Sepulveda Pass

It’s funny how the weather is so unpredictable in Los Angeles. It’s chilly one minute and it’s hot the next. We started our Shifting Gears ride in 48 degrees weather, but soon the sun was out blazing strong. I was planning on wearing my brand my windvest today, but decided to change back to my long-sleeve jacket at the last minute (just in case). Bad mistake. It ended up being a really hot ride – especially because we did a lot of climbing.

Sam and I met up with about 40 riders at Helen’s Cycles to do our first training ride of the season on the Sepulveda Pass. The ride took us west toward the beach, then north and then back east toward Brentwood to Westwood. We rode past my cousin Hayden’s apartment. (Hi, Hayden!) It was freaking early so I’m sure he was still sleeping. (Sleep sounds good.) Once we got out of Westwood, we continued west on Santa Monica Boulevard, turned north at Century City and headed into Bel Air. Riding through Bel Air was pretty and someone even mentioned the Housewives of Beverly Hills houses. I don’t watch the show, so I wouldn’t know the houses even if I rode past them. When we finally left Bel Air, we rode past UCLA (Go Bruins!!) and headed west to Sepulveda Boulevard. From there, it was one long climb north.

The section we rode is called “The Sepulveda Pass” and runs parallel the 405 freeway. It’s about a 5 mile climb from Westwood to the top where it crosses under Mulholland Drive, then down into Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley. The climb started off with a modest incline. We rode about 3 miles at a 5 to 6 mile-per-hour pace. The climb got steeper in the last couple of miles and we slowed down to a 3 to 4 mile-per-hour pace, but at long last we completed our climb. At the top, we had to ride through a tunnel, underneath Mulholland, to get to the San Fernando Valley side. Tunnels are always scary for bikers since cars might not see them in the dark. We made it through the tunnel okay and then it was a downhill decent to our first pit stop in Sherman Oaks.

Once we had rested, we turned around and climbed Sepulveda again to return to Westwood. Fortunately, the climb on the San Fernando Valley back up toward Mulholland was only about 2 miles, so it wasn’t as bad. I even picked up some steam and rode up at a faster pace than earlier. The downhill decent past the tunnel was fun, but it was also a little scary. I had my hands on my brakes most of the way down just to keep my speed under control. I hit a few red lights along the way down, which was annoying, but otherwise it was a cool ride down. From Westwood, we headed into Brentwood and stopped at our second pit stop. We realized that there were only about three more miles to go from that pit stop, so we decided to just skip the break and continue on our way back. Sam and I just wanted to be done with the ride. I think the Sepulveda climb really kicked our butts and we were absolutely worn out. Needless to say, we were both thrilled when we got back to Helen’s. The ride totaled 35.72 miles.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Chi-Wai A. & Douglas L.; Jury C.; Scott C.; and Steven T.

January 23, 2011 | Categories: ALC, Photo, Training Ride, Video | 1 Comment

Urban Ride

Shifting Gears led riders on a unique training ride around Los Angeles, dubbed the “Urban Ride.” The route was created by Chris, one of the training ride leaders, and it was designed to take riders through some of the busy streets of Los Angeles so we can learn to ride and commute in traffic. I.Martin’s store manager, Jaime, and sales supervisor, Matt, joined us for the ride. Chris and Matt kicked things off by talking about key things to look out for when riding and commuting in Los Angeles. They shared riding tips and important lessons they have learned. For example, in order to stay clear of car drivers’ doors opening in your path, ride more toward the car lane than the parked cars and anticipate doors opening by watching through the cars’ rear windows as you approach from behind. It was a very helpful talk.

The training ride began at I.Martin and we started off by heading west toward Beverly Hills and then down toward Century City. At Olympic Boulevard, we turned and headed east. Normally, Olympic is a pretty busy street, especially during commuting hours, but it was still pretty early on Sunday so traffic wasn’t too bad. We passed the Miracle Mile section and turned north on Highland Avenue. We soon turned east again onto 4th Street, which has painted arrows and bicycle icons called “Sharrows,” indicating that bikes and cars are supposed to share the road. We were on 4th Street for about two and a half miles, but it felt like forever. There were stop signs at every block and since bikes have to follow the rules of the road, we had to stop at ever stop sign. That got annoying after the third stop sign. Argh!

We eventually made our way south to Koreatown. The pit stop was Chris and Mel’s house. They were kind enough to let us use their restroom and refill on water. Chris even shared some baked goods that she made. Yum yum! After a short break, we made our way back to I.Martin. Thank goodness we didn’t take 4th Street back. Instead, we headed north on Vermont Avenue (a very busy road) and headed west on Melrose Avenue, Beverly Boulevard and eventually Willoughby Avenue before making it back to I.Martin. Willoughby also has plenty of stop signs, but it didn’t feel as bad as 4th Street. We rode a total of 22.38 miles.

This ride is dedicated to this awesome sponsor: Alex F.

January 16, 2011 | Categories: ALC, Photo, Training Ride, Video | Leave a comment

Playa del Rey

After riding in some pretty cold and wet weather, we finally caught a break.  We joined Shifting Gears on a nice and pretty ride down to Playa del Rey.  We met up with the group at Helen’s Cycles in Santa Monica.  There were about 40 riders altogether, many of whom were also training for the AIDS/LifeCycle ride while others were members of Shifting Gears who were out for a leisure ride with the group.  We were even joined by our friend Bennel (yeah!).

Beth, one of the Shifting Gears training ride leaders, kicked us off with the safety speech and told us about the ride for the day.  The plan was to head south to Playa del Rey and circle back up to Brentwood with an optional climb up Bundy Drive.  Seeing that Sam and I already climbed Bundy the week before, we weren’t jumping up and down to do some climbing, so we opted to see how the first part of the training ride went first.

We took off toward the beach then headed south to Venice and Marina del Rey.  Once we reached the end of Marina del Rey, we entered the Ballona Creek bike path and made our way across to Playa del Rey.  I recall doing a lot of training rides on the Ballona Creek bike path when I first trained for AIDS/LifeCycle 2.  Ballona Creek runs from Culver City to Playa del Rey and it has a really nice bike bath that runs alongside it.  We were only on a short section of the bike path on this ride, but we did ride past the UCLA Marine Aquatic Center where the UCLA crew team practices.  Of course, I couldn’t help but shout out “GO BRUINS!”

Our first pit stop was on the bridge of the bike path that connects Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey, over the Ballona Creek.  It was a nice spot to take a break.  At that point, we had gone about 10 miles and we had ridden at a pretty fast pace (roughly about 15 to 18 miles per hour).  I thought we were heading back up north to Brentwood at this point, but it turned out we still had some ways to go south.  From there, we headed down toward the outskirts of Los Angeles International Airport and circled around the airport to head back north.  We eventually made our way back to Venice, where we rested at Peet’s Coffee & Tea on Main Street.  Pit stops are important as they give riders an opportunity to take a break and stretch.  Most pit stops are planned ahead of time, so they are usually places where riders can refill their water bottles, get a little snack and use the restrooms.  Café and coffee shops are great for these reasons.

Sam and I decided at the pit stop that we were not going to do the Bundy option.  We had already done 20 miles – at a pretty fast pace – and we felt we had done a great training ride already.  After our break, we headed back up to Helen’s and called it a day.  Altogether, we rode 31.74 miles.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: An L.; Bernice & Ricardo H.; Betty S. & Bennel T.; Deanna K.; Doreena W. & Jenny P.; Karin W. & Jeff M.; Patricia & Derrick B.; Rebecca S. & Hoyt S.; Stacey & Joe E.; and Stewart & Pat K.

January 9, 2011 | Categories: ALC, Photo, Training Ride, Video | Leave a comment

First Ride of 2011

I was bummed out that we didn’t get to ride much in December.  The rain and the holidays got in the way – okay, it was mostly the rain.  I especially wanted to get out there and test out the bike post-fitting.  So it was a relief and total refresher to catch some dry weather and head out for a post-New Year ride.  That is, until we got rained on.

We headed out bright and early to Santa Monica the day after New Year’s.  It was another freaking cold morning.  We had originally considered doing a ride on New Year’s Day for half a nano second, but we knew there was no way we could get up that early after New Year’s Eve.  Hee hee!  We joined up with Shifting Gears, another awesome training ride group that I used to do a lot of training rides with.  They tend to do most of their rides on the Westside and a lot of them start from Helen’s Cycles.  The folks at Helen’s are super supportive.  They even had someone open up the store just for us so we could use their restroom and storefront to get ready.

The original plan was to ride up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu and back.  I was excited about riding this route.  I remember really liking the PCH rides, although certain sections of the PCH can be pretty dangerous so one has to be extra careful riding on PCH.  But given all the right conditions, a ride up and down PCH can be pretty sweet.  Unfortunately, PCH will have to wait.  Soon after we met up with the group, we were told that rain was expected soon.  In fact, rain was already reported at Oxnard and the storm was moving south toward Malibu.  The training ride leaders quickly came up with Plan B – a local ride to Brentwood and a climb (yes, I said ‘climb’) up Bundy Drive.  It was a going to be a much shorter route than originally planned, but at least we could get some riding in before the rain hit.

We took off from Helen’s and headed toward the beach.  We then headed north and steered back east via San Vicente Boulevard.  Finally we reached Bundy and headed north.  Bundy is a good training ground for beginner riders.  It starts off flat, but gradually becomes a 2- to 3-mile climb to the end.  It sounds bad, but the climb is actually fairly nice and steady.  When we almost reached the end of Bundy, Doreen, one of the veteran training ride leaders who has done every AIDS/LifeCycle ride, noticed that Sam was riding on the wrong gear.  Unbeknownst to us, Sam’s chain was stuck on the high gears and he couldn’t shift to the lower gears.  What that means is that he wasn’t able to switch to the lower (easy) gears that make it a heck of a lot easier to climb.  But Sam’s a tough one.  He soldiered on and made it to the top without breaking a sweat.  Good thing that the bike was still rideable and he was able to continue.  (The bike has since been fixed by the folks at I.Martin.)

Coming back down the hill was fun.  You do have to watch your speed though.  Some riders like to fly down real fast, but that always freaks me out.  I tend to have my hands on my brake a lot so that I can better control my downhill speed.  Once we got to the bottom of Bundy, we took the same route back to Helen’s.  We were able to avoid the rain until the last four miles.  It didn’t rain very hard at first, but it was enough to be a nuisance.  I don’t recall ever riding in the rain before, so this might have been my first time.  Chris, one of the training ride leaders, told us a rainy-day tip: when riding in the rain, avoid metal (e.g. manhole covers) and paint (e.g. lane lines) as they tend to get very slippery.  Noted!!

In total we rode about 17.8 miles.  Even though I had wanted to do a longer ride, I really did not want to get caught in the rain.  Plus, I was super hungry and needed to eat.  Oink, oink!

I paid close attention to my body during the ride in order to assess the new fit of the bike.  The new shorter handlebar felt a lot better.  My elbows didn’t hurt at all, which was a good thing.  The new seat also felt better, although it could have been that I was wearing a better pair of shorts with more padding (enough said).  On future rides, I may need to pay more attention to the seat height.  On one hand, I think it could be a little higher so that my knees don’t have to bend as much.  My knees did bother me a bit, which is a rare issue for me when biking.  On the other hand, if the seat is too high I’ll risk overstretching my calves, in particular my left calf.  I’ll need to keep an eye on this as well.  Finally, my shoulders and neck were way too stiff.  Since I haven’t ridden much of late, I’m going to give this the benefit of the doubt and ride a few more times before making a judgment.  Perhaps when I ride more I’ll get more used to the bike and my body will loosen up.  Let’s hope.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Alice H.; Anonymous; Dean H.; Eric R.; Eric W.; Hoa S. & Cesar C.; Jonipher K.; Judy Y.; Julie W.; Kenneth W. & Sophie D.; Sanjay C.; Siana-Lea G. & Edgar A.; Teh-Shan L. & Tommy L.; and Yvonne & Peter L.

January 2, 2011 | Categories: ALC, Photo, Training Ride, Video | Leave a comment

Back on the Chain Gang

It was bloody cold.  We got up pretty early this morning to go out on our first “official” ride with a training group.  It was gloomy most of the early morning.  The sun peeked out for a second, but it disappeared pretty quickly.

We headed off to Griffith Park to meet up with the Chain Gang, one of the training groups for the AIDS/LifeCycle.  When I did the AIDS/LifeCycle in 2003, I mostly trained with the Chain Gang.  Without them, I seriously would not have been ready to do that ride.  They are the nicest group of people with the biggest hearts and always welcome new riders (new or experienced) with a smile.  It helped that there was a group of other novice riders that started with me and we bonded pretty quickly.  Jim, one of the awesome training ride leaders, called us the “ducklings” because, in almost all respects, we would follow the directions and advice of the training ride leaders.  I also suspect that we were called the “ducklings” because, when we’re out riding, we would follow the training ride leader in one single file line.  QUACK!  QUACK!  So it was a nice homecoming for me to do my first official training ride of the season with the Chain Gang.

The morning got off to a confusing start.  We went to the meeting spot, the giant fountain at the William Mulholland Memorial Park, but there were no riders in sight.  We got there a little late so I was worried that they left without us.  But after a couple minutes, I saw a biker coming our way and it was a familiar face: Tony.  Tony is one of the all-time nicest training ride leaders and always rides “caboose” so he can help and cheer on the slowest rider in the pack.  I screamed like a little girl when I saw Tony.  Naturally, he did the same.  It turned out that due to the construction on the road, the group decided to meet across the street instead.

There were 10 of us on this training ride.  The training ride leaders, which included Tony, Uncle Mel, Randy and Doreen, gave the safety speech (we take safety VERY seriously!) and we were off.  We got on the bike bath that runs parallel to the 5 freeway and the Los Angeles River.  I saw some ducks down on the river, which reminded me of the “ducklings.”  That was cool.  The bike path is a nice place to ride since it’s smooth and flat.  And there are no cars and intersections, so you can pretty much go for a few miles without needing to stop.  We eventually got off the bike path and back on the main road that circles Griffith Park just north of the Autry National Center.  The rest of the way was similar to the ride that Sam and I did a couple of weeks ago.  We headed north past Forest Lawn Cemetery and into Burbank.  We circled around the Warner Brothers studio and made our way back by the Equestrian Center in Burbank.  I saw a few people riding horses, so that was fun.  Finally, we got back into the Griffith Park area and returned to our meeting spot.  Sam and I even rode down the road a bit further and back just to add more mileage.  No mud puddles this time.  Altogether, we rode 16.7 miles today.

There was an option to head back out to do another loop so we can double the miles, but I opted not to because I was aching all over my body.  Let’s see:  my neck was tight, my collarbone and shoulder area was incredibly sore, my elbows were stiff, my butt was not a happy camper (I need a new bike seat), the side of my left leg from my butt down to my calf hurt, and my left calf was on the verge of cramping.  When I bought my bike from I.Martin, they wanted me to go out and ride it a few times to really test it out before they made final adjustments to the bike’s measurements.  When doing a long distance bike ride like this, a millimeter off here and there can make a humungous difference, so it is important to get the bike fitted exactly to your body.  Having now gone out on two rides, I know for sure that the bike needs to be adjusted.  It could be as simple as moving the seat down a tiny bit or moving the handlebar closer to you.  I.Martin will do a basic complimentary adjustment that comes with the new bike.  But for a more detailed, comprehensive fitting it will cost money and can be quite expensive.  Tony told me that he did five AIDS/LifeCycle rides before he decided to pay money for a professional fitting.  Before he did the fitting, he had similar pain and soreness around the neck and shoulder area, but after he did the professional fitting he was pain-free.  Both Tony and Doreen recommended this professional bike-fitting guy at Helen’s Cycles.  Tony said it can cost $100-$200 or more, but that it is worth the money, especially if you’re already having some pain.  That is a lot of money to spend, but I will need to give this some serious consideration if I continue to have pain.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Bonnie T., Greg S., Nat S. & Nick S.; Hayden L.; Jane S. & Georgie; Jean H.; Julie S. & Hernán V.; Justin M., Vanessa L., Garrison M. & Penelope M.; Mark Y., Bich Ngoc D., Daisy & Mr. Fox; Ryan C.; Shinae Y.; and Tracey Q.

December 4, 2010 | Categories: ALC, Photo, Training Ride, Video | 1 Comment