Friday, March 31, 2006
Remodeled Kitchen at Doug and Weni's
It's too dark really. And now I can't remember the name of the dealios in the upper corners of the framed entrances.
CA Day 9 Fiddy Miler
Thur 3/30. Spent most of the morning on Doug and Weni's computer catching up on stuff. The time goes by entirely too quickly while on the 'puter. And I didn't even look at any porn sites.
Weni and Doug are gracious hosts as all of my friends have been. I appreciate the hospitality everyone!
I finally headed out for a ride from San Marino, through Pasadena, La Canada/Flintridge and up Angeles Crest Hwy 2 toward Mt. Wilson. I missed a turn at one point and ended up at the main guard gate of JPL (Jet Propolsion Lab) where Weni happens to work. When I reached into my jersey pocket to pull out my directions the guards apparently thought I was reaching for a weapon. The next thing I know they have their guns drawn and one of them has me face down on the ground with a knee in my back! Okay, that didn't really happened. Too many episodes of "24" or something.
So I made it out to Hwy 2 and started the long climb toward Mt. Wilson (18 miles). It was a good gradual climb steep enough to make it difficult, but not too steep that I couldn't stay seated in a 39-23. (That's chainring and cog size for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about).
At one point another cyclist passed me. I said "Hey", but he didn't say a word. He was wearing a college team kit from Colorado University (or U of C?). He looked back a couple times to see if he dropped me and that made me more determined not to get dropped. He became my rabbit. I kept him within 20-30 yards for a mile or so and then bridged the gap on a slight flat section. He looked back surprised as I came up on his wheel. I stayed with him for another half mile and then he just rode away from me. On the switchbacks up above I could see him getting a huge gap on me. Oh well, the kid was literally half my age.
Passed 2000' of elevation, passed 3000', on the way to 4 and the road leveled out and descended near the Palmdale road and then climbed again. The college kid was just coasting down the hill and I caught up to him. This time he chatted with me and I found out he races Cat 3 back in CO. So I don't feel so bad a 20 year old, Cat 3, from high elevation Boulder kicked my butt up the climb. :-)
He continued on, but I turned around. The temp had dropped quite a bit and it was looking like rain. Plus, I needed to get back so I could head north to Agoura Hills again. Man, the way back down was freezing! I'm glad it didn't start raining too. There were a lot of sharp corners to navitgate at speed.
Dodged traffic through the resiential/city streets and got back to Doug and Weni's with a 50 mile ride in. Showered up and luckily the worst traffic on the freeways were heading south and I made it to Jeff's in Agoura in under an hour.
Before I left San Marino, Weni, an up and coming rock and roll star, sang a couple songs for me. Her normal conversational voice is a bit quiet and high pitched a little, but when she sings this whole new voice comes out and it's amazing! She's in a band that do a lot of classic rock covers and well as modern alt. rock stuff. She also has written some of her own songs. I will definitely have to see her perform next time.
Jeff and I met two of his friends, Ted and An, from Giant for dinner at BJ's. Great time. On the way home Jeff took me for a ride in his A4 through some of the canyon roads at high speed around sharp corners. It was a lot of fun and we only almost went off the road and down a cliff a couple of times. JK of course.
Back at Jeff's I inundated him with all my cycling related technical questions. He's a good sport putting up with all my anal questions. He knows a ton of stuff about the industry and the technology and I love talking about it and learning it.
Weni and Doug are gracious hosts as all of my friends have been. I appreciate the hospitality everyone!
I finally headed out for a ride from San Marino, through Pasadena, La Canada/Flintridge and up Angeles Crest Hwy 2 toward Mt. Wilson. I missed a turn at one point and ended up at the main guard gate of JPL (Jet Propolsion Lab) where Weni happens to work. When I reached into my jersey pocket to pull out my directions the guards apparently thought I was reaching for a weapon. The next thing I know they have their guns drawn and one of them has me face down on the ground with a knee in my back! Okay, that didn't really happened. Too many episodes of "24" or something.
So I made it out to Hwy 2 and started the long climb toward Mt. Wilson (18 miles). It was a good gradual climb steep enough to make it difficult, but not too steep that I couldn't stay seated in a 39-23. (That's chainring and cog size for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about).
At one point another cyclist passed me. I said "Hey", but he didn't say a word. He was wearing a college team kit from Colorado University (or U of C?). He looked back a couple times to see if he dropped me and that made me more determined not to get dropped. He became my rabbit. I kept him within 20-30 yards for a mile or so and then bridged the gap on a slight flat section. He looked back surprised as I came up on his wheel. I stayed with him for another half mile and then he just rode away from me. On the switchbacks up above I could see him getting a huge gap on me. Oh well, the kid was literally half my age.
Passed 2000' of elevation, passed 3000', on the way to 4 and the road leveled out and descended near the Palmdale road and then climbed again. The college kid was just coasting down the hill and I caught up to him. This time he chatted with me and I found out he races Cat 3 back in CO. So I don't feel so bad a 20 year old, Cat 3, from high elevation Boulder kicked my butt up the climb. :-)
He continued on, but I turned around. The temp had dropped quite a bit and it was looking like rain. Plus, I needed to get back so I could head north to Agoura Hills again. Man, the way back down was freezing! I'm glad it didn't start raining too. There were a lot of sharp corners to navitgate at speed.
Dodged traffic through the resiential/city streets and got back to Doug and Weni's with a 50 mile ride in. Showered up and luckily the worst traffic on the freeways were heading south and I made it to Jeff's in Agoura in under an hour.
Before I left San Marino, Weni, an up and coming rock and roll star, sang a couple songs for me. Her normal conversational voice is a bit quiet and high pitched a little, but when she sings this whole new voice comes out and it's amazing! She's in a band that do a lot of classic rock covers and well as modern alt. rock stuff. She also has written some of her own songs. I will definitely have to see her perform next time.
Jeff and I met two of his friends, Ted and An, from Giant for dinner at BJ's. Great time. On the way home Jeff took me for a ride in his A4 through some of the canyon roads at high speed around sharp corners. It was a lot of fun and we only almost went off the road and down a cliff a couple of times. JK of course.
Back at Jeff's I inundated him with all my cycling related technical questions. He's a good sport putting up with all my anal questions. He knows a ton of stuff about the industry and the technology and I love talking about it and learning it.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
CA Day 8 The Sun Returns
Wed 3/29. I was very pleasantly surprised to see blue skies and sun after all the rain. It was a little chilly, with the ocean breeze, but I'll take the sun! Willie and I took their dog, Riley, for a walk and then we rode The Strand.
I left in the afternoon and headed east to San Marino (near Pasadena) to visit Willie's brother, Doug. I went to college with both Doug and Willie. Doug, his wife, Weni, and daughter, Chloe, bought a 1940's 4 bedroom that they've been totally remodeling. It's coming along fantastically. And there's even a separate guest house with all amenities where I'm staying. Went to dinner and caught up on life.
I left in the afternoon and headed east to San Marino (near Pasadena) to visit Willie's brother, Doug. I went to college with both Doug and Willie. Doug, his wife, Weni, and daughter, Chloe, bought a 1940's 4 bedroom that they've been totally remodeling. It's coming along fantastically. And there's even a separate guest house with all amenities where I'm staying. Went to dinner and caught up on life.
CA Day 7 The Rain Again
Tues. 3/28. It started raining the night before and it just poured all day long! I was going to lounge in the sun on this day at Marc's and then I had planned to race my bike down in Long Beach. But instead I looked out the window continually just to see the rain never letting up.
I played with Jessica in the morning and I love the way she calls me "Z-Dog" all the time. Had lunch with Lisa and Jess and then headed toward Redondo Beach. I got stuck behind two bad traffic accidents. Visibility was very poor.
I made it down to my buddy's place in Redondo. Willie and his wife, Bonnie, recently bought a historic "beach cottage" about 5 blocks from the ocean. It's a great 2 bedroom place from the 30's I think. Willie is another highschool friend. We dodged the rain and went to Bally's and worked out. That was my first time to a 'real' gym in about 10 years. My little dumbell workouts at home just aren't the same. I'm so sore now.
The bike race I wanted to do got cancelled due to the rain. Willie and I went to din while Bonnie had a pilates class. Hung out with the 2 of them that evening and as always had a great time visiting and catching up.
I played with Jessica in the morning and I love the way she calls me "Z-Dog" all the time. Had lunch with Lisa and Jess and then headed toward Redondo Beach. I got stuck behind two bad traffic accidents. Visibility was very poor.
I made it down to my buddy's place in Redondo. Willie and his wife, Bonnie, recently bought a historic "beach cottage" about 5 blocks from the ocean. It's a great 2 bedroom place from the 30's I think. Willie is another highschool friend. We dodged the rain and went to Bally's and worked out. That was my first time to a 'real' gym in about 10 years. My little dumbell workouts at home just aren't the same. I'm so sore now.
The bike race I wanted to do got cancelled due to the rain. Willie and I went to din while Bonnie had a pilates class. Hung out with the 2 of them that evening and as always had a great time visiting and catching up.
Jeff's garage
Anyone that thinks I have too many bikes and parts needs to see Jeff's garage. Sorry Jeff, but it's nice to see someone else as addicted as I am.
Giant HQ
All their manufacturing is done overseas, but there's about 35-40 office personnel. And they do a lot of lunch time rides.
Mtn. bike ride
View from the top of the ride Jeff and I did. Can't see anything? Yeah, I forgot my damn camera!
CA Day 6 No rain for 2 days!
On Monday, 3/27, I drove from Jeff's place in Agoura Hills to Giant Bikes HQ in Newbury Park. I met Jeff at the office and got a quick tour. It was really cool. They have a total open concept there and even Skip Hess, Giant CEO, doesn't have a separate office. Open door policy is a given with no doors to close. Met some nice people including Andrew J who is a well known journalist most recently employed by Velo News. I really enjoyed the feeling of being in the offices of a big time bike manufacturer.
Jeff took a long lunch and we headed out on our mountain bikes. Rode through a neighborhood and up into the hills. Did a grueling single track climb for a few miles and had a nice view at the top. Jeff has been battling some chest/lung infection so for the first time ever I was able to keep up with him. But when we came back down he left me behind like a 2 year old scared to come down a slide.
That evening I headed to the Warshals who also happen to live in Agoura Hills. I went to highschool with Marc and he's a long time friend. His wife, Lisa, made us dinner and I played with their 5 year old daughter, Jessica aka Sassy. It was great to catch up with them. And their daughter is a hoot.
Jeff took a long lunch and we headed out on our mountain bikes. Rode through a neighborhood and up into the hills. Did a grueling single track climb for a few miles and had a nice view at the top. Jeff has been battling some chest/lung infection so for the first time ever I was able to keep up with him. But when we came back down he left me behind like a 2 year old scared to come down a slide.
That evening I headed to the Warshals who also happen to live in Agoura Hills. I went to highschool with Marc and he's a long time friend. His wife, Lisa, made us dinner and I played with their 5 year old daughter, Jessica aka Sassy. It was great to catch up with them. And their daughter is a hoot.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
CA Day 5 The sun, finally.
Okay, I know the pics below aren't in the best order, but I'm working off two cameras and it's late and I'm tired. So, woke up in Monterey this morning and made my first stop in Carmel so I could check out the beach and crashing waves. It was cool.
It was a little cloudy, but I finally got to see the sun!!
Continued south along Hwy 1 and it was beautiful! But I was in a slight hurry because I was to meet my friend, Jeff, in Santa Barbara about 1pm for a ride. BTW, it's all Jeff's fault I'm a bike freak today. He sold me my first mtn. bike 15 years ago from Moutain Bike Factory Outlet in Kirkland. He now works for Giant as their product manager after putting Suntour, Halson, and Real out of business. :-)
The Big Sur Light House Station is brilliant. But I didn't get a picture.
So I met Jeff in SB and as we were getting ready he realized he forgot his front wheel back at home! There wasn't one available at the LBS so I followed him to his place in Agoura Hills which meant another hour on the road.
We parked near Camarillo and rode the coast. We then took 101 south toward Malibu. It was so cool to ride along the ocean. We turned up Mulholland drive and climbed that for a bit before we turned back. Finally got some mileage in today as we pedaled 40 miles. 50 tomorrow?
I'm staying at Jeff's tonight and it's time for bed! G'nite.
It was a little cloudy, but I finally got to see the sun!!
Continued south along Hwy 1 and it was beautiful! But I was in a slight hurry because I was to meet my friend, Jeff, in Santa Barbara about 1pm for a ride. BTW, it's all Jeff's fault I'm a bike freak today. He sold me my first mtn. bike 15 years ago from Moutain Bike Factory Outlet in Kirkland. He now works for Giant as their product manager after putting Suntour, Halson, and Real out of business. :-)
The Big Sur Light House Station is brilliant. But I didn't get a picture.
So I met Jeff in SB and as we were getting ready he realized he forgot his front wheel back at home! There wasn't one available at the LBS so I followed him to his place in Agoura Hills which meant another hour on the road.
We parked near Camarillo and rode the coast. We then took 101 south toward Malibu. It was so cool to ride along the ocean. We turned up Mulholland drive and climbed that for a bit before we turned back. Finally got some mileage in today as we pedaled 40 miles. 50 tomorrow?
I'm staying at Jeff's tonight and it's time for bed! G'nite.
More Rain CA Day 4
On 3/25 Saturday I drove from Oakland to Danville to meet a Zoka teammate of mine, Brian. He had spent the week in San Jose training and had one day left. Aaron decided he didn't need to get dropped again on any climbs :-) and stayed home to get some stuff done. (I'm just razzin him). Aaron wrote up a route for us to do and Brian and I climbed up Mt. Diablo. (The weather didn't look good again, but oh well). We actually didn't go all the way to the summit, but still did about a 4 mile climb to the junction of the north and south routes.
So, guess what? About half way up it started to rain! I was pretty wet and cold once again by the time we started the descent on the other side. I came to CA to get away from this kind of weather! Luckily, we had some sun come out by the time we got to the bottom. We did a loop back to the car and got 30 miles in. Brian was going easy after 8 straight days of riding, but he still rode me off his wheel several times. That guy is really strong. He should do well at TST.
Back at Aaron's I got ready to leave and headed up the hill first for a cloudy view of the city. See picture below.
Traffic was horrible and it took nearly an hour and a half to go from Oakland to San Fran. I headed down the coast to Santa Cruz. The plan was to stay with a former colleague of mine from the Performance days. She now heads the women's dept at Specialized. Things ended up not working out for a number of reasons so I just stopped in Santa Cruz for a beer and some pizza.
I decided to drive to Monterey to spend the night. It was about 11pm now and I pulled into a parking lot near Fisherman's Warf in Monterey. Always on a budget I didn't want to pay $80 or more for some coastal hotel. I decided to sleep in the back of my car. The parking lot said no camping or sleepin in your vehicle overnight. What the hell, I saw a motorhome and semi truck and I figured they were doing it. I got my therma rest and sleeping bag ready. I moved my dumbells and swiss ball to the front along with the ice chest. The only problem now was that I'm a foot and a half taller than the space available. I made the best of it in the fetal position and slept fairly decent.
So, guess what? About half way up it started to rain! I was pretty wet and cold once again by the time we started the descent on the other side. I came to CA to get away from this kind of weather! Luckily, we had some sun come out by the time we got to the bottom. We did a loop back to the car and got 30 miles in. Brian was going easy after 8 straight days of riding, but he still rode me off his wheel several times. That guy is really strong. He should do well at TST.
Back at Aaron's I got ready to leave and headed up the hill first for a cloudy view of the city. See picture below.
Traffic was horrible and it took nearly an hour and a half to go from Oakland to San Fran. I headed down the coast to Santa Cruz. The plan was to stay with a former colleague of mine from the Performance days. She now heads the women's dept at Specialized. Things ended up not working out for a number of reasons so I just stopped in Santa Cruz for a beer and some pizza.
I decided to drive to Monterey to spend the night. It was about 11pm now and I pulled into a parking lot near Fisherman's Warf in Monterey. Always on a budget I didn't want to pay $80 or more for some coastal hotel. I decided to sleep in the back of my car. The parking lot said no camping or sleepin in your vehicle overnight. What the hell, I saw a motorhome and semi truck and I figured they were doing it. I got my therma rest and sleeping bag ready. I moved my dumbells and swiss ball to the front along with the ice chest. The only problem now was that I'm a foot and a half taller than the space available. I made the best of it in the fetal position and slept fairly decent.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Sunny California?? NO!! Day 3 Chasing the sun.
On Friday morning, 3/24, the weather in the Bay Area looked like a typical Seattle day with grey dreary skies. Aaron had a few things to take care of and we decided we'd try and ride in the afternoon hoping it would clear up a little. In the meantime I checked email, read the news, organized my stuff, made an entry on the blog, etc.
Around 1pm the weather looked worse not better. It started to rain a bit, but we could still see patches of blue sky to the southwest. We got ready and decided to try and drive to a dry area. We left Oakland and headed toward San Mateo. We had to keep driving to chase the sun. We finally took an exit near Palo Alto (getting near San Jose). We parked at a small strip mall and started our ride. The skies overhead actually looked pretty decent.
We began climbing Page Mill Road and the weather caught up with us. At first is wasnt' bad. I was warm and it was just sprinkling, but then it started pouring. We were 6 miles into the climb (yes, this climb was 6 miles plus!) when we decided we had enough.
Now we had 6 miles to descend and another 4 on the flats and I was soaked and frozen and cursing this weather that I thought I had left back in Seattle. It was about half an hour back to the car, but it seemed like hours.
We stopped at Aaron's housemate's mom's house in San Mateo. (Is it okay to have 3 words in a row with apostrophes)? She fed us and we watched the Huskies lose to the Huskies. I can't believe both Gonzaga and the UW lost games they had total control of.
Around 1pm the weather looked worse not better. It started to rain a bit, but we could still see patches of blue sky to the southwest. We got ready and decided to try and drive to a dry area. We left Oakland and headed toward San Mateo. We had to keep driving to chase the sun. We finally took an exit near Palo Alto (getting near San Jose). We parked at a small strip mall and started our ride. The skies overhead actually looked pretty decent.
We began climbing Page Mill Road and the weather caught up with us. At first is wasnt' bad. I was warm and it was just sprinkling, but then it started pouring. We were 6 miles into the climb (yes, this climb was 6 miles plus!) when we decided we had enough.
Now we had 6 miles to descend and another 4 on the flats and I was soaked and frozen and cursing this weather that I thought I had left back in Seattle. It was about half an hour back to the car, but it seemed like hours.
We stopped at Aaron's housemate's mom's house in San Mateo. (Is it okay to have 3 words in a row with apostrophes)? She fed us and we watched the Huskies lose to the Huskies. I can't believe both Gonzaga and the UW lost games they had total control of.
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