Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Sunday’s bike ride was another ‘ride to nowhere in particular’. It was chilly and never really warmed up. The only things of note along the way were one abandoned couch in Irwindale, and that we stopped at a new Cuban bakery in Monrovia. It was pretty good.

40 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was the “Mulholland Meander“. We did this ride last year, and I like it just about any time.

At the start, they were putting up the grandstands for the Rose Parade. But I saw one pile of boards that was labeled, “GRANDSTANS”. Heh.

The ride from Pasadena to Griffith Park was pretty straightforward. And then when we assembled the rest of the group, we set out from there. Somehow, I managed to convince most of them to do my detour up Lake Hollywood Drive. This is to avoid riding on the stretch of Cahuenga next to the freeway. I hate that bit of road, and I think it’s worth riding up and over a pretty big hill to avoid. No word on whether or not the others agreed with me when we were done.

On the way up Mulholland, I saw a half-buried warning sign. All I could see was, “Please Don’t”.

We rode out to nearly where the pavement ends on Mulholland, and then dropped down into the Valley. We then rode straight back across the Valley to Toluca Lake. Along the way, I saw the car with a license plate that said “USA 0002”. I thought this was a bit odd. You never hear people chanting, “We’re Number 2!”

After a stop for a snack at Priscilla’s, we left the planned route and headed down the L.A. River bike path and then home by way of Eagle Rock and Highland Park. I saw a nice abandoned couch in Highland Park. Then we rode across South Pasadena and then back up Sierra Madre Blvd to home.

It was a nice ride.

65 miles.
cycling

Sunday’s ride was the “Glendale Vistas” route. We haven’t done this one in a while. This is the ride where I broke my cassette last winter.

It was great fun, even if I wasn’t the first one to the top of every hill today.

40 miles.
cycling

Today’s club ride was the Fall Foliage route. This winds around Alhambra and Monterey Park to look a the leaves, and then goes up and down some ridiculous hills just for fun.

We left from Arcadia Park at 8:30 and headed west. Winding around, we saw some leaves that were changing colors. Then we got to the hills and the fun began. Given that I have some excess angst these days, I was looking forward to the hills as an outlet. I managed to do all of them in my Stupid Gear. Riding up Cadiz St and its 14% grade in my 39×17 certainly had a way of clearing my mind. And this was a Good Thing.

The snack stop was supposed to be at the golf course in Alhambra, but we all agreed that we didn’t like that restaurant, so we headed back to Pasadena to the Corner Bakery on South Lake. While we were there, Ben was telling us about an estate sale he knows of that includes a very nice Calfee bike. Gene was interested in it, so we rode out to Arcadia to have a look at it.

It turned out to be a very nice day for riding.

50 miles.
cycling

Today’s Sunday ride was the “Bagelry” route, modified to avoid the construction on Live Oak Avenue in Irwindale. Newton came to ride with us for the first time in nearly a year.

We set out from Victory Park, and almost immediately, we ran into a thick fog. It got cold and damp, and generally not very pleasant. While we were riding through the fog, Andre got a flat. Today was his first time riding with us, and so it’s his first appearance in the Flat Tire Gallery.

We got to The Bagelry in San Dimas and stopped for bagels and such. It was still pretty cold, and we all got chilled sitting there. Then we headed back. At first it was very cold, but then the sun finally broke through the fog it started to warm up.

Overall, it was a pleasant ride.

46 miles.
cycling

Saturday’s bike ride was the Around Puddingstone Reservoir route. The last time we did this route was in May.

It was a warm Santa Ana day in SoCal, with summer-like temperatures. We rode straight out to San Dimas and then did our circuit around the park. As always, we took the shortcut back through the park, rather than taking the long way around on Via Verde.

Going through West Covina, we passed Newton’s house. Gene yelled out as we went by, and Newton heard him. So he came out to chat for a bit. He’s hoping to be back riding with us again soon.

The stop was in Baldwin Park on the way back, but Silvio and I headed back early. I’d gotten word that one of the computers at my office had died, and I needed to get back so I could go fix it. We altered the route to come home by way of Santa Fe Dam. When we were riding along the top of the dam, we had a good view of the smoke plumes from the major wildfires currently burning around Los Angeles.

It was a pleasant ride.

62 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was the Triple Crown route. This is a tour of central Los Angeles, with several nice hills to climb. Normally, the Saturday rides break up into faster and slower groups. But today, the faster group was just me. Oh well.

The route went down through Eagle Rock and Glassell Park to climb Mt. Washington by a different route than usual. I got to ride on Future St. There were some nice views on the way up the hill. And I saw some of the iconic houses on stilts that Los Angeles is known for.

Coming down the other side, I passed the Southwest Museum, and also the artwork at the Gold Line station there.

On the way to Montecito Heights, I passed the giant dragonfly. On the way up the hill, I saw a car parked in front of a “No Parking” sign. I wanted to put a big “FAIL” caption on the picture.

Next, I rode down into Chinatown and then up the hill to Elysian Park. Along the way I crossed over the Pasadena Freeway and got a nice view down between the tunnels. Then it was up and over the hill by Dodger Stadium.

The route then went back up into Eagle Rock, where it went up and over another steep hill on Ave 51. Then down the other side and around the same hill to get back to South Pasadena. Then I rode back across the Colorado St bridge and home.

It was a solitary ride, but not bad in other ways.

41 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike club ride was the “Molly’s Souper” route. This goes from Arcadia out to Upland for lunch at Molly’s Souper restaurant.

On the way to the start in Arcadia, I saw a couple on a recumbent tandem. They were going pretty fast, so I drafted off them for several miles.

When we started out from the park in Arcadia, we were passed by another group ride. Several people said that they saw Susan in that group. I missed her, since last night she’d said that she was still feeling sick and would not be riding in the morning. But it turned out that Friday night was the turning point, and she woke up feeling better on Saturday and decided to go riding after all.

Right after the start, the group broke up into smaller groups going different paces. Gene led the charge in the front group, and I followed along with a few others. We rode out to Claremont before picking up a new bike path that runs along an old railroad right-of-way out to Upland. It was pretty nice, aside from a few of the major street crossings. But we were wondering what was up with the big rocks they put in front of every pole along the way. Were they supposed to be cushioning to keep us from hitting the poles?

When we got to Upland we decided not to sit down for a long lunch at Molly’s. Instead, we went to a little bakery and had a snack there. That was where we saw the poster for “Menopause: The Musical”, as well as the sign for Skull Daddy, which was offering 50% off skulls. Yum.

The ride back was pleasant, since a lot of it was on long, straight roads with a slight downhill grade. Even though it was a fairly long ride, I was home by 1:00.

65 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was the “Noodling-7” route. We did this one last summer. Today’s route was modified slightly to make it a little bit longer, and it was a fun one.

As with all the “Noodling” series rides, we didn’t go anywhere in particular. The route had lots of turns, and it involved going up and down a lot of hills. But I think that kind of thing is fun.

We saw a cow mailbox in La Cañada, which I thought was funny. Then we rode up to the school at the top of St. Katherine, which was interesting in that we usually do that road the other way. Any familiar road will look different when we ride the other way on it. At the top, Silvio took my picture as I panted after beating everyone to the top.

Overall, it was a fun ride.

41 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was down to Whittier, which is not an especially nice or scenic place, but it’s somewhere to ride to regardless. We last did this ride back in March. And today’s version was very nice, just like last time. And nobody got a flat this time.

It was kind of chilly in a fall-in-SoCal kind of way this morning. I wore a piece of bubble wrap as a Hoover Blanket for the first time this season. The ride down there was pretty uneventful. We went pretty fast for no particular reason. And when we got there, we went to Panera for pastries and bagels.

The route back was a lot like the route out, even though we took some different streets. I noticed that the Whittier Narrows Dam had the same kind of flood gauge signs that Santa Fe Dam has.

We came back up the San Gabriel River bike path, and we had to walk around where they were doing some construction along the way. Garett had to take his shoes off after that to get the dirt out of them.

Overall, it was a very pleasant ride.

56 miles.
cycling