Stan’s Obligatory Blog

I got a rare Tuesday afternoon ride in today. Lucinda went to the beach with her friend, and they weren’t going to be back until later, so I go out my bike and went for a ride.

I did my usual afternoon route. South through San Marino and South Pasadena, and up the hill to the water tower. Then back up the arroyo to the Rose Bowl. I noodled around the Bowl a few times before turning off to head home through Altadena.

It was a pleasant ride.

27 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was an old route with a new variation. It was the old “Toluca Lake” route, but we modified the route to take in the new extension of the L.A. River bike path.

We rode out by way of San Marino and South Pasadena, and then down Figueroa St through Highland Park to the river. Along the way, we passed Chicken Boy. Then, when we got to the river, we got on the newly-extended bike path.

At Fletcher, the gate was closed, and we had to walk around it to continue on the bike path. We saw a lot of snowy egrets and blue herons in the river, along with some people on horseback. At the north end of the bike path, we got off and rode through Griffith Park to get to Priscilla’s, where we had a nice snack in the shade.

The route back was the usual across Glendale and then up Hospital Hill in Montrose. From there it was pretty much all downhill back to the park. Which was good, since it had gotten to be pretty hot by then.

In Altadena, we passed a street that was posted for filming on Monday. More gratuitous use of quotes. Is “Anytime” different from Anytime?

It was a nice ride.

44 miles
cycling

Today’s ride is the one that I refer to as ‘The Relatively Flat Ride’. It’s a route I made up a few years ago that avoids as many hills as possible. Since I was sore all week from last Monday’s stair practice, I thought it best to do an easier route on Sunday.

On the way out, we passed some topiary hearts in Monrovia that Carla had told me about recently. They are now part of the Topiary Tour East route.

On the way back through Covina, we passed Lark Ellen St. I told everyone how I’d recently been researching a possible new grave tour ride, and in the process, I’d found out who Lark Ellen was.

A short time later, I ran over some metal debris in the road. It turned out that it contained a razor blade. And of course, I got a flat. We had to use two tire boots to get it to hold together enough to get back on the road. So we decided to take the most direct route home, cutting off a few extra miles. But I made it home, and the thumping of the bulge in the tire was only mildly annoying.

Aside from the flat, it was a pretty nice ride.

41 miles.
cycling

On Tuesday, Kathleen and I met up in the park to join the hiking group for an evening hike. I was a bit sore from Monday’s stair practice, but as much as I like to make fun of elementary school gym teachers, I was determined to ‘walk it off’. The hike was a relatively easy one, and it was a nice evening for a walk in the park.

About halfway up, we stopped for a nice view of downtown L.A. Including the building I’d climbed on Monday, and the one I’m practicing for for next month.

And apropos of nothing at all, when we got back and got ready to leave, I noticed that the odometer reading on my car was a palindrome.

The YMCA downtown has been running a set of practice sessions for the upcoming stair climb. They started out on the Bunker Hill Steps, then moved to a 20-something story building, and today they moved to One California Plaza, which is 42 stories. I figured that this was getting into the range that would be enough of a challenge to be worth a trip downtown.

The run itself was pretty good. I passed a lot of people. We went all the way to 42 and then one more to the roof level. I’d guessed that I’d make the top in about 7:55. My time was 8:06, but that included the one extra floor I hadn’t counted on. So really, I was right on target.

The only bad part was that the freight elevator had croaked, so they made us walk down. Ow.

Today’s ride was over to Griffith Park for a stop at The Trails in Fern Dell. It was cool and overcast, and pretty much a perfect day for riding. We had a big group again this week.

When we stopped at The Trails, Carla gave Don a “Team Estrogen” post-it pad for his desk.

Near the top of the pass over Mt Hollywood, I got a picture at a nice overlook. I also got some action shots on the descent, since there are some good curves there.

We rode home by was of Figueroa St and South Pasadena. That’s the flattest way home from there.

45 miles.
cycling

This is Coyote. She is a cattle-dog and something else mix. And her name is pretty self-explanatory. She looks like a coyote, and she moves like a coyote.

Last weekend we went and met Coyote. She was nice, and very mellow. So this week we took Suzie out to meet her to see if they would get along. They did all right, so we brought Coyote home. She’s still new here, but Lucinda is teaching her to use the dog door.

So we’re a two-dog family again.

Lucinda was over at a friend’s house when I got home from work today. So I had a couple of hours to go for a ride. I did my usual loop over the hill by the South Pasadena water tower, and then home by way of the Rose Bowl and up through Altadena. It was a very pleasant evening for a ride.

23 miles.
cycling

To have one’s life summed up in one short headline…

Today’s bike ride was the ‘Random Ride to Whittier’, which is a nice flat route that doesn’t really go anywhere in particular. After last week’s big hills, it seemed like the thing to do.

We had a big group today. On the way down, we stopped for a photo-op at Dork St. in Pico Rivera. Then on to Whittier and back by way of the San Gabriel River bike path. Just below Whittier Narrows dam, I saw a pile of sticks just below the floodgates and I thought, “That’s one ambitious beaver…”

Our snack stop was at Merengue in Monrovia. The window said, “Food That’ll Make You Dance” We’re not sure if this is a good thing or not. I had a little pastry called a “Refugee”. I was sort of expecting it to be shaped like an inner tube or something. But it was good.

It was a nice ride.

45 miles.
cycling