Stan’s Obligatory Blog

I was curious, so I did a bit of math. Climbing the U.S. Bank Tower required lifting my body weight 1,018 feet in 15 minutes and 7 seconds.

162 lb = 73.6 kg
1018 feet = 310 meters
73.6 kg x 9.8 m/s**2 x 310 m = 2.24 x 10**5 joules
15 min + 7 sec = 907 sec
2.24 x 10**5 joules / 907 sec = 247 watts
247 watts = 0.331 horsepower

That’s just the power to lift my body weight, and I’m neglecting the energy that went into running on the stairs, passing people, and panting like a dog. So my actual power output was a little bit higher.

I think that’s pretty good for being nearly 50 years old.

This afternoon was the YMCA Stair Climb to the Top up the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. I’ve heard about this for years, and I’d always wanted to try it. So now was the time. Unlike the AON Tower stair climb last April, this one was held on Friday afternoon. This meant that riding my bike there was not really an option, since it was going to be dark by the time I went home. Friday traffic is the stuff of nightmares here, so I rode the train. The Pershing Square Metro station had some nice neon art in it. And of course, I took the stairs both in and out of the subway. Never too early to start warming up.

I walked over to the Ketchum Downtown YMCA and registered. Then I went into the locker room and changed. The YMCA is up on Bunker Hill, while the entrance to the building is down on 5th St. So I walked down the Bunker Hill Steps to get to the starting line. At the time, they were running the “Highrise Heroes” division, which is to say, firefighters in full gear. I rather doubt any of them turned in great times, but just the fact that they were able to make it to the top carrying all that stuff was impressive.

After the last firefighters had gone, they ran the individual age groups, starting with the 10-14 and 15-17 groups, and then working down from 60+. When they called the 40-49 men to the line, I got in line about 3/4 of the way back. I figured that would give me more guys to catch and pass. That’s how I get motivated in these things. I just focus on catching the guy in front of me. It’s sort of like that old joke about the bear: “I just have to outrun you.”

When it was my turn, I started up the stairs, doing two steps at a time. Back in April, I managed to maintain that pace for 32 floors. This time, I did nearly the entire thing two steps at a time. A few times, I dropped back to single steps to try and catch my breath. Which turned out to be fool’s errand, as you can see from the picture. That was taken about floor 50 or so. I was very deep in oxygen debt from the start.

At the top, I ran out of the stairwell onto the roof. Once I’d passed the timing pad, they gave me a bottle of water and a little medal to say that I’d made it. Then I immediately sat down and proceeded to pant like a dog. After about five minutes, the pain subsided, and I figured out how to hold the camera steady enough for a nice souvenir photo from the roof with the sunset over Hollywood in the background. Then I headed back down the other stairs to the 69th floor elevator lobby. We had to ride down to 54 and then get the express elevator back to the lobby.

The elevator let us out in the lobby on 5th St. Which meant that we had to go back up the Bunker Hill Steps to get to the YMCA, where they had food, drinks, and race results. Bein’ a badass, I ran up the steps. Wow, did that hurt. I went into the locker room and changed back to my street clothes. Then I went to the little beer garden they had set up. They gave every finisher a ticket for a free beer. By then, I was hacking up phlegm at a furious rate. I talked to a woman who had won the 60+ division, and she said that that’s referred to as “Climber’s Cough”, and it’s a known phenomenon. In other words, it’s a Feature. She also told me about how there’s apparently a circuit of these stair climbs around the country. The one up the Stratosphere in Las Vegas sounds like a hoot. I don’t know if I’d be up for more traveling than that. Maybe San Francisco for the Bank of America building.

When they posted the results, I was pleased to see that I’d come in at 15:07, which was good for 7th place in the 40-49 division. I’d guessed that I’d be around 15 minutes. That time would have been good for 6th in the 50-59 division, and 5th place in 30-39. Apparently, us old guys are tough.

Since I wasn’t in the top three, there was not going to be a medal in my evening this year. So I headed back to the subway to go home. I still took the stairs, though.

It was a very fun adventure.

Update: The overall results are posted online now, and I was 28th out of 309 runners in the Open division. There were only five guys my age or older who went faster than I did. Results are here

Ever since I got my new car in June, I’ve been planning what to do with the old one. My old car has been with me for 19 years, and it’s been good. We had a lot of adventures, but it was time to move on. In the meantime, my dear friend Starlet needed a car, so I told her she could have it for a ridiculously low price because she’s my friend. So she came over today to pick it up. This is actually the first time we’ve met that was not at a tattoo convention.

So now I have room in my garage. For now, I guess I have parking space for all my bikes. And maybe someday, for another car belonging to someone special.

In the meantime, I know my old car is going to a good home, and I hope it can do some good for Starlet.

The U.S. Bank Tower stair climb is coming up on Friday. And I’m still short of my fund-raising goal. So if you think this is an amusing thing, please stop by their site and make a donation to the YMCA. If not enough people donate, they’ll take a pound of flesh from me. And while that would make me lighter, I rather doubt that that will improve my time climbing the stairs. (OK, they won’t really do that. But they’ll charge my credit card for the difference.)

Today’s ride was a new route that I made up, cobbled together out of pieces of other rides we’ve done in the past. The intention was to make a nearly-flat route that went mostly south from Pasadena.

We started out from Victory Park and headed south into Temple City, and then we got on the Rio Hondo bike path down to Whittier Narrows. There we went over to the San Gabriel River bike path to go south some more. We got off in Pico Rivera, where we took a short detour for a group picture at Dork St. Then we headed east into Whittier.

We got back on the San Gabriel River bike path to head back. We went straight north past Whittier Narrows and up to Lower Azusa Road. The path is slightly uphill the whole way, since it’s following the river. That was when I looked back and saw Scott helping Sage out with a little push to keep her going as fast as the rest of us. It was her first time riding with our group, and she said she was a little out of practice. I also got in the act to give Scott a rest. I practiced my Madison throws to keep Sage going, and together, we got her all the way up the hill to our snack stop at Merengue in Monrovia.

While we were sitting outside, a car drove up, and Vikki got out. This is the second time I’ve run into her in a weirdly unexpected way. Our snacks were quite good as usual. David really enjoyed his sandwich and plantain chips.

The ride home was pretty low-key. Mostly flat, except for the slight hill up through Sierra Madre. I stayed back, chatting with Sage and doing Madison throws to keep her going.

It was a fun ride.

45 miles.
cycling

This morning, I had occasion to make a trip from Santa Monica to Pasadena. This is 28.2 miles through the belly of the beast in Los Angeles. According to Google Maps, they estimate 40 minutes at best. It took me 36 minutes, which was probably because the 36 minutes in question were from 6:26AM to 7:02AM. I can’t remember the last time I saw the freeways in Los Angeles so empty. It was like an end-of-the-world movie.

Today’s bike ride was the old route out to San Dimas for a bagel, but reversed. The plan was to ride out there, get a bagel, and then stop off for minor sightseeing on the way back. A few weeks ago, I’d see a trailer park on Covina Blvd where the streets were named for the original Mercury astronauts. Or at least five of the seven original Mercury astronauts. There was no clue why Gordon Cooper and Wally Schirra didn’t get streets. I looked it up, and there’s a Cooper Court in San Dimas, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t a Schirra St.

On the way back, I got a laugh out of the Chinese billboard for the Venitian in Las Vegas. I guess they’d heard about all those stereotypes about how much Chinese people like to gamble. Being Chinese, I can feel free to poke fun at the stereotypes, like when I see a Chinese restaurant with a health department grade of “B”.

Aside from that, there wasn’t much memorable about the ride. It was pleasant, but not remarkable.

42 miles.
cycling

On Saturday afternoon, I suddenly found myself with a couple free hours, so I went riding. I did my usual route down to South Pasadena, over the water tower hill, and then up to the Rose Bowl. I noticed today that they’d put up signs making it more explicit which way the pedestrians are supposed to walk there. And that despite there being a clear sign about every 50 yards, people were still ignoring them and walking the wrong direction. Makes me want to carry my riding crop when I’m riding there.

On Saturday morning, Lucinda and I went for a bike ride. This time we went a bit farther than we’ve done before, and we rode down to see the weird palm tree near Caltech. She thought it was pretty entertaining, so we had a nice time.

Today, I took Lucinda and her friend Claire out to the Los Angeles County Fair. We went out early in the day, when they were running the $1 special for tickets. It was a perfect day for the fair. It was hot, but only a normal sort of hot for Pomona. The heat wave of the last week finally broke, so we were able to enjoy the day.

The fair is known for some weird foods. And we were immediately reminded of this by the sign advertising chocolate-covered pickles. Yikes. We were not up for trying that. We did try the chocolate-covered bacon, which was decidedly weird. I kept thinking that the chocolate would have been better without the bacon. It wasn’t bad, but the bacon didn’t really add anything other than some crunch and just plain weirdness. And we also didn’t want to try the “Totally Fried Fair Special”.

We stopped by the food exhibit to see if I’d won anything with my baked goods. I hadn’t really expected to win, but I figured it would be an interesting adventure no matter what. And I did see my Black Walnut Bread on display, which was rather novel, even if it didn’t win anything.

They have a lot of concerts at the fair, and one I saw on the schedule was kind of amusing. Apparently, Creedence Clearwater Revival has been revived in some form, now 40 years later. But since the original name of the group had the word ‘Revival’ in it, what could they call it? “Creedence Clearwater Revisited“, of course.

Lucinda and Claire rode a lot of the rides, and they ran through many of the fun houses, too. We went and saw the farm animals, and they got to pet some sheep and goats. They also played a few midway games.

Through all of this, we could see the smoke plume from the Station Fire burning off in the distance. The wind was blowing the smoke away from us and up to the high desert, so the air where we were was fine. But it still looked kind of ominous.

Overall, it was a fun day.