La Tuna Canyon
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Today’s ride was “La Tuna Canyon Inverse”, which is my favorite way to do La Tuna Canyon. It’s the way with the four-mile hill. I like long hills, when the climb lasts long enough to really savor.
We took the direct route out of Pasadena, going across the Colorado Bridge and then straight across Eagle Rock, Glendale, and Burbank to get to Sunland. There, we turned and got on La Tuna Canyon Road. Almost immediately, a big group of riders blasted by us. It was the regular Hollywood ride that starts from Griffith Park and goes up La Tuna Canyon. After they left us, a second group caught up. This time, we tried to stay with them. I managed to sort of keep up, but they were going pretty fast.
At the top, we all regrouped and headed down the other side into La Crescenta. We rode with the big group until we got to Montrose, where we stopped at the Oven Fresh Bakery. I got an apple-spice muffin and a chocolate eclair. I wanted to see how their eclair compared to the ones at Paradise Bakery.
While we were sitting there, I noticed a magazine there with a teaser on the cover: “Avoid Getting Old”. I’ve been given that advice many times, but nobody has ever told me just how to do it.
When it was time to actually eat the eclair, I had to pause to savor the aroma, like a fine Cuban cigar. Then I ate it. It was good. The white stripes on top were mint, which was a nice little addition. The chocolate frosting was a bit darker and stronger flavor than the ones at Paradise, and it was very good.
From there, we headed up Hospital Hill and then back into Pasadena. When we got back to the park, it was very early. So Gene suggested we ride down to the new Performance Bicycle store. So we headed over there. We stopped off at my office to visit the water cooler, and then rode to the store. Gene bought a new chain. Then we rode home across Pasadena. At Lake Ave, there was a guy twirling a big arrow advertising a new condominium complex. He was pretty acrobatic, so I got out my camera and caught him in mid-air.
It was a very nice ride, and a nearly perfect day.
50 miles.
