Stan’s Obligatory Blog

One of my friends at the office just came back from a field trip to the Dead Sea. She often brings back little souvenirs for us from places she visits. And this time, it’s a crystal of salt from Mount Sodom. She said that she figured that I of all people would be able to properly appreciate a souvenir from Sodom and Gomorrah. Heh.

Today’s ride was Gene’s “Noah’s Bagels” route, which just sort of winds around the San Gabriel Valley before ending up at Noah’s in Pasadena. It was cool, but not cold. Overcast, but not actively raining.

We rode out through Arcadia and Temple City, and then down the bike path in El Monte. That was where Gaurav got a flat. Then we headed back up into San Gabriel and San Marino to Noah’s in Pasadena. We felt a few raindrops while we were sitting there, but it never did actually start raining.

The last part of the ride went past the Rose Bowl and up into Altadena. I bailed out at Woodbury Road, since I needed to get home by 11:00.

It was a pleasant ride to nowhere in particular.

36 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was “Turnbull Canyon, East to West“. It was cloudy, but not feeling like rain, and it wasn’t too cold, so it was all right for riding. There are no pictures today, since Susan had volunteered as a course marshal for the Tour of California stage today in Pasadena, and I’d given her my camera to take to the race.

I rode down to Live Oak Park in Temple City for the start. Along the way, I had to do a little detour around a parade, but that wasn’t that big of a deal.

The Saturday rides usually break up into a faster group and a slower group, but none of the other usual faster riders were there today. So I just took off and hoped someone would come along. As it turned out, nobody else did, so I did most of the ride by myself.

Going up Turnbull Canyon, the route slip had a variation for a ‘shorter but steeper’ route to the top. So I tried it out. And it was indeed steeper. I don’t know about how much shorter, but it was still nice for a change. At the top, I decided to wait two minutes just to see if anyone from the main group would show up. As it turned out, three guys rolled up to the top then. One was a guy visiting from Northern California, and we decided to ride back together, since we both wanted to get back sooner. We rode down into Whittier, skipping the snack stop, and headed back.

By the time I got home, it was actually quite warm. I hadn’t expected it, but it actually got up to about 72 degrees, and it was quite pleasant. So overall, it was a nice ride.

49 miles.
cycling

I took Lucinda and her friend Claire to Disneyland today. I still think it’s a bit amazing that I’m willing to go to Disneyland, but in any event, we had a fun time. Most of the pictures are in Lucinda’s photo album.

We rode lots of rides, and it was actually a very fun day. And I got a big pickle.

Today’s bike ride was the “Village Vault” route. This is a meandering route that goes out to Glendora and back. It was a nice day, albeit a bit chilly, at least by SoCal standards. But we all bundled up and then it was all right.

There wasn’t a lot remarkable about this ride. It was pleasant, and the new snow on the mountains was pretty. But that was about it. We rode out to Glendora, and then we stopped there for a few minutes at Classic Coffee. Then we headed back. It was getting late, so some of us didn’t feel like sitting for a long time.

But it was a fun ride anyway.

37 miles.
cycling

Since tomorrow night is not available for us, Susan came over tonight and I cooked dinner for us. I made chicken in a wine and feta cheese sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and capers, along with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. The recipe was based on one I’ve done before, but with a few modifications. And it turned out quite well. For dessert, I made some heart-shaped chocolate cakes, which we had with mint chocolate chip ice cream and a little whipped cream on top. Yum.

Today’s bike ride was around through Burbank and then up the four-mile hill in La Tuna Canyon. As always, I thought that this was Great Fun. It’s another perfect Santa Ana winter day in L.A., so the weather was perfect for riding.

On the way through Burbank, we saw the biggest Hummer limousine any of us had ever seen. It was pretty ridiculous.

When we went up La Tuna Canyon, we passed the roadside memorial for a cyclist who was killed recently when he lost control of his bike on the descent. As luck would have it, as I snapped the picture of the memorial, a rider was zipping past it, which was kind of fitting.

At the top I had Jon take a picture of me, since I rarely appear in the pictures from my bike rides. Then we headed down into Montrose. We rode up Hospital Hill and stopped at Goldstein’s Bagels. From there we rode back across La Cañada, where I saw a fine abandoned couch, and then back into Pasadena and back to the park.

40 miles.
cycling