Rainy day duldrums.

What a pathetic beast I am today; it's raining today, so I didn't ride at lunch. Instead, I went with a few co-workers and had a nice sushi lunch. Lunch was delicious, so I am not complaining. Still, bummed that I wimped-out so easily.

Saturday was great. My friend's birthday ride was awesome. I have never spent any time riding in the city of Los Angeles and have to admit that I had a much better time than I thought I would. The ride we went on was great and had lots of, dare I say it, really cool climbing. I know, I know, I know- I'm a self-professed non-climber and I had a great time climbing. The first long climb was about 2 miles long, with much of it being recently graded/ chewed up, so it was mostly broken asphalt and bumpy dirt road. This climb wound up from the center of the city to a very nice residential area that overlooks the city. I love bumpy, dirt road climbs like that. Lots of turns. The street was covered overhead by tree limbs and was just a nice, narrow, twisty road (Nichols?).

(This is Jim at the top of the climb as we waited for the rest of the group.)

Then we climbed the famous Mulholland Drive for another great view of the city below. Honestly, I was naive to the fact that LA can be a nice place. I've never been a fan of LA (please don't send me hate mail Los Angelinos), but the riding was really great.

One of the guys I tried following for much of the ride is Roger Rilling. Roger rode professionally for teams like Colavita and Sierra Nevada. He's making a return to professional racing with the birth of a new US pro team that he is forming (more news to follow... I hope).In the mean time, he's also coaching other riders. So if you are looking for a coach, give him a look. His website is still under construction, so keep checking in. If you really need to reach him, he can be found... ask me how.

(Rolling back to Jim's place to clean up for a post ride lunch.)

The only bad thing about LA, on this trip... traffic. Like that's a news flash, I know.

I know, traffic is nothing new in LA, or San Diego now, but it was traffic for about 50 miles! Argh... and I didn't even have any cold beer waiting at home. Double argh!

Jim; Happy birthday buddy and thanks for the ride.

Tim

(Oh yeah... this old guy won the "final sprint" as we headed back into downtown. Made the ride that much more fun...)