like, OMG, to the valley & back

a camera with more megapixel power would've weighed too much, and derailed my plans to climb 8 miles of sepulveda blvd. hence the crappy camera phone shot @ whole foods seen above...

the chilly saturday morning ride started off @ 8am @ bike attack, the temp hovering in the low 50s but almost no wind. amy, one of our ride leaders, gave us the lowdown on the route - through westwood via sepulveda, then up and over the hump into the valley. you've probably driven this route if you've gone north on the 405 toward sherman oaks. yup that's a slow steep climb, even in a car. and yup, we conquered that shiz on our bikes! after we dropped into the valley, we would make a pit stop at a whole foods, then back over sepulveda, through culver city to head west on the ballona creek bike path, which runs alongside the glorious LA river (er, barely wet concrete basin).

erin performed an invigorating bike safety RAP (an amazing sight & sound to behold, truly), led us in a few stretches, and then we were off!

we exited santa monica via ocean ave and hit nearly all the lights. that "come to a complete stop and touch your toe to the ground" policy can be tiring and annoying, but it's best to play it safe when two-ton cars are a potentially life-threatening hazard. also, you can get kicked off the ALC if you don't do the full stop-touch at stop signs on the ride in june! they're watching youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

i tried sepulveda a few months earlier on a midnight ridazz cubcamp ride. that attempt was at night. in 30 degree temps. and after a full day of work. so i only made it halfway up sepulveda that night, before turning around with numb fingers and toes.

this time i focused my attention on the spinning wheel of the rider directly in front of me and pedaled until i felt the ground level out. daylight helped. temps in the upper 50s helped too. but i do feel stronger than i did on the cubcamp crap-out. after the sepulveda grind, ride leader heather led nguyen, steve, sandy, tony and i back to the beach via the ballona creek bike path at a chill pace, and we were back at bike attack before i knew it.

total riding time: 4 hours
total distance: 38.7 miles