying in the group. I wanted to break away, but it seemed that every time I tried, nobody wanted to come along, so I just dropped back into the pack. Somewhere along the way, three guys managed to get away, and I missed it. So when it came down to about three laps to go, I was still in the pack.

At this point, I decided to just go for it. I took off by myself, hoping that someone would come along. Nobody did, but I figured I’d just try to solo to the finish. This didn’t seem like an especially good idea, but I thought that my chances of making it solo to the finish were better than my chances in a pack sprint at the end. So I just put my head down and went for broke.

As it turned out, I gained enough time on the pack that I was able to solo across the finish line for 4th place. This was a Good Thing, since it meant I was one step closer to my goal of upgrading to Category 2. In those days, for a Junior to get Category 2 required three top-three finishes or six top-six finishes, so 4th place counted. I already had one 1st place finish, so I was on my way.

My prize for this was this pump. And I still have and use it to this day, 30 years later.

Route map – going out
Route map – coming back

Today’s ride was out to Culver City to see the West L.A. Grand Prix bicycle race. Philippe, who usually rides with us, was going to be racing.

We headed downtown by way of Huntington Drive and Mission Road. Along the way, Ben got a flat. Because we were on a strict timetable, we had to work fast. Like a NASCAR pit crew. Steve held the bike, Ben took off the tire, Gene got the new tube ready, and I took pictures. We got that flat fixed in just a few minutes and we were on our way again. Then we rode straight through downtown L.A. on Main St all the way down to Adams Ave.

After a right turn on Adams, we were heading west. Back in the late ’80s, we used to read about how the West Adams neighborhood was an up-and-coming hip area for people to buy and renovate the decrepit old mansions there. We didn’t see any evidence of this today, but we weren’t really looking around. The only picture I took there was the “Louisiana Fried Chicken and Chinese Food” place. That was an odd combination.

We took a left on Vineyard Ave, which took us to Farmdale, which is one of the few non-major streets that cross the old railroad tracks there. Those tracks had obviously not been used in a long time, but they are planned as the route of the new Metro Expo Line. Then we took a right on Rodeo Road, which later merged into Jefferson for the last few miles into Culver City.

When we got to the race, the Category 5 men were lined up and ready to go. I saw Philippe in the “A” group. Apparently, there is a rule that they are not allowed to have more than 50 Category 5 riders in a single group. This race got so many entries that they split it into two groups, which started a half-lap apart. I went up to the stand to see about donating a prime for them, but they said that there was a rule that Category 5 races could not have any sort of prizes. So that was out. And the other races were completely full of primes. So oh well. I saved my $20 to fight another day.

The race was pretty good. A breakaway formed pretty early on. Then the two strongest riders dropped the rest of the breakaway. Philippe finished the race, but he was one of the last finishers. Still, it was a good effort for a first-time racer.

We saw Vikki there, but we couldn’t stay for her race. When we were leaving, she was just getting on her trainer to start warming up.

The ride back went up Venice Blvd. Along the way, we passed the old Helms Bakery, which was a big piece of L.A. history. The building sat empty for many years before it was turned into stores some years ago.

When we got near downtown, I saw the mini-mall with “Donuts” and “Fat Away” right next to each other. That was a funny one. Then we turned left on Hoover and headed north. On one of the side streets, we saw an abandoned couch. When I went to get a close look at it, I noticed another couch up the block.

When we got to Wilshire, I realized we’d missed a turn. We were supposed to turn off on Benton Way, but it turned out to have a different name that far south. So we went up the street that was to become Benton Way, and in a few blocks, it did. That was where I saw the third couch.

Benton Way is a good street for riding because it is nice and quiet, but it still has a bridge to cross the Hollywood Freeway. Then it goes up a short but steep hill and we come out on Silver Lake Blvd at the top of the hill. From there, we rode down to Glendale Blvd and over to Fletcher to get back to Eagle Rock.

At the north end of Eagle Rock, we took Yosemite across and then up the Colorado Hill. Then straight home on Orange Grove. Just before we got back to the park, the sun finally came out. It was a nice ride.

*Addendum: I heard from Vikki that she got 3rd place in her race. There’s a small picture here: womenscyclingchallenge.org/blog/index.php/news

52 miles.
cycling

Route map

Today’s bike ride was the classic “Toluca Lake” route. This takes us out to Toluca Lake, just past Burbank so we can go to Priscilla’s. And today, we also got to sightsee the burned edges of Griffith Park on the way back.

We headed west, straight across Eagle Rock and Glendale, and then south to the edge of Griffith Park. We passed the Bette Davis Picnic area and the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Then we took our first sightseeing detour. We went up to Alameda and Buena Vista to see the Seven Dwarfs on one of the big Disney buildings.

Continuing west on Alameda, we got back on the route at Hollywood Way. Then we rode just a few more blocks to get to Priscilla’s. We stopped there for snacks and drinks.

After the stop, we headed back to the park along Forest Lawn Drive. This passed the area on the north side of Mt Lee that burned last month. Then, when we got to Griffith Park, the road leading into the park was blocked with police tape. We turned left and rode along the edge of the park to get to the L.A. River bike path.

Riding along the bike path, we got some good views of the east and south sides of the park where the fire was last week. In particular, in the second picture, you can see how close the fire came to the houses on the hillside in Los Feliz.

We got off the bike path at Fletcher and rode back up to Eagle Rock Blvd. That was where we saw the first abandoned couch. It was leather and had been tagged with gang graffiti.

Going north, we took a right at El Paso and headed over the small hill to Ave 50. That was where we found the second abandoned couch. This couch was so beat up that I didn’t even recognize it as a couch at first. But when realized what it was, I circled back to get a picture.

Continuing on Ave 50, we found the third abandoned couch. I stopped for a picture. Then we got stopped at the Gold Line crossing, so I got a picture of the train there.

We took Ave 60 across to Monterey Road, and then headed back into South Pasadena. That was where Gene got a flat. It was a very loud and emphatic flat. So I immediately got out my camera for the obligatory picture for the Flat Tire Gallery. The gash in his tire was quite impressive, so I got a closeup of that, too. He managed to put a boot on the cut and get the tire inflated, so we were soon under way again.

We rode across South Pasadena and San Marino, and then back north to Pasadena. Overall, it was a fun ride.

44 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was Gene’s “Corner Bakery” ride. This was the first time of the season that we moved to the 8:00 summer start time. It was a perfect day for riding.

We headed east on Paloma to Sierra Madre Villa, and then south to Madre St to Huntington Drive. Then we went right and rode into San Marino to Monterey Road.

Monterey took us across South Pasadena, and then we went north on Ave 66, which brought us to Easy St. This brought us to Fortune Way. Gene commented that Fortune Way really ought to be the way to get to Easy St. So maybe we’ll have to do the ride in the other direction some day.

We headed up into the San Rafael hills in Pasadena, coming out at Ave 64 and Colorado. Then we went left a short distance to get to Patrician Way, which we took up and over the hill to Glenoaks. At the top, I even got a picture of me riding, thanks to Scott, who had his camera along.

A left on Linda Vista took us to Lida St, where we went left and rode up the hill into Glendale. Then we went down the other side and took Buckingham to Chevy Chase, where we went right and headed back up the hill.

At the top, we took a right on Inverness and rode that down the north side of the hill, passing by the spot where the road washed out two winters ago. Now the road is rebuilt and very nice for riding. Then down the hill with the sweeping hairpin turns and back to Linda Vista.

A left on Lida again brought us down to the Rose Bowl, where we rode a couple of laps around to add some miles. Then we went up Rosemont to Orange Grove, and then left on Walnut back into Pasadena. When we got to the Corner Bakery on Lake, I noticed that I’d done the entire ride up to that point without ever having to put my foot down. Saves wear on the cleats, you know.

At the Corner Bakery, I had a bagel and orange juice. Then we rode across Caltech and then right on Hill to get to Lombardy, which took us back across San Marino. At California and Madre, the route went north to go back to the park, but I followed Newton on his way back to Covina to add some more miles. We rode on Huntington out to Arcadia. Then went north on 5th St to Santa Clara and out to Monrovia. Then I turned west again on Colorado for the ride home.

I saw a pair of abandoned couches on Colorado, so I got a picture for the Abandoned Couches Blog. Then I went up Highland Oaks to get to Sierra Madre Blvd and headed for home.

When I got back to my house, I had 49.7 miles, so I rode around the block just to get to my Magic 50.

50 miles.
cycling

Route map

Today I was in San Diego to visit with my father while he has knee-replacement surgery. The doctor said that the total time I’d have to wait would be around four hours, so I brought my bike along. I figured that I’d have my phone along, and riding would be more entertaining than sitting in the hospital waiting room, doing the a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. Besides, I lived in San Diego for a year in 1984-85, and I was curious to see how much it had changed since then.

I started out from Thornton Hospital and rode up La Jolla Village Drive to get to Torrey Pines Road. Then I rode down the hill into La Jolla. I used to just ride straight through downtown La Jolla, but today I took the scenic route by the cove. I saw a big sea cave, lots of seals lounging on a beach, and another ’stick-man in peril’ warning sign. That was all amusing.

Heading straight down the coast on Mission Blvd, I went through Pacific Beach, which was where I used to live. Then down through Mission Beach to the roller coaster. Back in 1984, it was shut down and falling apart, and a campaign was just starting to renovate it. Apparently they succeeded. The coaster was fixed up and had a new coat of paint, and it’s running again.

Next, I rode across the mouth of Mission Bay on Sunset Cliffs to get to Ocean Beach, and then up a hill to Catalina Blvd for the ride out to Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument. On the way up the hill, I took a picture of a very striking house with the largest cantilevered balcony I’ve ever seen.

The road out to Point Loma is quite nice. About the only bad thing about it is that it goes through a Navy installation, and they insist on closing the gate at 5:00 every day. That was my pet peeve with living in San Diego. It seemed like everywhere I went, there were gates that said “Restricted Area” on Navy installations.

So I rode out to Point Loma. I used to just go to the lighthouse and get a drink, but I thought I’d sightsee a bit. So I rode down the hill on the ocean side to see the tide pools. At the bottom, I met another guy who was also out riding, so we rode out to the end of the road, which ends at the gate of the sewage treatment plant. It was kind of refreshing to see a “Restricted Area” that had nothing to do with the Navy.

Back up at the top of the hill, I got a souvenir picture in front of the lighthouse. I also got a picture of a submarine cruising out of San Diego Bay. I remembered walking along the downtown waterfront. They used to have coin-operated binoculars there, and I always thought that they should have had slots for ruble coins for the convenience of the KGB agents who were no doubt there.

Then we rode back down Catalina back into the city. We took a short ride on Nimitz Blvd, which sort of summed up my impression of riding in San Diego. A lot of the bigger streets are like riding on the freeway, and it’s not a Freeway of Love.

We split up again by Sea World, and I headed up the east side of Mission Bay. This part of the ride was quite pleasant. I rode up back to Pacific Beach and the got on Santa Fe St, which goes up the east side of the 5 freeway to the Rose Canyon bike path. The bike path was pretty nice, and it bought me up to La Jolla Colony. I stopped at a construction site for a picture of a machine called the “Putzmeister“. I thought this was funny name. Then I took a few other streets and came out on Regents Road, which bought me back to the hospital in time to change and have lunch. Then I went back in and got to my father’s room just before they brought him in from recovery.

42 miles.
cycling

Route map

Today’s ride was Gene’s “Noodling: 3″ ride. It was a cool and overcast day, but the sun was promised to come out later.

We set out from Victory Park and headed south in to San Gabriel. Then we turned and made a partial loop around to get to South San Gabriel. For some reason, everybody had had their Wheaties this morning, and they were going quite fast. So I found a “FUNERAL” sticker on the street and stuck it on my bike. Then I said something like, “Now will you guys slow down?”

We rode down to the 60 freeway, and then up and over the hill on the south side of it, coming out below Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello. Then we rode up Lincoln Ave, which is always a big dumping ground. I expected to find an abandoned couch or two, but instead, we found a mermaid statue.

After getting a picture of the mermaid, Philippe and I were quite far behind the group. But Philippe had a solution. He said something like, “let’s catch them” and put his head down and started to motor. I just got on his wheel. In the old days, I would have taken turns pulling, but now I’m lucky just to be able to hang on. He did a fine job of riding very fast and towing me back up to the group.

Next, we rode around the hill in Commerce and headed into West Covina. Then straight north into Irwindale and west back to Myrtle Ave, which brought us into Monrovia. Our snack stop was at Planet Cookies there.

When we got to Planet Cookies, the sidewalk in front was blocked off with police tape. There were two crime-scene investigators there, and there was blood on the sidewalk. They said that there had been some sort of fight ending in murder there last night. This was kind of disturbing, but we went ahead and got our pastries anyway.

While we were sitting there, I saw my old tattoo friend Nikki walking by. I haven’t seen her in over a year, so I flagged her down and we got to visit a bit right there. I also got a souvenir picture, which she insisted should be in front of the crime-scene tape. Nikki’s an interesting character, and I like her a lot.

The way home was a somewhat roundabout route that involved going up and down several unnecessary hills. This was nice. We got back to the park at 44 miles. At that point, I rode down to Incycle with Ben so he could buy a new pair of cleats. So by the time I got home, I had 49.8 miles. I rode around the block one extra time, just to make it a nice round number:

50 miles.
cycling

Route map

Today’s lunchtime bike ride was a special trip up Crown Ave in La Cañada. Vikki didn’t feel up to riding, so I just went with Eric from the Seismo Lab.

We rode straight up Wilson to Mountain, and then over to near the Rose Bowl. Then up Arroyo to Oak Grove and into La Cañada.

When we took a right off Foothill, the fun began. We headed up the hill, ending in the very steep pitch up Crown Ave to Starlight Crest. Eric said he had some choice words for me regarding the route at that point, but I couldn’t hear them because he was too far ahead of me. I even had to say ‘uncle’ and shift for the last bit up to the crest. Then we rode along the ridge to where the road came out on Angeles Crest, where we went left and headed back down the hill.

We came down off the hill and rode back into Pasadena, down Linda Vista and the west side of the Rose Bowl. Then up Holly to get to Green St and back to the office.

It was a perfect day for riding.

18 miles at lunch, 26 for the day.
cycling

Today I went along with Gene and Sandy for their ride to Santa Monica. They do this ride when the regular Saturday club ride is a route they don’t like. This is a pretty substantial ride from Pasadena, and it’s been many years since I’ve ridden my bike by the ocean, so I thought it would be a treat.

I met Gene at Victory Park and we rode out to meet Sandy by the Colorado Bridge. Then we all headed west on Colorado, down the hill into Eagle Rock. That was where we saw the “LA TRAMP” license plate. We have no idea what it means, but it was amusing.

Heading down Eagle Rock Blvd, I picked up the day’s first abandoned couch. Then we headed down Fletcher and over the river and into Silver Lake.

Coming down the hill in Silver Lake, I went slowly, since I wanted to find the Materials and Applications office/gallery. We’d missed it a few months ago when we were trying to see the “Bubbles” exhibit in their courtyard. The current courtyard exhibit is an igloo made of bamboo and industrial felt.

We took 1st St across Koreatown. That was where I saw the second abandoned couch. Then we rode through Hancock Park and Larchmont Village, which was very pleasant.

After Larchmont, we had to get past the big L.A. Country Club, which meant riding on 3rd St, which is generally No Fun. But it’s the one of the only streets that goes through there. So we took it all the way to Beverly Hills. Then we rode across Beverly Hills to Century City and got on Santa Monica Blvd. This used to be an absolutely wretched street to ride on, but they’ve fixed it up with new pavement and a bike lane. So it was all right. We rode that all the way past the 405 freeway.

Just before turning off Santa Monica Blvd, we saw a giant shoe in the road. It was the Quality Shoes car. Then we headed north to get to San Vicente, which we rode all the way to the ocean.

After looking briefly at the ocean, we headed back up Montana Ave to get to the City Bakery, where we stopped for a snack. When we were getting ready to leave, I asked Gene to take my picture, since I’m never in the pictures from my bike rides. I was pointing up to the sky to show how the light was perfect, and he took the picture.

The way back was up and over the Sepulveda Pass and down into the Valley. There is a tunnel at the top where we had to push a button to turn on the flashing ‘Bikes in the Tunnel’ light. This is presumably so the cars will be at least aware of our presence. I don’t know if it actually works, but we made it through the tunnel in one piece, so it can’t be all bad.

After a nice bracing downhill run, we turned off on Valley Vista. That was where we saw the house with the little reindeer sculptures in front. If you want to see them, the sign with the address is in the photo.

Most of the ride across the Valley was on Moorpark, where we saw two more abandoned couches: 1 2

We rode past Forest Lawn and the burned hillside from the big brushfire a few weeks ago. Then we rode through part of Griffith Park and got on the L.A. River bike path to go down to Fletcher for the ride back up into Eagle Rock.

In Eagle Rock, we were amused by the manhole cover at Eagle Rock and York. It said: “CITY OF L.A.” and “MADE IN MEXICO”, which in many ways sums up the Los Angeles experience. This is not a bad thing. It’s just part of the culture here.

Finally, we made it back to Pasadena. It was a very pleasant ride.

73 miles.
cycling

Route map

Today was a Very Blustery Day. The wind was blowing hard from the northeast all day. It made for an interesting lunchtime ride. It was blowing hard enough that it knocked me off balance several times while I was trackstanding at red lights, so it was actually quite remarkable that I was able to do the entire ride without ever putting my foot down.

Vikki wasn’t in the office today and Piglet was nowhere to be found, so I went riding alone this time. I headed out east on San Pasqual, and then took California into Temple City Blvd. The wind was at my back most of the way, so I was able to cruise at 20-22mph the whole way with very little effort. This was nice, but I knew that it meant that coming back was going to be somewhat harder.

On Camino Real on Arcadia, I saw an abandoned couch, which I collected for the Abandoned Couches Blog.

I came back by way of Highland Oaks up to Grand View. Then Grand View and Sierra Madre Blvd back to Pasadena. This time I managed to not run over any nails on the way back, so I made it back to the office with both tires still fully inflated.

It was a nice ride for such a blusterous day.

In other trivia, I rode my old bike today, since this week marks 30 years that I’ve had it. The first race I rode it in was the National Capitol Open on The Ellipse in Washington, D.C. on April 17, 1977. That race was extremely fast, since there were no corners. The only thing I remember about it was on one lap where I was on the inside trying to move up. Suddenly, a big pothole appeared in front of me. There was nowhere to go, so I bunny-hopped it. And then I heard a loud BAM as the guy behind me rode into it. Bummer for him.

18 miles at lunch, 27 for the day.
cycling

Route map

Today’s ride was Gene’s “Noodling 1″ ride. We’ve done this ride before, and it never ceases to please.

We started out from the park and headed east to Sierra Madre, and then south to Huntington Drive. Then we took Huntington down into El Sereno, where the noodling began in earnest.

We rode up Mercury Ave, which was a nice short hill. The next hill was on Roberta, and it had a nice steep pitch at the end. Then we went left on Montecito for the trip down. Along the way, we saw some of the famous L.A. houses on stilts. I noticed that one of them had bars on the window. That window had to be at least 20 feet off the ground, and the ground underneath was a steep slope. Just how tough is that neighborhood if that window needs bars?

At the bottom, we got on the bike path down in the arroyo. We had to portage the bikes over a small barrier to get on, but it was a pleasant ride. We had a little rain last night, so there was actually some water flowing down there.

The park at Ave 60 was where we got off the bike path. Then we took Monterey Road up another nice hill before turning left on Via Marisol for yet another good climb. Following Via Marisol, we came back down the hill to Ave 60 again. There, we went right and took that up into South Pasadena.

Ave 60 turns into Hill Dr, and that is the one that has the very steep pitch at the end. The last bit is close to 20%, and at that point I said ‘uncle’ and shifted. That doesn’t happen often.

At the top of the hill, we rode down the other side and then back up the same hill on yet another street, all the way up to the water tower at the top. Then down, coming out on Monterey Road yet again.

Monterey Road took us back into South Pasadena, where we stopped at Kaldi’s for a snack and rest. This time, they had both Twinkies and Ding Dongs on the counter. I had a bran muffin.

After the stop, we continued east through South Pasadena and San Marino, getting on Duarte Road and riding out to Arcadia. Then we turned north, passing the old San Gabriel Mission dam and back into Pasadena.

At this point, we had only gone about 34 miles, so a couple of us rode out to Arcadia again, just to pad it out a bit.

It was a good day for riding.

44 miles.
cycling