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According to the weather forecast, Saturday should be a nice day, well, at least the sky should clear out. However, we ran into some shower, making us well, like someone said “we were riding in our wet diaper.”
On Saturday morning, I left home about 5.15am, driving down to Irvine, to join the OC Team for a ride from Irvine to Solana Beach and took a train back to Irvine. There were no leaders for the ride, everyone get there at different times, just sign up and get a route map and took off. There were five versions of the ride, ranging from 62 miles to 100 miles. I wasn’t planning to do the century ride because I was told the last 20 miles was all about steep climbing.
Although I’ve been in LA for almost 6 years, I seldom go down to OC or San Diego, so this ride was totally new to me. Our group left the Irvine train station about ten after seven. Along the route, we went through several cities and towns with some rolling hills.
The most challenging part was cycling along the 5 freeway! Can you believe it? Although it was only a few miles and the road shoulder is about 7-8 feet wide, still it’s kind of scary as the cars and trucks traveled on an average of 80mph. At one point (7 miles from Oceanside) we had to stop to help a fellow cyclist to fix her flat tire. We tried and tried, it didn’t work. The first tube we put in was not the right size, and the second one just blow out when we were too excited that we could finally put it back on the bike. We end up calling the sweep team to have her and her bike transported to Solana Beach.
Four of us riding at the same pace first shooting for the 83 miles ride, but had to settle with 73 miles because of the rain delay and stop for helping fix the flat tire. We got to Solana Beach train station 15 minute before three, just the perfect time to enjoy pizza and relax a little bite before catching the 3.33pm train back to Irvine.
This was my first ride on Amtrak. All of us (about 50) boarded with smelling cycling jersey, wet shoes (and socks) and wet shorts, I am sure Amtrak loved us (ha ha). It was such an experience walking around with our cycling shoes, just like walking around in high heels. Funny but not comfortable.
It was such a long day. After fixing myself a good dinner, and finished up some work in front of the computer, I went to bed early, at 11pm (well, it was early for me, the night owl). I was really tired.
After a ten-hour sleep, the longest in recent history, I felt much better and ready for more training rides. I woke up ten minutes before the alarm went off on Sunday morning. It was 8.50am, cloudy outside.
I went back to the Culver City-Palos Verdes ride not only because the training ride leaders (TRLs) are great, but also they start at noon. We had lost of fun this time, more than the last time I rode with them. First of all, it was Easter day and Chris’ (one of our TRLs for the day).
When I got to the meeting point (Synergy Café) at 11.30am, no one was there except me. I thought they canceled the ride because of Easter. Then other rides started to show up few minutes before noon (our scheduled ride out time). However our TRLs were not there, it was unusual situation.
Finally, the first TRL Alan showed up, however he forgot to bring his front wheel (yea, how often does that happen?). He had to go home to get the wheel and meet us some point along the ride. Then the birthday girl Chris came without her helmet. She decided to get a new one at nearby bike shops, but all three of them were closed for Easter. A staff at the Synergy Café told us there’s a Target just few blocks away, so we all rode to Target hoping Chris will get her new helmet. Sorry, there were closed too. (What a day huh?)
Five of us end up riding the first few miles without a TRL, but that’s ok. The weather turned out to be great and we just enjoyed every moment of it. Chris is such a sweetheart, it was her birthday and she brought along a cake that she baked. She also shared some Easter-egg candies with us. Of course, a birthday was not completed without happy birthday song. We had this special birthday celebration at the Starbucks near 25th and Western.
By the time we finished, it was five. We had to take off and make sure we get back to Culver City before the sunset. When we were ready to roll, Alan figured out his back tire was flat. So we stop and lending him our hands. Although there were so many incidents in between, we still make it back safely before sunset.
Anyway, my “special-unusual-day” was not totally completed. On my way driving back home, after exiting the freeway, there was a car on Soto St. near the freeway entrance caught into fire. We all had to detour. It was really ‘dramatic’ having all these things happened in one day.
This coming Saturday is our “Day on the Ride” event, sort of a “preview” of what is going to be look like during the actual event. We will be riding from Santa Monica to the Palos Verdes area, so if you live around the west side, please come to cheer for us, and of course, please be careful when you are driving, we’re expecting hundreds of riders for this event.
Lose a training day because I had to work on Saturday, not my favorite part, but that pays my bills. Get back on the road on Sunday, traveling 52 miles from Arcadia to Claremont. For those of you live in the east SGV, did you run into us?
It was a small group ride, nine of us showed up, but three did a shorter version of 30 miles (oh no, those 3 are not in the picture). We started from the Arcadia Park on Santa Anita and Huntington, travel east to Duarte, Glendora, San Dimas, Bradbury, Pomona and Claremont. There were no major hills on this ride, but with some rolling hills.
It was my first time visiting the downtown of Claremont, what a lovely nice town. We (from left David, me, Thomas, Neil, Kathie, Brian) had lunch together. I got my tuna salad on Italian bagel (with pepperoni on it, looks like a slice of pizza) from the 42nd Street Bagel, I loved it. The streets were busy during lunch hours, and there was a farmers market too. Everyone just loved the sunny southern California; of course, forecast shows that the rain is coming in a few days (ahh… we have enough rain, and please don’t rain on weekends).
On the way heading back to Arcadia, my friend David and I came across two minor incidents. While we approached the intersection of Sierra Madre Blvd., and Todd St., a golf ball flying across us! Luckily it didn’t hit us (ouch) or it would be ugly. After that, while passing by the warehouse a big truck coming out from the parking lot and wasn’t expect there would be cyclists around and nearly hit us. I’m glad we made it back to the park safely; none of us had major incident or flat (woohoo!).
One of the pit stops we had was at the San Dimas Canyon Park. Later of the day, I learned it from the news that a man died this evening when the bicycle he was riding plunged over a 250-foot cliff and landed on San Dimas Dam. It was really sad to hear any news of fallen cyclists and again, remind all of us how important it is to follow all the safety rules. Of course accident does happen, sometime we just lost control.
On this coming Saturday, I’m planning to join the OC Team to do a ride from Irvine to Solona Beach, and we’ll take the train back to Irvine. Isn’t that fun? Just hope that weather will be nice and will tell you about details in my next bicycle diaries.
I know this is a long over due Part II story, so I will try to make it short and move on to this week progress. Here’s the recap from last Sunday (4/2).
As I missed the Saturday’s century ride, I decided to join a group on Sunday afternoon, we rode from Culver City to Palos Verdes, very similar to the ride I did a week ago, but this one add more hills and we made our half-way stop at 25th and Western in San Pedro.
The weather was great. Since I rode on this route before, I was more relax and confident this time, of course, with the camera in hand, I made more stops than anyone else, to capture some beautiful moment and share with all of you who couldn’t be there.
The fun part about this ride was an 11.2 miles ride on PV West, with lots of climbing, which I loved a lot. I’m not sure what the elevation is, but for sure it’s a very high point, as you can tell from the picture. From sea level to the top of the hill, it was tough but it was fun too, many of us might have drove up to enjoy the south bay view, but I peddled up, that’s the difference. There is golf course and a church by the seaside! What an amazing view they have.
We stopped at Starbucks in San Pedro, I enjoyed my chocolate frappuccino but soon to learn the lesson NOT to drink cold beverage in the afternoon by the seaside, because the wind is strong and it’s COLD!
We headed back to Culver City the same way we came from. At the end, I did a 58 miles, all time record, and made my first century ride (well, not in the same day, but back-to-back, close enough…. ha ha).
Oh yea, if you are interested in viewing pictures taken from the Paul Hulse half-century ride, please log on to www.gr8shots.com, then select ‘view event’, select ‘Paul Hulse Half Century’ the password is ‘Pos Peds’ (including the space). See if you could find me!
Are you ready for this week’s exciting stories? You can get some popcorns and sodas while reading because this is going to be a long one. Well, I think we should substitute with fruits and juices, they are healthier.
With less than four hours of sleep, I woke up 30 minutes before the alarm went off on early Saturday morning. It had nothing to do with neither April Fool nor day light saving time change. And it certainly had nothing to do with the heavy rain. I supposed I was too excited for the century ride that I planned to do.
Looking out the window, it was a gloomy sky. I guessed most of you were in your sweetest dreams, maybe by yourself or maybe next to someone you love. I was struggling, should I wake up and get ready? Or should I go back to sleep because it is “impossible” to ride on this kind of weather.
Thinking of all the fun and challenge ahead, I wasted no time in making the decision. I put on my favorite yellow jersey with the five Chinese characters (do you still remember what those characters mean?). While I was eating breakfast, I turned on the television and the ABC 7 meteorologist said the rain was moving south. I knew it was a good sign.
The drive up north on the 5 freeway wasn’t a pleasant one, the heavy downpour minimized the visibility, and everyone had to drive slowly. To be honest, at that moment I wasn’t sure if we were going to have the ride, but I just want to show up to show my support for those who had put on the efforts to make this ride possible, even if they had to cancel the ride due to bad weather.
Miracle does happen! As I approached Valencia, the weather just changed! No rain, not even a drop, and I saw sunshine. It’s the warm welcome for all of us who make it all the way up north. When I drove into the parking lot in front of Peet’s Coffee at McBean Parkway, I saw many riders already there ready for the ride.
With more than 50 people show up, the organizer – Chain Gang, Team Ventura and Positive Pedalers, said it was a surprised and great turn out (although about 125 people had RSVP for the ride). Some of the riders came as far as Riverside and Long Beach and I saw some familiar faces from previous training rides.
Instead of offering both century and half-century ride options, they decided to do just the half-century due to several reasons. A few of us who went with the goal of doing our “first century ride” were a little upset at the beginning, but then I told myself, it’s not the distance that count but the journey. We all should be appreciated because we were able to ride; the sky had clear out for us, and let’s not forgets 50 miles is not a short distance.
So we roll out a little past eight, heading to Ventura. This was a mostly flat route with some rolling hills. Most of the ride was on highway 126. It was really nice along the route, except when the big trucks pass by and we were “blow away” to the side.
Our first and second pit stop is at this small town called Piru. The distance between Valencia and Piru is about 15.6 miles. According to the guy who works at the gift store next to the Piru RR Station Park, the population of Piru is about 6000 people. It reminded me of the small college town that I lived in when I first came to the states. From Piru we headed 10 more miles to the next town which I have no idea what it is called and then back to Piru RR Station Park.
Some riders had to stop at the shoulder because they had a flat. I was “lucky” that my flat came the night before. Yes, that’s right. When I got home from work quarter to midnight, I noticed that my back tire was flat. I had to fix it before I went to bed. Because of the experience I gained; I was able to finish within 30 minutes, but that equal to missing 30 minutes of sleep that I need desperately. (Now you know why I had less than four hours of sleep). We got back to Peet’s Coffee around noon and lunch was ready for us. The turkey and veggie sandwich that I had were so good, maybe I was just too hungry.
For most of the previous rides, I didn’t bring along my camera, or I had to leave it in the car. But this time, I carried the camera with me, because I know picture worth a thousand words and I posted some of them here to share with you.
Oh yea, for your information, this ride is called Paul Hulse/PozPeds Half-Century in memory of Paul Hulse who pass away few years ago. He was one of the creators of the original California AIDS Ride, which changed its name to AIDS/LifeCycle five years ago.
To be continuing……
The most challenging part was cycling along the 5 freeway! Can you believe it? Although it was only a few miles and the road shoulder is about 7-8 feet wide, still it’s kind of scary as the cars and trucks traveled on an average of 80mph. At one point (7 miles from Oceanside) we had to stop to help a fellow cyclist to fix her flat tire. We tried and tried, it didn’t work. The first tube we put in was not the right size, and the second one just blow out when we were too excited that we could finally put it back on the bike. We end up calling the sweep team to have her and her bike transported to Solana Beach.
Four of us riding at the same pace first shooting for the 83 miles ride, but had to settle with 73 miles because of the rain delay and stop for helping fix the flat tire. We got to Solana Beach train station 15 minute before three, just the perfect time to enjoy pizza and relax a little bite before catching the 3.33pm train back to Irvine.
It was such a long day. After fixing myself a good dinner, and finished up some work in front of the computer, I went to bed early, at 11pm (well, it was early for me, the night owl). I was really tired.
When I got to the meeting point (Synergy Café) at 11.30am, no one was there except me. I thought they canceled the ride because of Easter. Then other rides started to show up few minutes before noon (our scheduled ride out time). However our TRLs were not there, it was unusual situation.
Five of us end up riding the first few miles without a TRL, but that’s ok. The weather turned out to be great and we just enjoyed every moment of it. Chris is such a sweetheart, it was her birthday and she brought along a cake that she baked. She also shared some Easter-egg candies with us. Of course, a birthday was not completed without happy birthday song. We had this special birthday celebration at the Starbucks near 25th and Western.
Lose a training day because I had to work on Saturday, not my favorite part, but that pays my bills. Get back on the road on Sunday, traveling 52 miles from Arcadia to Claremont. For those of you live in the east SGV, did you run into us?
It was my first time visiting the downtown of Claremont, what a lovely nice town. We (from left David, me, Thomas, Neil, Kathie, Brian) had lunch together. I got my tuna salad on Italian bagel (with pepperoni on it, looks like a slice of pizza) from the 42nd Street Bagel, I loved it. The streets were busy during lunch hours, and there was a farmers market too. Everyone just loved the sunny southern California; of course, forecast shows that the rain is coming in a few days (ahh… we have enough rain, and please don’t rain on weekends).
One of the pit stops we had was at the San Dimas Canyon Park. Later of the day, I learned it from the news that a man died this evening when the bicycle he was riding plunged over a 250-foot cliff and landed on San Dimas Dam. It was really sad to hear any news of fallen cyclists and again, remind all of us how important it is to follow all the safety rules. Of course accident does happen, sometime we just lost control.
I know this is a long over due Part II story, so I will try to make it short and move on to this week progress. Here’s the recap from last Sunday (4/2).
The fun part about this ride was an 11.2 miles ride on PV West, with lots of climbing, which I loved a lot. I’m not sure what the elevation is, but for sure it’s a very high point, as you can tell from the picture. From sea level to the top of the hill, it was tough but it was fun too, many of us might have drove up to enjoy the south bay view, but I peddled up, that’s the difference. There is golf course and a church by the seaside! What an amazing view they have.
We headed back to Culver City the same way we came from. At the end, I did a 58 miles, all time record, and made my first century ride (well, not in the same day, but back-to-back, close enough…. ha ha).
With less than four hours of sleep, I woke up 30 minutes before the alarm went off on early Saturday morning. It had nothing to do with neither April Fool nor day light saving time change. And it certainly had nothing to do with the heavy rain. I supposed I was too excited for the century ride that I planned to do.
With more than 50 people show up, the organizer – Chain Gang, Team Ventura and Positive Pedalers, said it was a surprised and great turn out (although about 125 people had RSVP for the ride). Some of the riders came as far as Riverside and Long Beach and I saw some familiar faces from previous training rides.
Our first and second pit stop is at this small town called Piru. The distance between Valencia and Piru is about 15.6 miles. According to the guy who works at the gift store next to the Piru RR Station Park, the population of Piru is about 6000 people. It reminded me of the small college town that I lived in when I first came to the states. From Piru we headed 10 more miles to the next town which I have no idea what it is called and then back to Piru RR Station Park.
For most of the previous rides, I didn’t bring along my camera, or I had to leave it in the car. But this time, I carried the camera with me, because I know picture worth a thousand words and I posted some of them here to share with you.
