September 2009
11 posts
rio hondo vs san gabriel vs wishire →
okay, so i’d like to say first off that i fully believe in stereotypes to a large degree. i do not however think that in any way, shape, or form that stereotypes are 100% correct or fair or should be taken as true in every situation.
so, that being said, the super amped up asian guy on a super $$$ de rosa king that blew past me about 15 miles from the end of my ride, who was bopping his...
oom bik pakka! →
sitting around the house working on a website about riding my bike is just silly when it’s 400 degrees outside and i could be riding up to the observatory again. and again.
i finally figgered out how to get the dumb ol’ g-map to actually mark up griffith park but i have to start in the park which is annoying. so the map says a started and ended at the observatory which is not true. it...
all rolled into one →
after such a long absence where does one start?
right here! i’ll say first that this is the story of two very separate and different rides. i’ll just go all chronological on you to make it easier on me.
on saturday the 19th i met up with another louisvillian that happens to be out here sunning in so-cal who goes by the name of zach @ about 7am. we tromped on down to the beach and sat...
foreign butts
yes i rode to the beach again. it was my first really truly carefree “ride for the sake of riding” ride in a while. everything else has been for work or to meet people or whatever. this was simply to ride.
i’ve been reading about “training” cuz in my head i think i want to try to race. i want to be fast. i want to try really really hard and then lose. i want to fail...
how do you forget the naked guy? →
first things first. i want to say i am very sorry for forgetting to mention that on my ride home form work the other night i saw a guy getting arrested by the police. this man was on the side of western ave and he was completely naked. he dropped something as the cop spun him around and the cop decided to kick it out of the way and it happened to be a tube of lube. so there take that criminals....
it's better with the lights on
so i’m slowly ramping up my brain for what is appearing to be the sure thing of me riding to calabassas for work every day for a millennia.
last time i had to be out there sooper dooper early so i hit the road pre-predawn and shot straight through. it was nice and quiet and i made good time but it was so dark that i not only didn’t get to see anything but i missed out on the best part...
it's 530am and hollywood smells like pot
i’m not judging. i’m just making an observation like the guy in “dazed and confused”. unlike said character, i doubt this will result in a fight. but i rode through hollywood between 5-6am the last three days in a row and right there at cahuenga and franklin it smells like pot.
but not just like “oh, someone is smoking pot.” like “i’m riding through...
it's not really a race if you don't know you're... →
so for like the 9th time (and this will be the last time i type about it), i got smoked out of the gate at a stop light. i was doing usual not too fast not too slow approach to a red light a a funky lil’ intersection on riverside where the road curves all haywire and there is an on/off ramp to the 101 and lights been red for a while and so i know it’s gonna split and then some guy on a...
special delivery (aka the life of a bicycle... →
so when i sold my car a month ago i cleaned it out and found some interesting stuff. mostly just dumb shit that made me think about stuff i hadn’t thought of in a while.
the only thing of importance to any of this was a poster from a rock n’ roll show that i went to with my good friend carr schilling like 4 years ago. he took me out for a night on the town shortly after i moved here...
really? 'til the end of march? →
here’s me getting everything i wish for…well, sorta.
work draws me to strange and far away lands. lands like calabassas.
if you’ve never been, it’s colder than los angeles in the morning, and hotter than hell in the afternoon. cuz it’s closer to the sun i think.
the round trip was something like 75 miles but only cuz i took the “safe way” home which...
this is what you get when you're lazy →
no riding for three days so far and today is not looking good, which will make four.
tomorrow will bring the pain!
chirp,
hillary
August 2009
8 posts
i got a faucet you got a 2 speed
blistering heat makes for the bestest awesomest riding. trust.
so i decided that home depot was the best bet for fixing my faucet and but so i measured and took the faucet apart and found the piece that was making it leak like an old man’s wiener and got everything in order in my brain and headed out.
some guy decided to roll me at a stop light on venice and he was moving pretty well so it...
where is the city of commerce and what is a...
in case you missed it or don’t live in los angeles, it was hot yesterday. i didn’t check the forecast but i knew it was gonna be warm. i loaded up on water and hit the road.
my original plan was to go to home depot (aka deeps) in marina del ray to get a faucet for our bathroom cuz the one we have is severly lacking in the "not leaking all the goddamn time...
a wider bike path would be safer...
so i “worked” in the valley the last few days. it was a very strange spot in van nuys where if you were on the street where the house was where we were shooting you’d think something along the lines of “wow, this is such a nice area. i want a family and a life and everything and i’ll just be happy here forever.”
then if you went to the end of the street and...
how many times? →
once again i found myself looking to go the distance and not feeling all that creative.
so the la river it was. i felt good and strong and like ox and then got on the trail and shut up if it wasn’t windy. my goodness. i never…
seems like every time the wind is worse than the time before. oh well, crazy young thug action out on the river today. there were kids all over standing with...
i must be missing something →
first let me say that my trip-o-meter says 51.7 miles. i don’t know what i’m leaving out in my route but…
i have a new favorite path to the valley! it’s actually one of the nicest rides i’ve been on in and around la la land. the bike path that goes from los feliz blvd up to riverside dr is amazing. path-wise it’s nothing flashy, mostly straight and flat. but...
a first time
somehow it’s never happened before but now i’ve done it. i rode out sunset blvd all the way to the beach.
i left early and traffic was mild. cars got about as close as you would expect which is to say they were far closer than they the drivers themselves would ever want anyone to get to them in a car were they ever on the road in any manner other than encased in 4,000+ pounds of steel...
back around the bend
two rides in two days. one to the valley one to the beach.
nothing of note except a nice lady yesterday decided to not use her signal or have any clue what was going on around her and ended up turning into me with the side of her car. luckily for me she saw the person walking across the intersection right at the last second and slammed on the brakes which is the only reason i’m not under...
thank you mike ballard →
there are several things to keep in mind when planning a trip to sturgis south dakota during the motor cycle rally in august if you have any intention of riding your bicycle.
first, if you look at maps and plan and plan and plan all your routes ahead of time, you should be aware that south dakota lists all of its roads including gravel roads on its maps. yes even on google you will be looking at...
July 2009
11 posts
dumpy doo
we all know that plans can change. i had planned on getting up and riding to the valley and going to this stupid work meeting and then really putting the hammer down and crushing sepulveda and hitting 40 mph and doing like 45 miles and coming home.
then i got to the meeting and everyone was late and it took 1.5 hours instead of .5 hours and then nothing i needed to know was resolved...
gmaps is busted. the link is to this posting (aka... →
it’s harder to go 100 miles on a bicycle than you might think. actually it’s not that hard physically or mentally, it’s hard to find a good path to take.
los angeles is huge. sprawling. roads that go on for uncounted miles. but in the end, to hit 100 miles you have to…hmmm. look, i could ride around the block 100 times. that would suck. it sucks to even think about....
san gabriel on the rocks →
wow. how hot is it? it can’t be that hot. it does however feel THAT HOT.
the whole point of today was that i wanted to tackle at least part of the san gabriel river trail. and so i set out to bang up the top 1/3. for some dumb reason the thing is split up into sections…
here are some things you might want to know.
washington east of la brea is flat. it’s like nebraska. there...
what dan and i do →
after discussing all the major points, we get on the bikes and think of other major points and the details and everything in between.
dan has awesomeness inside his phone. so here’s a big thanks to all the smart people that make things.
and to all the smart people that come up with ideas and then the things they thought up never get made? hmmm.
better than breaking toes...i guess →
well everything about yesterday’s ride was just totally awesome. (sarcasm?)
i decided i was gonna do the ride i was supposed to do the day the guy hit me with his side view mirror forcing me to kick the asian guy’s door etc.
i got a new bike computer (more on that later) and some new shorts in the morning and hit the streets. wild, wild, runnin’, runnin’,.
hmmm. i...
beach path to misery
today i took the beach path to redondo or something. i don’t know where i ended up.
head wind.
sand.
bugs.
it’s only 35 miles round trip but it feels like forever. the path is normally hectic and today was no different.
people got the “it’s summer” memo. besides the old man that cut left when i yelled “passing on the left!” there was really only one...
skipping stones
so i read a blog today. it was kind of an accident. i generally don’t read blogs, which is why i don’t really care if anyone reads this. i do this for me. it’s fun in a few sort of ways.
this blog i read wasn’t the blog owner’s original content. it was a posting from like a hallmark card or something. one of those trite inspirational little #’s that no one...
la is pretty? bologna! →
man oh man. as many different ways as there are to go in this city once you step outside, i end up going the same ways day in and out.
well today started out no different. but before you stop reading cuz you know what’s coming, there’s an explanation. i want to ride my bike. i don’t want to sit at stop lights and weave desperately in and out of traffic nonstop.
so the creek...
my ride with mr. hall
well i’ll get the stats out of the way tout de suite cuz they weren’t the focus…i still care a little.
time = 1:51:56
dst = 27.8 miles
avg = 14.9 mph (c’mon! i’m not a llowed a leisure ride?)
max = 37 mph
so it all started a few months ago when i was working downtown for some silly tv show and i had rigged it so i got to ride my bike every single day. and, much...
insurance, hills, & full blown pandemonium
it’s not one of the reasons i would list if you ask me why i got married, but, sort of as a side bonus that i am in no way ever going to complain about, i now have health insurance. but not insurance like i’m used to where i pay every week out of my pay check for years on end only to find that when i go to the doctor i have to pay for everything up...
back up in the mutha mutha saddle
considering it’s basically all i ever think about it’s been quite a long time since i rode my bike. until today!
quick stats from last ride i did which was just my usual loop to the beach and back went like this -
dst = 23 miles
avg = 20.0 mph
time = 1:08:08
max = 31.8 = mph
so it’s been over a week since i got to ride and boy-oh was i not looking forward to it. i went...
June 2009
13 posts
who rides every day
the guilt is overwhelming and i have no one to account to besides myself. not only did i not get up this morning and ride to the beach, but roy emailed and said he was a no go for an afternoon ride. thus giving me ample excuse to bow out of yet another fine afternoon of pedaling.
does anyone ride everyday? really? i mean, i’ve done it for weeks at a time where i’ve had occasion to...
la river approximated →
this is the “la river ride” to long beach. i did it yesterday for like the 4th time.
the map is just an approximation due to the fact that the trail by the river and the beach trail don’t show up on the map and thus can’t be tracked exactly.
things to know -
finding an entrance to the la river is a pain in the ass.
once found, the trail often ends for no reason only to...
ride report (aka i'm so fast)
got up on time today. still didn’t get out the door until 5:30am. i don’t know that it will make more of a difference if i get out between 5 - 5:15 like i want to but…i had to stop one time and that was at la cienega and venice, one of my usual pits.
after not riding yesterday i came out of the gate feeling good. legs made of brute force steel. i didn’t look at the...
topanga or bust →
this ride is one of my favorite. probably because i had used all of my networking prowess and found three other people to go with me. dan, roy, and zak. three of my favorite people.
i was still on the old trek (two days before it got stolen) and had just found an old canny in really good shape for really cheap that i had loaned zak.
i started the ride out by going the wrong way (which i...
who you callin' a... →
punk ass clucking lil’ piece of chicken?
me. i’m calling me a chicken.
the map is to the ride i would be doing right now if i weren’t a clucker.
you see, i work in production. for those of you that have never had the pleasure, sometimes in the world of television and film, you find out you are working on very short notice. for this one, i got the call, said yes, and cleared...
chevy chase is steep and fast →
this was one of my first planned out solo rides. i don’t know when the exact date was but i know i had the day off and it was a tuesday. i’ve been in los angeles for a few years and from looking at maps i knew that chevy chase drive existed but i’d never been on it in a car or on a bike so…who doesn’t love chevy chase?
getting up to foothill blvd wasn’t awful...
objective cycling stats →
interesting stuff. after having two accidents in one month, i began looking for information about injuries vs fatalities etc. cuz everyone says “wear a helmet” which i do, but how often does one have an accident while riding? how often does that accident involve serious injury? how often is that injury head related? you’ll find some of those answers and maybe more if you click...
there's a monster at the end of this ride
first the numbers -
distance = 22.7 (two days in a row? wow this $7 ebay computer is really worth it!)
total miles = 1268 (should i mention that the computer is as new to me as the bike (both replaced when the old bike got stolen on march 17th) thus it doesn’t reflect my actual mileage for the year?)
max = 30.0 mph
average = 19.3 mph
total time = 1:10:39
then the excuses -
set my...
bikeblogs.com →
pasadena to car door
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2901723
this ride was gonna be bad ass. it was almost a month to the day since i got hit and run by the old lady in the cadillac. i’d gotten my $350 dollars from the insurance people and written her a letter to tell her i didn’t hate her but an apology would be nice. i never got one.
this ride was gonna be great! i had it all planned out. i was gonna...
hard to beat
holy crap. as i write this i’m still panting.
when i say today will be hard to beat, i don’t mean that i think i’ve done an amazing job. i mean that i am all but wiped out. i could definitely continue to ride past what i did but i pretty much pushed it to my limit and here is all i got -
distance = 22.7 miles (keep in mind this is the exact same route as yesterday and it says...
almost topanga
i almost took topanga canyon all the way to pch by myself but i “went for the miles” instead. just so you know “going for the miles” is the nice way to say i pussied out of taking the hill alone. it was rainy! jeez.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2899043
stopped once on topanga at a starbucks and got a banana. this crappy program doesn’t like griffith park so...
ride report
just f everyone’s i, this is my “new” training ride. i am not riding anything but this ride until i a) achieve my goal (see below) or b) get married. the fiance is not pleased about my lack of insurance at the moment and i promised her i wouldn’t do my usual 100 milers until i am covered (aka on her policy).
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2898400
i’m not sure if...
March 2009
10 posts
pps hroddd got clocked & runned by an old lady driving a caddy when she ran the fuck out of a stop sign. a plate # and 6 witnesses and the cops haven’t got her yet…
h is a mother fuckin’ ninja. he popped dropped and slid like dukes of hazard across her hood dragging the bike all over her paint and denting the fender with his knee. one scrape on the leg and some bent bars on...
ps hella good foto machine on that fone man! look at those pixels shine!!!
Design Your Own Trek →
new Louisville Critical Mass blog →
