Ridin' Against the Wind

Sometime's a man's reach, and all that. On Saturday, Amy was working in Redondo Beach, and I decided to ride my bike over there. It worked fine -- even spectacularly -- on the way over (where I shot these photos). The weather was in the '60's, it was sunny, and when I rode south along the beach bike path, there was a soft breeze blowing behind me. So riding 17 miles to Amy's workplace was not much of an issue.

The issue arose on the way back. The soft breeze had turned into something out of the opening of WRATH OF KHAN -- and this time, it was blowing in my face. I soldiered on until I reached a parking lot in El Segundo; and then did the mature thing, and gave up. I called Amy to pick me up. So I ended up riding only 22 out of 34 miles round trip.

Someday, perhaps, when the wind is becalmed, I shall return . . . .

Sunny September Saturday

On Saturday morning, the sun was bright and the weather in the 70's -- perfect weather for a beach bike ride. So I rode out to Venice Beach. Amy met me there, and we had breakfast at the Venice Sidewalk cafe. I had thought that because summer was nearing an end, there'd be fewer people there -- but no, the boardwalk was full of (often strange) humanity. Fortunately, I also gave my new camera a ride there.

Beach Blogging: The North End of the Trail

This morning found me bicycling out to Venice Beach and then north on the coastal bike path. For the first time, I rode the path all the way to its northern terminus, at the intersection of Temescal Canyon Boulevard and PCH in Pacific Palisades.





As these photos (taken at 10:20 am) show, Will Rogers State Beach was amazingly deserted for a Socal morning in July. By contrast, parts of Santa Monica beach were fairly crowded at 9:20 am.

Full of Ballona

This morning, I had the two flat tires (the front one had a slower leak, so I didn't discover it was flat until today) on my bike fixed -- and thorn-resistant inner tubes installed. I celebrated by riding my bike over to Duquense Street in Culver City, and then taking the Ballona Creek bike path for about five-six miles, all the way over to Playa Del Rey just north of Loyola Marymount University and south of the LAX courthouse. As you can see, the scenery (captured on my Treo's camera) is not quite as nice as that seen from the beach bike path (bodies of water always look better when they're surrounded by concrete, don't they?), but it is a pleasant ride (with lots of rises and dips), and it cuts across Culver City and Playa Del Rey. I could have taken it all the way to Marina Del Rey, but I wanted to get home to Amy.

I saw lots of bikers on the path, along with pedestrians, joggers, baby walkers, and lots of ducks.

If there were more bike paths in LA (and the general plan indicates that more will be put in), I could see them being used for general commuting all over the city. The miles definitely fly by when you're on one -- even when the headwind picks up as you near the ocean.

Yet Another Cat's Eye Post

Today, I suffered my first flat tire on my bike. Luckily I was in a situation where Amy could come and pick me up. Luckier still, I wasn't in traffic when it happened.

And still luckier, the first episode of CAT's EYE was waiting for me on the DVR when I came home.

It provided the delights of old-school (circa 1983) Japanese animation, which is far less slick than today's computer-ink-and-paint anime, yet had soul in every line and brushstroke. And I was delighted to see that it was well-subtitled -- a definite improvement over the awful Hong Kong unlicensed dvd set I bought a few years ago. (One quibble: The script repeatedly referred to a full-of-himself museum curator as a "tanuki" -- a mythological Japanese raccoon-like creature -- yet the subtitles translated this as "old fox." That made ideomatic sense, except that a plot point in the episode involves a statuette of a Tanuki that the curator owns.)

Something I found amusing: Imaginasian TV's Website for CAT's EYE promotes the series by noting that its theme song is featured in the DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION videogame.

Beach Blogging Part Deux

I had a terrific ride along the beach. I rode the Santa Monica Beach Bike Path from Venice Boulevard up to Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades (about 6.1 miles), then back south to Pico. Next to the Santa Monica pier there's a ramp with 180-degree switchbacks (forcing you to either walk your bike or ride it very short distances) that takes you up the seawall to street level.

The bike path is terrific. It's flat and clear (except for the other users -- and there were a lot), and you feel like you could ride forever on it. It's for all levels of experience (it has to be, with all the bike-rental stands along the way), so you'll encounter all ages of bicyclists out there. And although the path is periodically marked with "Bikes Only" legends, this being SoCal people flagrantly ignore it. They blade; they walk; they stand absently in the middle of the damned path with a vacant expression on their faces.

My ride to, from and on the beach afforded me my expected portion of stereotypical SoCal sights: One old bag-lady who laid a curse on me as I rode by; one young woman roller-blading in a bikini; one young man strumming an electric guitar with no amp attached; one meditation class; one setup for a beach wedding; several beach volleyball players, in various stages of scantily-clad-ness; and lots and lots of views of that big blue wet thing that's always present just west of here.

I Want to Ride My Bi-See-Cull, I Want to Ride My Bike

I've been working on taking my new bike farther and farther from the house, to build up bike-riding chops that rusted after riding only stationary bikes for over twenty years.

Yesterday (one day after Bike to Work Day, but still within Bike to Work Week), I rode it from my house to my office in Century City. I discovered the bike lane (bless bike lanes!) on Santa Monica Boulevard, starting around Veteran, which provided a fast and relatively hassle-free ride for a few miles Eastbound. Only one problem with the lane: It ends abruptly in mid-Century City; and it terminates with a lane of car traffic between it and the sidewalk! So it left me stranded in the middle of the street during rush hour. The cars in the lane to my right were very understanding . . . .

This morning, I was scheduled to donate blood at 9:30. Exercising after giving blood is verboten. So I woke up at 6 (Yes! On my day off!), hopped on the bike before 7, and rode 4 1/2 miles to Maxwell's Cafe in Culver City/Marina Del Rey. The place is usually packed on weekends, with lines stretching out the door; but that early in the morning I was able to walk in and sit right down at the counter. I had the basic diner breakfast (listed in the menu as the basic breakfast): Two perfectly scrambled eggs, home fries, and toast (dry sourdough for me). Biking early in the morning, riding by the grocery stores loading up for the day and the bakeries with the pastries and bread in the oven, reminded me of riding my bike to Garrison Junior High when I was a kid, and occasionally stopping into Fleenors Grocery Store, where they served day-old maple bars to the customers gratis. (Yes, I ate them. No, I didn't gain weight. I had the metabolism of a shrew. Back then.)

My New Wheels

One of the consequences of being a middle child was that I never had a new bicycle. I only obtained my own bike during college, when I bought a used bike from a friend who was heading back to Europe -- and I only enjoyed that purchase for two weeks before the bike was stolen from the UCLA campus.

Now, in my '40's, with two car purchases under my belt, I'm finally ready -- to buy a new bicycle.

Here it is. I picked it up at Helen's Cycles in Santa Monica (which has great service) yesterday. It's a cruiser-style mountainbike. Since I've little intent to actually bike in rough terrain, I had test-drove a couple of cruiser-style street bikes (which reminded me of the Huffy bike I first rode as a little kid); but I found this one the easiest to handle.

My ambition and plan is to ride the bike down the Santa Monica Beach bikepath on beautiful weekend mornings. That, for me, is one of the ultimate Southern California living experiences.