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
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*
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)
product development ninja
e.thirteen is proud to welcome product development engineer, Kristopher Wehage, to the team. Kris brings three and a half years of high end bicycle component design and engineering experience and a passion for bicycle riding and industrial design.
...
Having proven his design and engineering merits at FSA, Kris will work with e.thirteen founder and technical director Dave Weagle to develop a new line of cycling products. Dave had this to say about e.thirteen's newest team member, "I've admired Kris's ability to pick apart complex problems and visualize innovative solutions since we first met. Being that e.thirteen is such a tiny company, it's so important that we all work well together, and his laid back personality and ninja-like design skills, mixed with the fact that he rides his bike a load of miles each week make him a perfect fit for our team. We're really excited to have him on board!"
more...
hot damn, front (web)page news! congrats kris, e.thirteen is lucky to have you.
my first century
woke up at 5am on saturday, the fantastic bf treated me like a starved princess with a breakfast of sausage, eggs, pancakes, oj, oranges, tater tots, AND an apple-berry-banana-yogurt smoothie. thanked the bikey gods that the night before, i had already checked my tire pressure, cleaned my chain, and prepped my riding gear, then bolted out the door, just barely remembering to fill up the camelbak, slather on some sunscreen (50 spf!), and smooch the chef. picked up jen around 6:15 and after a quick hit to our favoritest friendliest coffee bean, we were on our way to santa clarita for the paul hulse / positive pedalers annual century bike ride.
cooooooold
the ride met up at 7am, with a (hopeful) rideout at 7:30am, but with 170 bikers to check in, an opening speech, and stretches, the head of the pack didn't set out until 8:15.
i would've been right up there with them...if not for the fact that my helmet was still sitting in my car as i attempted to ride out.
there were rest stops every 15-20 miles and the miles melted away as we sped west on highway 126, avoiding snakes, rogue tire tread, shattered glass, and chunks of plywood. we stopped in piru, a small town with "u scream ice cream" for a refill on bananas and oranges. then we pushed onward, past fragrant honeysuckle-sweet orange groves, and reluctantly declined to partake in honey-tasting rooms and 25 cent avocados.
todd & me & jen
(yummy honey via steve-o)
todd, who jen had ridden with before on a shifting gears training ride, got a flat right before lunch, but he got it fixed super fast and even found cause of his troubles (4 flats in 5 weeks!) - a tiny sharp quarter-inch skinny sliver of metal.
jen & todd have got it under control
i was surprised when we hit the halfway point of the ride, ventura & the beach. we'd ridden 50 miles more quickly than i expected, and after a quick lunch of a 6-inch turkey subway sub, strawberries, bananas, and cheetos, we hopped back on the bikes.
jen & ginger brewlay & me
steve-o is ready to ride
the sun was out all day, but it never got truly hot and i kept my long-sleeved jersey on for the whole ride. my shorts came off quite often though...at each rest stop for another complimentary dose of chamois butter. i've never tried the stuff before (hooray free samples!) and was honestly pretty grossed out that it even exists. bikers go commando when they wear padded shorts, and the "butter" is slathered in heaping quantities directly on the inside of the shorts...which means it definitely gets in your nooks and crannies. verdict: i approve, the stuff is vital for long distance rides. granted, i was wearing a brand spankin new pair of ultra d shebeest shorts, but it does help keep things fresh down there.
win @ the 2nd to last rest stop...only 35 miles to go!
the route from ventura back to santa clarita pretty much mirrored the morning trek, just with a touch more city riding. i was going strong up until the last 10 miles or so. my legs just gave up and i'm sure if i wasn't riding clipless pedals, they would've been flailing about a bit. we also got to see six flags magic mountain from the back (too tired at that point to stop and take pics!).
i survived. it was 4pm. we'd been out for 8 hours; 6 of those hours were actual ride time. and contrary to the route slip, 104.62 miles was our actual mileage.
next year i'm doing it on a mountain bike.
um.........not!
+the rest of my pics from the ride
+a sweet set from steve-o
+lots of pedalers on paul's flickr account
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