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.