Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Route map

Today’s bike ride was down to Whittier and over Turnbull Canyon. This is a nice little piece of wilderness in the middle of the city. It was a bit chilly in the morning, so I left a few minutes early to warm up a bit and make sure I was dressed properly. I rode up to Lake and Woodbury and back. Along the way, I found a pair of abandoned couches for the Abandoned Couches Blog. And I also saw an Edison substation that I’d never noticed before. It was in a building that was made to resemble the houses around it. The only real clue was the little sign saying “Edison Substation” and the very thick bundle of wires going into it.

I rode down to Victory Park to meet the group. We rode east from the park, into Arcadia, and then south, passing through El Monte and Industry to get to Whittier. Then we went left on Beverly and rode up to Turnbull Canyon.

The climb up from the west side is perhaps a bit steeper than on the east side, and we’ve done it both ways in the past. Today, we all just rode up to the top. The group broke up on the way up, but we regrouped at the top. Then we headed down the other side. As always, I got the ‘steel rollercoaster’ feeling on the down side. It was kind of fun.

At the bottom, we turned left and started for home. That was when I heard a phone ringing, and I was relieved that it wasn’t mine. Instead, it was another guy who had the pleasure of trying to ride and talk on the phone at the same time.

A bit farther along, we realized that we were missing a person. They had been with us when we started down Turnbull Canyon, but they were gone when we got to the bottom. So Gene and Philippe went back to find her. It turned out that one of her cleats had come loose, so they had to stop and try to tighten it before they could come back to rejoin the group.

Coming up Peck Rd, we went through Arcadia and into Monrovia, where we stopped for a snack social at Planet Cookies. And that was also where I saw Stan’s Vac and Sew. I always stop for a photo when I see places that have my name on them.

After the stop, we rode home through Arcadia and back to the park. The ride was a tiny bit longer than the usual Sunday rides, and with the little warmup I did beforehand, I had my Magic 50.

53 miles.
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today I took a sightseeing bike ride to go visit some Americana. There were three targets for the day: The 1953 McDonald’s, the “Close to You” and “Only Just Begun” apartments, and Johnie’s Broiler, all in beautiful Downey, California. It was a cool day, but forecast to warm up nicely. A perfect winter’s day in SoCal.

I started out heading south, through San Marino and San Gabriel. I rode down through Whittier Narrows and then turned south again on Rosemead. Then I just went straight, all the way to Downey.

At one light, there was a very shiny tanker truck in front of me, so I took my picture reflected in it. Then I continued on to the where Rosemead turned in to Lakewood, and the 1953 McDonald’s. We’d visited there before, so I didn’t go inside to see the Ray Kroc museum this time.

Continuing on down Lakewood, I took a right on 5th St. That was where I saw a house undergoing a fairly drastic remodel. Only the front wall was still standing. Then I rode a short distance farther and found the “Close to You” and “Only Just Begun” apartment buildings. They are a pair, right across the street from each other, and they were bought by Karen and Richard Carpenter with their earnings from their first big hit songs, back in 1970.

I went a bit farther on 5th St to get to Firestone Blvd and Johnie’s Broiler. This is a 1950s Googie-style coffee shop that was being used as a used-car lot promising “BAJO MILLAGE” cars. It was also being considered for historic status. Apparently, the owners weren’t too happy about this, because they hired a bulldozer to start knocking it down without a permit. So the building is still half-standing, but in ruins.

Leaving Johnie’s, I backtracked to get to Paramount Blvd and headed north. At Mines Ave, I went right and went back to Rosemead. That was where I saw it. Shangri-L… Oh. It said Shangri Lodge. Never mind. The place was kind of scary, with bars and bulletproof glass around the manager’s office.

I took a left on Beverly to take the scenic route back up through Montebello. That was where I saw yet another abandoned couch for the Abandoned Couches Blog.

At San Gabriel Blvd, I turned left, and immediately heard that telltale hissing sound. I had a flat. Since I was riding alone, I had to take the obligatory picture Myspace-style, with the camera held at arm’s length. I put on a spare tire, and continued on.

I went up Walnut Grove to get back up to San Gabriel, and then went west a bit on Longden to get back to Del Mar. Then it was straight up through San Marino and back to the park.

It was a pleasant ride.

Addendum: I fixed my flat tire this evening. I was riding my old racing bike today. So I was riding Old School. This is the first time in three years that I’ve fixed a sew-up tire. I’m out of practice. I used to do this all the time and didn’t think anything of it. But it was hard.

42 miles
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today’s bike ride was a nice jaunt through the Hollywood Hills to stalk Lindsay Lohan. I’d read yesterday in the gossip column that Lindsay Lohan had checked into rehab. The article mentioned Wonderland Center. So I looked it up. They have a web site and everything. But when I saw the address, I thought, “I’ve been by there on my bike a hundred times, and I’ve never even noticed that there was anything there.” So I figured a ride out there was in order, just to see how they have the place hidden.

I started out across Pasadena on Orange Grove. Then I went down the Colorado Hill, but I took the ‘shortcut’. I’d never been down Brixton before. It’s steep, so going down was a whole lot easier than going up. Then I took Yosemite and Eagle Rock Blvd down through Glassell Park.

The church on Eagle Rock Blvd had a new sign up today, so I got a picture. Then I took Fletcher down to the river, pausing to take a couple of pictures of the Muffler Men in Atwater Village.

Crossing the river, I rode through Silver Lake and over the Shakespeare Bridge into Hollywood. I rode straight down Hollywood Blvd, which is always kind of a surreal experience early in the morning. At the Chinese Theater I saw a big crowd of tourists looking at the footprints and getting their pictures taken with someone dressed as Charlie Chaplin.

Leaving the tourist-trap Hollywood, I continued on to Nichols Canyon Road. I took a right there and headed up the canyon. Nichols Canyon is easily my favorite road in the Hollywood Hills. It’s nice and quiet, it was recently repaved, and it’s not too steep. I stopped for a picture in someone’s driveway mirror, and also for a picture of the Keith Haring mailbox.

At the top of Nichols Canyon, I took a left on Woodrow Wilson to get to Mulholland. Along the way, I passed number 7734. Our house number is ‘1134’, and I tell people it’s easy to remember because you can put it in a calculator and turn it upside-down to spell ‘hEll’. But 7734 is even better. It spells ‘hELL’. So there.

Woodrow Wilson comes out on the crest of the hill right at the intersection of Mulholland and Laurel Canyon. I went left on Mulholland to pass by the rehab center gate at 8207 Mulholland. When I got to the gate, I could see why I’d never noticed it before. It’s just a little driveway, and you can’t see the gate unless you turn and go up to the bend in the driveway. Of course, there’s no sign. There was just one lone paparazzo staked out in a Land Rover with blacked-out windows parked across the street. I snapped a quick picture of the gate and then continued on Mulholland to go refill my water bottle at Fryman Canyon Park. For some reason, I felt like I needed a drink.

I filled my water bottle up at the park and then headed back down Mulholland. At the second intersection with Woodrow Wilson, I took a left to take the shortcut down to Cahuenga Pass. I also wanted to pass by for a look at Harrison Ford’s old house, which is for sale. They’re even having an open house there on Sunday if you want to see it. It’s “Reduced!” to only $1,299,000.

Coming out down in Cahuenga Pass, I took the bridge across the freeway and then went up Wonder View to avoid riding on Cahuenga Blvd. Usually, I have trouble convincing other people to go this way, since it’s a pretty steep hill. But since I was riding alone, I was free to go up any hill I wanted. And this one was it. Then, at the top, I went down Lake Hollywood and came out on Barham for the ride down to Burbank.

I rode down through Griffith Park to Riverside, and then into Glendale. I took the direct route across Glendale to get to Colorado in Eagle Rock. Then back across Eagle Rock on Yosemite, up the Colorado Hill, and back home.

It was a pleasant ride.

47 miles.
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was a sightseeing trip to see Powers Place. This is reputed to be the shortest named street in Los Angeles. It is 13 feet long.

Setting out from Victory Park, we rode down Sierra Madre Blvd to Huntington Drive. Then we went right and rode almost all the way to downtown L.A. Forking off on Mission Road, we skirted the east side of downtown, passing through the warehouse district. I saw my first abandoned couch of the day there. Then we turned right on 4th St and rode across the bridge. We got a nice view of the downtown towers, as well as the Metro Red Line yards.

Coming in to Little Tokyo, we went left on Central Ave and headed down into the industrial underbelly of downtown. There was a strong smell of food processing there. Then, at Pico, we went right, and I took a picture of the Coca-Cola building there. This is a famous building that was built to resemble a ship.

Riding west on Pico, we went through the garment district, and also passed the site of the oozing oil last year. Then we rode through the convention center and on to Powers Place.

At Powers Place, I stopped for a couple of pictures. It really was that short. Then we headed north on Hoover to 11th and over to Vermont.

Vermont Ave was really wretched to ride on, but the whole point of it was to get a picture of the “Porno Mania” sign at Olympic. It’s not every day that you see a store with such a straightforward name.

Turning on Wilshire, we got off of Vermont and then took some smaller side streets to get up to 2nd St, which we rode all the way over to Larchmont. Along the way, we saw the second abandoned couch of the day, as well as the Harbin Deer Antler Trading Company. We were happy to see that the health department gave them an “A”, so they are handling the deer antlers in a sanitary manner.

At Larchmont, we stopped for a bagel at Noah’s. Then we continued north, passing by Paramount Studios on Gower. Then we heard a tremendous “POP!”. I looked back and saw Jon stopping and looking at his back tire. The tire had come off the rim and blown out the tube. There was a rip about four inches long in the tube. So I took out my camera and took a picture for the Flat Tire Gallery. Jon replaced the tube, and we were on our way again.

The rest of the ride home was the standard route back from Hollywood. Across the Shakespeare Bridge and then home by way of Fletcher, Eagle Rock, and Yosemite. That was the site of the third and final abandoned couch of the day. Then we got to the Colorado Hill. We climbed the hill and then rode back across Pasadena to the park.

Aside from the traffic on Vermont Ave, it was a very pleasant ride.

43 miles.
cycling

Route map

Update: Here is the ride profile

Today’s ride was Gene’s “Newton’s Nemesis” ride, which is a ride up and down the canyons above Sierra Madre, Arcadia, and Monrovia. It’s not a super-long ride, but it’s hard. Newton is the hillclimber in our group, so Gene made this route just so that he would have a chance to show us just how good he is at it.

We started out from Victory Park. Only one guy drove his car there, but then he realized that he couldn’t park there today because of the preparations for the Rose Parade. So he had to move his car, and Gene brought his bike along. Then we started the ride, heading east up Sierra Madre Blvd. We passed the area set up for the post-parade float viewing. Then we turned left at Michillinda and headed up the hill.

The first canyon climb was up above Sierra Madre. It went up a steep hill in a canyon, making a loop and coming out on the same street where we started. Then we rode down Mountain Trail almost to the freeway before heading east a little more to get to Santa Anita. Then we turned left, up the hill again.

Climbing up Santa Anita, we rode up another steep canyon road there. This was probably the hardest climb on the ride. I had to say ‘uncle’ and shift there. Then, when we got to the top, we came back down, ending up on Highland Oaks and Foothill.

Going left on Foothill, we crossed into Monrovia. Usually we ride across on Hillcrest, but this time, we rode up yet another steep canyon. Here, we saw three deer snoozing on someone’s front lawn. They were ignoring us until I stopped to take pictures. Then they got up and left.

On the last canyon climb I had a little laugh about the cars I saw parked in front of one of the houses. When you put a cover on a car, nobody can see what kind of car it is, so it no longer functions as a status symbol. Unless you’re this guy and you get car covers with “BMW” printed on them. Then you can prevent sun damage and still make sure everyone knows you have a BMW. Of course, I didn’t peek under the cover to see if maybe it was really a Hyundai or something under there…

After the last canyon, we rode out through Duarte and took the San Gabriel River bike path up to the mouth of the canyon above Azusa. Then we went south through Azusa and back west to Monrovia, where we stopped for a snack at Planet Cookies. It was pretty good. Then we rode home.

I rode part-way across Pasadena with Vikki just to see the masses of people who were already camping out along the Rose Parade route. I think they’re nuts. But that’s just me.

47 miles.
cycling

Route map and photo locations

The weather forecast for Sunday looked grim by SoCal standards, so I went riding today. Vikki had organized a ride with some of her triathlon friends to go up Glendora Mountain Road. It was cool and overcast. The forecast was for rain, starting in the afternoon.

The ride started at Encanto Park in Duarte. I’m a firm believer in not driving my car to go to a bike ride, so I rode out there to meet them. Along the way, I saw the Sierra Madre Rose Parade float. They were moving it somewhere, so I passed it as it was driving slowly down Sierra Madre Blvd.

When I got to Encanto Park, everyone was there and almost ready to go. After some introductions and chat, we started out on the ride to Glendora. We had to take a detour around some construction on Sierra Madre Blvd, but soon we go to Glendora Mountain Road. The road is closed to cars, and we had to lift our bikes over the gate to get through. But then it was nice and quiet.

Once we hit the hill, the group broke up. A couple of faster guys went ahead, and I ended up riding with Christina. She told me about riding the leg of the Furnace Creek 508 that climbed Townes Pass into Death Valley. That made for a good story.

On the way up the hill, we passed a group of road-luge guys who were walking up the hill. Then a little later we saw a guy with a bike who was carrying a big broom and stopping to sweep sand and mud off the road. We were almost to the top of the hill when it began to rain in earnest. At that point I said ‘uncle’ and turned around. I passed the rest of the group who were still going up, and I rode back down into Glendora.

It rained on me all the way back down the mountain, which was extraordinarily unpleasant. It was cold and wet. Yick. When I got to the bottom and had to start pedaling again, my knees hurt from the cold. I was wearing a piece of bubble wrap under my jersey as a Hoover Blanket. Bubble wrap is a great insulator. I pulled it out and tore it in two. Then I wrapped a piece around each knee. My tights held the bubble wrap in place. And then my knees were warm and comfy again.

I continued on, but it was quickly apparent that I needed the Hoover Blanket to stay warm. So I started looking for something to use. Finally, I found a temporary ‘No Parking’ sign that was lying on the sidewalk. I brushed the dirt off of it and put it under my jersey. Then things were good again.

I snapped a picture of a bus-shelter ad for a Christian credit union. I thought that was funny. But I guess that they’d be good to borrow from, since they probably would have reasonable interest rates.

In Monrovia, I met up with a guy who had the same bike as mine. He was the first person I’ve ever seen riding the same bike, and we both agreed that it was a great bike and a great value. He was going a good speed, so we rode together all the way back to Pasadena, and I told him about the regular Sunday ride, since I think he’d enjoy riding with that group.

Overall, it was a pretty good ride, aside from the part riding down the mountain in the rain.

52 miles.
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was through Turnbull Canyon to Whittier. It was kind of a chilly day, and still wet from the rain last night.

We started out from the park, heading south and east. In El Monte, Jon got a flat. Of course, I took the obligatory picture for the Flat Tire Gallery. While he was fixing it, I had a look at the Army recruiting office there. They had a big rack outside the door with brochures in English, Spanish, and Korean. I’d never seen Army recruiting literature in Korean before.

After fixing the flat, we continued on, turning onto the San Gabriel River bike path. We rode that for a short distance to Ramona. Newton had ridden in from West Covina to meet us there. At that point, James, Jon, and Grant all missed the turn. So Newton took off after them. We figured if anyone could catch them, it was him. A few minutes later, my phone rang. It was Newton. He said that James and Jon had disappeared off into the distance and Grant had gotten a flat. So we rode down a mile or so to watch him fix it and so I could get a picture. Then we went back up to Ramona and continued on the ride.

In Baldwin Park, we passed In-N-Out Burger and their big “In-N-Out University”. Then we rode down to the north side of Turnbull Canyon Road.

Up to this point, the ride had been fairly flat, but Turnbull Canyon is a nice little hill. We rode up and regrouped at the top. I took a picture of the view of downtown L.A. from up there. Then we rode down the south side into Whittier.

Just before the bottom, Philippe got a flat. So we stopped while he fixed it. Then, when he was pumping up the tire, the valve stem snapped off. I’ve seen this happen before. I consider this to be a second flat, even though we hadn’t actually moved since the first one, so I took another picture.

When Philippe was finally inflated again, we continued on down into Whittier. We stopped at a little bakery downtown. It was pretty good, but it was kind of cold to be sitting outside.

Leaving Whittier, we rode back along Workman Mill Road to Durfee and then over to Whittier Narrows. At this point, Philippe got his third flat tire. We cheered, because this broke the old record of four flats on one ride.

From there, we took the direct route home, straight north through San Gabriel and San Marino. For some reason, this ride seemed much longer than it really was. Perhaps it was something to do with fixing all those flats. In any event, we were all ready to be done.

46 miles.
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was Gene’s “Wild Oats” route, named for the fact that the snack stop is at Noah’s Bagels, right next to the big Wild Oats store on South Lake Avenue.

It was chilly in the morning, but it was sunny and clear, so it promised to warm up later on. Yesterday was the big USC-UCLA football game, and UCLA won. So Vikki showed up in her full UCLA team kit. Not that she cares about football. But she said that she knew it would annoy any USC fans who saw it.

We started out going east on Sierra Madre, all the way out to Santa Anita. Then we turned south and rode all the way down to South El Monte. There, just before Whittier Narrows, we took a small side trip. There used to be a Nike anti-aircraft missile site in South El Monte. The radar site was on top of a hill a bit to the east, and the missile launch pads were on Potrero Road. Today, it’s an army reserve site and part of Whittier Narrows Park.

Continuing on, we got on Lincoln Ave, going south into Montebello. That was where I saw another couch for the Abandoned Couches Blog.

We rode through Montebello and then back north into Monterey Park. There were a couple of nice hills, including one steep pitch that was something like 15-18%. Then we headed up into Alhambra.

Along the way, some of us missed a turn, and we ended up shortcutting about a mile off the route by mistake. But that was all right. We headed north through San Marino and up to Wild Oats and Noah’s Bagels.

We got a table outside and had our bagels, while the local pigeons pecked up crumbs around our feet. They seemed to have no fear of people.

The last part of the ride was back to the park, but by a roundabout way. We went south, and then took a small detour to pass the mansion we’d read about in the paper recently. It’s for sale for a mere $52 million. Oddly enough, they didn’t have any “Take One” flyers outside.

From there, we rode back across San Marino, up into Pasadena, and back to the park.

40 miles
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today’s bike ride was Gene’s “Verdugo Park” route. It was a slightly chilly day, but not bad for riding. The holidays are a-comin’ as evidenced by the Christmas Tree lot going up on Sierra Madre Blvd by Victory Park.

We started out with an easy ride up through La Cañada, then down Hospital Hill into Montrose. That was where the fun began. We took a detour up through the hills there, which added some steep climbing to the route. After that fun, we came down by the park at Cañada Blvd. The Pasadena Athletic Association was having a cyclocross race there today. We stopped to watch for a little while.

Continuing on, we took Mountain and Kenneth across Glendale, coming out on Glenoaks and Paradise Bakery. As always, I got two chocolate eclairs, since they have the best eclairs around.

After the stop, we headed back across Glendale on Glenoaks all the way to Chevy Chase. Then we took a left and headed up the hill. At the top, we turned right and took Regent Park and Inverness around the hill and down to Highland and Linda Vista.

We rode on Linda Vista around the Rose Bowl and then took Holly St up to Orange Grove. Then a left turn sent us back across Pasadena on Orange Grove to the park where we had started.

It was a nice ride.

43 miles.
cycling

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was a new route. Some months ago, Gene and I had ridden down Western Canyon in Griffith Park. There is a little snack shop there, and we thought it looked interesting. Recently, Vikki was on a ride that stopped there, and she said it was quite good. So it was the destination for today’s ride. It was a perfect November day in Southern California. Blue skies, sunny, and warm.

We started out going directly west on Orange Grove, and then down into the arroyo to get to La Loma. Then we rode up and over the hills to get to Figueroa in Eagle Rock. We took Figueroa all the way down to the L.A. River and Riverside Drive.

We took a short side trip on Oros St to see if the tiniest house in L.A. had sold. The sign was gone, and it looked like someone was living there. We all marveled at how small the house was.

Continuing on, we rode into Griffith Park. We saw the beginnings of the Festival of Lights before turning and heading up the hill by the golf course. Then we got on Mt Hollywood Drive for the trip up and over the hill.

At the crest, we regrouped and then headed down the other side. A right turn on Western Canyon brought us down the hill into Fern Dell and The Trails. The menu is kind of limited, but everything was good.

After the stop, we split into two groups. Several people didn’t feel like climbing the hill back up to the observatory, so they continued down the hill to take a flatter route home. The rest of us headed back up Western Canyon. There’s not much traffic on that road, but right now, a good bit of it consists of the shuttle buses taking people up to the observatory. At the top, we rode through the tunnel and then down the hill, passing the Greek Theater.

We missed a turn and ended up on Hillhurst, but we took a left on Avocado to get back on the route. Then we took Griffith Park Blvd down into Silver Lake.

The streets in Silver Lake were most likely laid out on a map by people who had no idea of the actual terrain there. So when we got to Effie St, we turned and were suddenly faced with a hill that looked like a wall. I immediately said ‘uncle’ and shifted to my lowest gear. Newton said that the grade was around 20% according to his fancy bike computer. Gene was off with the other group, but if he’d been there, I’m sure he would have said, “but it looked flat on the map!”

We continued on, taking some more little streets though Silver Lake, finally coming out on the west side of the reservoir. Then we went left and that brought us back to Rowena and Glendale Blvd.

Taking Glendale north, it turned into Brand, and we rode into Glendale. Then we went right on Chevy Chase and right again on Adams, which brought us to another steep hill. At this point we were all wondering what posessed Gene to make up this route.

Coming down the other side, we found ourselves on York, which we took for a while before going left on Ellenwood. This brought us up through Eagle Rock to Yosemite. There we went right and rode back across Eagle Rock to get to La Loma and back into Pasadena. Along the way, I picked up a new couch for the Abandoned Couches Blog.

At La Loma, we rode back up and over the same hill we’d started out on, coming out down in the arroyo. Then we got on Orange Grove for the ride back to the park. Along the way, I saw the first bleachers for the Rose Parade, which means that the holidays are a-comin’.

It was a nice, ride, even if it turned out to be much harder than we’d expected.

50 miles
cycling