2 months of rest

I have now been in this apartment for two months, and it has been almost three months since my entrance into Britain was rejected.  I should have something profound to say, but I don't.

I do know that God is giving me rest, but I also know that I am still planning on being back on the road by March 1 unless God brings something completely drastic into my life that would compel me to change plans. Right now I have no indication of that.

Britain is a lost place of my past - a prenatal existence. I was
born a few months after my parents returned to the USA in 1959.

I try not to think of Britain.  Perhaps it because I feel the burn and scarring of the experience still, and my hunger to be there is not nearly as great as it was.  I'm still a little shell-shocked from customs at Heathrow.  Yet I know that someday I'd still like to see Britain from the seat of a bicycle.

I know there are people who think I was absolutely foolish to give up my apartment and my job and car to set out on a bike adventure.  Basically homeless.  But I was living a life of not living.  I was existing.  Existing from one bill to the next.  Nothing ever changing.  Nothing ever getting better.  Now I have broken free of that dead-end cycle.  I am in a place of God's complete grace and rest, and it's not the first time God has put me in a place of rest.  The first time was in 1985.  I was twenty-five years old, just out of university with no job prospects having had an extreme roller coaster ride of stress in the spring of 1985 (upcoming graduation with no job prospects, senior recital (voice), and the other lovely little thing of thinking I might be pregnant (I wasn't)).  I had had a job in the town where I lived and went to university, but that was not a job to have (fast food) after graduation.  No, no.  I had student loans to pay.

I don't remember what day I graduated university with a triple major in music performance (voice), History and English, but it was in May 1985.  I moved out of my little apartment in Pueblo, Colorado, and back in with my parents in Colorado Springs.  Of course, it was meant to be temporary until I found a job and could save up enough to move out.  But I couldn't find a job... a job that would pay enough for an apartment and all associated bills plus my student loans.  It was quite a low point for me.

Then in late June I got a call from a life-long friend, Karen Magistrelli.  I had known Karen since 1971 when she was a girls' camp counselor at a Christian youth camp and I was a little camper.  I got an invite to her 1972 wedding, and despite our age difference, we have been best friends since then, and she saw me through many difficult, angst-filled teenage years. I have seen her raise her children and now have a quiver of grandchildren, and we are still best friends after 43 years.  But she called me because that same camp where I had been a camper was needing a cook.  I didn't have anything else happening, and all the R&B was covered, so I went up... and I didn't leave for 50 months.  Yes, I became full-time, year-round staff at Eagle Lake Camp, located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains above Colorado Springs.  Elevation; 9,500 feet.  In the summers the camp swelled with staff, counselors and kids, but in the rest of the year there was only a skeleton crew.  No room and board costs.  No utilities.  No phone bill.  And I still got paid.  It wasn't much, but i could pay for the student loans.  During the quiet months I felt my heart and life begin to heal... and I found the strength to forgive myself.  I knew God had forgiven me, that I was cleansed by the blood of the cross, but I couldn't forgive myself.  God had to speak very gently to my heart that His judgment was the only judgment, and for me to not be forgiving myself was to place my judgment above His, making my authority higher than His.  I had to let go of my own unforgiveness of myself.  God gave me just over four years of rest there.  He healed my broken spirit and gave me new vision... a vision for screenwriting, and my efforts paid off with my acceptance into master's program at The American Film Institute in Los Angeles in 1989.  I graduated in 1991 with a MFA in screenwriting.

So right now I am in another place of rest, and I will be here until Feb 28, 2015 unless something else happens.  I should also mention that I had brief places of rest in the summers of 1981 and 1982.  In 1981 I got a job at a different kind of Christian youth camp in Manitou Springs, CO.  I would say it was more of 2 weeks of intensive schooling for the kids.  This was Summit Ministries.  Room and board + pay.  Then in 1982 I went up to Cripple Creek, CO, a former silver mining town (elevation 10,500 feet), and worked as a cocktail waitress in the old melodrama theater at The Imperial Hotel.  R&B+ salary again provided.

Right now I feel a little disconnected with the bike.  Mostly I feel it is unsafe to ride around here.  Unsafe, that is, to ride in the main city streets.  I'm not really used to riding in traffic like is required around here.  I know people do it all the time, but I don't like it.  The good thing is, my foot is pretty much healed up.  I'm not limping anymore and that's good.  It's nice to get out of bed in the morning without hobbling to the bathroom. When my landlady took me to the shoe store and bought me new shoes a few weeks ago, I was still in a lot of foot pain.  It didn't matter what shoe I wore, I was hurting.  Now I can once again be on my feet for a normal amount of time without limping off at the end. I think the old scar tissue from lots of ankle injuries just gets strained and pulled now and then, and scar tissue is not as forgiving as normal tissue.  A few times I even soaked my foot in basically scalding water just to force as much heat into the area as possible.  I think I will also temporarily lower the seat on my bike a little.

I have been making lots of English Toffee in the past couple of weeks.  None of it has been for me.  Now I need to make some for me (2 batches) and I still have 3 batches more to make for the landlady.

Life.

Give it a Try. Whispered the Heart.

Today is one of those days which is not a great day.  Woke up with a horrendous back ache.  Sometimes it happens from sleeping on the lilo, which means I probably need to add more air to it because it's not hard enough.  One does occasionally need to add air to keep it firm.

Then there have been the tears. It's hormonal, but even so, on this day my dreams and hopes seem further from me than ever, and one dream in particular seems so far away.  It is a dream I cannot ever discuss in public due to it's proprietary nature.  And the tears come to my eyes when I think of it and how far away it seems, an impossible goal.  And then the doubts and self-defeatist thoughts wash through my soul with their sharp, painful edges to injure and scar me and reopen old wounds that never seem to heal.  This is one of those days when my soul feels the piercings and woundings.

And yet I sit in a place of complete basic provisions of living.  But I want a life, and that is something that always seems just out of reach.  Perhaps that's why becoming a touring cyclist means so much to me... because it's about finding life.  A life unfettered.  A life of exploration of new possibilities.

I had a hard time when I first arrived here because I was so anemic, so tired all the time and still perhaps recovering from the shock of dreams shattered.  Today I feel that shock anew.  I'm a bit put off by foreign travel now because I would be absolutely mortified if I ever had to go through customs detention like that again. I would just be permanently put off forever by foreign travel. Zing! Another self-defeatist shard just carved a chasm through my heart.

 I have started a new Sherlock book, but it's not really taken off yet for me although I know approximately what I want to do with it.  It will build on the foundation I have already established and is a sequel of sorts, but not of the mystery in the first one.

New Possibilities

Here I was today just doing some editing on Chapter 12 (as I write this I am actually on Chapter 13) while my Twitter feed was scrolling at an alarming rate when up pops a message in Facebook from a fellow touring cyclist whom I hosted back in March/April.  He's been in New Zealand for the past few months (?) on a tour and will be returning to California on Nov. 22, to his wintering grounds in Borrego Springs.

He suggested that maybe we could ride together some after the wintering.  I am fine with that idea.  I then suggested that maybe I could ride down to visit him while he was down there.  It would mean I was gone from here for a bit, but that's okay.  I'd have to figure out exactly where he was, and it would take me a few days down and a few days back.  But I wouldn't have to carry as much stuff on the bike, probably since it would just be a "short" journey.  Definitely worth thinking about.  Definitely worth doing.

(laces are actually orange)

Would be nice to have a traveling companion who has probably 30,000+ touring miles under his belt.

I've been taken to the New Balance shoe store where I was fitted for some new shoes - paid for by the landlady where I am getting the free rent.  Mens, size 10 - EEEE width.  Yeah, I have funky shaped feet. If they were hairy, they'd be like Hobbit feet.  Then she bought me another pair that were slip-ons so that I didn't have to lace up the trainers each time I had to go outside.  Yeah, probably well over $250 in shoes for me today. And she keeps buying me new underwear.  Well, I have new underwear already that I haven't gotten to, and I tell her that really I can't take all of it on the bike. Maybe a week's worth, max.  Now I have around three weeks worth!  Plus new tops and pants and even a sort of cardigan thing and one skirt (not that I have but the new shoes to wear with the skirt, and the shoes are not really dress shoes!  And did I mention I don't wear skirts or dresses?).  However, the 2nd pair will come in handy for those midnight camping times when I have to leave the tent for the loo and don't want to step on anything nasty.

This is all just another way of how God is providing for me... giving me new shoes for the journey I will be on, shoes that I wouldn't have been able to afford, nor that I had time to go get.  The way I see it is that after the whole Britain excursion was just cut off from me - God completely closed that door there - that God provided a soft, comfortable landing for me to recover from the shock of having my dreams completely shattered.  Yes, shattered.  So the first two weeks were with a best friend, and now I will spend 4-1/2 months surrounded by the love of other friends.  Also, San Gabriel has a lot more hill work that can be done than where I used to live.  So I can build up better.

One thing left to get, really, and that would be a couple of new bras or sports bras.  The two I have are getting ratty.  Would like to get a proper fit, however, and that won't happen at K-Mart or Target, so I will have to just do my best at those stores.

I have definitely been told that I can stay in the apartment rent-free through February 2015, and that's probably about the time I will want to get on the road anyhow.  Not sure of which direction I will go except to head eastward.  If I choose to go with my friend who is a touring cyclist, we'll plan a route together.

A little rain tonight in the San Gabriel Valley with a little thunder.  Much needed moisture.

Feeling blessed

My little kitchen.

Third night sleeping on the floor although the aerobed (or lie-low as the Brits call it, but I don't know if that's how they spell it) did arrive today.  I just need to set it up.  Honestly, however, sleeping on the floor has proven quite comfortable.

Today is when Gail's workforce arrives - people who do her cleaning and gardening.  This includes her sister-in-law, Joan.  Well, I was shocked and blessed when Joan came to my door with a brand new toaster oven and some clothing and towels.  I have been given a LOT of clothing since coming here.  They probably don't understand that I won't be able to take any of these things with me on the bike when I leave, but nevertheless these things are welcome right now.

So today I have been sitting back and resting.  Still feeling like I need to crash every few hours and take a nap, but I think that's still the anemia talking to me.

I really need to get out on the bike and explore the area.  I did find a local bike shop that's about 3 miles away, so I will ride up to them and introduce myself.  I need to get some more ankle bands to secure my long pants at my ankles so that they don't get caught and torn in the chain.  I had them while at Jeanette's house, but one of them disappeared because I didn't put them away properly...and the sock thief, Opie (short for Optimus Prime - he was a Chiweenie), may have taken off with it.  That little dog would take off with anything but mostly socks.  I'm not saying Opie took it.  It could have fallen down between the sofa cushions, and I just never really looked for it.  But, it definitely disappeared there.  Not that I care.  Just need to replace it, that's all.  However, I actually only need to have one for the right leg since it is the one that comes in contact with the gears if not tied down.

Last night we looked and looked for one of the cats.  I knew Sealy hadn't gotten out, but where he was hiding was a complete mystery - and there are only so many places he can hide.  The cabinets in the kitchen are open and we looked in all those, but he wasn't there... then Gail pulled out the top drawer... and he had crawled into the cabinet and up behind the drawer and gotten into the drawer.  How long he was in there we don't know, but a long time.  Hours.  So today I checked that drawer first thing, and he hadn't gotten in there again, but an hour later I found him in that drawer.  So, I have temporarily removed the drawer.  He's not hiding in there from me again!  The cats have not at all warmed up to me yet, but it may take them a few weeks.  I have managed to pet them, however, so there's a little progress.

Not looking back

Right now I am living vicariously through other cyclists who are on cross-country adventures.  I am cheering them on, wanting all to make it no matter how long it takes, and I want to hear about every adventure all the way.

I will go when it is my time, which is not now.  I have two animals that need to pass away first, and although one will probably get put down within the month, the other is not as close to that place, and except for her blindness, she still has the enthusiasm and energy of a puppy at 14+ years.  She has a few years to go.

But as I look forward to going, I am wondering if I will ever look back.  Will I sublet my apartment or just sell everything I own and leave Los Angeles for good.  Will I effectively make myself homeless for a greater adventure than sitting still in a mundane job?  Is it even possible to survive off the bike?  I wonder if I will be looking for a new place to start over.  The reality is that I think I would at least have to put some things in storage.  I haven't checked into that.  If I didn't sublet, however, and if I did put things in storage, there would be no turning back once I got onto the bike.

Unlike most cyclists who do their journey and return home, I don't really feel I have anything holding me in California anymore.  What I came out here for (screenwriting) isn't really part of my life now, and although I love the state, there is definitely an emptiness here, a void that I can't fill.  So I know I need to go.  I need to start over, start a new life, a life of adventure.  

In the grand scheme of things, I really don't know how I would live for an extended period on the bike, and I'd like to have an extended period.  I get tiny amounts of residual money through ebook sales, but can also go for weeks without a single sale.  I know that whatever computer I take, I can connect to the internet via various free wireless places, including a library or most Starbucks, and a multi-year prepaid subscription to skype would enable me to make all the long distance calls I need whenever I have wireless.  Still, I think I would want to have a mobile phone... but how would I pay for it with an extended period on the road?  All these things need to be carefully planned out.

I'm looking into buying a tent and a sleeping bag and other basic camping gear.  I have plenty of time to save up for it and to have it all ready to go for when I do get on the bike and begin the trek eastward.  I'm toying more with the idea of towing a small trailer. rather than panniers.  That will also enable me to take my standing bike pump.

I want to spend some time at the Bicycle Kitchen to learn more about bike maintenance and becoming my own mechanic for more than just changing tires or adjusting screws. I'll need to know as much as I can if I'm going out on the road for an extended length of time for which there is no set return date.

I'm just musing. 

biking to Cuba

Wow, for some reason, my brain is on fire with new bicycling ideas, including biking in Cuba.  I just did a little online research about the possibility of taking a ferry from southern Florida to Cuba, and can't be done because of embargos if you're just a common American citizen.  I need to check with Michael Moore to see how he managed it for his film SICKO. 

Then I got to thinking, what about taking a ferry from Miami to the Bahamas and cycling there?  Okay, suddenly my mind is on fire... so why not island hop on ferries and go all over, to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, etc., and even island hop from Cuba to Cancun, Mexico?  In fact, you can travel up the Gulf Coast of Mexico right back into lower TX... and I got to thinking, why not cycle the Gulf of Mexico?  What a fantastic biking trip that would be. 

Rode to church today for a Good Friday service.  Now my brain is on cycling fire.

West Hollywood cycling adventures

It seems to me that if there are multiple lanes in each direction, the far right lane should at very minimum be marked with sharrows if there is no bike lane. And if there is only one lane in each direction, automatic sharrows. Period. That being said, bikes have the right to the full lane. We don't have to ride so far to the right that we are in the gutter or in peril of being doored by some fool who doesn't look. And that right side usually has some of the worst potholes and road debris anyhow - which is no problem for a car but for a cyclist can be deadly. I take the full lane when I go down the length of Orlando/Gale in WeHo to Gregory Way. The street is narrow with parking on both sides but cars can have a lane in each direction. So if the cars have to wait behind me, too bad. There's a stop sign at every block anyhow so that can't get up much speed to begin with.

Shifting cycling plans

I saw this on my ride yesterday.

I am a part-time caretaker for a disabled woman and have been for the last 3-1/2 years.  She has been in and out of hospital five times since I've been working for her, mostly due to intestinal issues (mostly due to diet issues, but I won't go down that story at the moment).  She is also a Life Master at the game of Bridge, and when she's feeling up to it, I take her to play at the local Bridge clubs 2-4 times per week.  Recently she had scheduled herself to play in a Bridge Regional down in San Diego at the end of March.  Now, this meant that I would be out of work for a couple days (unpaid days), so I thought that with a 4-day weekend that I would make the most of it by trying to push myself with four 50-mile days in a row - because if I wasn't going to be working, I would try to make good use of the time and try to push myself.  It would be a small taste of what it would be like to be on the road for a long trip averaging 50 miles a day, and it totaled 200 miles, which is approximately the mileage needed to get from the Santa Monica beaches to the border of California.  However, due to her latest hospitalization, the San Diego plans were scrapped.  The means I'm working, which is good, but my 4-day plans are also scrapped.

I'm currently far behind on my cycling goals for the year, but I know things will catch up in the upcoming months.

Techinically it's uphill all the way...

I live in West Hollywood but work just south of Beverly Hills near Pico/Robertson.  My work is about 3 miles each way.  On the way, it's downhill, but it's pretty flat regardless, and on the way home it is entirely uphill, but also pretty flat.  It is not a challenging ride whatsoever.

Today I did not go directly home because I had to make a detour east to the Laurel Pet Hospital and pick up some Lactated Ringers fluid for my cat.  It's an electrolite solution that get's injected sub-q daily and helps flush out his very elderly kidneys (he's nearing 21).  So I took Willoughby to Edinburgh and then went north the two blocks to the vet hospital.  From Willoughby to Santa Monica Blvd, the incline got a little steeper, and by the time I got to the vet, my heart was pounding.  I could literally feel my chest pounding.

I don't stand and pedal.  I can't seem to do it on my bike without feeling totally out of balance, so I sit all the time - up hills, on the flats, down hills.... I sit.  The glutes work while being sat on no matter how hard the work.  I wish I could stand, but I've tried it and it's just not natural.  I lose all torque, and part of me is nervous a pedal will snap off and send me into a terrible crash.  Ugh.  Stupid, I know.  Perhaps if I had a trainer at home I could practice that in safety.  One of these days i'll get a trainer.  I really want one anyhow for those days when I just don't want to go out, and now that I've shipped out all the movie costumes that had been in boxes on my living room floor, I can actually see the floor and have room for a trainer!  When the old cat passes on, I'll also be getting rid of the sofa he calls home, and them wowsa... tons of floor space!

So... backtracking a bit, I got to work where I take care of a disabled woman M-F in the afternoons.  Sometimes her husband is there, sometimes not as he is a professional Bridge teacher, probably the best in Los Angeles.  Anyhow, I noticed his car in the garage and I thought to myself  sort of ... ugh.  He'll be underfoot all day.  Well, turns out he either had food poisoning or that stomach virus because he had been vomiting all night, and the proof was in the towels on the bathroom floor, in the sink and splattered around the sink.  So, I cleaned all that up.  The wife was still asleep.  I cleaned up what there was to clean and was twiddling my thumbs within an hour because the wife still wasn't up, so I took an hour and rode my bike down a few blocks to Jack in the Box for something to eat, then came back.  The wife was just starting to get up, and I made her breakfast about 3:30-4:00 pm.  I had to change the bedsheets because she didn't want his stomach flu or whatever anywhere near her, even though he didn't vomit in bed, so I had to rip all that up.

I left about 4:30 and that's when I went to the vet.  Got home at 5:30ish.

Bontrager panniers pushed to the limits

Well, I don't exactly know what the limits of the panniers are, but I put a 21-lb jug of cat litter in one, and it held but I think that's the max weight I would put in it.  In the other pannier I had a bottle of laundry detergent and assorted other things.  Certainly I had 35-40 lbs of stuff in the panniers.   One thing for sure, it is hard to balance the bike while packing it, especially when something heavy goes in, because then it just wants to fall to that side.  Sometimes I take the panniers into the store with me if I've ridden my bike to the store, but today I rode the bike to work and took the boss's car to the store.  In this particular case, I kept my panniers attached to the bike because wrangling a pannier onto the rack when it is packed with 21-lbs is a bear.  So far I don't see any wear or stress on the panniers, but I don't carry heavy loads for long distances.  3 miles is max.

Still nice to know that I can cycle just fine with all that weight back there.  

In Laguna Beach without bike

Today I drove my boss down to Laguna Beach to visit her relatives who are staying at The Montage.  She's down by the pool and I'm up in the hotel room connecting to the internet and catching up on things.  She told me to bring my bike, that I could ride it down here but my bike rack would have scratched her car for certain as that's what it did with mine.   I don't care about my car so much getting scratched because it's 20 years old hand has dents and scratches already, but she has a 2003 Acura that rarely sees the light of day.

Anyhow, I would love to ride my bike up and down Laguna Canyon sometime as there are bike lanes the whole way.  I don't quite know how I would handle the PCH at the bottom, however, since it is so packed with cars.  Yes, I know that I have the full right to a full lane, but I'm a slow cyclist (okay, that wouldn't have mattered so much today because the traffic was slow and bumper to bumper, but still, I would definitely hold things up).  Maybe the clue is to do it very early in the morning, at least the PCH part. 

Two bike errand runs today

Okay, so I'd been putting off going to Smart & Final because... well, I don't want to drive the car (not that there's anything wrong with it except that it guzzles fuel - and I'm only putting $25 in it this month and that needs to last the whole month.  So... NO driving except for emergencies and loads too large to carry on the bike.) and sometimes I just get nervous about locking the bike in places.  So, I thought I'd be a real smartie and make a video on how to properly lock the bike... HA HA!  Well, it wasn't until I got home and looked at the footage that I realized my own big FAIL - didn't get the frame inside the U-lock.  Duh!!!  Here's the proof!  Otherwise it would have been perfectly locked. Proof below!!!  However, both wheels and the seat we locked down with heavy cables all tied into the U-lock which was locked only to the metal railing.  So, I will make a proper video and post it eventually.

The Bontrager panniers in the pic are full of groceries and each weighs about 20 lbs.  I always tell them at Smart & Final that I have my own bags and will pack them myself.  Here's what I hauled:

3 - 4-lb bags of powdered sugar
1 pint lemon extract
3 lbs tangerines
4 beefsteak tomatoes
1 ginormous container of spring lettuce
1 containter of mild fresh Rojo's  salsa (the best!!!)
8 oz of Mexican shredded cheese

The panniers were pretty full but I could have squeezed in a few smaller items too.  Then when I got home, there was a check in the mail, so after I unloaded I quickly biked down the opposite direction to the bank where as always I take the bike in with me and right up to the teller window.  They know me well in there!

So, about 6 miles of biking.  Not much, but I faced the bike locking demons yet again.  Gosh, if someone ever stole my bike, I would be so distraught.  I would be less distraught if my car were stolen!  And I don't even have an expensive bike!  I may have paid about $350 for it on sale (think it was originally about $500).

Ballona Creek with a friend

My friend Nessie from Hollywood and I decided to do a bike ride, but I wanted to take her on a new route, so I told her I would take her on the bike path that goes through Marina Del Rey and that we would go down to the Ballona Creek Bridge.

I ended up driving into Hollywood to pick her and her bike up and then back to my place where we pumped up her tires and then left about 10:30 A.M.  I'm not sure what time we got down there, but we each took lots of pics with our cameras and also some videos.

People on the bike path through the marina parking lots.

Ballona Creek Bridge.  Stopping grounds for lots of cyclists.

 She noticed how low the planes were flying, and I said that LAX was very close and that we could go down to the part of the bike path that is directly in front of the runways, and she wanted to do that, so off we went.  When we got down there, we look more photos and videos.  Part of the bike path was closed off, and that was the part in front of the runway.  There was another cyclist there, and he was sitting on a bench with his back turned to us as we talked and snapped pics for about 10 minutes.  Finally he got up and left and I asked him, "Were we disturbing you?"  "Yes," he responded matter-of-fact.  Oh well.  He doesn't own that spot.  Lots more private areas for contemplation.

We rode down to where the 105 Imperial Hwy dead ends/connects to the bike path, then turned around and went back.

We decided to take the entire Ballona Creek Bike Trail to it's eastern end since she hadn't gone that way before, and she got unnerved by a lot of the graffitti past Overland, but I didn't think anything of it (still don't).  We then wove through the neighborhoods, go back onto National, over to Regent, to Cattaragus, to Reynier, and then wiggling back through suburbia for 4.5 miles back to West Hollywood.  We rode about 32 miles total.

I motored her bike back into Hollywood.  And we were done.  It was late in the day.  Rewarded myself with a hamburger happy meal from McDs.

More pannier experiences!

On Wednesdays I go grocery shopping for the lady I work for, and usually I do a tiny bit for myself afterwards.  Now when I say tiny, that means it has to fit in the two Bontrager side panniers... and today i was going to push it a little because I needed cat litter.  I knew I couldn't get the 21-lb containers because I had other stuff to get also plus I'd done some pet food shopping on the way to work, and those foods were still in the panniers.  So I got two 14-lb containers and put one on each side.  I know I had at least 40 lbs on the back on the bike.  I could feel it getting started, but once the momentum was up, I was good to go.  When I got home, it was as always a struggle to get the bike up the stairs, but that happened too, so I was good to go.  I still need to ride over to Smart & Final and get some lemon extract.  Maybe tomorrow morning if I am organized.



Might go riding this weekend with a friend, and if so, I'll take her down to the Ballona Creek Bridge.  Maybe we'll stop on the bridge for some pictures and a bit of a picnic.

100 milles

Taken on Whitworth, 1 block E of Robertson.

Okay, I admit, this is pretty dismal for the first 21 days of the year.  I'm thinking of doing a half century on both Saturday and Sunday to try to boost my miles for the month and stay on my goal of 250 per month.  Ugh.  I need to get prepped for the weekend.  Good thing is the weather has turned warmer.

bike buying tips from youtube video

I found this great video tonight with lots of great tips on buying a road bike, which will be my next bike.

Varied day of cycling

Not much to blog about - only 12 miles on the bike today.  First two miles were to the pet store, bank and back.  Then a ten mile trip to work, taking the long road and even stopping at Jack In the Box. Yes, I brought the bike into the little restaurant.  Well, it was about 3:00pm and quite empty.  It was safer with me this way.  Oh, and their Jr. Jack is pretty good.  The chicken nuggets are like McD's - processed chicken something, but the honey mustard sauce is great and that covers a lot of food sins.  I'm addicted to the curly fries.  Must stop.  Must stop!  The JITB I stopped at was on Holt/Pico.  Yeah, I am guilty of visiting them quite often.  Maybe that's why I never lose any weight from cycling (I don't gain weight either). Nah, I think it's that my metabolism is just dead.

Ernest Hemingway quote on cycling

"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them" - wise words from Ernest Hemingway.

Brrrrrrr!

It was supposed to rain today according to Yahoo weather, but not a raindrop appeared.  In fact, the sky was largely clear today with high, gusty winds.

I wasn't sure if I was going to ride to work or drive due to the winds, but the winds had calmed some  by midday, so I put on my arm warmers, packed a warm hoodie in the pannier, and off I went.  When I got to the intersection of Wilshire/Gale, the wind that was channeling down Wilshire Blvd nearly knocked me off my bike. 

I knew the temp was supposed to drop tonight as we're in a cold snap (cold for Los Angeles), and the windchill factor plus riding the bike made it absolutely icy, it seemed.  I started out with just the arm warmers but within a couple of blocks pulled over and pulled out the hoodie.  It was much much MUCH too cold for only arm warmers.... well, they might have been okay if my short sleeves had been longer, but they are short short sleeves.  I didn't put on my head band that covers my ears and that was a mistake because by the time I got home, my hears were practically frozen, as were my cheeks.  Plus the headwind was withering, and when I got back to the Wilshire/Gale intersection, I was nearly blown over from the east and then the west.  I had to slow to 8 mph just to keep the bike steady because I was really fighting for balance.

Tomorrow night for sure I am putting on the headband and suiting up properly before I step out the door.

I am wondering what Lance Armstrong revealed to Oprah tonight.

Honking

Yesterday on my ride I got honked at - not the annoying honk but more of a scolding honk, and when the lady drove by me, she yelled something that I couldn't understand.  I'm sure, however, that she didn't like me controlling the lane on the suburban street.  There was plenty of room to pass me, but I was NOT going to move into the door zone of the cars parked on the street.  So, whatever.