Rattlesnakes!

...have never bothered me. This two-footer was sunning himself on Johnson's Pasture fireroad. They always seem to lay perpendicular to the road, so watch out. You wouldn't want to hit one!

A Bike Ride...

I finally took some pictures. Therefore, a blog post must be on the way. I tend to feel like I wasn't doing work if I stopped a lot on my ride. Which makes it hard to take pictures. Which makes it hard to post. And I am trying to remedy that, so...

Must be going the right way because the sign says so...

From now on, I won't think of it as stopping to take pictures. I'm going to call it "intervals." All the kinesthesiologists tell me that I need to do intervals if I want to progress. They tell me that resting is work. Hard work.

Signs of incipient precipitation...

So to make the work of resting bearable, I'll bring a camera. Like the way people bring iPods to the gym.

And signs of recent precipitation...

Perhaps someone out there is a photographer who uses a mountain bike to step away from the viewfinder every now and then. If so, we could ride and take pictures together. And it would be hard to tell which one of us is resting at any given time. : p

My riding buddy.

Sunrise on West Fork

No matter what time it is, the sun won't rise until you get to this bend in the road. At least that's true if you are more than two miles in from the road. If you find yourself waking up on the river, as I did recently, you will be in shadow.

My, that's a fine looking bike!

As I headed out towards Hwy 39, I came to an unusual spot where there is land between the road and the river. And a lone picnic table. And most unusually, sun. Suddenly, the picnic table which had seemed so out of place and alone before, made sense. It sits in one of only two spots you might want to sit and warm up. The other spot is similar...

Dam looks as thirsty as I feel!

Once you get out to Hwy 39, there is plenty of sun. Maybe not so much water, but plenty of sun.

It's Not All Bikes

Well, we got some snow the other day. And I had the day off. So it was either go for a ride, or go for a hike...

Can you tell if we're riding or hiking?

When we set off, around 8 am, the snow level might have been 4,000 feet along the front face of the San Gabriels. Looking up San Antonio Canyon towards Baldy, it looked like the snow reached lower. But driving up Mt Baldy Road, it wasn't till just before the school that we saw serious snow. 4,000 sounds just about right. That's also around where we started our hike.

Reminds me of a donut...
...powdered.

Bear Canyon trail starts just up the street from the Baldy Lodge. Street is an overstatement, as you could easily think it's a driveway. I prefer to think of it as the doorway to a magical land... The photo above shows that it is magical, indeed. The photo below shows 1.8 miles into the trail. 6 miles in would be the summit of Baldy, so you know it's pretty steep.

I'm really trying to make this an interesting post, but there's not much I can say. You had to be there. Or maybe you can go there soon!

Clouds are where the snow comes from...

Get that tree some Head and Shoulders!

Kinda seems like they hand out blogs to just anyone, doesn't it?

Camping Time!

Well, my so-called "training" has entered a new phase. Gone are the days of riding all over town eating at gas-stations and convenience stores. Granted, those are important skills to develop. But now, I am now riding out of town, laying down a bed roll, then riding home the next day. The Periodization crowd would say I have left Around-II and entered Out-I. I still do my cheap-carbohydrate drills. But new exercises--like falling over exhausted and landing on  a thermarest--are finding a place in my highly-regimented training schedule.

It was perfect timing when I met this fellow below. Milton is actually in his Keep-II phase. Each day, when he wakes up, he keeps going in the same direction as yesterday. Despite the fact that Milton is further along in his training than I, he took the time to spot me with my bedroll training. In the picture, you can see him towing a small house, in case my bedroll fails.

This guy had a trailer...

Although Milton had a road ride planned (and a road bike to do it on), it turns out that it is legal to ride a mountainbike on the road. The converse is not always true. Riding a road bike on the trails may result in a citation for "cyclocross."

This guy had several small trailers
attached to various parts of his bike...

So, Milton, Mr Two-Handlebar-Bags-Two-Seat-Bags, and myself, all headed out of town. As you can see in the photo above, it was a beautiful sunny day. So we headed to the coast to get out of all that beautiful sun.

We swung by the beach...

Once we hit the Pacific Ocean, we turned right. I guess that means we were heading north.

There was fine dining al fresco...

Dinner was at 5pm in a parking lot. We had pulled over primarily to switch the trailer. Milton was a stud, to be sure, but we all took a turn pulling. I mean why should he get all the fun. And by "fun" I mean that stretch of PCH north approaching Pepperdine University. 

It got dark, so we had to camp...

After eating at the first sign of food in Oxnard, we packed up some pan dulce for the road and for the morning, and looked for a spot to become supine.

Team "Robbin' Bank"

In the morning, I handed off the team colors to Josh and set off on a southerly heading.

Polaris, but no Cavendish...

I got to see some of the sights we had missed in the dark. For example, there is a Missile Park at Pt Mugu.

I think this one is called "Ficke"

I think the scene below looks nice, but if you've ever ridden there, you probably see nothing but a headwind. I think I preferred Pepperdine Hill. Going south was fun, however. I don't often get to coast uphill!

Much nicer in the light of day!

Superman Dirt

Somehow or other, they just had a cross-country race at Bonelli. Only two days earlier, I went to Bonelli after the rain to check out the Superman Dirt. If you've never been to Bonelli after a rain, I am not talking about that sweet tacky moist dirt that makes you an invincible downhill pro. I'm talking about that clay that bonds to your tires in such a way that even Superman would need to eat his Wheaties before trying to pry it off.

Sure enough, after a few miles, my tires had transformed from 2.2 inchers to 3.0 inch earthenware monstrosities. I took no photos on the ride, but perhaps this photo can give you an idea. My tires looked at least this ridiculous:

In case you aren't familiar with north-eastern Los Angeles County riding, the photo above was taken near Marshall Canyon. Next time it rains, head there rather than Bonelli...

Ice Cream Time Trial

Add a comment with your best guess. What is an Ice Cream Time Trial?