Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today’s ride was the “La Tuna Sandwich” route. Up and over La Tuna Canyon, and then down across the valley to Burbank and home by way of the L.A. River bike path and through Eagle Rock.

We met at the Pasadena Elks Lodge. That’s where I saw the parking space reserved for the Exalted Ruler. And I always thought that was a joke. The ride started out going past the Rose Bowl and up into La Cañada. We regrouped at the top of Hospital Hill. Then we headed down into Montrose.

Riding over the top of La Tuna Canyon, we passed the Verdugo Hills Golf Course, where the temporary Japanese internment camp was located for a time in 1942. Then we rode down the long downhill into Sun Valley.

In Sun Valley, we rode through the wasteland of auto dismantling yards, past a place where the road was washed out, and finally into the North Hollywood Arts District. We got a pretty complete tour of The Valley in the process.

At the bottom of the Valley, we turned on Riverside to ride into Toluca Lake. We passed the Barris Kustom showroom on the way, and then we stopped for a snack at Priscilla’s.

After the stop, we headed home by way of the L.A. River bike path. This is where we went on the bridge over Los Feliz Blvd, and I was wondering why a bike path bridge gets posted with a weight limit of 4 tons. I’ve been hearing about the epidemic of obesity, but I didn’t think it had gotten that bad.

Anyway, it was a very nice ride.

50 miles.
cycling

D’oh! I had a whole plan set up for Sunday’s bike ride. We were going to ride down to Lynwood and sightsee the jail where Paris Hilton was staying, but then she got sprung from da joint.

Sheesh.

Well, it sounds like the judge is pissed, and she’s been ordered back to jail. But I’ve already made other plans for Sunday, so we’ll have to go next week.

Route map

Today at lunchtime I went riding with Vikki. By chance, we both wore our Caltech Velo jerseys, so we got a souvenir picture before we started out. We did our flat route through Arcadia, since Eric wasn’t along this time to point out that it’s not really flat. It was a perfect day for riding, and we had a very nice time.

18 miles at lunch, 26 for the day.
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The L.A. Times has a small obituary today for Maurice Marsac. The headline says:

Maurice Marsac, 92: French actor often portrayed snooty waiters

What a way to go. To have your life and career summed up so tidily.

Reading the obituary, it sounds like there was much more to him than that. He was part of the French Resistance during World War II, and a highly-ranked croquet player. And he and his wife were married for 55 years.

Read it here at the L.A. Times website

Route map

Today’s ride was a new version of Gene’s “Glendale Vistas” route. It had some added hills for more fun! We had a very big group today. Apparently, the Foothill Cycle website and rides were mentioned recently in Bicycling magazine.

We headed out under a cool overcast and rode across Pasadena and then up into La Cañada. There, we took a left on Chevy Chase and rode up the hill. Then it was the nice long downhill into Glendale. At the bottom, we made a loop through the middle of Glendale, passing by the Graceland Apartments. There was no sign of Elvis, though.

Coming out on Glenoaks, we headed west to our snack stop at Paradise Bakery. I had my usual two chocolate eclairs. The eclairs are very good there. When we were getting ready to leave, Vikki took my picture, since I was wearing my new Fat Cyclist jersey.

Leaving Paradise, we took Kenneth and Mountain back across Glendale. Then the fun started. We rode up and down the hills on edge of Verdugo Mountain. Some of them were pretty steep, and I almost had to shift to a lower gear.

We regrouped at the top of the biggest hill and then headed back down. Then we rode past the country club and up yet another steep hill. At the top, we stopped to regroup. After a few minutes, we noticed that we were missing a few people. Someone said that there had been a flat, so I headed back down to take some pictures.

Erich had gotten a flat next to the country club. It was a perfect spot to get a flat, since there was a nice spot of shade under a big tree, and a fence to hang the bike on. He put in a new tube and pumped it up. In the process, he managed to break the valve stem. In my book, this constituted a second flat, so I took another picture for the Flat Tire Gallery. Today was his first time riding with us, and he already has two entries in the gallery.

After the tire was fixed, we all rode up to meet the group. I saw Vikki and Randy practicing their trackstands, so I had to take a picture. Then we went down the hill and back home through La Cañada.

When we got back to the park, I had 45 miles, so I rode out to Sierra Madre with Newton before heading home. It was a very nice ride.

50 miles.
cycling