Weekend Rides

Saturday January 12, 2008 was a beautiful day. It was a good strong ride and for 10 minutes I kept up with two other riders. Road conditions were dry however, more dirt the consistency of sand was on the pavement. Plenty of rocks, pebbles to kick up as well. Wind conditions were mild. My reward is the best view ever from the top of Monroe Truck trail on GMR.



All along the ride was clear evidence of how the rain impacted the hillsides. Bulldozer tracks scrapped out a minimum of 12 inches for a shoulder.
This section of hillside shows the slipage from near the ridge at the top as the plants moved down. I believe this to be the section covered in the CBS/KCAL 9 report.



More erosion:



San Gabriel Canyon, Highway 39 and view out to Los Angeles :

The Indoor Trainer Paid Off

With the large rain storms this past weekend and my brother-in-law's bike shipped to Montana, I decided to use the CycleOps Indoor Trainer. The weather didn't seem too bad on Sunday, but the visibility was foggier. So indoors I rode.

The CBS 2 news cast tonight really jumped out at me. The 7.5 inches of rain really soaked the ground and part of the mountain slid onto the road. They stated this is near the Ridge Road. Looks like the indoor decision was a good choice all the way around!




CBS2 Link:
http://cbs2.com/video/?id=56899@kcbs.dayport.com

Clear and cold

Sunday December 9, 2007 -- The storm that brought rain on Friday and clouds on Saturday have cleared out. The wind was strong. The snow was evident on the peaks.



The views were extraordinary.




Every turn seemed to jump out and grab the eye.




At the top looking down on Glendora and the valley. The air quality was very good for the San Gabriel Valley. In the photo, the 57 Freeway is the road in the middle. Puddingstone Resevoir in San Dimas is to the left of the road.





It was quite breezy on the way down. I noticed the red-tailed hawk was flying lower than usual and its feathers were spread wide. A creature that lives in the sky was fighting the wind as much as I was. I could see the individual feathers on its tail. I wasn't fast enough to get a picture.

Cloaked in Clouds

Saturday December 8, 2007 -- as everyone in Glendora headed towards the center of town for the annual Christmas Parade, I headed up the mountain. The clouds draped the mountains with ominous delight scaring off most and only a hardy few were out and about.




I met "Replacement Bike" guy headed up to Mt Baldy. He explained with the rain on Friday there were rocks and sand on the road. Poor conditions for motorcyclists, yet perfect for bicycling. A seven year veteran on the bike he said he had recently wiped out near Sierra Madre and took the opportunity to replace the bike.



The Toyon Berries or Catalina Holly Bushes were extremely festive and apropos to the holiday. The red berry is astringent which is to say don't eat it.





I had a good ride up to the "top" where GMR meets the Monroe Truck trail at mile marker 5.00. The panorama at the "top" just past the maintenance shed on GMR.

Deutsche Telekom

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. With another corporate sponsor, Deutsche Telekom pulling the plug on the sponsorship of their once pro-cycling team, executives should be required to participate in random drug testing along with the prior notification of scheduling to WADA agencies for a minimum of a year before they drop their support. A few false positives and the lack of a career on the “big boys” would wake up the influential folks and clear up the problems in the WADA “results management”.

Sunday Ride

Got out for a ride today. Extreme Fire Danger, however the road is open. This is the view from the first saddle. Slow going as this is day four after three days on the indoor Cycleops.

Response from David Dreier

On October 7, 2007 I wrote to my US Legislators and requested their support not to fund the USADA since they abuse individual rights, particularly if you are named Floyd Landis. The main points of my letter were raised by Bill Hue a Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge in his article Serving the Master.

This response from David Dreier seems to indicate that my letter was read and interpreted appropriately:

You may be interested to know that H. R. 2829, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2008, provides $9.6 million for the United States Anti-Doping Agency for anti-doping activities and the $1.7 million for the United States membership dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency H.R. 2829 passed the House on June 28, by a vote of 240 to 179, without my support. This legislation currently awaits consideration in the Senate.

The grass roots movement is still a foot.