Saturday, January 26, 2008

It never snows in Southern California....










Well, like the song says, Girl, don't they warn ya...
I had been noticing when I was waiting for the train that it had been snow, and fairly low elevations. so i decided that since I had not done Lytle Creek canyon in a while, I would head there today and see how low the snow was.
Today stared out nice and sunny.(see the bottom pic). Which actually turned to be bad(was supposed to be overcast). I stopped at a park in Fontana, and took another pic
I really didn't have that much of problem with cars until I got to Lytle Creek Road. I took some more pics at the Ranger station,and the Oriental church retreat across the road. I got on my bike again and pedaled to the campground. One of the nice things about Lytle Creek Road is that landmarks are conveniently spaced elevation wise. The 15/Sierra ave interchange is at 2000 feet, The ranger station is at 2500, the town of Lytle Creek is at 3000, and Applewhite campground is at 3500.
I soon pedaled off the County road and onto the Forest Service road. A lot of folks had driven up to play in the snow. one of the more unusual things people do here is to fill their pick up beds full of snow and take it home. Where I come from they used to shovel it out so your bed wouldn't rust out(this was before bed liners).
at about 4,300 feet the snow got where the cars were slipping on it. I had started to slide a couple of times, so I decided to turn around, even though I was mile short of the pavement end at the firing range. so I went home .
fun day , but I didn't see any sheep (:

Sunday, January 13, 2008

malibu it is....







Well after being sick, and having to deal with an airline going out of business on me during my vacation. I finally got back in the swing of this bicycling.
I found that there is another randonneur living nearby , Bruce and had been talking with some folk how double centuries, and we talking them into doing the Malibu 200k put on by Pacific Coast highway Radonneurs.
So at at 4:30 am , I met Bruce Taylor and Mike Miller. Sine I am slower, I drive to Malibu by myself, Bruce and Mike went to pick Suzy Degazon. I got to Malibu at 5:30 and got my bike out of my car. The rest of th gang of show up about 6,and we milled around talked until the start at 7.Suzy had some one take a picture of us.(From L to R Bruce, Mike, Suzy, and myself:
Finally at 7 , we started, They was a 200 foot climb to start with and I was off the back pretty fast. But we soon we back down to sea Level, so is used my descending muscle to get up to mach .7. I had just caught up when we climbed another 200 foot.
The ride was gorgeous. The first 17 miles we rolling hills with the Mansions of the Hollywood Hoi Polloi. We the crossed into Ventura county, and rode along the ocean.
after about 23 mile, highway 1 becomes a freeway. we had to get off and we by the Point Mugu Naval Air Station . we then rode b=past some farm,and came to the first control. I found David Nakai here,and gave him back some brevet cards. He said the extra wait would cause him To DNF! (he was riding a fully loaded touring bike :) ) we then pedaled past the Seabee base .
then we came through the City of Ventura. we went past downtown, onto a bike path, did about 10 more miles of PCH, rode through a mudslide, and came to section I was dreading. about 10miles we you have to ride on the shoulder of the 101 Freeway. I was doing ok until I got to the off ramp, and I had a flat. I fixed it, did another 200 foot climb. we then cam to the lunch stop/ The return was the exact same route. I rode with David most of the way back. I took a picture of neat off shore island (would have gotten close, but this was on the 101 section. Unfortunately , on the way, there was a search and rescue mission going on.
I was taking it easy and dreading the rollers to come. sure enough I start cramp coming up one with about 10 miles. And I had ran out of Accelerade. I would stop at a convenience store and get some , but this is Malibu. So struggled on . I found one at about 4 miles to go but decided to skip it.
We bypassed the last hill. It was about 4:30, and i wanted to take my sunglasses off, and put my reflective vest on I saw a house with a nice wall , so i went over and spread my stuff out. I was think that I hoped the owner wouldn't mind, when he cam back from waling his dog! He said that it was ok , and talked for bit. I came back at 4:40, Talked with David some, had some Pizza, and went home. which beinng in LA, meant 2 hours and sitting in a Traffic Jam...