State College continued

After the dumb pipeline cut our ride short we got back to the prius and into town for food. Burritos? My favorite joint- Burritos as Big as Your Head- is long gone, but we spied another taqueria. We park right in front, surprisingly, and an older guy comes out and says, 'How've you been? Welcome back.' I don't know this dude. His taco shop wasn't there last I was in State College, let alone 7 years ago when I lived there. wtf?
Mediocre burritos made by the slowest, stoned white boy who has ever made a burrito. And I think it was his first. We spent the rest of the night looking at girls discussing if being thin and wearing black-rimmed glasses made us look gay.

Tuesday: After a long chill session at the local coffee shop, Webster's, we decided to ride bikes.

Rode about 4 hours on the Stoopid 50 course.

Our 56.2 MPG whip. 1300 miles on less than $100

4 hours of single track with no overlap

All the technical riding would set me up for the Shenandoah 1oo course

Back in State College we jumped on the '530 ride' which leaves from the Atherton Bridge and heads to some woods a few miles from campus. Was a fast ride. Inside it was technical and what I would call, using a new-to-me term, 'rake and ride'. I hadn't refilled water and was pretty burned out after one lap. The fast people did three. I jumped on with another single speeder to get two in. He'd later take us to the local cool shop, Freeze Thaw.

Later we hit up my favorite Indian restaurant of all-time, India Pavilion. Then we looked at girls some more, went a bar that is now smoke-free and hung out with Steevo's bike racer friends.

30th birthday mountain bike trip stop 2- State College

Left Pittsburgh for State College and after scoring a map at Mt. Nittany Wheelworks we rode Nittany Trail in Rothrock State Forest. The trail was rocky and technical, the way I remember, but now there is a giant pipeline project right in the middle of the area. It does lend itself to great contrast for photos though.

30th birthday mountain bike trip stop 1 - Pittsburgh

I wanted to go away and mountain bike for a whole week. I thought of Moab or somewhere in Colorado or going back to Vancouver, but ultimately I chose Pennsylvania because there so many spots there I already know about and plenty of friends to ride with. When Steevo sent me an email that said, 'Let's go on a trip!' it sealed the deal.
Loose plan: Fly into Pittsburgh on a Friday, ride there all weekend, spend the rest of the trip driving a rented hybrid across the state hitting up good spots, drinking coffee, hanging out (not looking at girls) and then ultimately ending in Virginia for the 10th anniversary Shenandoah 100.
My amazing girlfriend helped out a bunch as a birthday gift- sending me away.

Nickel -A Boilmaker- navigates rock to logs in Apollo

Saturday rode Apollo, PA with 8 dudes. I think all of which are ex-BMXers or current/ex-messengers or a combination of the two. Really fun. Perfect PA woods- fast pack, tons of turns and ups and downs along with logs, rocks and roots to navigate.

chillin.

I know it is blurry, but this is a rock bridge.

After a few hours of good riding we came across a waterfall with a good swim area and a rope swing. I was glazed from the humidity and ready to jump in. The first guy in exclaims how cold it is and then, on his way out, just as Steevo is jumping in, yells, 'Snake! I think it's poisonous!'

Steevo shimmied up the rope in no time. Who says bike racers are all legs? Ends up it was only a water snake.

Green. Tight. Fun.

Apollo, PA has one place to eat. We spent $50 and there was food left over. Eight of us. Been riding and swimming all day. $50. Below is my $4.50 vegetable hoagie. Stoked.


Sunday- Rode Bavington, PA with Steevo and an ex-Pro mountain biker named John. It's tight and twisty, but drier and less fast than Apollo. I was struggling to keep up, but it wasn't miserable. We rode fewer than two hours and covered a lot of distance. On the way home Steevo said they were 'testing each other out'. I guess that's what happens when a semi-pro and an ex-pro ride together.

In the afternoon I rode Frick Park with Justin and Steevo. Fast and fun with technical parts that included a seesaw and berms. Was great to follow the same guys I rode BMX with ten years ago. Some things never change?
Did I say ten? I mean fifteen. Wow.

Republican Convention protesters charged as terrorists

insane.

* for immediate release*

Ramsey County Charges RNC 8 Under State Patriot Act, Alleges Acts of Terrorism

In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism. Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Max Spector, face up to 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50% increase in the maximum penalty.

Affidavits released by law enforcement which were filed in support of the search warrants used in raids over the weekend, and used to support probable cause for the arrest warrants, are based on paid, confidential informants who infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. Evidence released to date does not corroborate these allegations with physical evidence or provide any other evidence for these allegations than the claims of the informants. Based on past abuses of such informants by law enforcement, the National Lawyers Guild is concerned that such police informants have incentives to lie and exaggerate threats of violence and to also act as provacateurs in raising and urging support for acts of violence.

"These charges are an effort to equate publicly stated plans to blockade traffic and disrupt the RNC as being the same as acts of terrorism. This both trivializes real violence and attempts to place the stated political views of the Defendants on trial," said Bruce Nestor, President of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. "The charges represent an abuse of the criminal justice system and seek to intimidate any person organizing large scale public demonstrations potentially involving civil disobedience, he said."

The criminal complaints filed by the Ramsey County Attorney do not allege that any of the defendants personally have engaged in any act of violence or damage to property. The complaints list all of alleged violations of law during the last few days of the RNC -- other than violations of human rights carried out by law enforcement -- and seeks to hold the 8 defendants responsible for acts committed by other individuals. None of the defendants have any prior criminal history involving acts of violence.

Searches conducted in connection with the raids failed to turn up any physical evidence to support the allegations of organized attacks on law enforcement. Although claiming probable cause to believe that gunpowder, acids, and assembled incendiary devices would be found, no such items were seized by police. As a result, police sought to claim that the seizure of common household items such as glass bottles, charcoal lighter, nails, a rusty machete, and two hatchets, supported the allegations of the confidential informants. "Police found what they claim was a single plastic shield, a rusty machete, and two hatchets used in Minnesota to split wood. This doesn't amount to evidence of an organized insurrection, particularly when over 3,500 police are present in the Twin Cities, armed with assault rifles, concussion grenades, chemical weapons and full riot gear," said Nestor. In addition, the National Lawyers Guild has previously pointed out how law enforcement has fabricated evidence such as the claims that urine was seized which demonstrators intended to throw at police.

The last time such charges were brought under Minnesota law was in 1918, when Matt Moilen and others organizing labor unions for the International Workers of the World on the Iron Range were charged with "criminal syndicalism." The convictions, based on allegations that workers had advocated or taught acts of violence, including acts only damaging to property, were upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court. In the light of history, these convictions are widely seen as unjust and a product of political trials. The National Lawyers Guild condemns the charges filed in this case against the above 8 defendants and urges the Ramsey County Attorney to drop all charges of conspiracy in this matter.

Bruce Nestor, President
Minnesota Chapter of National Lawyers Guild
3547 Cedar Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Republican National Convention Protests

I got the above video from the LAist.com post about the police violence. The person being arrested has press credentials.

I was fortunate enough to be at the Republican National Convention protests in 2000 in Philadelphia and in 2004 in NYC (where I was arrested while delivering food to protesters by bike and spent 24 hours in jail). Eight years later and the pattern is the same:

1. The police and FBI deem anyone and everyone who is in the hosting city and is thinking/planning beyond the permitted liberal march 'terrorists'.
2. The media regurgitates false messages spread by the police/fbi about potential violence and criminal activity.
3. They presumptively arrest hundreds of people on false charges in order to keep them off of the street.
4. Everyone to the right of radical leftists (including those spineless liberals) dismisses any tactics outside of a permitted march (these are the people who locked arms to protect the Nike store in Seattle in 1999. Way to go liberals!). Without any evidence outside of the police's made up stories, protesters are criminalized and everyone plays into the 'lock up the bad ones' mentality without questioning anything.
5. When the convention closes up, they let almost everyone out of jail with no charges and the city, police and FBI fail to produce any real evidence of criminal activity.
6. No one who criticized those arrested or using other tactics bothers to realize this and continue to fall victim to the divide and conquer tactics of the ruling class.

Democracy Now! has some more footage up. You may not agree with the tactics or message of the people on the streets, but I think one would be hard-pressed to be able to defend the police. How long will this continue?

Shenandoah 100

Mountain bike racing 100 miles is hard. Got in under 11 hours, I think in the top third somewhere overall, not sure where I ended up in the single-speed category. Beautiful course, though wet rocks and roots are not what I am used to riding! I struggled, but had a blast. Steevo is a faster blogger than I so check him out for a report. I'm on like 10 hours sleep since Friday and back to the grind manana. Photos soon.

When BMXers grow up...

Our trip is amazing, we've ridden a ton in spots all over Pennsylvania and have hung out with great people. Computer time is limited, which is a good thing, but not posting photos and stories is an unfortunate part of that. Here's one story:
Last night Steevo fell and his tooth went through his lip (teeth are fine). What would you do if you had no insurance? We went back to where we are staying, looked it up on the internet, found that liquid stitch stuff in hospitals is basically super glue (cyanoacrylate) and then glued it shut. Done. It looks good and we hope for a quick recovery.
Are going out for a quick ride shortly. Photos soon!

Like skateboarding, but with mountain bikes

Today I leave for Pittsburgh for a 10-day mountain bike trip in Pennsylvania and Virginia with Steevo. But we are not riding! I mean, we are riding spots, but we are driving to them. Totally lame, right? I keep having to explain that our purpose is to ride good mountain bike trails not travel by bicycle. It's an easy assumption for people to make considering him and I probably have close to 20,000 combined bike touring miles. This is like when we were BMX kids, like he says on his post about our trip.

The trip wraps up with the Shenandoah 100 near Harrisonburg, VA. You know, the race that Floyd Landis got 3rd in last year.

Can't stop, won't have an extra $381

I got a red light ticket today! On Boyle and Olympic right in front of the Sears Building. Bummer.
It's such an easy light to go right on red because:

1. You have a clear line of cross traffic, 2. You are going slightly downhill, 3. the Westbound lane of Olympic is really wide.

It's totally safe!

I don't know what is worse: The usual jerk cop or the one that is super friendly and almost apologetic. There was not much disagreement about what happened (unlike my taking the lane ticket three years ago) and he said because I was in such a rush he would write quickly so that I'd be on my way. His biggest concern seemed to be about the 'danger' of splitting lanes (riding in the space between two lanes of traffic) and hitting the intersection at about 15 MPH. I guess a warning was not a possibility.

1950's Disney Goofy short about driving

I stole this right from www.commutebybike.com. If you ride bikes this makes so much sense. The seemingly nicest people will scream obscenities at you. Sometimes it is so out of place that you have to just laugh at it.

New Swarm! slogan

After some criticism that 'Can't Stop Won't Stop' is actually our stop sign policy, we've reached consensus that our new slogan, inspired by the restaurant below, is 'Can't Stop, Naan Stop'.

Vineman photos

Finally back in LA and able to get some photos up. Thanks Jenny!

I just figured out how to read the ranked splits (your time for each: swim-2.4 miles, bike-112 miles, run-26.2 miles) on the results page. My bike was 28th out of 366, in the top 7.5%! I am totally amazed by that. And for anyone else that geeks out over numbers, here they are: swim, 173/379, 45% and run, 112/310, 36%. My overall was 56/310, 18%. Wtf?

I am posting this because I want others who are thinking about similar events to realize that the 'I am in over my head' feeling is totally normal. I was convinced that I was last in the swim. I was okay with that, but seriously thought I had been passed by everyone. Ends up I was in the middle somewhere.

Brian's wife Jenny wanted a photo at the finish the day before.
That made me nervous.

Since it is an olympic year I thought I'd give props to
Tommie Smith and John Carlos
with a black power salute

This was the best feeling ever.

So whatever is in the back of your mind: do it. Sign up. Make training fun and not a job. Make a plan, but be flexible. Those around you will support you and even thank you for being positive and going beyond your comfort zone. Cause really this is what life is about. Riding a bike to work, being vegetarian, doing an iron-distance triathlon; all are about getting out of your comfort zone and doing what common-people will tell you is unreasonable or impossible. Do it.

Vineman more

Triathlons are an odd thing. I've always held them at a distance because of the type of people who do them and my desire to not be associated with it. But I am getting over it. This was super fun. One of the funnest days I have ever had. I'm a bit rushed right now cause I am leaving on a camping trip down the coast back to LA, but here's the story. Hope to get photos up soon. Enjoy.


Swim
Stupid wetsuit wouldn't zipper. I am swimming up to the start as the gun goes off, about two minutes ahead of where I was at Auburn, but still late. D'oh.

I chill. Long strokes, easy pace, stay in a group. I am looking around, enjoying the beauty. Making note of points on the out-and-back so I know where I am when I return.

At the turn around I can't believe how fast I am and how good I feel. 'This is going way better than any other swim.' I am approaching the swim exit and strangely I don't see anyone exiting. Is it around a corner? Who are those people swimming up the other way again? Oh, it's two laps. I'm not that fast. I'm only half-way. I should wear a watch. About 35 minutes later I am really getting out of the water.

T1
What do you think of when someone says 'wetsuit stripper'? It's not what you kind of wish it would be it's having a team of people pull off your wetsuit. It is awesome. I was a bit overtaken by how quickly I went from being fully covered to wearing only some tiny, dripping, bike shorts.

Nine minutes later I was riding away.

Bike
So I put aerobars on. Rode about 30 miles with them the week leading up the race. They are sweet. You tuck down, slide up in your seat and then pedaling as hard as you can comes natural. This course has about 4000ft elevation gain in 112 miles and a lot of it is rolling hills. Which are tricky. When you are averaging 21 or 22 MPH you don't want to slow down. When climbing a mountain you have no choice. When's it only 100 feet or so you just stand up and mash in your big ring in order to not lose momentum. Or at least that is what I do. Passed a lot of people. Said 'hello' or 'good morning' each time. Less than one in four respond. I look at all the graperies that turn fruit into alcohol. Every 25 miles someone hands me a nice cold sports drink. It gets hot. Some friends from Organic Athlete wrote our names at the top of the biggest climb. And also wrote 'Go Vegan' which confused me in my apoxic state.

T2
Since I don't run train very well or really do bricks besides riding to my runs (see my experience at Norseman) I was a wee bit nervous entering T2. But I switched shoes, ate a banana, put on my hat and attempted to keep up my mental momentum from the bike.

Run

Determination. How do I control that? I was so determined to keep my run strong and stay on pace (as much as you can with no watch and the only clock being at the finish) that I was shocked. I walked the aid stations and the big hills and then just kept on it. The course is 3 out-and-backs and which sounded like it would be tedious, but it was really good. I could mentally break it down. Every time you came through the finish area to start a new lap the crowd lining the route cheered you on. It was really great. I wish they could be there every day. 'Yeah Matt, you are only 10 minutes late to work, good job!', 'Way to get that paper work filled out!'.

I did have a real emotional low on the start of the second lap. Don't know where it came from, but I could barely talk. When I saw Brian (he DNF'd on the run with a knee injury) I was totally spaced. Asked him to talk to me 'about anything'. I had some lows like this at Paris-Brest-Paris, but this was the worst one I've ever had.

I started the third lap at 10hr 30min race time. If I could hold on to 10-min miles I could do sub-12. Alas I could not! The hills got me. And I only ate an orange on the last lap to focus on my hydration as the weather cooled and some more shade covered the course.

Post
Legs feel strange. Have to keep walking. Then stretch. Then lay on my back and put my legs up: amazing feeling. Overwhelmingly joyous as normal blood flow returns to them. Hang out. Eat a veggie burger and a ridiculous amount of fruit.
From here we went to the Organic Athlete house in Sebastopol and ate a gigantic salad and some banana ice cream. I laid on the kitchen floor a bunch of the time and we all told stories about ridiculous things we like to do.

Splits: Swim 01:16:36.0 T1 00:09:31.6 Bike 05:41:57.7 T2 00:05:40.1 Run 05:08:09.3 Finish 12:21:54.6

Thanks: Brian, Jenny for being awesome support, Bradley and Justin from OA, my distant family up here that treats me like close family, vineman for having tons of vegan food, recycling and even composting, Michel Martinez for getting me stoked on doing this.

Vineman

Yesterday was Vineman and it was a great time. I plan to write up a longer story, but here is the short:

12 hour 21 minute total time

2.4 mile swim-1hr 16min
transition 1- 9 min (hanging out is pretty cool)
112 mile bike- 5hr 41 min (I rode a 5hr century!)
transition 2- 4 min
26.2 mile run- 5hr 11min

It was a fun, beautiful course and really well supported. And I don't know where I pulled that marathon out of! It was hilly and very hot, but still one of the best marathons I have run (not necessarily by time, but how I felt).
Am sore, but not miserable.

It's Summer

Yes, it has been summer for a long while. But for me it is just beginning. I leave in a few hours via train to the Bay area. Saturday is Vineman!
I am not as stoked as I would like to be because I have not been able to run much since I twisted my foot 3 weeks ago on our shuttle adventure. Though I did do 45 minutes this morning and it felt okay. Not great, but okay. We'll see how 26.2 miles go! The aerobars are already on my bike....
I'll do my best to send some updates.

Mountaineerzz

I've been wanting to hit up a Mountaineerzz (a Midnight Ridazz off-shoot) ride for months and it finally worked out.

There is a car party at our house these days while fellow Swarm!ers travel the world. I picked out one of the motorized contraptions Friday night to hit up Orange 20 for a new cog (20 from 22) for the single-speed 29er and grab Megan and the burritos to head to Max's birthday in the South Bay.

Going to the South Bay is like a vacation. We were suppose to ride road in the am so I could test out the aerobars I am borrowing, but instead we hung out at REI and Whole Foods. After picking up Max we drove up to the second meeting point in Brentwood to meet the crew who rode to the ride. There were eleven of us, four on mountain bikes and the rest on cross bikes.

Route
We started up the now infamous Mandeville Canyon Drive to Mandeville fire road to 'Nike'. From here we hit dirt Mulholland to the Broken arrow single-track back to Mulholland. Then a new to me single track that I don't remember the name of and then fire road up to 'the Hub'. Max, Paul and I split off and took the Backbone single-track back to Brentwood while the more epic ride continued west toward the ocean.

The sun is obscured as the mist from the ocean consumes the mountains

Max and Paul descend toward the city

Backbone as it approaches Will Rogers State Park

This was a good mix of transversing and single track over four hours. Wish I had the cross bike set up to do the entire ride, but overall it was great with the single speed mountain bike (ssmtb?) as I prepare for those 100 mile mountain bike races coming up. And always fun to meet riders who see bicycles as transportation and media for adventure. Thanks everyone.

yo Los Angeles

yo Los Angeles,
I love you. I never thought I would, but these last five years have been fantastic. Especially the bike riding. I remember when LA Critical Mass was the only ride and it started at 5th and Flower and was mostly messengers. Then came More Than Transportation 1, 2, 3 and 4. By 2005 we had Bike Summer. Then Midnight Ridazz blew up and we have more groups and rides then I can keep track of. Each passing day I am enthralled by the number of people on bikes. The people are here, but where is our city? What are you doing?

Metro Board tonight passed the half cent sales tax proposal for November, but a huge chunk of the money is for highway widening. And they refused to allocate any specific amount (1% was requested) for cyclists and pedestrians.

I don't want LA to be Portland. That's why I live here. But can I have a little Portland in my LA? How about some Copenhagen? I'd even settle for some Oslo.

Here are some articles I've read this week that kept me motivated. Enjoy.

Crimanimalz are taking over

LA Times: Two death-defying transit stunts: biking on freeways and walking across the street

New bike lanes spotted around LA

Councilman Labonge, Europe and Bikes

We're here. We ride. Get used to it.

Highway Funding: The last bastion of socialism in America

You have to be a jock or a skater. You can't be both.

Those were the words of my best friend, Mike McNamee, the summer before Junior High. He has an older brother and sister so I figured him an expert in the matter. I played sports and was good at them, but my heart was in skateboarding and BMXing. So who am I? Luckily not long after that I discovered hard core music where you could wear running shoes, be fit and still be against the status quo. I was stoked.

Now 15 years later I still cannot very easily define myself through the events I do. When the girlfriend tells people I am triathlete I cringe. No way! I just happened to do them. Besides, I have bike handling skills and hate training. I'm also called a roadie, but I've been dropped in CatV races (explaining to the girlfriend why I am in the beginner category despite spending my life riding a bike is a whole other funny situation). Ultra-endurance cyclist? I've never done any of the RAAM qualifiers solo. Fixed gear freestyler? Yawn.

A photographer from Bicycling magazine was in our house the other day and he asked what kind of riding we do. 'Uhhhhhhh, commuting? And mountain biking. Single speed too. And some racing. And cross a bit. Double centuries? Yeah, we've all done a few. And I ride fixed.'

I am not going through any sort of existential crisis related to my upcoming 30th birthday, but merely going through the curiosity I have about why I do what I do. I have six bikes. Five of them are ridden regularly. I just love bike riding and am easily bored?

Some schedule updates:
HooDoo 500 is not happening. Nicolas is injured, Brian is poor and Jack(the one who's front wheel flies off) is track racing.

8.02 Vineman full-iron (triathlon)

My first two mountain bike races, six days apart:
8.31 Shenandoah 100
9.06 Tahoe-Sierra 100

Should I put a shock on my rigid single-speed? Anyone know someone over at Fox? They have a sweet 29er shock.
And to get stoked: Sick Of It All

JPL Red Box shuttle ride

I got the idea for this adventure in the Spring when we rode out and back on Gabrielino. Lots of guys 'shuttle ride' this route. They meet at the bottom, pile into one truck, drive to the top, ride down and then drive back to the top for the first truck. Four additional motor vehicle trips on the narrow and windy Angeles Crest highway. Could we do this human powered without being irritatingly self-righteous?

(Cole took this photo. If you look close you can see the shadow from his mustache)

Easy. A group rides road 30 miles up Angeles Crest to Red Box (about 5000 ft elevation) towing mountain bikes. Another group trail runs 15 miles to Red Box. At the top group one passes the mountain bikes to group two who then ride the 15 miles of single track down to JPL.

To start I was up from 3am on 2 hours sleep and Max had stayed up the entire night. Brian rode out from El Segundo on his mountain bike (30 miles) and we met at JPL at 8am. I had posted the ride to Midnight Ridazz so we did not know who would show up. Our original plan was for Jack to ride road pulling the bikes with some sort of Rock Lobster rack, but that didn't work out and Jack flaked on us. Now Max is no slack rider, but he hasn't been riding too much beyond commuting. Could he take 50 pounds of mountain bikes on the Big Dummy? Yes he can. With Michael on as support Max did an epic road ride with 50 pounds of cargo.


Brian and I set off on foot along the Arroyo-Seco to the Gabrielino. It's a beautiful trail with stream crossings, boulders, canyons with full cover and exposed, dry ridges. I love it. Below Brian is picking some wild berries as the mountains we are about to run up loom in the distance. Yes, he is wearing his bike helmet. Said it was the easiest way to carry it.

Some switchbacks that we would soon be descending down.

Brian and I ran together the first 5 or so miles and then inevitably he dropped me. I ran almost all of the first 9 miles to Switzer Falls. There I begged some picnicing folk for water as I had run out about 45 minutes previous. The last 4 miles up were quite difficult, as expected. I hiked most of this section at a good clip and ended up at the top only 30 minutes or so after Brian; about four hours after we set off.

Brutal blister. I also rolled my foot as I was wearing some light weight running shoes. Duh.

Gabrielino is not an easy trail to ride down. For a number of miles the trail is between 1 or 2 feet wide with the mountain to one side and a huge drop to the other. Some sections are a little washed out (I like to bunnyhop them cause it's easier than having to unclip and get off your bike).

We were back and forth with a group of three mountain bikers who were all really cool. They told us about a sweet swimming hole only a 1/4 mile off the main trail.


Brian and I were super tired and it was a tough decision. I think we made the right one. Cold cold water is a great remedy for aching muscles.


After 8 hours in the wilderness (just like a 9-5, only fun) we headed over to Pasadena to take the Gold Line to Chinatown. From here I had a short ride home and Brian, after buying some durian fruit, took the train back to El Segundo.

Max getting his well-deserved AdventureSnore.

Next time: I'd like to film this. It is so gorgeous back there and so accessible from Los Angeles. In my mind Sunday was a beautiful combination of DIY, adventure and wtf? Sure, there is an environmental component, but that is a secondary benefit to some friends getting together and thinking about new ways of exploring an amazing area and what is possible.

Happy 50th Birthday Grand Tour

Finally an adventure! I've been so caught up in working a lot and these other non-adventure projects that I almost didn't do this one. Phew. I kind of love that feeling when you are getting your stuff ready and the rational part of your brain chimes in and is all, 'Are you sure this is a good idea? Don't you think sleeping in your bed would be nice?'

I rolled out of the house at about 930pm heading for Malibu, 30 miles west and north, to the 50th anniversary of the Grand Tour. It's a city traverse for the first 15 and then 15 up the famous PCH. I was counting the number of Bentleys that I saw and then lost track when I got passed by a Rolls Royce. Oh Southern California why are you so crazy?

Where to sleep? Stupid sprinklers. I climbed over a half broken-down fence (still in spandex, mind you) into a nursery (the kind with trees, not children) and find a little covered area with hay on the ground. Score. I get out my mat and sleeping bag, change into shorts, eat my burritos and am horizontal by 1230am. The plan was to meet up with Brian in the am after he rode up from El Segundo, but my stupid nextel broke the day before and I couldn't see his call nor his number to call him. I roll out of 'bed' around 530 to the sounds of bike shoes clicking in and out, get checked in, hide my bag and am off.

In 2005 I rode the triple century and in 2006 I rode the double with Brian and Jack. It's a classic route, that I enjoyed this time more than any previous. It meanders up the coast, cuts inland back through Westlake and then over to Ojai before hitting the coast again at Carpinteria where the double heads south.

I thought I was leaving on time, but apparently all those riders I saw were doing the double metric (I was wearing my Paris-Brest-Paris jersey, figuring it was appropriate because I slept outside the night before the ride). I didn't really see more than a few double riders till about 80 miles in. Then caught some more at lunch, mile 114. Still, I rode alone, which was nice. A double is long enough where I don't spend much time worrying about all the other stuff I have to do. When I do 20 or 30 miles in the morning during the week, I am always thinking about what I have to do when I get home. Not on a double. It is like a vacation from myself.

I did ride about 10 miles with a 52 year old guy riding a Soma fixed gear. He bike commutes 18 miles each way to work. Total bad ass. The 50 miles down the coast to end the ride were beautiful in the stereotypical sunset coastal breeze California kind of way. After huffing and puffing about there being not a single vegetarian item at the post-ride BBQ (okay, there was plain white bread) I rode the 15 miles into Santa Monica and went to Whole Foods. A good day. I got in 250 miles in 24 hours toward my 1000 miles in 4 weeks goal I set. And I got to sleep outside, which always makes anything you do more fun.