Sunday, April 20, 2014

Great weekend

On Friday evening after work I rode my Lucky Greek 100k populaire. As usual I had a headwind all the way out (maybe a little stronger than usual) but I still got to the turn around in slightly over two hours at about 7pm.

As I was riding I thought about all the ways this route has improved over the years. First of all the upper SART didn't even exist ten years ago - I would have had to ride out and back on Victoria. We're very lucky to have this 20 mile bike path skirting around all those busy roads - especially as they have become so much more busy since I started riding.

Then there's the fact that Parks and Recreation finally paved the last dirt section of the SART about two years ago. Norco - a notoriously bike unfriendly city -marked a bike lane, sharrows, and a bike route last year - a miracle in itself. Lastly, Rincon - a very rough road, was repaved this spring and a bike lane marked for 2/3 of its silky smooth length. These things add up and we should appreciate them.

Of course, the tailwind coming back after sunset was only half as strong as the headwind was goung out. Even so I had a great ride and a 4:30 total time.

Today Amber and I explored the upper reaches of the San Gabriel bike trail all the way to Azusa. The trail ends abruptly on San Gabriel Canyon road - not a road I want to cycle on. We turned around and headed back to Montecito, then jumped over to the Rio Hondo trail back to Long Beach, and then along the beach trail to PCH and to the cars in Sunset Beach.

We ate at Five Guys burgers - decent burgers but great fries. Total distance was 93 miles. Not bad - a 165 mile weekend. I think I'm going to ride the Simi Valley to Solana Beach 400k next weekend.

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