On My Way to Mellow Johnny's

Not familiar with the name? Whether you ride a bike or not, you definitely know the name--Lance Armstrong. I'm taking a last minute trip to Austin, Texas for the sake of getting away and you know where I'm going? LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BIKE SHOP, Mellow Johnny's. Yall have NO IDEA how excited I am to go to what I would consider my mecca. I'm also going to drink at the coffe shop adjacent to his bike shop, Juan Pelota. If you're scratching your head at the cafe name, I'd look it up. It's pretty much shoving it in cancer's face that he kicked it's bottom. I should have plenty of pictures of me looking like a kid in a candy shop--and not just any candy shop, more like Willy Wonka. I got the golden ticket!!!! YAAAAY!!!

As you can see from this post, it's not so much like my other ones. It's a little off center and chaotic looking. That's just how excited I am. I jumped up and down like Tigger when I figured out I was going to Austin and Mellow Johnny's. Seriously.

I cheated on the Roll 2...

And I went mountain biking on this sweet ride:

Yup, it's an Specialized S-Works Safire!! Sweeeeeeet........ We even had one of Specialized's own, Elon, join us for the ride. He pretty much left us in the dust...I mean, if my company had lunch time rides, I'd be in better shape too. This is him him on the left enjoying the view from the top, waiting for the runt of the group, me.

Rico doing some crazy downhilling. It's a lot steeper than the picture shows.

Crazy, beautiful view. You can see all the way to Palos Verdes, CA.

Jim is THE man at my favorite bike shop, Cynergy Cycles.

The group. There were a bunch of first timers too. It was absolutely AWESOME.

This is what happens after a GREAT ride:

You fall over with exhaustion and you have a big grin on your face like me!!!

Guess who is going to be getting a new mountain bike soon? :)

Christmas Light Hunting

For the last time this season, I went Christmas light hunting with a few other riders in Long Beach on Monday. Here's what we saw....

I LOVE Charlie Brown and the gang!

Okay, this one was a little weird. I guess it's cute because they used their kids faces on mermaid decorations? I'm not sure what to make of it....

The riders minus my sister who is behind the camera.

Post ride meal: egg nog and cookies!

The Ride with No Name

I finally got around to going on my first big (100+ people) ride tonight through the streets of Downtown/East LA and it was called "The Ride With No Name." I've avoided the big rides on the Roll because I wasn't 100% comfortable riding with that many strangers and unpredictable riders PLUS November's LA Critical Mass sounded like a complete disaster. In any case, I got out and it was as fun as I remember them to be for the most part.

A good number of people stopped to ask about or compliment the Roll. (Great job, Globe Bikes!) Here's a picture of Barry, a regular on this ride after he took the Globe for a spin. Although he's not smiling in the picture, I'm pretty sure he liked it. :)

Somewhere along the ride, we seemed to have picked up some sort of SAG vehicle as well. This guy on the motorcycle is riding in the middle of all the hundreds of cyclists and carrying spare wheels on his back. I was pretty confused by this and I think most other people were too.

We eventually ended up in an industrial part of LA where the walls were lined with spray paint art. This is my attempt at trying to make the Roll 2 look urban.

I did say the ride was fun for the most part, right? Well, here's why it wasn't super fantastic awesome:

I totally ate it on the last leg of the ride. My wheels got stuck in some old railroad tracks. As I was timbering down to the pavement, I thought "I hope the bike is okay!" The picture of my elbow doesn't seem too bad but I'm pretty banged up with road rash and bruises all along my left side. In over a year of riding, this is my first fall and I am so glad I wasn't going 40mph down a crazy decent. If anything, I'll have some cool battle wounds. :)

Cyclists vs. Hipsters

I'm always the butt of every one of my cycling friends' jokes but for the past few months they've been really big on calling me a "hipster" mostly since I started riding the Roll 2 fixie. Personally, I don't think I'm anywhere near cool enough or hip-to-it to be considered a "hipster." According to this "Evolution of the Hipster" timeline, I'm not anything like what's listed--I'm seriously just not that cool. (Btw, do kids even say "cool" anymore??) Anyway, I should have pictures up from my ride Friday night soon so you can judge for yourself if I'm a hipster or not.

For those of you who are not familiar with the riff between hipsters and cyclists, you NEED to check out this video. It's hilarious and I've probably seen this at least twenty times. I don't see why I can't I be both an urban fixie rider and a roaide! And hey Specialized, I think we need to get the "road cyclist" on a real road bike, don't you think? Maybe a Tarmac?

You can what? Go backwards?

I can't actually pedal backwards in a circle but I'm working on it. For those of you not familiar with fixed gear bikes, as long as the wheels are moving, the cranks are moving and it's moving in the same direction. When I first started riding, it felt very weird to be pedaling all the time. I didn't get the pleasure of pedaling just as hard going downhill as going uphill and I still don't. But with mechanics like this on a bike, you can do random tricks like the track stand I conquered a couple weeks ago. The next trick on my list was to pedal backwards. I haven't mastered it as of yet but my friend has. I hope I can do this before 2010 is here! Anyway, it's time for a ride!

The Skies are Crying...

The rain has not ceased! I thought I lived in Southern California where it's always sunny and a perfect 72 degrees along the beaches but this last week has just not been so good to me. I even contemplated putting my fixie on the trainer but opted to crawl under the electric blanket. Yes, I said electric blanket. As a Los Angeles Native, I don't function in any weather below 68 degrees and laugh as you might but electric blankets are awesome. I guess for now, I'll drink my hot chocolate and work it off on Wednesday's ride!

Under The Weather

It's raining in LA and my health seems to parallel the weather. I hope to be better soon but I miss riding my roll. Since I haven't been able to ride my bike, here's a picture of my only spoke card, courtesy of EHNHDUUURR!!!! ride.

I also felt well enough today and went up to the roof in search of a rainbow. No luck but I did get a picture of my street when there was a break in the storm. LA air normally doesn't look this clean thanks to all the cars that run the streets. Another reason why we should all be riding our bikes more--less smog!

'Tis the Season!

Holiday lights + bikes. Do I need to say anymore?! It's a season when miracles happen and everyone is nice. For one night, the LA Department of Water and Power pair up with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition to sponsor a night ride through the Holiday Light Festival located in Griffith Park. I think it's one of the hidden treasures of LA.

Here's a video I found from a few years back. Only in LA is it cold enough to remind you that it's winter but nice enough to still do a night ride. :)