You’d think if you were staying on the beach, smack in the middle of LA, North to South, that it would be pretty difficult to get a good training ride in.  That isn’t really the case.  Of course, most of your rides are going to be in an urban setting, but you still can get out and ride where there is almost no one.

On Monday, I did a ride that headed up the coast from Manhattan Beach, thru Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu and then turned off the coast hwy at Latigo Canyon.  It is one of the climbs that is on the Mike Nosco Memorial ride that is November 3rd.

We rode up Latigo, descended, then turned on Mulholland back towards LA.  We took a little 4 mile kicker back up over the top of the mountains, Stunt Road, then descended back to the coast.  It was a little over 80 miles total, with 6000 feet of climbing.  Not a car passed us when we were riding up Latigo.  Is that crazy?  Maybe a 9 mile, 2000 foot climb, connecting to the coast and no one drove by.  Amazing.

I was hoping be more creative today, but am a little off.  I was riding pretty good the last few days, but my thumb is throbbing some now.  Enough to wake me up.  Today I guess I should get it x-rayed to see what damage I did.  Shit.  It has been a week.

I have been looking for some twist shifters to put on my mountain bike.  Does someone make 10 or 11 speed twist shifters?  I know I can get 9 speed shifters that work with Shimano, but I could just change the whole rear drivetrain I suppose.  As of now, I probably can’t use a thumb shifter.

It is supposed to rain all day Friday and Saturday for the Berryman Epic.  I guess that just makes it that much more epic.  I’ve ridden the race right after a deluge.  It holds water amazingly well, but there are a ton of rocks on this course, so it is tricky.

Okay, I think I’ll go back to bed and try to get some more sleep.  Here are some photos from the ride on Monday.

Manhattan Beach pier.

From the top of Stunt Road looking towards the ocean.

The famous Rock Store on Mulholland.

The Getty Villa up above Malibu.

This is Marc Lewis’ family. Marc called me out of the blue, just wanting to say hi. I didn’t know him. I was riding back thru Santa Monica and I met up with him. Super nice guy. Very good experience.

Venice Beach. Crazy place.

Yesterday I meet up with Joseph and Matt over on the RIver Road.  It is one of my favorite rides. They rode over most of the way to Topeka and I rode them back to downtown Lawrence.

On the way back, between Lecompton and Topeka, I came around the corner to see a inner tube laying on the edge of the road.  It really surprised me.  I don’t think I’ve seen a discarded tube or tire laying around for years.  I stopped, took a picture, then picked it up.  It is so wrong on so many levels that it was laying there.

I assume the person meant to leave it laying there on purpose.  I really can’t imagine a situation where someone would pack up all their stuff and forget to pick up the flat tube.  If it was a mental fart, that would be great.  But I’m thinking not.

Okay, let’s just forget the be friendly to the Earth deal.  If you’re riding on this road, you are doing it for the scenery and lack of traffic.   It is wonderful, tree lined, open fields, a view of the river from above. There is no place for people to be leaving trash laying around.  And this wasn’t really trash.  It was a tube that would be usable again with a single patch.  Whatever, it was an insult to all cyclists that ride this road.

I admit, I have been guilty of leaving tires on the road.  But that was a different time and society’s views on pollution was vastly different, really in its infancy.

When I was a kid, we all trained on sewups.  When a tire was completely done, either by just being worn out, or a catastrophic sidewall cut, if we were near a telephone or electric wire, while the guy changing the tire did his thing, we’d mess around trying to throw the tire up on the wire.  I think this was because throwing gym shoes on the wire had become a cool thing, I’m not sure.   I remember one tire hanging on a wire for 2 or 3 years.

I can’t imagine doing that now, just as I can’t imagine someone just leaving their tube out on the road.  I going to patch the tube and use it.  I guess it was just my lucky day.

The tube.

It took me less than a minute to roll it up and put it in my jersey pocket. Guess this guy didn’t have an extra minute.

I made french toast this morning with fresh bread. It was super yummy.

I was starting to collect the stuff I need for Berryman this weekend and Andrew came by to put his “new” bike together. We only had to put on the bars, cables, and tape the bars. It didn’t take long and was fun.