On Saturday I met my tri club in Sierra Madre, little town just up the hill from me. We had a nice 40 mile ride on the bike paths but with an ugly detour on one due to construction. I can feel my fitness coming back, which is nice. Lunch of grilled salmon and raw veggies, then a little 1hr nap with the boys. I should mention that between Joanne and I they get a run just about everyday but can tell the difference between my cycling kit and running kit. They follow me around incessantly until I take out the bibs. Then they know it's over and they just give up
In the afternoon I went to movies to get out of the heat and watch SuperBad: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/superbad/ Pretty raunchy humor that Joanne simply does not appreciate, so best view solo :-)
Next, a walk to the local (1 of about 6) Starbucks to do some work. Yep, I'm a nut. Early Saturday night at the local SBUX is a bit of a freakshow, which is it's own entertainment. I think the staff was about the call me in for loitering so around 9pm I went home for...more grill salmon and veggies. In bed by 10pm. Yep, I'm a nut.
Sunday the morning the Boyz and I woke up at 6am for coffee. They give me about 30' before they start following me around everywhere. I saddle them up and got ready for our run:
Our puppy-tackle is pretty slick. The collars are call "halties," which fit around the nose like a horse halter. The leashes clip into a belt so I can run hands free. Sonny is good for about 5-6 miles at Mommy-pace so we started it out easy for him to find his groove. He did great! Riley (black dude) is a running freak. No worries with him.
Boyz, post run:
Next I had bowl of fruit and got ready for my ride. I planned to string together as many hills and climbs as I could to get in about 150 TSS in about 2hrs. Short and hard. I also took my camera so I could show you some of the local landmarks and houses along my routes that I really like. We have beautiful tree-lined streets, great climbs, bunglows, craftsman, mission-style, you name it.
Here's one of my favorites, about 4 miles from me after the first big climbs. They recently painted it, I liked it better when it was darker:
I then just road west and generally up (to the right, towards the mountains). I found more than a few tasty 12% grades that I haven't done in a while. I've attached the .gpx file if anyone wants to take a tour in Google Earth.
This is a fun set of rollers, didn't get the camera out in time to give perspective
At the end of the first hour my IF was .95. Good enough, to time do a little tour of homes and show you some pictures.
Next is the "Drawbridge House." We ride this route quite a lot. This house is on the other side the arroyo (think creek) from the road and the dude has his own bridge. It's a friggin' nice bridge too...I stopped and held the camera up but not sure if I did it justice
Just up the street and on the left is the Corleone Compound. Note underground 3 car garage and greek stature on the front lawn
Close up. The Godfather theme always place in my head when I ride by here
Then about another half mile up the road is this one:
I then flipped it and started riding down towards the Rose Bowl. Obligatory no-hands shot on tree-lined street, no cars on a Sunday morning
This is on a street looking down into the Bowl, above the golf course to the north of the stadium
Obligatory SoCal "this is the film shoot I rode buy" Shot. Seems I can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a movie star...or what looked like a commercial involving a Toyota mini-van?
I then dropped into the Bowl, refilled water at the golf course restroom, and took the obligatory "welcome to Pasadena, I'll go show you the Rose Bowl" shot.
Behind me and to my right is a huge grassy area with about 5 x adult soccer games being played the accompanying traffic, kids, rollerbladers, rec cyclists, etc always make riding around the Bowl very interesting. I got the shot and then climbed out to show you the mac daddy Gamble House, as in Proctor and...
The garage
Check out the front door
One more of the house. We took a tour years ago and it's amazing inside.
Don't worry...almost done. I can't take you on a tour of Pasadena without showing you where all the magic happens, the Pasadena Mafia, the Tournament of Roses headquarters.
Looks like someone needs to pay the water bill, the grass is all brown:
After this, it was an easy flat spin home through traffic to...more grilled salmon and veggies. No worries, I ruined it by taking Joanne out to Outback for dinner and a 13oz steak
There you have it. On the weekends, if mama ain't home I'm either riding, running, catering to two dogs, working, reading, watching a movie, working on a motorcycle, or sleeping
Thanks for listening! Plenty more cool houses and neighborhoods to share with you!
