Bicycle Diaries II - Long Weekend, Short Ride

Long weekend, short ride!

It was Chinese New Year and President’s Day long weekend. I did a 46-mile ride on Saturday, pretty much the same route that I did the week before, from Griffith Park to Montrose via our lovely La Tuna Canyon road. We started late (after 9a.m.) so it was kind of hot when we began the 5-mile climb. I did well in this ride, and had a chance sharing some of my experiences with the newbies.

Sunday I welcomed the Year of Boar by volunteering at the Buddhist temple in Rosemead, hundreds of people stopped by for new year pray and wishing the year of Boar brings health and prosperity to all. Dragon celebrated the Chinese New Year with a day off from the road.

I’ve been certified as a Training Ride Leader (TRL) this season, after co-leading with some veteran TRLs for several times, I’ve decided to lead my own ride. The ride will be on this Saturday (February 24th). We’ll meet at the Pasadena Aquatics Center, just south of the Rose Bowl at 8a.m. and ride out at 8.30a.m. It’s a 25-mile ride that I named Tour de San Gabriel Valley. The ride is designed from beginner riders, from the Rose Bowl we’ll travel east to Arcadia and stop at Goldstein’s Bagels, before heading back to Pasadena via Sierra Madre. So if you’re interested in riding and want to experience group ride, come join us, no one left behind. For more information feel free to contact me.

Bicycle Diaries II - Tour de Palm Springs

First century ride in 2007!

This past weekend, I joined some 7000+ riders of different shapes and sizes and colors and ages from all over the places at the 9th Tour de Palm Springs. To date, more than $1 million has been donated to local charities in the Coachella Valley, such as cadets, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Boy and Girl Scouts, to help support their community events.

With encouragement (or peer pressure?) from my buddies, I decided to put myself into the challenge by signing up for the century ride (which turn out to be 102 miles). I was a little nervous because I have not done any century ride since October. Although I’ve been training and riding, but the most I’ve done in the recent weeks was about 50 miles.

Saturday morning turn out to be a picture perfect day. Leaving downtown Palm Springs with such a huge group of riders. I started feeling not so well during the first 20 miles. I seriously doubted if I could finish the ride. My ego was ready, but my body (and butt) was not. Stopping at the first SAG stop helped a lot, by getting some rest and food, I started to feel better.

Thirty miles flew by, then 50, 65 and 80. The route was actually very doable; I’ve done some tougher century ride. Yet I felt so tired and the legs weren’t moving as fast as I wanted them to be. I’m glad I rode with my buddy Aaron, who kept pushing me to the limit, if not because of him, I would have quit long time ago.

Riding through the windmill and desert was a totally new and fun experience. We could actually hear the sound of the giant fan when it moved. Unfortunately the picture when I passed through the windmill didn’t turn out perfect.


It took us almost seven hours to finish the ride. We were exhausted and tired. Luckily we’ve Andy and Tim (former ALC riders) from Palm Springs who hosted a BBQ dinner for all the ALC riders. The food was great and the hot tub was even better. Also want to thank my friend Dennis who hosted me for two nights, saved me some hotel expenses.

If I had any complain, it would be those riders who used i-pod and cell phone while riding, this not only put themselves in danger, but other riders around as well. We saw several unpleasant incidents.

Bicycle Diaries II - Back-2-Back Bagel Rides

It was bagel weekend!

The 45-mile ride start from Griffith Park on Saturday was great, we climbed two big hills, the first one was La Tuna Canyon in Sunland all the way to Montrose; the second one was Lida in Pasadena.

After a brief lunch stop at Goldstein’s Bagel in Montrose, we headed to Pasadena area. Due to some confusion on the route slip, I was all by myself and lost in somewhere around Burbank/Glendale. Luckily memory from previous training rides helped bring me back to the route that we were supposed to be, and make it back to Griffith Park in one piece, except with a 4 extra miles that make my ride close to a half-century mark.

Sunday’s ride started at the aquatic center near the Rose Bowl. It was my first ride as a training ride leader (TRL), together with Virginia, Katie and Brian from the Different Spokes group. We had about 20 riders show up, some are newbie, which reminded me of myself a year ago.

I started training for ALC 5 in February 2006, learning all the very basic skills. A year later, not only that I’ve ridden more than 3400 miles, but I’m training for ALC 6 and has become a TRL. One of the reasons that I wanted to be part of the TRL team is to help other new riders like I was helped before, prepare them for the big event in June, and most importantly get to know more people.

This ride stopped at the Goldstein’s Bagel in Arcadia, so for the first time in my life, I had back-to-back bagel brunch! (Should I charge them for advertising fee?) Due to the fact that I had to be at the next appointment by 1pm, I had to rush back to the Rose Bowl and wasn’t able to spend more time with the newbie, or I should call them the new friends that I met. Hopefully in the near future we’ll meet again in other training rides and will share my experiences with everyone who is so excited about this wonderful ride.

New TRL on the road...

Veteran TRL leading the pack...









flying on the beautiful Huntington Drive...









Hurry up, I smell bagels...









Wait for me, don't eat all the bagels...













I have both hands for the bagels...









If you were driving, better watch out for those hungry riders...








Happy faces after bagel break...










She's the one who planned on this bagel ride. Go Virginia!






(Photos courtesy of Brian Frobisher who followed us, and make us feel like superstars that were chased by paparazzi…j/k)