Dog Parks LA Style

On Memorial Day holiday I decided to ride from my Culver City motel to UCLA once again, to experience this Monday public holiday out on the streets of LA.

Unfortunately the Venice boardwalk path turned out to be ridiculously over-crowded, so I left it to get some lunch at SEED, a vegan, macrobiotic cafe in Venice that offers a range of great tofu burgers and delicious, spicy, almond milk chai ......

On my way again, via Main St, I spotted this weird park with no grass. In fact it was a sandy, dust bowl, with a few people sitting on the tables looking out over it. Yelping dogs soon revealed what this park was all about. A freeplay park exclusively for dogs !

Drive the dog to the dog park and let it run wild in Venice.

Not much need for supervision required, the dogs were having a ball. No need for high fences, they weren't goin' anywhere.

I'm back in LA, it's warm and CTD are on the move.

PROGRESS in LA .... CTD have started.
Well ... sort of.

I came here to polish off the details of the 2 scales and double mitre saw that I had ordered in Feb 2012.

The Tour of California was on my mind after watching every stage on SBS and I was determined to not only ride a few of the stages, but also extend my knowledge of local rides from where I had left off back in February.

Well, I thought that was what I was going to do ....... but as you can see, manufacturing here, like the rest of the economy, is still in slow mode.

Pictured is my actual saw being assembled ..... "It will be ready in a few days ....." I was briefed.

It turns out that I had arrived at the start of the Memorial Day weekend.
A National Holiday.
Not only does the workshop stop here at CTD, but Paul the engineer was taking a few extra days off ...... aaah!

Rewards Cards USA

Three Essentials when in Southern California.

When next you find yourself in the USA, don't forget to ask when you are at the check outs for a rewards card.

I didn't bother at first, until some keen VONS SUPERMARKET check out guy simply handed me a card when I replied that I didn't have one. Checking the receipt I could see that my $33 spend had been reduced to $24 !

Well ... my interest was sharpened from there on ....... surely this wasn't limited to VONS ?

Later I noticed in RALPHS SUPERMARKET that Clif bars were reduced from $1.40 to 99¢

But only for customers with a rewards card. This time I asked for one. Sure enough, I was charged 99¢ for the bars. Woo hoo ... we had about 30 of 'em !

These are big savings .... why not take advantage of them, wherever and whenever possible.

RITE AID is a huge pharmacy chain .... prescriptions, shampoo, bottled water, even food and CANDY !

Now most supermarket candy is in HUGE packs that are just way over the top. But RITE AID has small packs that are perfect to buy loads of for gifts. Valentines day ones where still on the shelf, reduced, and Easter versions where available too .... Kit and I loaded up and, of course, with my RITE AID card, we got rewards prices !!

LA Training Rides - Mandeville Canyon and the 3 Bitches

Garmin Connect Link

Here is a ride I constructed that takes in several roads that the locals use for training.
Starting in an exclusive part of Santa Monica,  it starts with the wide safety of San Vicente to give access to the nice and gentle 8.4km ave 3.5% climb up Mandeville Canyon Rd.

A diversion on the return takes in the infamous THREE BITCHES.
Three short roads that linked together, give a tough 1.6km ave 9.8% workout,
 with gradients consistently approaching 17%
Check out the segment on Strava 3 bitches

If you think training rides should be all about exploding .... this is the ride for you.
Repeat as required.

Tuna Canyon Rd - First Descent

Exploring the Santa Monica Mountains has its moments. The famous Rock Store is the only cafe.

Water refills have to be pre-planned with precision. Some roads are way too busy with cars.

Paying attention to your road position is essential, as motorcyclists and sports cars abound & play here at speed.

It is way worth putting up with these small issues ...... the roads are almost perfect.

The surfaces are superb, the views spectacular, the climbing endless and the descents .... well, the descents are FAST. 

The Vicroads of this area must know a thing or two about safety. They have a few tricks in place.

Like continuous yellow double lines to tell everyone to stay on their side of the road. They even gorge ripple holes in with the double yellows, so that if you do happen to venture to the line on one of the tighter-than-expected corners, you get a rude awakening. 

The authorities gave up on one road though. It is too steep, too narrow ...... too dangerous for cars going in opposite directions to safely pass. Few guard rails, big drops off some corners.

So they made it into a racers dream, by making it ONE WAY.

Instead of it being one way up, they made it one way DOWN. Whoever approved this, obviously drives a sports car. 

And of course, this road is .....

TUNA CANYON ROAD !

One way downhill, make sure you have good brakes.

McCabe's Guitar Shop, Pico Blvd, Santa Monica

My best discovery on this trip has been Tuna Canyon Rd, but

McCabe's Guitar Shop is right up there with it.

I'm not much interested in browsing guitars, but I am in the sounds they make

.... and in particular the artists who play 'em.

I discovered that this Guitar shop has concerts in a back room (seats about 150),

and that there were two artists playing while I was in LA, that I really wanted to see .... 

Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks and David Lindley

McCabe's Guitar Shop, on Pico

Jogger Crossing, Santa Monica

San Vicente Blvd is a wide, divided road, with a big grassy, treed median strip.
Wide bike lanes go in both directions and are heavily used by cyclists.
There are joggers galore as well. They run up the median strip, at any time of the day.
At this busy intersection with 7th Street there is this very handy Jogger crossing.
When I took this photo, there were two more joggers waiting on the other side.

Daily Specials

Maybe you are thinking it's all done with Oats ?

Well sometimes here in LA I do make porridge, but too often it's breakfast in one of my favourite diners.

I have two .... Dinah's Diner (remember the photo of Kit standing in the rain, under the huge Dinah's Chicken bucket), and Cafe 50s (Kit standing under the "Good times POWER breakfast sign).

Both are a must visit when anyone comes to LA.

Well this trip has seen me eating more cheaply. "Why not eat fast food .... it's cheap" said Shawn in Palm Springs as we munched a delicious salad and toasted cheese burger. Then there was the Subway 12" roll that I ate with relish .....

I think I agree with Shawn. American food is never going to be the best thing you ever ate, even if you pay top price at some up market restaurant. There are too many additives and flavours for the local palette that turns down the enjoyment level. 

So why not go fast food joints and diners. There are plenty of healthy combos to be had.

Then there are the DAILY SPECIALS  ..... even cheaper !

Example - I went to Dinah's and had a stack of buttermilk pancakes that was delish,

and only  $8.25, with taxes.

Then a few days later, I had another craving for the same. But this time I discovered the morning special.

STACK OF PANCAKES with 2 EGGS ..... $5.43, with taxes !!!

The $5.43 daily special at Dinah's. Loaded with carbs and protein.
The perfect fuel for a hard day's riding in the SMM ?

Exploring Yerba Buena Road, Santa Monica Mountains

On this LA trip I have set out to expand my riding into new areas that local riders might use for training.

I had a few clues from last time here, so I spent some time setting up new courses on Garmin Connect that I can upload onto my 800.

Now what a wonderful device is the 800. It is easy enough to follow an uploaded map. As long as you can actually get onto the course, because if you don't, it keeps wanting you to turn back to the start !

I have a North American sim for my 800. It gets shared with the car GPS I bring with me and it is an easy swap. Just don't let it ping out when changing over ...... it is spring loaded ....

So .... I wanted to ride Yerba Buena Rd. I knew it had steep sections and was maybe a bit rough, so I decided to attack it from the top and ride DOWN. So I did.

Little Sycamore, comes off Mulholland and leads to Yerba Buena.This sign indicating a name change was not even anywhere near a junction !
Name changes are confusingly common in the SMM, but with my trusty 800,
navigation is made lot easier. 

Palm Springs Century Feb 2012

7.00am start, with the band playing.

This event was huge. 12,000 riders, 5 distances from 5 miles to 100 miles.
The starts are staggered, even the 100 miler encourages riders to start from 6.30am - 8.00am.

Most of the way there was a crowd.