birds? tulips? leaves? chevrons?

(via twinkle)

i rarely go ga-ga over jewely, most of it is just too blingy-slutty-gaudy for me. but this gold-plated sterling silver "lovebird necklace" from twinkle living is just divine.

it is impossible to find a snowboard bag in a brick-and-mortar store on short notice in the middle of june in los angeles. if you must buy, give yourself enough time to buy online.

peeeeeeeeeece!

-c

apc summer sale

lots of goodies for half off...
apc.fr

Day one continued. We...

Day one continued. We saw some kite surfers towards the middle of the ride, maybe 20 or 30 miles in at a spot just before Santa Cruz. Also, count your lucky stars when your tent mate snores like a cat and not like a lumberjack. You will take far more pictures than you think you need or want or whatever(?) it take. So, bring extra batteries and memory. My bike is stored currently in the tattoo section. The bike parking people are gonna sell(?) the racks(?) by band names like Nirvana, Queen, The Beatles, National(?) Ballet(?), Blondie, Prince and several other well known organizations that produce music. So, they're really easy to remember and... listen

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Day one highlights:...

Day one highlights: Sunday, June 1st, 2008, I met Speth(?), a ____ photographer from L.A., Korea(?) Town to be exact. This is her second AIDS(?) bicycle ride, and she's riding two hours faster compared to last year. I also met Robin, a Brit from LA, who's an actor/writer, and this is his first ride too. I saw some lovely rolling hills, farmland right next to the ocean, and cypress trees pretty close to San Fran. listen

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On day 1, there were...

On day 1, there were 4 rest stops, some had badminton, others had bagpipes and all had massive lines to get food or use the porta-potty(?). Instead of riding at 7 A.M. and finished around 3 P.M. for 8 hours total of riding, I also met Eddy, member of Team Midnight Riders, who I haven't seen or met before because he hasn't been on many train rides. I also learned to pack only half of what you think you'll need and our Team Midnight Riders' jerseys are pretty awesome. You should stop at every restaurant and if you don't, you missed out on the best parts of the ride. listen

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Day 1, camp news is...

Day 1, camp news is around 7:30pm each night and it's also an essential part of the ride. You get to listen to organizers of the ride talk about where the money is going, and also hear about what's coming up no the ride. You need to always get your tent set up as soon as possible, because Charoline(?) is a very long break(?) quickly, and investigate food options thoroughly. My sanguine pointed out some hidden chocolate nok(?), and that totally made my day. Bi-Tech is also your friend. I met mechanic Ami from San Francisco, and he's been a great help in making my bike rum properly. Also, ringing I have to for(?) sleeping to keep all the camp's lights on all night. And, if you need complete darkeness, you're out of luck. listen

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Continuing the post...

Continuing the post for Sunday, June 1st, we started out in San Francisco at the Cow Palace and group of 2500 riders from all across the country and the globe. Started our 545 miles trek down to LA. We climbed a bunch of hills, came across a lot of supporters on the road and it was really inspiring to see everyone out to support us. We are in camp right now and 9:00 is bedtime. So, I'm gonna go to sleep. I hope you have a goodnight and I will pull(?) something in the morning. Bye. listen

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Hey everyone, this is...

Hey everyone, this is Kathy. I am on day 1 of the ALC Ride and we are in Santa Cruz. We rode 79 miles today and tomorrow we are going to King City and that it will be away 105-mile ride. We are waking up at 5 a.m., riding out at 6:30 a.m., and it will be really tiring. listen

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This is a test of Jott....

This is a test of Jott. This is my first entry for the AIDS Life Cycle ride going from June 1st to June 7th. I'm running for 7 days, 545 miles. Going from San Fran to LA and I am excited and nervous and scared and psyched. listen

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food + fun + photos!

photographing L.A. bike culture
saturday may 10th
7pm - midnight!
@ the bike oven
3706 n. figueroa st
los angeles, ca 90065
[map] - east of dodger stadium, a touch north of where the 5 hwy & 110 hwy intersect

vegan cookies + baked sweets + wine + beer + photos to help Team Midnight Ridazz raise funds for AIDS/LifeCycle7!

finally it's friday

(the adorable work of thischicken, via cuteable)

i was feeling like the tubby little guy on the bottom right, it's been a long week. but then i realized, "it's the weekend!" and now i feel like the happy honey pot with the spoon in the top middle.

screenprinting party

click HERE for more details...

day on the ride

saturday april 19th, 2008 - 80 miles, 7 hours: south from santa monica down through manhattan beach, curl around the rancho palos verdes peninsula, and stop for lunch @ ...... park. then pedal past the port of los angeles (holla cruise ships!) and swing back north through carson and torrance, toward pizza (from CPK), energy drinks, & massages.


started the ride in a church parking lot across the street from bike attack in santa monica


so many bikes! 400 or so riders...


looking south toward palos verdes


nick, andrew, & wing chow down on a togo's sandwich + cookie + chips lunch @ ..... park


sitting in a sunny spot with my bike attack training crew


bummer, a flat! good thing we had 5 other bikers to help out...



+my ALC7 day on the ride flickr photoset

<3

(via bndr-clthng)

do want

(via fabsugar)

luxe little romper stomper by rogan for target - $39.99. the collection drops mid-may, and in barney's co-op a few days prior.

+full galleries @ fabsugar & rackedLA

pedal mashin' up malibu canyon

(via modus eundi)

saturday's training ride took me up the pacific coast highway (PCH) to malibu and its gorgeous canyons and constant winding twisting climbs. PCH is, for much of what we rode, a three-lane highway with a few feet of sandy/gravelly shoulder where bikers can risk a commute. cars zoomed past at 40-50 mph and several times we had to signal to traffic coming up behind us to merge into an actual lane and avoid a particularly rocky stretch or road or an inconveniently placed concrete barrier. and hope to goodness that they saw us. it helped that we had about 50 people in the group, but we were spread out over a mile or two.

once we got up to malibu canyon road, we had our first pit stop at a starbucks. so far, most of the PCH portion of the ride had been a gradual, but still taxing, uphill. after the pit stop, we headed up a short steep climb that made me wish i had a triple chainring instead of a double. even at the lowest easiest gear, i was having trouble keeping up my rpms. after that climb, it was a relief to glide downhill through malibu creek state park for a bit, albeit with a couple hundred foot drop to our right.

we then rode through malibu going inland, and it was a pretty grueling 15 miles of rolling hills, sweat, and pre-summer heat. our second pit stop was an small old grocery store and then we zoomed down a narrow two-laner to PCH. had a minor scare with a speeding mustang that blew past a little too close for comfort, but i managed to stay upright.

it's not a ride i would do alone, but it was scenic, sometimes shaded, and a nice respite from the weekday stress of darting in and out of rush hour traffic. met a new friend, jennifer, a strong girl biker who's done the ALC once before, and got to hang out with my ALC buds fay, nick, andrew, tony, flavio, and wing.

the ALC ride calendar said 65 miles, the ride leader said 45 miles, most everybody's bike computers said about 40 miles in 4 hours.

chickencamp

thursday evening's cubcamp route took us east to westwood where we met up with nicole & michelle at popeye's, our first fried chicken checkpoint. we continued on to hollywood where we camped outside roscoe's house of chicken & waffles for a greasy late night snack. lots of blinged out kids were inside, as well as a substantial amount of film equipment - a makeshift "no photography"sign caught our attention and a crew member strolling past informed us that "baldwin hills" had just wrapped up a shoot. i had a dry breast and a pretty tasty waffle. not the best fried chicken i've ever had, but it's got a good rep, so i'll have to come back and try a drumstick or a thigh.

our bellies full to bursting, we headed south to culver city's honey's kettle and on the way back up to santa monica, checked a kfc off our list.

approx 33 mile ride. got home at 1am, showered, asleep at 1:30am. damn you cubcamp kids keep me up too late! gettin too old for this...*grumble grumble*

frustrating oxymorons...

"original copies"

buh!

imperial weekend

(san gabriel "river" bike path)

spent another saturday on the bike. we started out at the bike kitchen with 13 people - gary, liz, johanna, lance, steph, san diego drew, no-helmet drew, john, craig, jared, richard, derek, and me.



we met up at 9:30am under a grey sky, and the imperial century rolled out a little before 10.

cruised through downtown, then past some spread out factories & a giant produce market housed in a run down outdoor plaza. on the way down to long beach via the bike path, i tried riding in a pace line for the first time - stay 6 inches behind and 6 inches to the left or right of the rear wheel of the bike in front of you. looks rather impressive when your team swoops around curves and dips under highway overpasses (despite the fact that we won't be allowed to pace line on the ALC). =D

stopped @ bixby carpet in long beach for our first pit stop.


(craig sitting and drew splayed)

emptied our bladders then refilled our water bottles. danny had fresh peanut butter + jelly + banana sandwiches prepped for us as well as whole bananas and orange slices. while we restocked on carbs, danny let us try on some sample jerseys (hooray women-specific sizing!)...as well as the dead sexy official ALC jersey for team MR:




(derek & danny)

refreshed, we hopped back on the bikes and headed north on the san gabriel river (concrete basin) bike path. there were stables lining the path, some gated with intricate equine metalwork and others with plain oversized horseshoes. modern day cowboys cantered past us every so often; the dichotomy of our iron (and steel and aluminum and carbon) horses mingling with the real thing put a grin on my face.

after about 8 miles along the "river", jared started having pedal issues due to a pre-ride cross-threading, so he had to bail and we were down to 12 riders. we turned right on whittier blvd and coasted through a bit of suburbia. at one intersection, a car honked and lunged at a cyclist that didn't see the light change, but nobody was hurt. we turned left onto colima road and started up the 1st of its 3 massive climbs. it took us a good two hours to get past colima's hills and finally we were at the halfway point - schabarum park.

it was around 4pm when we sprawled out on the park's open grass and ravaged meghan's delicious dill potato salad, pb&j sandwiches, almonds, bananas, and oranges.


(foreground: lance's mohawk + no-helmet drew's non-helmeted head)
(background: liz catches up on her potassium intake + rich loves food + john digs in for more + derek is happy)

she also distributed gary's beautiful spoke cards (a colorful composite image printed on transparency and then laminated - brilliant!).


(a fabulous spoke card created by gary7)

we chilled for about half an hour, then got moving after spotting a menacing cloud to the north - exactly where we were headed. gary caught a ride home with meghan since he had a 100 degree fever and a severely upset stomach, both of which he was dealing with from the very start.

with no route slip to warn me of what was to come, i had no clue that the next 10 miles would loop through a mountain range. after that, we went west on colima (the climbs were just as painful in reverse) and back into whittier. sweat, sweat, and more sweat. watching the sun set, we continued on whittier until we hit east LA. it was dark by the time we arrived back in the flatlands and before turning right on eastern ave, we had a delay of about half an hour while we waited for a few riders to catch up. a bossy bus had squeezed no-helmet drew to the curb and the driver got off to drop a few choice words.

the sun had barely come out all day, and the high topped out around 60 degrees, so the last few miles through downtown to the bike kitchen was a chilly full-out sprint. and unexpectedly hilly. i was trying to decide whether to pass out or vomit, but there was no time for either. it wasn't for lack of food. i was sick of eating, chewing had become a chore - i had consumed 3 bottles of gatorade, 4 bananas, 3 clif bars, 3 gu shots, and one candy bar over the course of the day. my body was just ready to put a halt to the maniacal pedaling.

we whipped up cesar chavez ave to sunset blvd, past the hubbub of blek le rat's gallery opening at shephard fairey's brand spanking new subliminal projects, and suddenly, sublimely, finally, we were there, back on heliotrope street and slowing down into the hungry saturday night crowd waiting to eat at (http://www.yelp.com/biz_link?biz_id=RgxinOHQdwcN3tM27lMg9Q">pure luck. it was 8pm.

10 hours out. about 8 hours actually spent on the bike. 101.98 miles conquered. i've never been so tired in my life.


(dusk @ whittier & eastern aves)

http://tinyurl.com/5m275n - gary's route slip - 101.98 miles

+my flickr set for the imperial century

..................

and then i did a few more miles on sunday in the name of shopping & 75% off sales:

http://tinyurl.com/57n2cf - sunday's ride to melrose with feaver - 17.77 miles


on melrose - c + f (via feaverish)