garbage truck hill

for my second training ride, i decided to meet up with the "hollywood east side posse" that meets on thrursday mornings at 6:30 am. that is not a typo. most people would say i am not exactly an early riser, but that seems to be when most of these bike thingies meet, so i added "get up early" to the list of things i am going to try (along with "ride a bike"), even though it's not the way i usually roll.
well, it started off badly because i set my phone alarm but mistakenly left the ringer off, so i woke up waaay too late. i rushed out the door (forgetting my camera, so sorry, no photo) and then i ride halfway to the meeting place (ok maybe to rowena and glendale) and i realize that in my haste i have forgotten my mandatory helmet.
so i turn around and go home, and very nearly crawl right back into bed, especially because now i am so late that i am sure they're going to have left without me. but i decide that even if the others are gone, i can still do some sort of bike training on my own. i throw the bike in the car and head to the coffee bean on hilhurst (which is the meeting place)
i hate driving the bike somewhere for a ride when i can just ride, but i am running so late and i want to at least try to make it. i get there in the middle of the safety speech, but everyone is really nice about my tardiness and not stank at all. i'm the last one to ride out, but i'm off. i'm chatting with one of the ride leaders and trying to be casual, but i am getting nervous about the upcoming hill. if its the one i'm thinking of, i rode it once before with a friend and it was SO STEEP and SO HARD. i had to get off and walk the bike at theh verry end. that time it was pitch black out and we were riding up to the newly opened observatory. i had even less bike experience then, but i am still not looking forward to the same climb.
its still really early and as we ride thru griffith park we see a coyote out for his morning jog. i'm glad rufus isn't with me. i think he'd make a deicious breakfast for a hungry coyote.
as we pass travel town and turn, i realize that we are in fact taking the same route up to the observatory that we took before, but i try to act nonchalant as i start to climb the hill. i am breathing really hard and i feel like my lungs might burst but i make to to the first rest stop where there is already a big group of people hanging out and talking. i am so winded that i cant speak at first, but i made it up and i'm not the last one.
on the next section of the hill i am going so slowly i nearly fall over and get all wobbly, but i make it!!

after that, it's downhill and its so fun to ride so fast after going so slowly. at the bottom i rteat myself to coffee and a danish and bro out with my fellow cyclists, where they drop some science on my about how i NEED $200 cycling shoes to clip into my pedals. biking: i'm in it for the shopping.

my first training ride

i finally went on my first official AIDSlifecycle training ride. i was a little intimidated, but that's a really big reason i'm doing this whole crazy adventure: to try new things that are way beyond my comfort level. so here i am about to ride 25 miles on the triple town tour ride: los feliz, atwater, and glendale. it was fun and not too hard for me, and i met some really nice people.
i was the only person wearing jeans and i totally got busted for it. this woman rode up next to me and asked me about my bike (which is awesome and i love it, so i was totally like oh yeah blah blah my bike blah blah..) and i tell her that i just got it and i'm new to biking and she kinda laughs at me and points down and goes "i know. you're wearing jeans" wow. its so funny because i did buy some of those extrememly dorky padded cycling pants (mine are capri-length. like leggings. so hot right now) but i didnt know if i should wear them. (plus they aren't exactly the most flattering item i own)
i thought maybe they were overkill for a 25 mile ride, but how wrong i was. everyone else was all decked out in full-bike regalia. i think bike shops must see the ALC people coming from a mile away and think "cha-ching!" there is so much you are required to buy, and then so much more that everyone else seems to have. a bike computer? do i need that? i probably do, but not right now. sure, there is a big part of me that is like "cool! i'm into this just for the shopping", but i also dont want to buy a bunch of junk i don't need just because i am new to a sport.
i had to wear my goofy helmet (its required on all the ALC training rides) and i had to get up early, but i did it. sure, i got a little lost at one point along the route and had to backtrack, but it all worked out in the end.

rollin' on the river

suzy and i went for a nice new year's eve afternoon ride, with a stop for food in atwater. now i'm taking a little training break since my back has been hurting. i think i need to pay a visit to my friendly neighborhood bodyworker, crespin rosas. he is an amazing person and and a talented therapist. he does structural bodywork, which is very intense but so rewarding physically and otherwise. i'm sure he can fix me up.