Day off with Cecil the Sagehen

I had the day , but decided to take new way to the train station to see of it would work better.
It was cold enough that I had to wear long sleeves and thus had my camera in the bag on the back.
I got my April pass and then started home
The exit to Pomona College: I need to take a different route:

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The other side:

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Claremont is unique in the there are seven loosely affialted colleges (Claremont Mc Kenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Pomona, and Pitzer colleger, plus Claremont Graduate University and Claremont Theological seminary)

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They do share some facilities, like the library and the athletic fields.Speaking of athelitics, they also combine to form two different teams; The Pomona Pitzer Sagehens and the Claremont-mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas. I've also liked odd names for teams , and the Sagehen's mascot is named Cecil(my dad's middle name), so that make my choice easy
The fields:

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I turned along the Pacific Electric and ran into my Train buddy Gladys:

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She had the day off , to , but was going to take the train to visit some one
Here's some artwork along the trail:

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The trail is not much to look at:

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Still some snow on top of mt Baldy:

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some more art:

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I get off the at the Upland Rancho line. even less snow on Ontario Peak:

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The John Klusman house from 1928 almost home:

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Home at last:

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after using my bike all week, it me a while to get used to Driving again. at least it's not like when I was in Virgina, when I forgot how to work my clutch.
My Reward for the day:

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The ride with no one

Dana and I had planned on doing a recumbent ride for his shop for March it was only 28 miles, so I showed up early, and did some laps around Van Nuys airport. This plane is in the wrong markings. too bad, sine I really like this shot a lot:

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This is more like it:

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an old Dc-3, I think:

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This one has been sitting like this for about 6 months:

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I finally stopped doing loops since I had to use the bathroom . Andres showed my his new bike:

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and Jack had new one, too, This is a front wheel drive Cruzbike:

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Carbent. must resist or go broke:

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It was time to close up the shop and go on a ride:

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we started out by going down Balboa blvd:

We turned to go up to Porter Ranch and one of the rider's crank arms fell off:

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Dana put it back on:

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we were at the scenic highlight in Porter ranch:

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we stopped at Chatsworth to re group:

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right beg=hind the rocks is where the Metrolink head on crash happened
we crossed Topanga Canyon rd:

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and did a loop around Chatsworth reservoir, where we stopped again:

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After this , I got lost. Dana didn't think he had print up enough cue sheets,so I decided that I could jut follow everyone. wrong! I rode back on Roscoe, Thankfully I turned south instead of North on Balboa, and went back to the shop. Kate gave some info where everybody was at. I did the rout in reverse, and found them on the bike path that parallels the MTA Orange line. I turned around and followed them back; Here we are at HayvenHurst:

From 3-20-2010

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we rode back to the shop. Dana and I talked for little bit . Jack and I were the only "socal benters" to show up. I think most folk want to do Sunday Morning rides. As you can see from my new blog subtitle, I've got just a little problem with that.
I went out and did an extra ten miles. a little bit more busy, but still ok. I'm still debating what to do about a couple of side project that I have going that aren't quite turning the way I want them to. Shut them down, keep going, or walk away and let someone else worry about it?

blown away

Well, I did it again. I signed up for the Solvang century.
I did this the last time in 2006. My joke was that is was ok. Except for the Rain, and the hail, And the the sleet. And the snow.
It started out. I had to goto the bank and cash a check, Then I went to Coates Cyclery and got a new tire for my bike and then REI in Arcadia for some honey gels, and then bent up in Van Nuys for some shorts.
The drive up was very pretty:

I finally got to Lompoc about 2:30.

I was going to put my new tire and head to the beach and back – a nice 20 mile ride.
But then my pump broke. so I went to the bike shop and bought a new one. And they happen to have my Favorite a Topeak Morph (Works just like a regular pump, but you can take it with you!
Only except it didn't have a Gage- which is again is no problem. Topeak is one of the few companies that still use modular design, so all I had to do is unscrew the gauge off the old one and stick it on the new one. Divine Providence or just lucky? I'll let you be the judge.
My plan was to do the half century route twice, so started out and rode over to Solvang.


I had noticed that several rides going the other way saying that the wind was strong, I wound up walking a couple of hills, and got knocked over by the wind once, right here:

In retrospect, I brought the wrong bike. Listening to that still small voice – I formulated plan “b” - ride to the beach and go back to the hotel. alittle break coming down the hill to Lompoc:

I did stop at the rest stop, and most of my buddies were going to back the direct route.
Tom does look bushed:
Fred and Sylvia look better:

The Coast Starlight at the beach


The winds were still pretty bad , but a lot more manageable. I did not stay long at the beach, as I was shooed away by an Air Force MP (it's on Vandenburg AFB property) I couldn't get any closer to the beach as it was high tide, and there was a Rip tide alert.
some pretty wildflowers:

Coming was a breeze in more ways than one. The only issue was that I wouldn't have that 100 miles – I thought about riding halfway back to Solvang, but in the end decided that 100 was just a magic number – I already done about 7 hours, and felt like a I had done a century. , so I headed back to the Motel 6. I got a shower changed clothes, and walked across PCH to get a couple of Tacos.
I decided to check out the La Purisma Mission:
This old Porcelain reminded me of my mom:

There were some re-enactors:

I was thinking about how pretty the old chapel was(this was restored by the CCC):

It was also dark. this one was not retouched:

The graveyard could use some work:

I then went on to Solvang. It's an Town that was founded by danish immigrants, and everything has a Danish flavor:

I bought some butter cookies to take to work, and then had dinner:

Sunday Morning, we had our traditional breakfast: Æbelskivers.

Yes, Æ is a English letter.
Tom was on a special diet:

Ready to chow down:

I stopped in Santa Barbara to chat with my Family back in Missouri:

So even though I didn't do what I had set out to do, I still had lot of fun. It's just knowing when to change your plans