In-n-out

As it is the 4th of July holiday is coming up, a little treat.

For some reason even though it is not natural  nor healthy for that matter the chocolate shake is one of my favorites.  The burger was really good. I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. The fries are not to my taste.  I would give it a 2 out of 5.  For fast food, this was a nice meal.

PV

This past Saturday I biked my longest route in quite some time.  Probably a combination of the cross country tour ending and seeing if I could possible do it one more time.  When I started out the sun was out where I live, but by the time I biked over to the west side it was cloudy and cool.  I caught up to a group of cyclists I have biked before and joined them. When we got to Redondo Beach, 3 of the group decided to head towards Palos Verdes.  I was a little leary as the last time I biked in that direction I became dehydrated and needed to be picked up.  However, I wanted to see if I could do it and this would be the time to reaffirm my ability to bike a longer distance.  When we arrived at Palos Verdes, I biked uphill slow and steady and made to to Hawthorne Blvd. A 3 1/2 mile climb. It was not as difficult as I thought.



While I waited for the 3 other cyclists I ate a taco as I did not want to be too hungry. By the time the last cyclist joined us we were ready to go back via the same route we climbed.  During the downhill, I took a picture of Redondo Beach. Not a very good picture.



We made one further stop while some of the other members of my group ate. We rested for about 20 minutes. Thereafter we resumed and biked back towards home.  I left the last of my group about 10 miles from my home. I thought I would have some difficulties biking up Coldwater Canyon Blvd, but surprising I felt fine. I arrived at the top and then biked downhill and home.  In total 80 miles.  I ate lunch around 2:30 and dinner at 5:00 to replenish the calories I had lost.  I even managed to sleep for about 8 hours.  All in all a good day of riding and a little bit of self-confidence restored.

Sunday was my Pasadena ride



I take a longer route in which I end up climbing La Tuna Blvd.  I wanted to see how my recovery would be from the prior day route.



The above is the route I biked up. The first mountain in the above photo is my eventual destination.  It is about 3 miles to the top. I was able to successfully arrive at the top and was rewarded with a nice downhill.  I arrived as Montrose and today I added an additional climb of 300 yards or so and also decided to bike uphill Descano which takes you directly to Foothill Blvd. and a nice descent.



I am not sure whether you can see in the above picture, but that is the Rose Bowl.   Once around the Rose Bowl and back home.  I got home around 11:45 and it was 91 degrees.  A total of 130 miles during the weekend. That is the most I have biked in over 2 years in a 2 day period.  In fact, the last time I biked 80 miles was in February 2015.  I proved to myself I can still bike rather long distances over a 2 day period so now it is up to me to see whether I can continue on this road.

Gazebo

A short post today.  8 years ago, riding cross country, I wrote the following in my blog:

A started to get cold at the top and started to rain quite hard. We got to the SAG and rested some more. At this point Harry realized he was losing air from his tube. We found a Gazebo and Harry and I changed the tire while Karen and Alec continued on to the hotel. It started to rain again, but we were protected as we change the tube. We left and it started to really rain heavily for the next 30 minutes or so. 

Today, this year's bike group was biking the same route and I received an email from Harry who is one of the 3 riders who are biking cross with the picture below.  Same Gazebo from 8 years ago.  A nice memory. thank you harry.

Marmalade

This weekend was very hot.  I left a little early each day to beat the heat.  I learned today that if I want to bike cross country again I will need to train much harder on steeper hills.  On Saturday, I biked my normal route up Sepulveda Blvd heading over to West side of LA.  When I got to the top, the road was closed to traffic, including bikes.  I had to bike down hill and start again.  I knew that Woodcliff Ave was steep at the top so I decided I would try that road.  It was difficult and took an effort I was not used to in a very long time. I was in the lowest gear possible and struggling, but I made it to Mulloland Drive, turned right to a little uphill and made it safely down to an entrance to Sepulveda Blvd past the construction.  I did not feel that good going downhill, but I was able to continue. Once on the West side continued on my normal route and finished up without any additional problems.  55 miles ending. At the end close to 90 degrees.  Sunday morning was my Pasadena ride. This includes a climb up La Tuna.  As this ride was in the valley and I left 1 hour later the ride was hot and sunny.  I was biking a little slowly, but I then decided to count my pedal strokes as I increased my pace. This helped as I did not struggle as much as I thought I would.  Once around the Rose Ball in Pasadena. I stopped for a bathroom break and when I started biking again I felt a little sluggish.  I slowed the pace down through Glendale. arrived as Griffith Park.  A person who I knew from my ex-company and worked on Fear Factor had opened a coffee and gelato shop as well a a restaurant named Red Maple. I wanted to see where it was and biked there. I saw the person I knew sitting on a bench, went up to him and we spoke for about 15 minutes. I got a second wind and continued back home.  45 miles.  At the end close to 90 degrees. It feels strange as I used to bike much longer over a 2 day period, but I guess I can still bike so perhaps I can increase the intensity and see where I stand at the end of the year.

Today I met a former colleague.  We went to Marmalade Cafe which is in Sherman Oaks, CA.



The burger was a little dry.  I would give this a 1 out of 5 and that might be too generous.  The fries were fine,  I would give them a 3.

Tipsy Cow

Lunch out today with a few colleagues at work.

We went to a place called the Tipsy Cow which is located in Sherman Oaks, California and is described as a hip gastropub featuring burgers, many craft beers, signature cocktails and quirky retro decor.

As I have no idea what a gastropub is I looked it up and it was defined as a pub that specializes in serving high qualtiy food
.

I ordered the Burger (medium) and Fries.  I take the lettuce and tomatoes off of the burger and put ketchup on it so that I can judge the taste of the meat.  On a scale of 1 to 5 I would give this burger a 2.5.  The meat was not tasty enough for me. The fries can serve more than one person. We had 3 at the table and this order was more than enough. The fries are very good. I would rate them a 4.

3 B's

There are 3 things that I enjoy in life.  

Bruce Springsteen

Bikes

Burgers

There is also a cause which I will let you tell me why passionate about it.  My cause is for pancreatic cancer which my mom passed away from in 2013. Hopefully, in the near term doctors and science will discover a cure for this disease.

So come along with me on my journey of discovery as I explore each one of these topics whether separately or together.