Scott Purvis'
AIDS/LifeCycle Homepage

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L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, a leader in battling AIDS and caring for those who are HIV-infected since the earliest days of the pandemic, provides free medical care to those who can't afford treatment and distributed more than $17 million worth of free HIV medications last year. The Center also provides one-on-one and group therapy, mobile testing/counseling, education, advocacy, and prevention services. Each month 700-1,000 people are tested for HIV at the Center.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Committed to ending the pandemic and human suffering caused by HIV, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation develops innovative solutions, combining scientific evidence with community experience to fight HIV/AIDS and promote health. Established in 1982, the Foundation provides direct services to thousands of people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS and supplies information to thousands more about HIV prevention and treatment through programs that include the California AIDS Hotline (800-367-AIDS). The Foundation promotes HIV awareness in the community and advocates for sound HIV/AIDS policies at all levels of government.

Dr. Lynn Kerew Chiropractic
The best Chiropractor Ever!

Scott's Blog

Sunday, June 8, 2008

8:47 PM

And just as quickly as it started...

It was finished. It's hard to believe that ten days ago I was heading to Daly City on a big yellow bus with eight other cyclists, some veterans and some not so much and one roadie.

Last week flew by so much faster than my first ALC in 2006, even with a crabby hamstring and swollen, tender rear end. I woke up this morning and had to remind myself that I didn't need to climb out of my sleeping bag and get ready for another day in the saddle.

Of all the 2500+ riders and 500 roadies (bless you all) I spent probably 75 percent of my time riding with Amy and Debra and Mark and they got me through some serious second guessing about whether or not I could even finish each day. I did and they are owed a huge debt of gratitude.

I wish I could tell y'all every detail, but it would read like War and Peace so I guess I'll leave you hanging. Needless to say, beautiful, windy and tough fit in the desciption for each day.

Thank you also Lynn and Carla and Steph and Deanna and Breck and Jason and and Milagra and Rebecca and Chris E and Gloria for their contributions and support throughout this last year. I definately would not have done this without you.

I'm on hiatus from the bike for the next few weeks (tweaked hamstring from Day 1, doctor's orders), but I hope to alarm you all with my writing about the next AIDS LifeCycle soon.

Thanks to all of you...

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Friday, May 30, 2008

4:37 AM

On to the Really Big Show!

Well the time has come and for the next week I must bid you all adieu as a prepare to jump on a bus and hoof it to the great frozen tundra of San Francisco. Thank you my 3's of readers. I will be riding for you. You made it possible. I have the easy part.

One final time, thanks

Scott

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Monday, May 19, 2008

2:01 PM

Are we there yet?

Not quite, but it's looming.

That's right in ten days I'll be groggily making my way to the Palace of Cows at 4:30 am to start on the epic 450+ mile trek with about 2500 bleary-eyed souls. I have but two more rides before then and I think together they'll both total less than 50 miles and no hills. Good chow at the end too. Then it's the big bus to San Fran.

Before then a little updating is due. Last week, because of some nasty cramping and knee pain I had on the Latigo The Hard Way ride (it was), I opted out of riding the San Pedro Century that left from Bike Attack. My rationalization; I have already done my centurys this year vis a vis the Santa Barbara Double Century in April.  I did offer to work as sweep though as I was going to be in the area anyway.

1. I'm glad I didn't ride. My legs would have probably fallen off.

2. Those who did ride are wow, hardcore. It was stupid hot and, unlike the Santa Barbara ride, this one had hills; big hills. Lots of hills. That there were as few emergencies as there were was a testament to the riders. Wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Rich. It's a total bummer to make it almost all the way through the ride and have it end like it did. Same for Amy, who didn't crash, but still had a rough day. She has officially been banned from barfing on the Ride.

So one week to go and I'm getting nervous. I'll update again before I leave LA. Promise.

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Friday, May 9, 2008

1:13 PM

I know I can be a pain in the rear sometimes , but...

So the soreness of Santa Barbara has faded and I can walk normally again. Somewhat. After the 200 miles I took almost the entire week off the bike and only suited up the next Saturday to face the Climb Every Canyon Ride which left from Bike Attack. That's right, three nasty climbs in 60 miles. The five miles of Mandeville was the warmup. That wasn't really neccesary; although thankfully not a scorcher like the last weekend, it was still somewhat ovenish.

Next came Stradella. I've ridden up the three (five actually) climbs that make up Stradella six times now over the last two years and this was the one time that I didn't feel like my heart and lungs weren't going to fly out of my chest. Legs too. Perhaps it was knowing what to expect, but I dialed in and made the 2.8 miles of climbing in about 24 minutes. I was apparently such a zone that I didn't realize I had left everyone behind on the climb. Sorry I didn't mean too. Really. I have gotten so used to having to do the back and forth action on my bike doing that climb that I was shocked I was able to go up in a straight line. I'm in better shape than I thought. Heh.

The last hill has already been conquered before, Nichol's Canyon. Same way this time. As a matter of fact, even the horror of Woodrow Wilson was almost a snap. In comparison to the same ride last year, this was a breeze. Almost at least. Which leads to the Somewhat from the first paragraph up there. On the way back home, I noticed a little bit of discomfort in my right ischial bone. Look it up. Well, by the time the last 12, mostly flat miles were finished, the discomfort had become sharp soreness. That's right kids, I can ride two centuries in as many days with almost no problem, but sixty miles and I get a saddlesore.

So this week, it's been another six days out of the saddle. Tomorrow it's Latigo, The Hard Way; more hills and 66 miles. I can do the hills, I know that much. I may need some luck with the miles though. Hey at least my hamstrings don't hurt.

Thanks again for reading. I promise I'll post soon. Whatever soon is, we'll both find out.

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

6:08 PM

2 days and 200 miles later

Howdy again,

Well two weeks after getting a radical bike refit with 17 miles total mileage ridden in those two weeks I managed to finish two centuries in as many days. I can now sit comfortably. It's Tuesday.

I can describe the Santa Barbara Double Century in one word. Hot. Windy. Hot and windy. Hot, windy and dusty. What a flat tire frenzy it turned out to be also. I'm shocked Jaime didn't run out of tubes there were so many flats out on the road.

Well at 5:00 am on Saturday I somehow managed to beat the alarm clock (not sure how since Friday equaled Dr. Who and Stattlegar Ballactica, meaning I didn't get to bed until 1:00 am) and got myself thrown together and on the road to Helens at 6:00 am. By the way, at 5:15 am, Weather Channel said it was already 65 degrees in Santa Monica. Today is going to be interesting. Helens was a party of good coffee and bagels and muffins and cereal and oranges and coffee and coffee again. Note the coffee. That will be important later. After listening to Beth and Leslie and Tony I went off to the latrine for the pre ride relief and 200 riders were off on our trek. Santa Monica was gorgeous and PCH was nice at 8:45 in the morning. PCH is usually nice in the morning, by the way. I went past the first set of restrooms at Cross Creek which casued a degree of bladdder annoyance (remember, three cups of coffee) and was almost cross eyed by the time I got to the first rest stop. The first piece of business then was bathroom, NOW. Problem solved and lesson learned. Three cups of coffee right before a ride is a bad thing. Speaking of Bathrooms, it appears there was a rider who was too lazy or stupid or both and decided they would rather just use the back of the store for relief. That person will be punished in good time.

I did notice that at the first rest stop at Hows Market in Trancas (mile 25) it was getting a little bit warm. Not hot, but noticably sultry.  Two miles out of Hows it was hot. One mile later, I noticed my left hamstring was feeling odd; not hurting, just not happy. No more than 4 miles from the turn off from PCH, we're in Ventura County at this point, BLAMMO, first flat tire of the day. Back tire too. It takes me so long to get the tire off, unseated, knock the old tube out, check for gunk, put the new tube in and reseat the tire on the rim that the cabooses for the day Tony Z and Doreen helped fill the tire with C02 for me. I had gone from the front to the back in the time it took me to change a flat. Harumph. After the tire was back on and my hamstring had been given a thankful rest, we 3 TRLs were off at a fast pace trying to catch the back of the field. A fast pace that is until we turned off of PCH onto Las Posas Road; mile 40. That's when the wind started. Did I mention it was windy? We turned right and it felt like I went from 20 mph to 10 in a matter of seconds and had to fight to go any faster. Las Posas was only about three miles long, but felt like 15. It was hot, windy and dusty. At one point, I rode directly into a dustdevil. I saw it coming from a hundred feet away so I at least was able to prepare to put my head down and try not to breathe hot sand. Thankfully, that didn't last and we turned into Rest Stop 2. By this point my hamstring was aching. This early on I was afraid we would be swept by the broom wagon before finishing. I stayed that way most of the rest of the day. Our left turn onto Hueneme Road was no better than Las Posas and Hueneme was ten miles longer. Do I sound like I'm complaining. Okay, I was hurting and hot and slow, but PCH is neat and the farmland is beautiful for someone who has lived in pure city for seven years. At halfway came another stop and then onto Ventura and the Channel Islands. Hot and windy. Then, to lunch. Or specifically to the second flat tire of the day, half a mile from lunch. Paperclip; ask me how I found that later. Rear tire again, of course. This time though, it took all of five minutes to go from flat to full and back on the bike. Ahh the pull of lunch. And new tubes. And a massage. 30 minutes for lunch pushed my little group even further back and Captain OCD here was completely paranoid about getting swept. Getting out of lunch it was 3:00 pm, which by the the ride guide meant we had to get to the El Prado in Santa Barbara, 40 miles away, in three hours. We didn't make it. We didn't get swept either. By the time I got to the fouth stop at the end of Rincon Parkway, the group had grown a little to include TRLs Doreen and Tony again. W00t! The last 25 miles, including a last pit at The Coffee Bean seemed to fly by. It didn't. We all managed to ride into Santa Barbara together though at 6:45 pm and got a free Fat Tire Ale as a prize. We weren't the last riders in either. I hope I didn't drink their beer.

Sunday was almost exactly like Saturday, just heading south and with no beer at the end.

Many many thanks to Beth, Leslie, Ginger, the TRL's the Pit and Lunch crews and the other riders. I would have never made it 200 miles without y'all.

 

 

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

5:09 PM

Santa Barbara looms

What is wrong with me? 3 weeks and nothing again. Arrgggjhjhh!

Well, the first two weeks were a frenzy of hillclimbing action. I don't know what's wrong with me, but as slow as I am I love hills. There's just something about aching muscles and laboured breathing that thrills me beyond compare. It's the same when I'm on my bike by the way.

Last week was a little bit exciting, starting with the great bike re-fit I got from Ron at Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica. Well, it turns out that Dr. Clever has been riding for the last 17 months with his saddle 3.5 inches too low. Note the Before pic at the top of the page. Well now I feel like I'm standing up the entire time I ride and I feel like I'm 8 feet off the ground. It's not quite as disconcerting as it was at first, still awkward to say the least. Know what the best part is, I got my re-fit done last weekand have the Santa Barbara Double Century this weekend. Dear Lord, what was I thinking? I think I've ridden 30 miles since I got the bike back and for 20 of those miles, the hamstrings were screaming at me and I was feeling a, ahem, wee bit numb. That and I haven't ridden 100 miles in a single day in 13 years and this weekend I'm gonna do it twice. This should be a fun 200 miles. I'll report back after it's done.

This last weekend was also the Day on The Ride for Los Angeles. Did I ride? Heck no! I've ridden Day on The Ride twice and that's plenty enough for me. Instead Amy and I did our service to the community by hanging out at the Ballonna Creek bridge cheering on the real riders. A big ol' thumbs up to those who did get up before the sun and then went on to finish a long day in the saddle.

Once again, a big thanks to you, my 3 or so readers. I probably wouldn't be doing the training rides that I am if it weren't for you. I'll be back after this weekend's ride to give a full description, perhaps even with pictures. Like totally,

Thanks y'all 

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

9:56 AM

I can breathe again

Howdy again,

So Dr. Slacker has once again piddled around for a month without an update. I can only imagine how the 4's of you, my readers must feel. I apologize unreservedly. Yeah.

So, the month of March started off with a not so charming ride to and around Palos Verdes with the good folks from Bike Attack. Perfect ride; until the hill of PV West had been traversed and PV South began. After a short wait to help a rider who had crashed on the descent (more on her later), I decided along with Super Cool Marathon Goddess Heather to ride back with the slightly injured rider. Two miles after starting back my rear tire exploded. I didn't run over or hit anything, just heard a a big KABLOOEY and felt the young steed get really mushy in the rear. One month later and I'm still not sure how it happened, but the tire split in two from the bead to almost the center of the tread; a slice almost an inch long. I have been riding for well on 21 years now (yet still slow and chunky) and I have never had a tire explode until this day.  5 minutes of panic followed, along with breathless calls to Faye and Heather. Then the proverbial lightbulb moment occured. Kids, don't try this at home, but if you take a piece of paper, fold it over a few times and stuff it between the tire and the tube it will actually hold the tube in place so it doesn't bulge out of the humongeous gash in your tire. So five minutes later I have a juryrigged tire running at 85psi and a deepseated fear of the next 20 miles. But wait there's more.

I jump on and start to get going to catch up to everyone else (I'm only 20 minutes behind the last riders afterall) when the first of the ridiculous gusts of wind hits me in the face. Fear is now dread. Normally PV South can be easily at around 15+ mph. From where I was the next rest stop was about 3 miles away. That three miles through increasing head and crosswinds took almost 45 minutes to finish. That's right, I was averaging 4mph; and it hurt. I have never been happier to see a Starbucks in my life. Even better, Heather and the injured rider to be mentioned below had waited for me. After a very short, ahem, rest stop we went on and met up with more riders at the final rest stop before making the final trek back home.

By this point, the wind had picked up to a steady, cold 30-40 mph from the west and we took the Beach path back to Santa Monica. To make a long story short (too late, I know) the path was a slow trudge through blowing sand and frequent parts of the path totally covered by sand dunes. I was picking sand from my teeth for hours after I got home. The tire held together. I bought a new one after the ride, by the way.

Coincidentally, yeah right, two days later and for the next week I was brought down by some kind of plague like horror. It took two weeks of missed rides to finally feel like I could even get back on the bike. The ride is now 60 days away and the fear is kicking in.

That rider I mentioned a few times above, Jessica is totally hardcore; after a very graceful still clipped in to the pedals fall and a rather heinous looking crash on the switchbacks of Palos Verdes Drive, she continued on through the cold and 40 mph crosswinds on the Beach path back to homebase. All that and she is still riding. Dagboo, she rocks!

Well, last week was the first time since that fiasco that I got to ride again. Guess where. That's ride from Bike Attack to Palos Verdes and around the various Palos Verdes Drives. Deja Vu you say? It sure felt like it when Palos Verdes North gave me another flat rear tire. This time there was a reason, a rock, and the tire is at least still in one piece. The rider is frazzled though. This weekend finished with a, thankfully, easy ride and the Shifting Gears Team 100 Yard Sale at Helen's. Great deals were had by all and some lucky somebody has a new Cannondale Synapse.

This coming weekend, The Bike Attack types are heading up Latigo. Come on out and join us. You may just be helping me get up the hill.

One last note for those of you who actually read this far, I want to thank you for your support. I know you wouldn't come here and read my ramblings if you didn't care. The thing is, I'm still far short on my fundraising, so I'm asking, perhaps begging, for your help. Every donation is huge and I can't possibly thank you enough for giving to me and the LAGLC who needs it immensely.

I'll have more updates soon; hopefully before May. Until then, Ciao

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Thursday, March 13, 2008

1:30 PM

80 Days to go

Howdy y'all. Sorry this'll be a short one, but after composing about a few pages worth of updates the dreaded Blue Screen of Death appeared before I was able to post and I just don't feel like rehashing it all again. :(

Alas it was a good weekend; tough, but good. Saturday took the Bike Attack gladiators through Bel Air and up Stradella a nasty little piece of road mainly because of the three near vertical climbs in two miles, not including the near constant climbing before and after. My legs were a little bit wobbly after that Saturday.

Sunday took me from Helen's in Santa Monica with the Shifting Gears Warriors into West Hollywood and up Nichols Canyon, Mulholland and Sepulveda Blvd. Those three climbs are neither too long nor too steep, perhaps not just right, but definitely rideable. The 200 feet after you turn right off Nichols Canyon and make you way to Mulholland via Woodrow Wilson Ave. is heinous. I've ridden Nichols Canyon twice, once last year and this past Sunday. Last year I had to walk up Woodrow Wilson. I know we say that there is nothing wrong with crosstraining, aka walking up a hill if it's just too hard to ride, but from experience it really is embarrasing having to walk like an inebriated duck dragging your bike with you because you just couldn't make it to the top. I have empathy for all of you that feel that sting.

Woodrow Wilson has been conquered! That's right, I made it to the top and with power to spare. It's amazing what 20 pounds less chub will do for ya. I know it may be a small victory, but it's big to me. As a matter of fact, last year I had to walk Stradella too, so that's two hills beaten in as many days. Ha Ha!

One final note, I finally went past 1,000 miles of training for the ride this past weekend and am actually sitting right now at 1,113 miles. It was a good week and the ol' ischial bones are still letting me sit comfortably. Two consecutive days in the saddle down, 7 in a row to go.

This weekend will be another good time with a trip around Palos Verdes the long way and barring any rain (the Hell?) 50 miles of PCH on Sunday.

See y'all soon

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

12:36 PM

I have new shorts

Well Hello there again.

I've been a total slacker with the riding since January, the lack of posting has gone right along too. Now I'm starting to get a little worried.

I did ride with the cats from Shifting Gears last Saturday and scored some new shorts at the IMartin Yard Sale; shorts that were, ahem, desperately needed. I hope y'all made it to that. It was a good sale and helped out Team 100 too. Sorry if you got some of the drizzle.

The week before I decided to torture myself riding with David from Bike Attack in Santa Monica to Palos Verdes and up the lurvely Hawthorne Boulevard. Hawthorne is a tough drag, but unlike last year, I never had to fight the need to stop and walk. I'm still in no shop for June, but that was a little victory. Maybe I will get through seven days on a bike with the joy of saddle sores. Remembering my shoes this time will probably help too.

The rides are starting to ramp up in intensity now and as bad out of shape as I am, I'm really jonesing to try my luck with Latigo and Stradella and Mulholland and the Shifting Gears Santa Barbara Double Century Weekend.

Speaking of the ride, Shifting Gears has a raffle currently going on in which you could win a brand spanking new Cannondale Synapse 6 bike or a slew of tickets to a Clippers game complete with valet parking at the Staples Center; all for a $10 ticket. As a matter of fact, I have a few tickets right here (right here physically, not in the intertubes) that I could part with for a nice donation. If you want to take a chance email me and I'll find a way to hook you up with a few raffle tickets.

Finally, I'll be getting in a few more miles this weekend, enough to go over 1,000 miles for the year so far  and I'll post about that later. Thanks again for coming over and visiting.

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

1:33 PM

Speaking of slackers

So it's only been six weeks since my last post. Honestly, outside of ten days in Florida and some kind of flu, bronchial-plague thing which lasted three weeks you didn't miss much. Riding just isn't that much fun when you can't breathe. I have absolutely the utmost in empathy for people with Asthma now.

So, I managed to get a few rides in with the fine folks of Shifting Gears; that is when they weren't rained out or I wasn't in the realm of the creaping crud. Yes Ladies and Germs, Dr. Snott is out of shape.

Well, I guess the training really kicked in this weekend with a 50+ miler from Santa Monica to Malibu and back via PCH. Of course, being January in southern California, we started from Helen's with a cozy 39 degrees keeping us going. By the time we reached PCH, five miles later, it was probably 50 degrees and riders were stripping down... OH YEAH!

For those of you who may not know PCH, the Pacific Coast Highway, by the way, is a mighty busy road. The first time I experienced PCH was in the final miles of Day 7 on ALC 5, two years ago. My primary memory of that segment of the ride, before turning back onto the beach path and crossing into Santa Monica was ten miles of shear screaming terror. it took me riding that section about 3 more times before I felt comfortable, but there are still a few "what the hell is wrong with me for doing this!" places and the majority of the ride is 20+ mph anyway, because, why not, it's PCH. This also is the furthest I've ridden in probably six months; yay chunky boy! Oh yeah, if ya wanna see pics check out the shots that Chris E got and see if you can spot the yahoo.

This week, barring any rain, Higher Power willing, it'll be a hill climbing festival with the Bike Attack Folks and again Sunday with the Juggernauts of Shifting Gears. Come on out. It'll be fun.

Thanks for reading y'all and this time I won't promise to update regularly.

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Monday, December 10, 2007

3:44 PM

It's cold. No, It's not. Yes, it is.

Well well, for the second time in as many months I rode twice this week. Yes, that's me, Dr. Slacker guy. I want to get in some miles before heading off to ride spectacular peaks of Key Tavernier, Florida (and visit the family people for da Holidays).

Also, outside of riding to and from work, which ended badly after my old girl and I were thrashed by some waste of space and his SUV, I had not engaged in any rides on preceding days before ALC 5 or anytime last year. I paid for it in ALC 5 with one SORE backside.

Anyhoo, back to this weekend. I awoke Saturday morning to a balmy 43 degree ride to Bike Attack to meet David , Heather and Faye and seven other lucky riders ready to venture out on a gorgeous ride up Bundy Drive to Mt. Saint Mary's College and then down through the lovely West Los Angeles area, to the Ballona Creek Bike Path and bike to Bike Attack. I forgot to reset my lil Cateye, so my best guess is the ride, including to Bike Attack and back home equals about 36 miles. No strain for me and only a little for David who struggled with a mean, slowly deflating rear tire for most of the ride. I hadn't ridden a training ride from Bike Attack since May, but I'm already signed up for a few training rides (the hilly ones) in the coming months leading up to the big one.

Sunday was another meetup with the Shifting Gears folks and a ride from Helens in Sant Monica down to the Golf Course at Malaga Cove. I had expected 50 miles of PCH, but alas the rain the night before changed those plans with mud and gook on the highway. PCH is freakish enough with the numerous cars and iffy roads, but streets partially blocked by debris is never a good thing for riding through.

Back to the story, I was happy to make the change and get in a little bit more hilly fun (they aren't too extreme this early on, that's for later). I guess because of the rain, today was another absolutely, spell-bindingly beautiful day for riding. These days, albeit chilly, make it worth getting up at 6:00 am on a Sunday morning. The day did turn out to be a good workout though after I turned out alone when a rider I was pulling with decided to quit without mentioning anything (wtf?!?) and go home with 15 miles left in the ride. It may have been the lack of caffeine (a bad thing for coffee junkies like me), but fury propelled me along at a rather breathless pace from The Marina del Ray bike path back to Helens . Anyhoo, thanks to the Shifting Gears people again for an otherwise great ride.

More later. I am going to the other side of this great country for the holidays so I may or may not be incommunicado for the next few weeks. I will definately be back and gunning for more in the new year. Thanks again, my 3's of readers for your support and I bid you all a Ho Ho Ho!

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

11:02 AM

Post Thanksgiving riding and World AIDS Day

The Shifting Gears Post Thanksgiving Calorie Burn Ride left Helen's this past Sunday and for a short (26 miles), mostly flat recovery from Thursday's tryptophan overdose this ride was a carnival of mechanical problems.

Within 15 miles I spied two flat tires, one dropped chain, one broken crank arm and, most horrifying of all, one missing wallet. Thankfully the wallet was found back at Helen's.

This Saturday is World AIDS Day and there's a host of rides that will be occuring to commemorate the date. Take a look at what's going on near you and sign up for a ride if you can.

Thanks ya'll

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Monday, November 5, 2007

4:50 PM

Is it getting colder or is it just me?

Oh, who knows what that title is supposed to mean? I sure don't.

Anyhoo, good morning my illustrious 5's of readers.

The good times started early Saturday with a chilly little jaunt from Culver City with Martin , Bob , Devin , Steve and an itty bitty little crew of riders down to Hermosa for some coffee and muffins at Java Man.

It looks like some city council got smart and repaved parts of the bike path. That makes me happy like little girl. Now if we can just work on the tourists with the rental bikes these bike path rides will be perfection.

On Sunday, I joined up with the Shifting Gears crowd for a ride up and over Sepulveda Blvd. to the Whole Foods in Sherman Oaks. It started of chilly; chilly like I was regretting not bringing tights and a coat. The fog and cold remained with us right up until we arrived at the VA Hospital grounds before the start of Sepulveda when the sun showed her face for the first time.

For those of who who actually read this I have climbed Sepulveda once before. This time it wasn't quite as sultry though. Maybe that's why it seemed that much easier. Who knows, maybe I'm actually getting better at this riding a bike thing.

For future reference, Chocolate Soy milk and a gingerbread, strawberry parfait makes a great reststop snack.

The return trip was more of the same, but a few of us (almost 30 people joined us this morning) noticed a little chill was forming in the air on the way back down into Santa Monica. By the time we got back to Helen's it was arm warmers on and chilly again. Ahh, Southern California Autumns in the age of global warming.

I realized something today too. It has been over a year since I have ridden two days in a row. It's just the begining of the training season and two days of riding totalled 62 miles, but my rear is sore. A lot.

More again later. Promise.

Oh yeah, many thanks to Martin for showing me to how add crazy hyperlinks and stuff to these blogs. I'll be a coding monster in no time.

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Monday, October 22, 2007

8:59 AM

Mandeville and more

Sunday I set out to ride with the Shifting Gears crowd up and back on PCH for about a 50ish miler. No such luck. A little thing called FIRE managed to put a small spanner in that plan. I hadn't even realized there was aproblem until I got to Helen's at 8:00 and was notified of the route change by Beth one of the many illustrious Training Ride Leaders Sunday.

Rather than try to ride on a closed road we opted for a lap around Marina del Rey and a jump up Mandeville again.

The scary part of the ride, for me at least, was the brand new cleats I installed the night before. Because I'm kind of a Euro weenie, I've used Time pedals for more than 15 years and switched to the Time Impact style about 3 years ago (I think that's the only year they made those pedals). Well after three years my cleats were so worn as to be almost useless requiring me to go to Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica to get a pair of cleats. The thing with new cleats is they are stupid easy to clip in, but reaalllly difficult to clip out. I almost failed to clip out at several stops only to fling my leg way out from the bike when I did finally unclip. Kinda embarrasing, but sure beats kissing the pavement and then unclipping.

Back to the ride, it was another clear day except when we were riding to San Vicente on Ocean Ave in Santa Monica. From Santa Monica, you can see forever and it was bad seeing Malibu covered in a thick layer of smoke. I didn't think the smoke would effect Santa Monica, but riding up Mandeville was much more difficult this time than it was two weeks ago.

The Mandeville climb is five miles, but it's steady and not very steep until the last 400 feet. Needless it's usually not the bear that it was Sunday. I barely made it to the top and wanted to turn around several times on the way up. Near the end I was struggling to breathe and realized that smoke was indeed affecting me much more than expected. I made it and the five mile downhill was the usual high speed thrill.

My heart goes out ot everyone that's been effected by these fires. Having to change the route of a bicycle ride is much less of a sacrifice than losing a home or a livelyhood.

On another note, the Training Ride Kickoff is this Saturday in Griffith Park. It's a great way to start the training season for the big Ride this June and it's gonna be a big crowd of cool.

See y'all then

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

10:27 AM

Mandeville Fun!

It was supposed to be cooler this weekend. No such luck.

This was the second ride of the shiny, brand new training season for me. Last week Dr. Brilliant here tried to sign up for a Sunday training ride that was actually listed as a Saturday ride. No, really I am smart.

Anyhoo, this weekend we rode out from Helen's again for two laps around Marina del Rey and a five mile climb up Mandeville. It seems that this week if you weren't riding sick (Beth, Leslie, Mel and half the other riders) you had a flat tire at some point; at least that's what I saw as I was riding caboose most of the way. Thanks again to Beth and Leslie (not Susan) for leading and Helen's for hosting these early training rides.

Mandeville is a nice smooth, thankfully shaded climb so I did get some good hill work. There's a groovy little kick up in the last 500 or so yards too. For someone who really loves the hills and dislikes flat roads I have a tendency to start moving backwards once the road starts to lift upward. This time though I managed to get to the top, out of the saddle no less and even got faster at the end. That 180 pounds of goo I'm carrying sure helps with the downhill speed too.

As a final note about the ride, even though I wasn't sick and didn't get a flat tire, for the first time in 20 years of riding bicycles, I had my first bout of (how to put this nicely) digestive distress. Thank God for conveniently placed Porta Potties.

Thanks to my 4's of readers for helping me out and reading my inconsistent ramblings. This early in training it's not easy to have much to say, but I definately want to give y'all something to read. Til next time...

Scott

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Thursday, September 27, 2007

7:43 AM

The training has commenced

Howdy again,

Well it's almost October and the training ride season is almost upon us. The official kickoff ride is October 27, but there's already a few early risers on the calendar.

On that note, this last weekend I joined up with Leslie , Brian and crew riding from Helen's in Santa Monica up and over Sepulveda Blvd. to the Whole Foods in Thousand Oaks and then back again. I'm apparently in better condition than I thought I would be what with no excercise the last two weeks (jobs always get in the way of the important stuff). Needless to say, I managed to get up the hill twice without dying. The rear end doesn't hurt either. Yay!

Last Tuesday I also took a recertification class to be a training ride leader. I'm a real TRL now, mu ha, mu ha ha! So sign up for some Westside training rides and you might just see me. I'll be the one that looks like he needs a lot of coffee. Oh yeah, don't forget to stop at every stop sign and use your hand signals.

Thanks y'all

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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

9:20 AM

Howdy, two weeks later

Wow, it's been two weeks and I'm just now getting back. Sorry, it's not like I have an excuse for being such a no writing slacker.

The early training continues even though I haven't bee n talking about it recently. Sunday was a short, fast 31.6 miles from Helen's Bicycles in Santa Monica to Malibu and back. I think about 20 of those miles were on PCH running parallel to the beach; beautiful, stupid hot and kinda terrifying for about 3 of those twenty miles. Sharing the road with cars is one thing. Sharing a thin road with zillions of cars that are stopping suddenly, pulling into traffic and ignoring bicycles can be a little frightening to say the least. The odd thing is though, that this was fourth time I've ridden on PCH and by far the least scared I've been. I'm not sure if I've gotten used to it or if the people who usually are driving the cars decided to stay inside on this brutally hot Labour Day weekend.

I'll be riding again this weekend; again from Helen's up the Sepuveda climb and into the Valley. It's another shorty of about 30 miles, but with some good climbing. Woot. And this time I'll actually write about it.

Thanks y'all

Oh yeah, I gotta give a big ol' shout out to Dr. Kerew at Family Chiropractic in Santa Monica. She's a great chiropractor and a really great person

Family Chiropractic

Go there now

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Monday, August 13, 2007

1:26 PM

Howdy there

Well it's been quite a while hasn't it, but after a year off I'm back again and prepping to ride ALC 7 this coming June.

Getting ready for next June entails a lot of riding and much thanks to Beth Brown and Leslie Lighthouse for having a training ride this early in the year.

Because yesterday also happened to be the erudite and captivating Breck's and my anniversary I didn't ride the entire route, opting instead to turn around after the first pit stop so that I could be home about 1:00 pm rather than 4:00. I still managed to punch in 48.2 miles and a few hills too. Oh yeah, they're leading another ride this week too.

I'll be writing more and more as the year goes along so hopefully y'all will have some decent reading about this upcoming journey I'll be taking with a few thousand other people in June.

Thanks y'all for reading and for pledging money to help out the people providing HIV/AIDS services at the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. They really do need our help.

More later

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