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 sipping coffee @ peet’s talking about really awesome stuff until my other buddy dan met us. then we talked about more awesome stuff.

then something weird happened, we actually rode our bikes around. it was tres leisurely compared to what i would normally do because zach-er-ino has a fixed gear. i know, i know, but it’s not wat you’re thinking. zack has ridden across the country and up and down the western coast and is, according to him, just experimenting. he’s like a scientist seeing what all the fuss is about.

anyway, we rode around the marina and around the beach and stuff and then went home. IN THE END, it was exactly what the doctor ordered.

sunday september 20th was different as all get out!

you see, i found out i was working on sunday @ about 737pm. the bummer is that i was going to be working in calabassas @ 5am. a 2 hour ride means i’d have to be up and out of the house by 3am. whoo hoo!

i did it. i got up and pedaled off into the soooper foggy morning @ 307am. i got to work in 1 hour and 48 min and found that as usual i was the first person to show up. luckily i got to sit around well past 5am since apparently no one takes time seriously but me.

blah blah blah. work schmerk. i was supposed to be finished by 10am. that’s what i was told on several occasions. so at 1130am i got on my bicycle and began to pedal home. i had decided that i was no chicken and i was going to go down malibu canyon. then i decided that i wasn’t chicken but i wanted to get home to my wife and movies and food as fast as possible and so malibu canyon was out. chicken again.

but then something funny happened as i was kicking myself for not trying something new and using twisted logic and reason to justify it. i pulled out my phone and got a map of the area up and noticed that mullholland highway goes in the same direction as ventura blvd and meets up with topanga canyon and would be an adventure of unknown proportions and wouldn’t add any real time to my ride. the wheels started turning and the wheels started turning.

all i can say about mullholland highway is that i will definitely ride it again. stunning in all sorts of ways. mostly in the way it kicked my ass. long hills in every direction and enough short steep ones to keep me panting.

i got to the end of the mull-hi where it intersects topanga and without a second thought hung a hard right at the light to climb the hill that heads to the beach. home schmome. from where i hit topanga it’s not a very long climb. it’s not exactly fun but…

i may never figure out that decent. i got up to 42 mph at one point but the wind, oh the wind! i got hammered in the spots where i’ve normally gone the fastest. i stopped at topanga creek cycles where they rent bmc bicycles to foreign tourists who can’t bring a bike with them for cruising the beach. for some reason all their bikes were on sale. it’s not “some reason”. the bikes they rent are a year or more old and it’s getting close to the end of the racing season over here and it’s typically when people clear out their stock of last year’s crap to make way for next year’s awesome. i stopped. i’d have bought one in frog’s heart beat if i’d had the 885 on me. boring…

i crushed the rest of the hill getting belittled by the wind the whole way. hitting the beach the wind became my friend and i decided i’d already blown it in the time department and took venice to round out the mile count. 72 lil’ buggers in all. the map doesn’t include my trip to starbucks. go figger if that s-b in calabadass doesn’t open @ 430 am.

yippee skippee!

chirp,

hillary