Stan’s Obligatory Blog

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.
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Vikki is back from traveling, so we went out at lunchtime for ‘the usual’, which means the Lida Loop.

It was just about a perfect day today. We did the usual route. Vikki told me about her experience of Ironman Canada, followed by a trip to Italy, followed by a trip to Palm Springs. It all sounded quite grueling, but she was in pretty good spirits. In particular, she seemed quite pleased with her Ironman experience, with a time of 12:24:17.

The last part of the ride was straight down the hill and back to the office. It was a very pleasant ride.

18 miles at lunch, 26 for the day.
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Since I can’t ride on Sunday, and nobody felt like doing the sightseeing trip up the mountains to see the old Nike missile site at Barley Flats, I went on the regular Foothill Cycle Saturday ride today. This was a pleasant little ride to nowhere in particular, with some nice hills.

We started out at Michillinda Park in Arcadia and rode back up through Pasadena. I stopped for a photo at B&D Auto in Altadena. This makes a nice companion for S&M Liquor. Then we went past JPL to get to La Cañada. Passing Descanso Gardens, we turned and went down Hospital Hill in to Montrose. Then we went west a bit more and then south into Glendale.

The fun part of the ride was back up and over the big hill on Chevy Chase. This is a nice hill, either up or down. Then we went back down into La Cañada and back home into Pasadena.

At this point, everyone split off to go home. I had only 35 miles, so I continued east, back to Arcadia. I made a loop down 1st and back up 2nd and then came home by way of Grand View in Sierra Madre.

It was a nice little ride on a very pleasant day.

50 miles.
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I went for the lunchtime bike ride again today. Vikki is out of town on a trip, so it was just me. I did the Lida Loop yet again. I got a new pair of wheels for my bike last night, since the old rims were pretty worn. So I wanted to try them out.

On the way in to the office in the morning, I saw a tree crew working down the street. Apparently, a very big oak tree branch fell on somebody’s garage last night. Have I mentioned lately that the city services in Pasadena are great?

Lunchtime came, and it was very hot. I did the usual route past the Rose Bowl and up and over the hill into La Cañada. On the way down Chevy Chase, I hit 37mph, which was pretty good on the winding downhill. I’m not as fearless as I used to be, but I’m getting better.

On the road near JPL, I had one of those “what’s wrong with this picture” moments.

As always, the last part of the ride was across Pasadena on Mendocino and then the long downhill back to the office.

18 miles at lunch, 28 for the day.
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Today’s bike ride was another of those ‘noodling around not going anywhere in particular’ rides that we do so much. It was fun. It also marked Tommy’s return to riding with the group after being off the bike for a couple of months after crashing in Turnbull Canyon.

We headed east into Arcadia, and then up into the foothills in Monrovia for a bit. Then east some more on flat land out to Duarte and the Santa Fe Dam bike path. We rode the path down past the dam and down the San Gabriel River to Lower Azusa Road.

Crossing the Rio Hondo, I saw a funny sign. Sadly, I wasn’t quick enough on the draw to get a picture. In giant letters it said, “PAINLESS DENTISTRY”, but when I got close, I could see that above that, in tiny letters, it said, “Our goal is”. Heh.

We took El Monte Ave and the giant bike lane back up into Arcadia. Then we rode Huntington Drive west to San Marino. That was where we saw the “Auto Grooming” place. Then we went north on El Molino back into Pasadena. Our snack stop was at the corner bakery on Lake Ave. I got a bagel. I asked for it to be warmed up, not toasted. Then we sat outside for what seemed like forever before they brought me the bagel, and it was toasted. Sheesh.

After the stop, the group fragmented. Everyone went their separate ways. I stopped by my office to water my plants, since I realized that I’d forgotten to ask someone to water them while I was gone. They were all pretty wilted.

The last part of the ride was to go through Old Town and past the Rose Bowl and then back across Altadena on Mendocino. That was where I saw the big sign announcing “Free Pot”. No, not that kind of pot. It was a basket full of ceramic pots. Some of them were quite nice, and I would have taken a couple if I’d had a way to carry them.

It was a very nice ride.

47 miles.
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I’d forgotten that Vikki was leaving for Canada to do the Ironman there, so I brought my bike to work anyway, and I went riding at lunchtime. I did the now-classic Lida Loop. It was a very pleasant ride as always. But I didn’t take any pictures, and there wasn’t anything in particular to report. So that was that.

18 miles at lunch, 26 for the day.

Today’s ride was a very pleasant ride to nowhere in particular.

We started out from Victory Park and headed east. We rode through Sierra Madre and Arcadia to Duarte. Then we took the San Gabriel River bike path up to the mouth of the canyon before turning south again and riding down through Azusa.

Next, we turned east again and rode out to Covina, and then south a bit before heading back west. We took Badillo St all the way back through Baldwin Park to get to Peck Road. Then we turned north and took Myrtle Ave into Monrovia.

When we got to Old Town Monrovia, we stopped for a snack at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf there.

The last part of the ride was straight back through Arcadia and Sierra Madre. When we got back to the park, I had 42 miles, so Ben and I rode down to Caltech. We stopped for a drink at my office, and then headed back.

It was a very pleasant ride, even if we didn’t go anywhere in particular.

50 miles.

Of course, the real fun began when I got home. I noticed that my back tire was going flat. So I took it off and found that I’d run over a tiny thorn. I looked in my patch kit, and all I had was one of those long oval patches. So I cut it in half to make two patches. I patched the tube and put the tire back on. Then, while I was pumping up the tire, the valve broke off. In over 30 years using presta valves, this is the first time I’ve had a valve break off. But the really irritating thing about it was that I’d just used my next-to-last patch fixing that tube. So I got my spare tube and put that in. But while I was levering the tire onto the rim, I suddenly heard that little exhale sound from inside, and I knew I’d just pinched the tube. Crap. I pulled out that section of tube, and there was a little rip in it. Good thing I’d cut that last patch in half. I patched the hole with the second half of my last patch, and then I carefully finished putting the tire on. It’s holding air, but I think a trip to the bike shop is on my schedule for tomorrow.
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No, we didn’t see a bear on today’s ride. But a bear figured in it anyway.

I met Vikki at lunchtime and we headed out to do the Lida Loop again. There was some filming going on up the street from our office today. The crew sign said “ANONYMOUS”, which wasn’t much of a clue. But they had about the nicest portable bathroom I’ve ever seen.

We did the usual route through Old Town to the Rose Bowl, and then up and over the hill. We came down and back into Pasadena, passing JPL. It was near there that we started talking about the relative danger of different careers, and Vikki mentioned that geology is one of the most dangerous ‘white collar’ careers. I’d heard this before, and the danger is usually attributed to geologists having to spend time doing field work in remote areas.

This led to Vikki telling a very long story about a field trip she took years ago that involved helicopters, forest fires, pointed sticks, and a large bear. I can’t even begin to do the story justice here, but it was alternately inspiring and hilariously funny. So this is a reason to come along on the Foothill Cycle Sunday Morning Ride. If you come on the ride and Vikki is there, be sure to have her tell the story about the bear.

When we crossed Lake Ave and the bear story reached the part involving the pointy sticks, Vikki’s chain came off. It wedged itself between the chainring and frame. It was pretty firmly stuck, and it took us several minutes of pulling and twisting to get it unwedged. After it was all over, we realized that this would have been a picture-worthy moment, but by then it was too late.

After the chain incident, we headed back down the hill to the office, and the bear story was wrapped up. When we got back to campus, they were still filming, and there was also a news crew there. It’s unusual for news crews to show up there when there hasn’t been an earthquake. We never did find out what they were doing there.

It was a fun ride, bear and all.

18 miles at lunch, 27 for the day.
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Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was a special one. I met Gene and Jon at the park and we rode out to Westwood to do some sightseeing.

We took the standard route through South Pasadena and Highland Park. Then we crossed the L.A. River into Silver Lake, and then on into Hollywood. We rode down Hollywood Boulevard, which is always a kind of surreal experience. Then we took some back streets through West Hollywood to get to the Sunset Strip.

A couple blocks on the Strip brought us to Doheny, were we took a little side trip to see the Garagemajal. Indeed, it was big. I had a hard time fitting it all into one picture.

Next, we rode some more on Sunset and crossed into Beverly Hills. Our first sightseeing stop was at 722 Elm, which was the Menendez murder house. Then we continued on a bit to see the Witch’s house on Walden. Then we came out on Santa Monica Blvd and rode through Century City into Westwood.

The main attraction there was the Pierce Brothers cemetery. We had been there last November to visit Marilyn Monroe’s grave, and today we were there to see Rodney Dangerfield. We also stopped to see a number of others, including:

• Heather O’Rourke
• Bob Crane
• Eric Douglas
• Walter Matthau
• Jack Lemmon
• Carroll O’Connor
• Billy Wilder
• Dorothy Stratten

Pictures are in my Graves Gallery.

When I first came to California in 1978, I spent the spring racing my bike with the Claremont Colleges cycling team. Eric Douglas was a student at Pitzer College at the time, and I remember that everyone there regarded him as being somewhat strange. I thought that this was kind of novel, as I was usually the one the other kids thought strange, so it was odd for it to be someone else.

Dorothy Stratten was the 1980 Playmate of the Year, and I remember her just because she was the first Playmate I ever saw who was younger that I was. At the time I felt that that was something of a milestone. Of course, now I’m old enough to be the typical Playmate’s father, which I guess is also a sort of milestone. But let’s not dwell on that…

Leaving the cemetery, we rode through Holmby Hills to the park so we could get some water. While we were there, Jon bought a burrito from a catering truck. Then we headed up the hill.

The main climb was through Benedict Canyon, which is generally a pretty nice street for riding. This brought us up onto Mulholland Drive at the top of the ridge. Then we rode Mulholland all the way down to the 101 freeway in Cahuenga Pass. This was a small part of the ride that wasn’t so pleasant. Riding 20 feet away from a freeway is not very nice. But it was only for a short distance. Then we headed down the hill into Burbank and Forest Lawn.

At the entrance to Forest Lawn, there was a huge funeral procession. The main road into the cemetery was completely filled, and the line of cars waiting to get in was backed up down the road for about a half-mile. And, since we are in California, about half of the cars had only one person in them.

The last part of the ride was across Glendale and Eagle Rock. I broke a spoke in Glendale, but it turned out to be on the left side, so I was able to replace it right there. Then we took Colorado across Eagle Rock, stopping at Trader Joe’s for some orange juice.

The homestretch was up the Colorado hill and back into Pasadena. It was a nice ride.

65 miles.
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Route map

Today we gave Lida St. a rest. For the first time in a month, we went somewhere else.

We started out across campus and down San Pasqual St to Sierra Madre Blvd. Then we went south, almost to Huntington Drive to get on Monterey Road. Then we rode west across San Marino and South Pasadena.

Just after crossing the Gold Line tracks, we turned north on Arroyo and rode back into Pasadena. We went left on La Loma and up the hill there, then north on San Rafael to Colorado. Then we went left and then right on Patrician Way to go up the hill behind Eagle Rock. We had just ridden down the hill there on the Sunday ride a couple weeks ago, but I’d never been up that way before. It was nice. On the way up, I took a couple of pictures, and I gave the camera to Vikki to take a picture, since I’m almost never in the pictures from my bike rides.

At the top, we went down the winding road down to Linda Vista. When we got to Lida St, we paused to wave at the hill. Then we went down into the arroyo and past the Rose Bowl. We rode up the other side on Washington and back across Pasadena by way of Mountain and finally down Wilson and back to the office.

19 miles at lunch, 27 for the day.
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