Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today, Susan and I did one of the PAA rides. This was one with Coach Rick. I used to do rides like this all the time when I was racing, but I haven’t been on a ride like this in close to 30 years.

We met up with the group down in San Marino. Then we fell into the pace line and rode. It was fun to ride in an organized pace line again. The usual group I ride with doesn’t do this. The group held together until we got to the hill on Gladstone in San Dimas. Then it kind of broke up. We got reassembled after the Metrolink train went by. Then we did one circuit around Bonelli Park. This had some more hills, which splintered the group again. But we again reassembled when we got back to flat land. Along the way, I got the obligatory photo of Susan with a packet of Gu in her mouth. And then we rode the pace line back home.

It was a fun ride.
55 miles.
cycling

Delicious.

After making the white chocolate mousse for Lucinda’s birthday cake last Sunday, I had one cup of cream left over. So I decided to try a little experiment. I’d had a frozen white chocolate mousse cake once at Evan’s in South Lake Tahoe, and I was thinking about trying to cook up something similar.

I figured that the one cup of cream would make just over two cups of mousse, so I chose a six-inch springform pan to start. I made a chocolate graham cracker crust for the bottom of the cake. I pressed it into the bottom of the pan and froze it.

While the crust was freezing, I made the mousse. When it was ready, I got the pan out of the freezer and put the mousse in it. Then I topped it with some mini chocolate chips and put it in the refrigerator to set. Once it is set, I’ll freeze it. Once it’s frozen I can remove the springform pan and it will be ready to serve.

So now we have something new to try after dinner tomorrow night.

Tonight was a little live-theater adventure. Susan and I went to Hollywood to see “Divorce! The Musical“. Since I’m part-way through this rather grim process, I’m ready to laugh about it. So I figured that this would be an appropriate outing.

The mood of the show covered the range from unspeakably sad to hilariously funny, which is no mean feat. The story is about Penny and Rich, married four years and getting divorced. There are therapists, lawyers, and dirty tricks on both sides. It’s all very true-to-life. It illustrated the emotional roller-coaster ride with songs like “Lawyer Letters”, “Winners and Losers”, and “There Were Good Things”. There are snippets of a few of the songs on the show’s web site. At the end, Penny and Rich sign their final agreement, which leads in to the very poignant final song, “Pennies and Riches”.

It was a very good show. Both heartrending and hilarious. It’s quite rare to find those two in the same place.

Todays bike ride was out to Claremont, although it turned out that I had to cut it short to get back a bit early. Still, it was a perfect day for a ride. And I also got a new hot-rod mailbox for my collection.

43 miles.
cycling

Today was Lucinda’s birthday, and she was going to be at my house, so I planned for a special dinner for her. I printed up a program for the occasion, announcing the special prix fixe menu for the evening:

• House salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• Sea scallops wrapped in bacon and broiled
• Pan-fried potatoes
• Braised kale
• Chocolate soufflé with whipped cream

After dinner, she got to open some presents. I got her another platypus shirt, along with a Wii controller and wheel. Susan gave her an iTunes gift card and a jewelry making kit. And after dinner we all went to the back and played Mario Kart.

It was a nice evening.

Today’s bike ride was Gene’s “Corner Bakery” route, which is another meandering route that leads us ultimately to a bakery. It was warm and sunny, and it felt like spring.

We started out heading east into Arcadia. While we were riding down Santa Anita Blvd, I heard a yell behind me, followed by what sounded like a starter’s pistol from my racing days. The sound was Gene’s tire blowing out. Being that the tire was not repairable, and it was 8:20 on Sunday morning, he figured the ride was over for him, and he called home for help. But in the meantime, Jon had gone across the street to REI and found that there was someone at the store, and he was willing to open up for us, even though the store wasn’t supposed to open until 10:00.

Continuing on, we rode down one street that was partially blocked off for reasons that were not clear at first. But half-way down the block, we saw that a minivan had crashed into and broken one of the telephone poles on the street.

A bit later, Alan saw a tree that had been toilet-papered in San Marino. He reached up and grabbed a piece when we rode by, and he shoved it into the waistband of his shorts.

Finally, we made it up to near the Rose Bowl, where we turned up Inverness for the climb up the one substantial hill of the route. We all made it to the top, where we regrouped. Then we headed down the other side. The descent has some sweeping turns, and as I was going down, I heard a crashing noise behind me. I stopped and turned back up the hill to find out what had happened. I went around the last turn and found Jon standing next to a mailbox and shoving mail back into it. Apparently, he’d gone too wide around the turn and crashed into the mailbox. But he wasn’t especially hurt in the incident. Just a few bruises, which he showed me to photograph.

We continued on down the hill, and right near the bottom, I heard yet another bang, this time ahead of me. This time it was Scott’s tire that blew out. Looking closely at the wheel, he realized that his rim had split. It wasn’t clear if that was the cause of the blowout, but either way, I’ve not seen a rim break like that before, at least not without a violent crash.

Scott was able to put in a new tube and still ride the bike, but there is certainly a trip to the bike store in his future.

It was a day of weird and improbable things happening, but it was still a fun ride.

37 miles.
cycling

One of my friends at the office just came back from a field trip to the Dead Sea. She often brings back little souvenirs for us from places she visits. And this time, it’s a crystal of salt from Mount Sodom. She said that she figured that I of all people would be able to properly appreciate a souvenir from Sodom and Gomorrah. Heh.

Today’s ride was Gene’s “Noah’s Bagels” route, which just sort of winds around the San Gabriel Valley before ending up at Noah’s in Pasadena. It was cool, but not cold. Overcast, but not actively raining.

We rode out through Arcadia and Temple City, and then down the bike path in El Monte. That was where Gaurav got a flat. Then we headed back up into San Gabriel and San Marino to Noah’s in Pasadena. We felt a few raindrops while we were sitting there, but it never did actually start raining.

The last part of the ride went past the Rose Bowl and up into Altadena. I bailed out at Woodbury Road, since I needed to get home by 11:00.

It was a pleasant ride to nowhere in particular.

36 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was “Turnbull Canyon, East to West“. It was cloudy, but not feeling like rain, and it wasn’t too cold, so it was all right for riding. There are no pictures today, since Susan had volunteered as a course marshal for the Tour of California stage today in Pasadena, and I’d given her my camera to take to the race.

I rode down to Live Oak Park in Temple City for the start. Along the way, I had to do a little detour around a parade, but that wasn’t that big of a deal.

The Saturday rides usually break up into a faster group and a slower group, but none of the other usual faster riders were there today. So I just took off and hoped someone would come along. As it turned out, nobody else did, so I did most of the ride by myself.

Going up Turnbull Canyon, the route slip had a variation for a ‘shorter but steeper’ route to the top. So I tried it out. And it was indeed steeper. I don’t know about how much shorter, but it was still nice for a change. At the top, I decided to wait two minutes just to see if anyone from the main group would show up. As it turned out, three guys rolled up to the top then. One was a guy visiting from Northern California, and we decided to ride back together, since we both wanted to get back sooner. We rode down into Whittier, skipping the snack stop, and headed back.

By the time I got home, it was actually quite warm. I hadn’t expected it, but it actually got up to about 72 degrees, and it was quite pleasant. So overall, it was a nice ride.

49 miles.
cycling