Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Route map and photo location

I went for a short ride with Vikki today at lunchtime. This time we went west, just for something different. It was a warm day, but gloriously clear and generally very nice for riding.

We rode down into San Marino, taking El Molino down to Mission. Then we went right and rode across San Marino and South Pasadena. At Arroyo, we went north towards the Rose Bowl. A left on La Loma brought us across the arroyo and up a nice little hill.

At the top of the hill we went right on San Rafael and took that up to Colorado. Then we got on San Rafael going north into the hills. We rode up the hill, passing by the old Kresge Seismological Lab before cresting the hill and coming down the other side to Linda Vista, above the Rose Bowl.

We took Linda Vista up into where it turned into Highland in La Cañada. Then we went up a bit before looping back by JPL and heading back into Pasadena. The last part of the ride was straight down Wilson Ave and back to the office.

19 miles at lunchtime, 27 for the day.

This is an old story. I’ve told the story on countless bike rides over the years, but I’ve never written it down. So, 28 years after the fact, here it is, to the best of my recollection. And fortunately, this was not lost to the ages. My father was there with the camera, and got some pictures. So I actually have a record of this experience.

It was May 28th, 1978. I was 18 and just graduated out of Junior racing and into Category 2. There were three big races over Memorial Day Weekend, culminating in the Tour of Somerville. This particular story concerns the Sunday race, which was the Tour of Nutley in Nutley, New Jersey. I’ve always wished that my greatest bike racing memory could have been attached to a place with a less-goofy name, but such is life.

The race was 100km around a course in downtown Nutley. It was about 60 laps. There were probably 200 riders in the field, and it was nothing particularly out of the ordinary for me at the time. There were riders from all the big teams at the time, including most of the U.S. National Team and a few riders from Europe. We started out and I just rode in the pack.

Somewhere along the way a breakaway got started and they got quite far ahead of the pack. I didn’t think much about it, since I had no (well, not many) aspirations of greatness at the time. But at about 20 laps to go, I found myself at the front of the pack. We were going along at racing speed, which was probably about 25-28mph, but I was just sort of loafing. I saw a guy in a red jersey take off from the front. I was just watching him go, figuring that he wouldn’t get far by himself. But then I saw John Quinn, who was the guy who ran my racing club, standing on the side of the road. He saw me at the front and yelled, “Go after him!” So I did. I jumped up and got on his wheel. He pulled me around for two laps before he even let me take a turn pulling. I took a quick look back and I couldn’t see the pack. When I pulled through he said something to me like, “No! Bigger gear!” So I dropped into a big gear and took a pull.

We traded off pulling for a couple of laps before I looked back and saw two other guys coming up to join us. I thought this was a Good Thing, since I didn’t think I’d last in a two-man breakaway. With four, I thought we’d have a good chance of making it to the finish without being caught. When they joined us, we settled into a pace line and life was good.

I hadn’t thought much about who these guys were, but the announcer started telling the crowd about us when we passed the starting line. It turned out that the guy who started the breakaway was Tom Doughty, who was on the National Team. The two other guys who joined us were Kent Bostick and Rick Baldwin. This was where I started to get scared. I used to get pumped up for races by reading race reports from Velo News, and so I knew that Rick had finished 8th in the 1977 National Road Championship, and I remembered reading how the National Team coach was “drooling over the raw power of big-boned Kent Bostick”. Suddenly I was feeling like I was a bit out of my element. I was a just-graduated-from-juniors kid. Yikes.

After a few laps, we got within sight of the front breakaway. But we didn’t quite catch them. To my credit, I was not the first to fade. It was either Kent or Rick who first started to lose it. But we were all getting tired. All of us except for Tom, the National Team guy. He finally got tired of pulling us and just left to join the front group. By this time there were only about five laps to go. I was still holding out hope that we could make it to the finish, but it was not to be. I ended up riding by myself, trying desperately to stay away from the pack. But at one lap to go, just as I passed the finish line, the pack blew by me like a train. I could barely turn the pedals by that time. So I just wobbled over to the side of the road and fell over on the grass.

Some people from my club picked me up and carried me over to a wall and sort of propped me up there. They gave me something to drink. I was a bit delerious at that point, but I still knew that I’d done something that everyone considered to be amazing. So even though I felt half-dead, it was fun.

So this was my greatest single day of bike riding ever. It was great fun. It was my greatest triumph and greatest defeat all at the same time. And I wish I could have had more like it. I had other days of triumph, but this was the only time where I could truly say that I’d given it all.

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was over to Hollywood to get a peek at a real estate listing I’d seen on L.A. Curbed. Realtors are notorious for always making every house sound like the best thing ever, so I was a bit shocked when this listing said that the house is “not for the faint of heart”. That seemed remarkable enough to warrant a look.

We started out heading west on Paloma and then got on Orange Grove to get to the Colorado Bridge. Then we took Colorado across the arroyo and down the hill into Eagle Rock.

Yosemite Drive brought us across to Eagle Rock Blvd, which we rode down to Glassell Park and Ave 36. A right turn put us on Fletcher to cross the L.A. River and into Silver Lake. Then we took Rowena and St. George to the Franklin Hills and Franklin Ave.

Crossing the Shakespeare Bridge, we came in to Hollywood, and we took Franklin all the way across to Highland, where we stopped to see the house that is ‘not for the faint of heart’. There was just a small walkway between two buildings with a few mailboxes. The house itself is behind the buildings and up the hill. 65 steps up the hill, to be exact. Since the mailbox is down by the street, the mailman won’t hate you, but I’d bet the pizza guy would. The house also has no parking, which is unheard-of here in Los Angeles. And all this can be yours for only $795,000.

Continuing down Highland, we got back on Franklin, passing by the Magic Castle, as well as the motel where Janis Joplin died. Then we turned right on Outpost. I’d ridden up this hill once before, when we first moved to Hollywood in 1988. I never rode up it again. And today I remembered why. It is a hill that is also not for the faint of heart. It starts out steep and just gets steeper at the top. And the road is rough. So it’s a tough climb.

At the top, we went right on Mulholland for the cruise down into Cahuenga Pass. Then we went over the freeway and rode through a little residential area to get to Barham Blvd, which brought us down into Burbank. We passed by Warner Bros and the somewhat shabby-looking Starlet Apartments. Then we stopped for a snack at Priscilla’s. I had a bagel and a large orange juice.

After the stop, we headed east through the equestrian neighborhood, where I got a flat. I picked up a staple in my tire, and it went flat almost instantly. I gave the camera to Tommy to take the necessary picture for the Flat Tire Gallery.

Continuing on, we took Sonora, Grandview, and Graynold up to Kenneth in Glendale. Then we went right and rode across Glendale to Verdugo Blvd. That was where Doug got a flat. His tire leaked more slowly, since it was caused by just a tiny sliver of glass. But it was flat none the less, so he got another entry in the gallery.

After the second flat fix, we headed up Verdugo to Hospital Hill, and then it was the standard route home acrosss La Cañada and Pasadena. When we got back to the park, I had 43 miles, so I took a quick ride out to Arcadia and back just to get to a nice round number.

50 miles.
cycling

Today I made arrangements to go for a bike ride at lunchtime with Vikki. So I rode my road bike in to work this morning, and at lunch we headed out.

On the way in I saw that they were setting up for some filming near campus, so on the way out we passed by there. There didn’t seem to be much going on at the time, but they had a lot of equipment ready to go.

We rode east out to Arcadia. Then we turned left on 1st Ave and took that up the hill into Highland Oaks. Then we went left on Virginia to get to Santa Anita, and then went up the hill some more to get to Grand View.

We rode across Sierra Madre on Grand View, and then went up the hill a bit more to go through Upper Hastings Ranch, which meant we went up the steep hill and passed by Lucinda’s school. Then we came screaming down the hill back to Sierra Madre Blvd.

From there it was a nice level ride back to campus.

When I was on my way home, they were finally filming something. They had a car on a flatbed truck with lights all around it and they were driving it down the street filming it from a camera on the edge of the truck bed. So at last they were doing something.

It was an achingly nice day, so it was perfect for riding.

16 miles at lunch, 24 for the day.

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was another cemetery sightseeing tour. We rode up to Mission Hills to Eden Memorial Park to see Lenny Bruce and Groucho Marx, and then to the San Fernando Mission cemetery across the street to see Ritchie Valens.

It was cool, overcast, and the forecast called for rain later in the day. We started out from Victory park, heading west on Paloma. At Hill we turned right and went up the hill. Then we went left to get on Woodbury to get out of Pasadena and pass by JPL.

In La Cañada we took Berkshire, Chevy Chase and Descanso to get up to Foothill Blvd. Then we took a left and rode Foothill all the way across La Crescenta and Tujunga, passing by Hanson Dam and into Sylmar, where we passed the “Best Live Poultry” place.

At Maclay we went left and rode through San Fernando. We went right a few blocks to get on Workman, which turned into Rinaldi and brought us to Eden Memorial Park. The guy at the front gate looked at us kind of funny and asked why we were there. We told him we were there to see Groucho Marx. He gave us a map and sent us up the hill. At the top of the hill it became clear that he had misunderstood and given us the map to the memorial service that was being held there that day. So we turned around and went back down the hill. We stopped about half-way down and found Lenny Bruce’s grave. Years ago I took a class at UCLA Extension called “How to Perform Stand-Up Comedy”, and we talked a lot about how Lenny was in many ways the father of modern stand-up. He was one of the first to break the old ‘two guys walk into a bar’ joke-telling mold. And he was rewarded with obscenity prosecutions.

Next, we went down to the big outdoor mausoleum and followed the directions that I’d brought along. We found the door to a small room, where we found Groucho Marx. Each niche has a small holder for flowers. Groucho’s had a cigar in it, which seemed entirely appropriate.

Leaving Eden Memorial, we took a quick left on Sepulveda and went into the San Fernando Mission cemetery. Just inside the front gate between curb numbers 235 and 247 we found Ritchie Valens. I’m not quite old enough to remember the Day the Music Died, but I heard about it when I was growing up.

Next, we got on San Fernando Mission Road and rode back into San Fernando, passing by the mission. (Who’d have guessed it would be there?) Then we went back through downtown San Fernando, pausing briefly at the bike shop for a picture of the “S&M Bicycles” sign in the window. Then we took a right on Glenoaks and headed for home. There was a billboard on a bus shelter there for the San Fernando Criterium, which is coming up in two weeks. Mabye we will have to ride up there again to see it. Continuing south on Glenoaks, I saw the sign for “Stan’s U.S. Guys”. I always take pictures of signs that have my name on them.

We rode through the auto-wrecking ghetto in Sunland, and passed the stinky landfill. Then we turned left on Tuxford, which brought us to La Tuna Canyon Road. Then it was time for that nice four-mile climb up the canyon. As usual, Matt was the first to the top. Jon brought up the rear, saying something about how he needed to do more riding. I was just a bit ahead of Jon. It’s a nice climb, but no matter how you slice it, it’s still uphill.

From the top, we rode down into Montrose and then up Hospital Hill. Then it was downhill the rest of the way home. We rode for a bit with a couple of triathlon people who were preparing for their first Ironman next weekend. I told them about our regular Sunday ride, so maybe they will join us in a few weeks after they’ve recovered.

It was a nice ride.

55 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was one of those ‘noodling around not really going anywhere in particular’ rides. But it was a very nice day, so it was a fun time.

We started out from Victory Park and headed west. We rode out to near the Rose Bowl and then went north a bit to Oak Grove, near JPL. We took a left on Berkshire and rode up to Chevy Chase and Descanso. At the top of the hill, we turned left and headed down Hospital Hill.

At the bottom of the hill, we took a little detour to get around the Montrose street market. Then we took Honolulu for a bit before turning down the hill and then taking a detour on some streets that went up and down the hills there in Glendale. Some of the hills were quite steep. I almost said ‘uncle’ and shifted, but I was able to avoid the temptation.

We went up and down a couple of pretty big and steep hills before coming out on Cañada Blvd by the park in Glendale. Then we turned right and headed downhill a bit to Mountain Ave. We turned right there and headed across Glendale.

We took Kenneth for a bit and then went left on Sonora to get down to Glenoaks. Our snack stop was at Paradise Bakery. They have the best chocolate eclairs there. So I got two and snapped a picture of them. They were that good.

After the stop, we headed back across Glendale on Glenoaks. We took it all the way to where it went up and over a short but steep hill to get to Chevy Chase. Then we took a left and rode up the long climb back up to La Cañada. At the top, we took a right and ended up on Inverness for a bit before going left and coming out at the bottom on Highland. That took us into Linda Vista to pass by the Rose Bowl again.

At that point, the route was to go back to the park by way of Orange Grove, but Tommy, Doug, and I decided to do a little more. We took a right and rode up the hill above the Rose Bowl and then down San Rafael, passing by the Old Seismology Lab there. Then we rode down into the arroyo and into South Pasadena. Then we took Monterey Road across and through San Marino, and then got on Huntington. We took that all the way out to 1st Ave in Arcadia, and then up Highland Oaks to Sierra Madre Blvd. Then we took Sierra Madre back home. Like I said, it was a nice day, so it was fun ride.

51 miles.
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was a sightseeing trip to Hollywood and Silver Lake. Part of the route was the regular Foothill Cycle Saturday ride, but then Gene and I took a side trip to do some sightseeing.

We started out at Victory Park and rode over to the Pasadena Elks Club Lodge, where we met the rest of the club group. Then we headed west on Colorado through Eagle Rock. That was where I saw the gym advertising kickboxing for kids. For some reason, I found this to be a funny mental image, so I stopped for a picture.

We rode into Glendale on Wilson, and then took Jackson up to Glenoaks. Then we took Glenoaks all the way across Glendale. A left on Sonora brought us down to Riverside in Burbank, just across from the Bette Davis Picnic Area. Then we crossed the river and the freeway and took a right on Zoo Drive.

We rode past Travel Town and up the hill in Griffith Park. A right turn at the closed gate brought us onto the road up the back side of Mt. Hollywood. This is a nice long climb, and it’s especially pleasant because the road is closed to cars. So it’s just a nice place to ride.

When we got to the intersection by the tunnel, Gene and I went right, down into Fern Dell. We rode down all the way to Los Feliz Blvd, and then went right to get to Franklin Ave. Then we took Bronson down to the cemetery.

Hollywood Forever is home to many stars, and today we were there to visit with Don Adams, who is perhaps best-known as Agent 86 of Control in “Get Smart”. His grave is currently not marked with a stone, but I was able to locate it with some help from the people on the Get Smart mailing list. I gather that his family is still considering trying to have him buried in Arlington National Cemetery, due to his service in World War II. But in the meantime, he is in Hollywood Forever. Also, while we were there, we walked down by the pond to see the cenotaph for Jayne Mansfield.

Leaving the cemetery, we rode back across Hollywood and into Silver Lake. We took a right on Sunset and headed south, passing by Lovecraft Biofuels, which is a shop that does bio-diesel car conversions. Then we took a left on Benton Way and rode up some hills to come out on Silver Lake Blvd right by the reservoir and the dog park.

At Glendale Blvd, we went left, and then right on Fletcher and right again on Riverside. We took Riverside all the way to Figueroa, with a quick side trip down Oros St to see a house I’d seen the real estate listing for last week. This one is even smaller than the one we saw last week, and the one from the week before. This one is 299 square feet. The flyer says that the lot is 1300 square feet, which means that the lot is smaller than my house alone. It was impressively small.

Oh, yeah. Just for everyone who’s not in California, the asking price for the shoebox-sized house was $199,000.

Leaving the tiny house, we rode up Figueroa St to Ave 60, and then over to Monterey Rd and into South Pasadena. We rode all the way across San Marino and then went north on Sierra Madre Blvd, and then we were home.

It was a nice ride.

46 miles.
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It was May 2, 1976, and it was the day of my first big race. I was 16, and had no idea what I was in for that day. We all had our old-style leather-hairnet ‘helmets’ on, and I didn’t even know to zip up my jersey collar. When the race started, it was all just a blur. We went faster than I’d ever imagined was possible. But I stayed with the pack, and even tried to break away a couple of times. I didn’t know that first-year riders usually get dropped, so I didn’t get dropped. It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t know that you’re not supposed to be able to do it. It was great fun.

Today’s ride was the Mt Washington loop, passing the Self-Realization Fellowship. I’ve done the route map before, so if you want to see the map, just look at the time we did it last year.

It was a dreary day at the start, but we all thought it would get nice later. We started out going up Hill St to Woodbury Road, and then out to La Cañada. On the way up the first real hill, we heard a strange beeping. It turned out it was James’ heart rate monitor. He’d had an accident last fall, and was only recently able to start riding again. Today was only his second time back on the bike. So apparently the hills were getting to him.

We rode up past Descanso Gardens, and then down Hospital Hill into Montrose. Then we went left and took Verdugo Road all the way down to Eagle Rock Blvd in Glassell Park.

The road made a little loop down near the Los Angeles River, and then we took a left on Figueroa to start back north. We went just a short way to the turnoff for Mt. Washington. Then we were going up another hill. It was nice this time, since the road was recently repaved. The last time we were there the surface was utterly wretched, but this time was nice. On the way up, James turned off the alarm on his heart rate monitor so we wouldn’t have to listen to the beeping. Near the top, I snapped a picture of him that pretty much summed up the hill-climbing experience.

At the top we took a moment to regroup and catch our breath by the gates of the Self-Realization Fellowship. Then we went north on San Rafael Ave along the top of the hill, and then down the other side.

When we got to the bottom, we saw The House. I’d seen it linked on L.A. Curbed last week. It’s a tiny little run-down boarded-up shack. Only $449,000. It did have a pretty big yard, though, so maybe it’s not all that bad. But it still seems like a lot of money for a house that’s listed as “uninhabitable”.

Leaving the house behind, we passed a church with a small crowd of protesters in front. Apparently the church had made a deal with a cell-phone company to put antennas on top of the tower and these people were unhappy about it. They were saying something about it lowering property values. After seeing the shack down the street, I didn’t think that would necessarily be a bad thing…

At Ave 50, Gene took a wrong turn. Which was funny, since he’s the ride leader, and we were following his route slip. But James took off to catch him while the rest of us continued on the proper way. They caught up with us a little while later. James was red-faced, panting and sweating, but they’d caught us.

We stopped for a snack at the little coffee shop in South Pasadena. The one that has a sign advertising “Pastries Fresh Daily” next to a jar of Twinkies on the counter. Yum. While we were there, we also met Packard the dog. He’s a 17-year-old Husky mix, but very friendly.

The last part of the ride was across San Marino and back home. But when we got on Duarte Road, Newton and James took off and missed a turn. I went after them, but I lost them when I got caught at the light at Rosemead. By the time I got a green, they were long gone. I think they might be in Arizona by now. Or at least at Newton’s house in West Covina. So I just kept on riding on Duarte Road until I got out to Monrovia. Then I went north a bit on Myrtle Ave, passing “The Wizard of Bras”, and then headed home by way of Sierra Madre.

It was a nice ride.

50 miles.
cycling

Today’s installment of the Foothill Cycle Sunday Moderate Ride was roundabout tour of Pasadena and close-by cities.

We started out from Victory Park with some nice sunshine. Right at the start I tried a quick bit of Myspace-style self-portraiture. That’s taking a picture with the camera held at arm’s-length. I take pictures on almost all the rides, but it’s rare that I actually get in any of them. So this was my attempt to make up for this. But to really get a good bike-riding picture, I need a longer arm.

We headed east to Sierra Madre Villa, and then south to Huntington Drive. From there we went west a bit and then south into Temple City. We took Broadway west back into San Gabriel, and then Mission north to San Marino.

A left on Monterey Road took us across San Marino, and then we got on El Molino and rode all the way north into Pasadena and Mountain Ave. Then we took a left to go to Lincoln and then a right onto Forest. It was there that Rick started complaining about his pedal, so we stopped to see what was wrong. It turned out that one of the screws in his cleat had fallen out, and the second was nearly out. He managed to get the one screw back in, but he had to bail and head for home at that point.

At Washington we went left and rode down past the north end of the Rose Bowl, and then up the hill on the other side to Linda Vista. We went right there and then left on Inverness to start riding up the nice hill there. We rode up for a bit to get to the place where the road was washed out. We had to squeeze in between a fencepost and a cliff to get past the barrier, and then we rode past the washout.

After that, we rode up some more on St Katherine to get to Wendover and the top of the hill. There was a nice view from up there. Then we went down San Augustine to Figueroa and Chevy Chase. A quick left on Inverness again, and we were riding along the top of the hill. Then a right on Hempstead took us back down to Chevy Chase. We went left there and rode up to Foothill Blvd in La Cañada.

We took a right on Foothill down to Oakwood, where we stopped at a little coffee shop. It was our first time stopping there, and likely the last. The people working there got everything wrong on our orders.

After the stop, we rode up Oakwood for a bit and then took a right on Knight Way. Then another right on Crown Ave to get back down to Foothill. Then we turned left and dropped down the hill to Oak Grove by JPL. A right on Oak Grove brought us back into Pasadena and Woodbury Rd.

We went left on Casitas and went up the hill to Ventura, where we took a right. At Lincoln we went left again to get up the hill to Loma Alta, right at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. We took Loma Alta all the way up to the top of Lake Ave. Along the way I stopped for a picture of something not-quite-identifiable. It was a squashed bag with what looked like a large bird’s foot sticking out of it. Yick.

At Lake we went right, down the hill. Then a left on Mt. Curve and Maiden Ln to get to Rubio Canyon Rd. Another left took us around the mouth of Rubio Canyon and Loma Alta again. Then we went left on Pinecrest to the base of the Mt. Wilson Toll Road, which was closed by a large landslide over a year ago. The landslide was still there, and it doesn’t appear that there has been any work done on trying to clear it. You can see this in this picture taken just over a year ago. About the only thing different is that there is more vegetation growing on it now.

From there, we got on Altadena Drive and rode down the hill back to the park. At that point we had gone 35 miles, so I took Sierra Madre Blvd east to Sunnyslope to add a little bit more. I went up the hill to Grand View and then east some more to Baldwin. Then down the hill to Sierra Madre and back home.

41 miles.
cycling