lets's do a 180

oneightywest century

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I will confess, I almost didn't do this century. I had done a brevet last week, and got in over an hour and half late Friday night.
But I woke up early and drove on down to Norwalk. This was a sparsely attended century, about 100 folks.
The one eighty comes from the sponsor - oneightywest a christian charity dedicated to help young folks turn their life around.
So we started out at a christian bookstore
I hung with the main group for first five miles, until it was obvious to me that people were riding in an unsafe manner. So I hung back at the first rest stop and talked with Henry and Allen.
The next part was on the San Gabriel river trail. This is lesser cousin to the Santa Ana trail. There are usually a couple of bikejackings here a year - I could see why - several places it would be easy to lie in wait. Other than it was OK.
Henry, Allen, Cindy, Debbie and Barry, and a bunch of other cycling connection folks caught when we got off the San Gabriel Trail. we rode together through Santa Fe Spring and La Habra. Coming through Brea, I missed a light, and wound in a racing training ride. I also missed the turn for the 100 and my buddies(did I mention they need to do a better job with cue sheets and route markings?). I figured out my mistake in Fullerton and doubled back.
We rode by the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, but i forgot to take a picture(it's not much) My favorite thing is that they have house he grew up in on the grounds - It reminds me of the house my mother grew up. We had to climb a few hills here.
Then we got on the Santa Ana River trail. This should have been easy, but we had a 16 mph headwind for 25 miles. I took it easy, and stopped to take pictures of Angels Stadium and the Honda Center.
By the tim I got to the 405 free way I was pooped. Fortunately, there was rest stop right there. I pulled off and Fred and Slyvia and Tom and Mary Lou showed up. Look at the flag behind Fred to get an idea of the wind. I cut up with them for a while and got back to Huntington Beach, aka Surf city.


We were on Pacific Coast highway, and the wind coming from the side much better!. I stopped to some pics of the oil fields and of the Navy Depot in seal Beach (hey , my nephew is the navy and you could say he's found of SEALS.
We were back on the San Gabriel Trial for the remainder of the ride. I ran in to the gang at teh apres- ride feast.
This another feature of the oneeighty west ,The end is a mile away form the start. So I rode back to my car.
Great day , great ride

An expensive brevet

Since, I 'm trying to get my R-2000 medal in addition to an R-12, I've been doing some different perms in addition to my own.
I decided to do the Moorpark to Mugu and Malibu perm. I had a little problem getting the card, but then...
I was watching the news on Friday, or should I was going to watch the news on friday, when word came in of the Metrolink train accident in Chatsworth. You know it's bad when the anchor advises that if you're squeamish, you might want to change channels (yes, looking at a blood smeared locomotive will do that you...
The organizer advised me to get an early start. I put down 6am. when I rolled by the accident site at 5am, there were still helicopters and floodlights everywhere.
I got to the start point and found that shopping center had signs posted "Car will be towed". There was a high school and park next door, but their gates were blocked. and I couldn't find any place to park on the streets, so I decided to risk it (although I did park in front of vacant store). I went inside of Vons, got a Red Bull, and started the ride. Of course, when I went by the park, it was open. go figure!
I rode through Moorpark, crossed the railroad tracks, and began climbing up Grimes Canyon. Grimes is on The Tour of California, and is used to get back to the right valley after doing Balcom Canyon. The climb is not bad, in that I didn't have to use my granny gear. I thought I would see "Fabain" or "Levi" scrawled on the road, but, alas, It was not to be.
when I got to the top, there was a large sign advising semitrailers to turn around. which was strange, since there were two semi coming up behind me. The descent is a lot steeper and very corkscrewy. I held off the semis until the road straightened out.
I then stopped at the first Control. This was what is called and informational control, as you are supposed to observe something and write it down. In this case, it was the name of a church. I was going to be real nifty, and take a photo, but discovered that my camera had fallen out of my bag! so imagine pedal among orange groves interrupted occasionally by oil field for the next 30 miles. I did pass through Santa Paula.
I stopped at the second Control, a Starbucks in Ventura, and got something to drink. It was about another 15 miles down the coast to Port Hueneme and the Seabee base. Here I was supposed to find out the name of the theater by the gate. I rode by the main gate , and didn't see anything that looked a marquee. I thought it was another gate, so I pressed on. no luck!. I doubled back and asked. I then got two different answers! So finally I asked some one to point it out. It was cleverly disguised as an office building. Maybe I should have brought my nephew, who's in the Navy Special Warfare Command along ("Give me the correct answer or Patrick will beat you up!" )
It was back to smooth sailing to Point mugu and down PCH. I noticed that they had part of PCH blocked off. I rode in the blocked off portions, since they had nice signs saying Bike one lane ,and cars the other lane. Turns out they were having the Malibu Triathlon that day. I got there after the race had occurred, but before the had cleaned up the course.
I had lunch in Malibu, and started back up the coast. part of the reason for the early start was to avoid the heavy afternoon winds. no luck, and I had 25 miles of pretty good rollers. The only upside was that I got to see the Pepperdine wave of flags for 9/11
after about 2 hours, I finally got off PCH and had the wind the at my back. I had another informational control at Cal State - Channel Island. I was supposed to write down what on the sign at the Southwest side of the entrance. I remember being glad that 4PM, as if I been there when I planned too, I could not have used the sun to figure which was the Southwest side.
most of the rest of the ride was on the same route as the La Wheelmen's Grand Tour and Cruisin the Conejo. At 6:00, I rolled back into the shopping and relieved to see my car was still there! I also found a park across the street that was not gated.
I was going to Baja Fresh for dinner, but decided on a local Chinese place. The food was good, if too much (my fault, as usual) and fortune cookie said "three month from now will be an auspicious date for you"
so, what will happen on December 13? stay tuned!

Whenver you need pictures, forget your camera

I had to drop my car off to get some work done, so I didn't get as much miles before the club ride.I did ride by the grape in Fontana, and there were harvesting , but no camera:o
Unfortunately, riding back by Victoria Gardens, they was a Kitten in the middle of the road. It apparently had been run over and it spine was broken:(. I was debating what to do, as there was a rider who was going to do one of my perm routes and was waiting for me to sign him out. The cat got me upset ,even though I didn't think there was much I could do for it....
anyway, on to more happier things.
I circled back, and found a motorist had also spotted the cat and was taking it to the shelter. I got the Randonneur out on the ride, and took off with Bruce,
And I didn't get dropped that bad on the first hill:) I could catch them at a light
I took my shortcut and found bruce chatting with Brandy from Team Estrogen. She was doing hill repeats. I still had cat on the Brain (guys didn't seem to be much in to emotions, other than arrgh! I can't drop the fat lady!)
we all rode back together. I decided that I need to get my mind off of the cat, and had some cheesecake.
I still needed some extra mile so I doubled back on baseline. Big mistake, as wound fighting the wind and the heat. did I mention my apt's a/c is out for the third time this month?:

Is Faster Faster?

I did basically the same ride as last Saturday. I started out by going out to Sierra and Summit in Fontana before heading back to the coffee shop. I then did the medium ride (basically go up to Padua and Mt Baldy and then turn around) I was feeling fairly frisky, and I noticed that the faster rider didn't catch us until Eitwanda and Baseline.
So I was surprised when I got back and found my time was slower than last week :( granted I did slow down to see if a couple of people with flats and steered some folks back on the right course. But I think the real reason was that last week my computer decided not to give any reading going up Benson. I had put on new tape and moved the position of the display, which seemed to solve the problem with interference.
Well you can't have everything.

Do a Brevet, get a medal!

San celemente Brevet

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Well today I did brevet. Actually this is a special one. Today is the 10th anniversary of Randonneurs USA and if you did a brevet today, you were eligible for a medal.
The only thing was that It was in San Diego . I had to get started at 4AM. I did get there a little early, so I found some place to have breakfast. I then moseyed over to the parking lot and got everything ready. You could tell it was a special day since there were about 20 riders,usually there's about 7.
We did the warm-up lap around Fiesta Island, before taking off. I was soon at the rear as we climbed up through UCSD and down the grade at Torrey Pines. I ran into some of the faster riders waiting to make everyone was still on the road. This one of thing I really like about brevets, is that everyone watches out for everybody, unlike the usual "Saturday Morning World Championships".
Anyway, back to the positive! I chatted with them until I missed a light in Carlsbad. I took advantage of my loneliness to snap a photo.
At Oceanside, you have an option. You can either ride the shoulder of Interstate 5 through Camp Pendleton, or ride through Camp Pendleton if you show the guard an ID . I usually like riding through the base, although I do wonder about the "Tank Crossing" signs and the one directing Ambulances to the various live fire ranges.
It takes about 7 miles to get through the base. You then spend most of the rest of time on old abandoned highway 101. Nothing Like a 6 lane wide bike path! it's also part of San Onofre State Beach(and you get to go by San Onofre Nuclear Reactor). I stopped at the Control in San Clemente, which was next to Carl's Jr(Hardee's to folks back east) I got my card stamped had lunch, and headed back out.
Then the fun began. going through Oceanside, the traffic was bumper to bumper with no bike lane. The bike lane picked up in Carlsbad, but people were double parking on it to get to the beach. This lead to it swarming with Police cars and Tow trucks. I was think I need to re-fuel before Torry Pines (did I mention I had a Hammer Gel flask spill all over my bag, so I only had instead my normal two?) I passed by a 7-eleven in Encinatas, and had a Gatorade. I stopped before Torrey Pines to take a picture ( you can only see the first half). it's about 7% for a mile. I made it up with no problems and was soon on the bike path that takes you to Mission Bay Drive. I got on Mission Bay drive and found myself in the middle of a police pursuit. What a day!
I stopped to take a picture of Mission Bay. Things got better, as Mike (our RBA, Regional Brevet Administrator) had a medal waiting for me. I had registered early enough That he could pre-ordered mine. He also had some pizza and sodas. we talked about If would be willing to be an RBA for the Inland Empire (the name of the area I live in) I'm going to have to think on that.
I was going to by the outlet mall at Lake Elsinore, but decided that I had enough excitement for one day.

a more popularie bike ride

In case you're wondering, a populaire is like a brevet, but only less so. They're usually only 100Km in length.
We had have been talking about doing ,and since most folks want to go into the mountains, I design a route that went into the mountains , specifically Lytle Creek Road. The n=only problem was where to afterwards. We decided to go through Rialto to Riverside before returning.
since I was starting from home, and didn't want to do the climb to Lytle Creek on a hot day., i went down up neely's corner before heading down. on the sceond from the bottom photo, the ridge in the background is the San Andreas fault. The ride through Rialto wasn't as bad as I had thought, but traffic and safety wise. Bloomington was a lot more bumpy, but manageable.
Once I crossed the Santa Ana into the City of Riverside, I started looking for a place to have a Control. Bruce had suggested the park (where the locomotive is), but I was looking for people to Restock. I soon found a shopping center with a CVS and a Starbucks - problem solved. I stopped and had a Gatorade Tiger. Mr woods must have some strange tastes, as I didn't care for the flavor and he apparently selected them.
enough with the negative!
I saw a neat hotel on the way back! and a nice view of the bridge to Mt Rubidox. I was going along Mission Blvd and saw the mural on the vfw post.
I then tried a route around the construction on Etiwanda Ave before heading to coffee shop . it worked fine, and I got here just as the folks doing the short route had pulled in. I sat and socialized for a while before Heading to REI to get a tire and going home (where I had a Gatorade rain - much better!)

for the best performance, we take energy from exhaust and recycle it...

Well, today I rode another brevet. Only this time, I did the same route as I did in January. Since I was doing this a permanent, I can count the miles,( I wouldn't be bale to be otherwise)
The weather forecast called for a marine layer along the coast, but burning off by midday. I noticed that I had to start using my windshield wipers when I went past downtown LA. not a good sign.
I got there a little early. I would have gone ahead and started, but I needed to go to the bathroom really bad. So I waited for Starbucks to open. and waited. Finally, I went to Raplhs' (a supermarket).
one thing I did that you probably shouldn't do is that I rode this in new shorts and a new helmet. The shorts worked out great, but the helmet had some issues (ironically, this is second on of that model I've had. I can't recall the other one giving me problems.
So I was pedaling down PCH in the clouds and making good time. I took a break in Port Hueneme to photograph a sod field(why? beats me!)I also stopped at the second control. One thing that the route's owner, Greg Jones, did differently was that he did not specify a specific store for the control, but rather find a store near the corner of blah blah and whatisit. So I had a choice of Jack in the box, a liquor store, or a grocery store . I took the grocery store.
I continued to pedal. It took me a while to get used to the traffic passing on the 101 ( for about 2 miles, you ride on the shoulder of a freeway). on the climb up rincon road, I picked up a goathead thorn on my front tire. I decided to wait till the top to pull it out. I was soon in Carpinteria. I had my choice of Starbucks(caffeine does wonderful things to my blood pressure), an Albertson's, or an AM/PM I choose my old standby, AM/PM.
After eating my lunch, I noticed my front tire was flat. Curse you goathead!(where's Steve when we need him?)I fixed , but I noticed a cute bike shop on the way back. So I stopped, got a spare tube, and admired the vintage Peugeot the owner was restoring.
Since I was back by Point Mugu, I decided to do some equal service time by snapping a pic of the "Screaming Eagle" sign on the 101. , plus I took some pics along the freeway, and of favorite island( which I learned is named mussel shoals) I also took of the metal grated bridge you have to ride over (fun).
Speaking of fun, I discover that not only the clouds not burn off, but I was fighting a wind from an unexpected direction (the south).
I soon arrived at control in Port Hueneme. I usually like Convenience or grocery stores, but I all I could find was a Subway or Wendy's. I took the Subway. After walking out, I found the convenience store.
I stopped at the display at the NAS. I admit the first time I saw , I was a bit confused. I thought that all Tomcats had the "Jolly Rodger" insignia on their tails=(from "Top Gun" and "the final Countdown") Turns out, each squadron has their own insignia. I learned that the Squadron based at Point Mugu were/ are The Vampires and The Bloodhounds. So I had to see what exactly the art was. Both Planes are Bloodhounds (The squadron specializes in electronic warfare)
Being Malibu I was passed by a Rolls-Royce on the way back. for being a cloudy day the beaches were full.
On benefit to this route is that you the final big hill by Pepperdine University by walking the bike for little bit , and then taking a side street. While on the street, I thought I heard a jet plane. It sounded awfully low. it was a Ferrari(yes, this is Malibu). after getting a receipt(and the sun cam when I was putting the bike in the car(A Ford Focus), I decide to head to the 101 to go back. I stopped in Calabasas for supper, and soon got in a jam. A trash truck had broken down.
But a great day to do a ramble on the bike!

The Steve "Crash" Wagner memorial Brevet

about 2 years ago , one of my friends in Pennsylvania passed away. This week, they had a memorial ride for Him. Since I could not get to Pa I decided to dedicate my double metric at the La Wheelmen's Grand Tour to him.
We started by climbing a hill. It wasn't bad but I should have gotten it into my granny - (Yes Steve, I'll pay for it later)we were on PCH for about 4 miles before we turned on to Latigo Canyon Rd. This was fun if you like going from Sea Level to about 2,000 feet in 6 miles. We then did more and more climbing , There was some descending, but not nearly enough. We finally got on to Westlake road, we lost about 1,000 feet in 4 miles This road sacred the Bejesus of my when I did Crusin the Conejo (Steve would insist that I use a Four letter word as an adjective, but it's my ride and I can curse if want to, curse if want to.. You would curse too if it happened to you!)
Where were we? Oh yes, I was really concerned about not making to the first control on time. we started see the double, triple, and Quadruple Century Riders(see, I'm not that insane!) Brent and Mike Miller said Hi. as well as one other person. It sounded like Tony Troccolli, but I was busy reading the cue sheet (did I mention a lot of folks got lost?).
I made to the control with 10 minutes to spare. as My boss would say, (woo & hoo).
I made it down the next big descent on Potrero Road, and passed CSU - Channel Islands. I stopped to a photo of a lettuce field. We then road through Camarillo and came to the second stop in Simi Valley. I stopped and talked to Frank Gutierrez and Enrique (Steve Liked to blab). I made it there with about an hour to spare. Less climbing faster = Jana!.
I did mention the "c" word? well , we started the climbing again. along the way I had to stop at a informational control. They put a sign on a post and you had to write down what it said I took a photo of the first one "Paris" but I didn't think I could get a good exposure of the second one "rando" (gee we must be on a brevet). I was cutting the time short again. I finally got on flat terrain, only to have to deal with the usual gusty headwind coming off the ocean in the afternoon. The road was named Pleasant Valley. Maybe they need to change the name unless you idea of "pleasant" is getting run off the road by giant fruit trucks. We were soon back into Oxnard. The final Control was at a civic center in Port Hueneme . I rode into the parking lot and there was no one there, and I had an hour to spare. It was right next to a park where we had a control at the January brevet so I rode there. no go, I finally rode back by the Civic center and saw folks rolling their bikes out of the door. Yeah!
Coming back, I stopped and took photos of a Cabbage field , the Phantom on display at Point Mugu NAS(The plane's a Fellow native of the Show-me state) and Mugu rock. Since I had the wind at my back, I able to make some good progress.
The last six miles on PCH have some very good size rolling hills. In January, I cramped up and had ride very conservatively> No cramps today. as a matter of fact, I managed to make it up some in middle ring (Yes , Steve I need to stop listening to Rabbit). the only problem was that the Sheriff's were towing illegal parked cars at the beach, so i had to avoid about 6 wreckers.
I saw David Nakai on the way back to City Hall in Malibu. I had talked to him at a registration. I went to get my dinner, and they were Frank and Enrique!. they had made a wrong turn and went to Ojai!
I had thou it would take make 12-13 hour to do, I wound up getting it done in about 11
Speaking of wrong turns, I decided to avid the traffic downtown and come back the 10 and 210, I avoided the traffic, but added a lot more miles as I went back trough Oxnard. Nothing ventured , nothing gained.
total Stats
Miles 126.48
time 11:15
avg speed 12.32
max speed 38.44
climbing 8,153