Waving and Paving

During the cross country trip I got into the habit of waving to vehicles on the other side of the road. Two years later I am still waving, but it is to bicyclists. In my unscientific study, it appears that LA bicyclists are either not as friendly as those in the Midwest or their eye site is not as good as there is not as much waving back.

I had heard that one of the roads that I bike up had been paved. Yesterday I climbed up (not sure if climbing is the proper word as it is more of a steady incline). What a difference a newly paved road makes as it took less time to climb and it was more enjoyable.

Irony

As I work in the Television field I find it kind of ironic that we cancelled our cable TV subscription. I went to watching hours of TV into watching 1 hour a day. There is digital TV, but that has older movies from the 70's and 80's). It is similar to when I lived in Japan. There was a channel called Superchannel and it had TV programs from that era. The weather has been all over the map for the last month. Some days it rains, some days in the 60s, some days in the 80s and yesterday in the 90s. On a somber note, Fred who rode with us in 2009 passed away. Apparently he was cutting down a tree in his backyard and it fell on him. Fred completed his journey in Indianapolis and I carried his flag from there until Boston so in some strange way it was like he was there with me riding. to Boston. I mailed it back to him and I received a nice letter back from him in which he described his experience. Maybe not watching TV is not such a bad idea and getting out is more important than the box I stare out. I am still riding, but have no plans for any organized ride this year. Maybe, I can use the time not watching TV to find a ride to do this year.

Doppler 7000 and Chicken Wings

Due to some travel and personal commitments I will not be able to ride as much in the month of February. Therefore, I am trying to ride a little further on the days that I can.

Last Saturday, I rode up Pacific Coast Highway and went up Encinal Canyon, down Mullohand Road and back. I ended up riding my first century of the year (104 miles). The next day, a slight chance of rain at night was forecast by the Doppler 7000 weather person. It started raining about halfway through my ride. It was not as bad as some other days, but it was the first time I rode in the rain on my road bike. I am like protective mother with that bike and really did not like the bike getting wet and dirty. Me getting wet is fine, but not the bike.

Yesterday I was leaving for a trip outside the country so I only rode about 50 miles. I was taking a shower and the person who I live with that I am related by marriage was preparing lunch. When I came out to eat, it was spicy chicken wings. I guess that requires a little explanation. For as many years as I can remember during halftime of the Super Bowl that is the meal that we ate together. As I was not going to be there today (Sunday) she prepared that meal. That was a super feeling.

The trip overseas was uneventful, but we did fly over the Grand Canyon and it was a beautiful view of the Colorado River and the Canyon itself. The plane ride was uneventful, but the first question I asked at check-in at the hotel was where I could watch the Super Bowl. I have watched every game since Super Bowl III. Even when I lived in Japan, I was able to watch every game early in the morning. Surprisingly, the answer is I can watch the game in my room on the BBC.

And now I leave you with a few pictures of a trip I took in April 2008

Train stop

They only allow 400 persons per day to climb one mountain. We were 397 and 398.

At the end of the rainbow.

Timing

January has been a little cool, but it has not stopped me from biking. I have been out the past two weekends and it has been enjoyable. Today I biked to Pasadena and depending in your perspective, my timing was either too late or too early for the Rose Parade

I also went to dinner with a friend who lives in the Netherlands (pictured in the middle), but used to work with me and a fellow co-worker. A good time was had by all.

New Year

As 2010 ends it is hard to believe that it is over 1 year since we biked cross country. However, to this day, I must think about it every few days or so or at least every time I ride my bike. I did not think that it would be such a life changing experience, but just thinking about it brings a smile to my face and an inner feeling of happiness. Even when you want to forget about it someone will introduce you at work as that crazy person who biked cross country. At our year-end party my boss referred to me as the companies Forrest Gump. I am not quite there yet as he crossed the country 3 times, but I still have at least one more bike adventure in me.

I have even been able to get together with some of my fellow XC09 this year, spoke to some on the phone, followed them on their bike adventures in 2010 and even rode with them as well.

When I first returned from my trip in 2009, I really had a tough time getting motivated to get on the bike, but eventually the feeling of the freedom of biking returned. When I explained to people that I rode 12,000 miles in 2009 there response would be "But you rode cross country". They were right, but is was the preparation and training that enabled me to ride all of those miles. The cross country trip was easy in comparison to that and no doubt due to the fellow riders. This year my initial mileage goal was 6,000 miles. When I passed that I thought it would be nice to ride as many miles excluding the cross country trip. With the rain in my area it made it exceedingly difficult to bike, but I managed to achieve that goal.

As I write this I do not have any specific bike goals in mind in 2011, but I do know two things:

1) One pedal stroke at a time

2) Every day riding a bike is a good day

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year.

All in all another brick in the wall

Today was a beautiful day to ride. It is December 11 and close to 80 degrees. As I only ride on the weekends it was great that today turned out to be so nice. Another 84 miles today. My new goal was to ride as many miles excluding the cross country trip. I am a little less than 125 miles from that goal.

This past Sunday, a friend let me know that he had a ticket to The Wall. I had worn out my turn table listening to that album (yes Album, not CD or digital download and turntable) over and over and although I had not listened to the album for 30 years when they started playing the songs it was like yesterday. The concert was great and for 2 hours I was in music heaven.

Below are some pictures from the concert (in no particular order)

Million Dollars

The days are getting shorter and the weather getting a little cooler. More running and jump rope these days. The last month and half seems to be a blur as was a litte busy at work so this is the first time in awhile that I have been able to post an entry to my blog. I still dream about XC09, but sometimes it really does seem like a dream.

I will close this blog, with a photo from one of the shows my company is producing. It is scheduled to air on December 20 on Fox. And yes, the amount of money I am in front of is real cash.