Starla - Globe Experience

A Sweaty, Summer Ride to TK Burgers

2010-06-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

It’s finally feeling like summer! And what did I do to celebrate? Um, ride to the beach to EAT, of course! I was able to convine a few people to make the 45 mile round trip ride from Anaheim Hills to Newport Beach. We took the Santa Ana River Path which should have been easy given that it was a “flat” ride but the headwind seriously sucked. And if that weren’t enough, I am peeling like a lizard now thanks to the powerful So Cal sun. It’s a good thing that TK Burgers has the best burger I've ever had! It was well worth all the pain. But then again, I think anything tastes good after a ride….

Anyway, here’s a pictorial overview of our ride:

Eric and my Roll at our first rest stop.

Anaheim Honda Center. GO DUCKS! (Hockey is my favorite spectator sport….and they will always be the Mighty Ducks even if they're not owned by Disney anymore.)

Almost there, Lily! End of the river path.

Finally made it to Newport!

Time for a siesta after we stuffed our bellies. We’re never going to make it back home now….

And a sweaty hug and kiss! Wait, I think he might be licking the salt off my forehead to replish his sodium....

Original post here: http://starlahashimoto.com/2010/06/summerburgerride/

Bike Geek Weekend with MASH SF and GoldSprints

2010-05-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I said I was done blogging here but I couldn't NOT blog about this Saturday. I didn't make it to the AMGEN Tour of California time trials in Downtown LA but I made up for it tenfold--at least from my perspective.

If you've never heard of MASH SF, you should really check them out. Long story short, they rode the last year's Tour of California route through the hellish rain and endured the same 750 miles the pros did but on fixed gear bikes. The thought of riding that many miles hurts my knees but it made for a great story--so good the had a gallery full of their journey in pictures, gear, and video. And because I'm a bike dork, I had get a picture with MASH's very own (and Specialized's) Garrett Chow.

Pretty:

After checking out MASH stuff and picking up a pair of arm warmers (I'm a sucker for colorful arm warmers), I headed over to Cynergy Cycles where they had plenty of booze at the GoldSprints event. What is it exactly? Racing on rollers.

Here's Eric and I taking part in a couples' relay race. We're winning in this picture but it was a really close race and I lost the lead in the end by a second. Lame. I hate losing. This is when I decided that my tailbone is 100% better and I'm ready to get back in bike shape just in case I ever have the opportunity to do this again. I have to redeem myself, dang it!

Eric and Elon below. It was a really close race. Only, this was Elon's 6th race in a row. Sidenote: I have no idea how he didn't throw up after sprinting 500m, six times, all under 20 seconds.

In an Open Relationship...

2010-03-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

Despite what your first thoughts may have been given the blog post title, this is really just an open letter to Globe Bikes and Specialized for changing my life in ways I'm sure you, me or anyone else could have ever imagined at the start of this blog.

I'll start off with the obvious. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to ride the Roll 2 in exchange for my word barf. The bike and blog "forced" me to get out there and explore what I couldn't on my road bike. There are people who brush off a bike as just that--same as any other bike but it's SO not. I was immersed in a world full of spandex, carbon fiber, and hill climbing for miles on end. Although I fully enjoyed the "roadie" world and had great company while riding my light-as-a-feather bike, the fixie let me explore the city in a completely different way. I was able to just cruise, get back to where I started on a bike, and enjoy the views of the city, stop at the hole in the wall restaurant, lock up my bike (without worrying about what part might be stolen like on the road bike) and enjoy the experience--in normal clothes and shoes!

Learning to ride a bike again was such a fun challenge. And oh the things I've learned to do on the fixie! Oh wait, I only really learned one thing--to track stand. I guess if calculating how to stop without using my brake is a "trick" then I suppose I've somewhat learned a trick and a half, this being the half. I've yet to learn to ride in a circle backwards but I'll get to that eventually.

The people I rolled with were different too. (Pun intended.) I love my roadie friends that were just as masochistic as me on the bike and made fun of me for being a hipster but I also love the people that were willing to ride alongside me to explore. Actually, I fell in love on the fixie, not just with my inanimate bike but with the boy that always joined me on the rides, Eric. If it wasn't for Globe Bikes and the Roll 2, I probably would have never had the opportunity to ride as much as I did with him, being the fixie snob that he is, so thank you. And if it wasn't for Eric, my partner in crime and his constant support, urban exploration wouldn't have been as fun and I would have struggled and picked my brain to pieces coming up with new posts.

The funny thing is that I used to wear the "I heart..." shirt as a joke saying that my bike was my boyfriend. Never thought in a million years that I would actually heart the boy that rode (and still rides) bikes with me.

On this note, I end my blog with many thanks and am happy to announce that I'm in an open relationship with my longtime boyfriend, the bike, and my new boyfriend, Eric. :)

P.S. The last few months, I've been on hiatus from my personal blog www.starlahashimoto.com and I plan to continue blogging there. Feel free to visit my life there if you'd like to bore yourself with my mundane posts!!

100+ Miles on a Fixie Vs. Roadie

2010-02-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

I'll start off by showing you what the (almost) end result looks like--this is Eric and I at 103 miles and we still weren't done with the Tour de Palm Springs. My smile is probably bigger and cheesier than Eric's because I had a brake AND I could coast downhill--it's the difference between riding a road bike and a fixed gear. :) Life is so much easier when you can descend at 41.1 mph--I made sure Eric knew that each time I passed him going down a hill. Although, he did kick my butt UP the hills.

And this is the start, approximately 10,000 participants for this event. At 7:00 am, Eric and I were already 11.58 miles into our first century before we even got to the start. Why? Call me a dummy, a masochist, or just plain crazy, but I hate driving to rides and if I can avoid it, I will. Plus, why wouldn't I want to just ride a little bit more?

Ben, Oli, and Mai below. They are the kids that I started riding with almost exactly a year ago during a Specialized Demo Day ride out of Cynergy Cycles. It was our goal to do a century within a year's time since we picked up riding--mission accomplished. (We're all so brand loyal to Specialized, just saying: 4 helmets, an S-Works Amira, Ruby Expert, S-Works Tarmac?, a Quick Step jersey--list goes on...)

The view. There was a whole lot of nothingness for a really long time and I loved every second of it.

Eric on his fixed gear. And you call me crazy?

Another fixie kid! Eric and mystery kid had twin bikes too. I think it was a match made in heaven. Seriously. Same color frame (which is very unusual), same pursuit bars....

Eric at mile 80 in fetal position. We really just wanted to hop in that pool on the other side of the fence--it was 85 degrees. It doesn't even hit 85 degrees in West LA during the summer...

The "almost-done-happy-valentine's-day-kiss" between my favorite cycling couple, Olivia and Ben.

Mai and her boyfriend the bike, keeping it clean with no tongue. The bike doesn't hurt her--ever. We ♥ bikes--seriously. I think we were all a little delirious at this point too...

And the finish wouldn't be complete without some delicious beer.

Some shaved legs (Ben's first time--I'm still in shock he decided to sacrifice his hair for the sport), and some gnarly tan lines.

First time spandex tan for Eric. Hipsters usually forgo the spandex for some skinny jeans and he forgot to put sunblock on his legs.

What would a ride be without a post-ride food photo? The annihilation of the best pizza I've ever tasted. Mostly because I just sat on the saddle for the last 6.5 hours...

Final result for me: 108.45 miles. I turned back to the hotel from the 103 mark. The crazy part is Eric kept riding to the finish and had a 120? miles under his belt by the end of the day. I lost count. Either way, he pretty much showed everyone that riding a 100+ miles is easy on a fixie....

Necessary Evil: Running

2010-02-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

Although I could just solely stick to biking, I feel the need to cross train and that means I have to run. The masochist cyclist in me that drags my friends on long, sometimes very hilly rides (Malibu Canyon, anyone?) apparently rears it's little head when I decide to "go for a quick, short run." The funny thing is, it's not very quick nor is it very short. I will say that with only two weeks to prep since my recovery from the stint in the ER, I was able to accomplish three out of four of my goals.

1) Jog the entire 13.1 miles

2) Keep a consistent breathing rhythm

3) DO NOT SLOUCH AT ALL. Woohoo!

And the one goal I didn't reach?

4) Time. Grrr! At least I had a burst of adrenaline the last couple of hundred feet to actually sprint. Slowest out of all my friends that ran but 3 out of 4 ain't so bad, right?

Besides, running and biking gives me an excuse to eat whatever I want. Considering this run was on Super Bowl Sunday--well, let's just say I gained all the weight I lost during that run back...that evening.

And next time, I'll remember to smile no matter how much my knees and hips are hurting. (Haha, I look SO awful but there's nothing like publicly embarrassing myself!)

Bikes + ♥

2010-02-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big fan of the upcoming Hallmark holiday that everyone celebrates every 14th day of February but in recognition of that day, I found a few things bicycle and ♥ related that made me feel warm and gooey, no matter how sad the content really was. Mostly because if you throw a bicycle in any mix, I'm going to smile. Real big. Here's a sequence of my thought process and findings....

1) It all started with this blog post in the New York Times called Two Wheels + Two Seats = Love. Apparently, "if you want to see how solid your marriage is, give it a test ride on a tandem bike." SpokesNYT is an interesting urban cyclist on twitter too if you're interested.

2) Then I thought, if tandem bikes are used to measure how solid your marriage is, do couples bother to ride one BEFORE tying the knot? I eventually ended up looking at wedding photos with bicycles and found these to be super cute originally found on this blog.

3) But sometimes, relationships come to an end and when you're feeling down and out, sad love songs make you feel less alone. This is when you listen to She & Him's Black Hole.

But I'm stuck here
Getting misty over you
I'm alone, on a bicycle for two.

4) I guess if you fell in love on a bike, you might hang up your bicycle for a while like this chick on this blog and prompt you to caption it, "There it hung— a bicycle built for two, an exclamation point to her lonesome heart." So emo...

5) But it's probably safe to say, eventually, you'll get back on your bike and fall in love all over again whether it be with someone else, riding, or both like in this short film:

Columbia Twosome from Sara Kinney on Vimeo.

Personally, I'll be spending my Valentine's day with my boyfriend a.k.a Timé the bicycle, riding my first century in romantic Palm Springs. He never hurts my feelings.... :P

A not-so-easy ride. Tour De Bike Shops.

2010-02-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

There was a torrential downpour all day Friday and I was super bummed I couldn't ride Santa Monica Critical Mass so I walked into Cynergy Cycles thinking I was going to pick up one small item but apparently, I fixed my rainy day blues by making a dent in my wallet...Who said retail therapy doesn't work? Oh, I did because this lack of riding affected me the next day...

I woke up Saturday morning to the sunshine of Southern California and decided to dedicate the day to some EASY riding--I was even mentally prepared to ride in the rain, just in case. I had to be in Huntington Beach to pick up my race packet for my half marathon on Sunday so I decided to take my bike with me and ride to avoid all the traffic in the Expo area. This obviously wasn't enough of a bike fix so Eric came down to join me for a CRUISE around town. He too needed new gear, has been looking into buying some spandex for our 102 mile ride ride in Palm Springs next weekend and ended up at a few different bike shops.

First stop (approx 5.61 miles from start), Surf City Cyclery in Huntington Beach, another Specialized shop. The store was huge and had a lot of gear but the women's selection was small and frankly a little disappointing. Eric said, "Let me guess, you know about Surf City Cyclery because it's a Specialized store." Smart kid.

Next stop (approx 18.32 miles from start), Kings Bike Shop in Seal Beach. I really have no comment about this shop except that one of the employees there was totally checking out my Roll 2. I think he drooled on it just a bit.

At this point, the dark clouds were following us but I didn't have enough riding in for the day so after a quick stop at Starbucks, we kept riding north not really thinking of the ride back. (Blame my lack of planning on Gattaca, my favorite movie of all time. Check out the movie reference here.)

We ended up in Long Beach at LBFG, short for Long Beach Fixed Gear (approx 25 miles from start). A shop geared toward the urban rider and not the spandex wearing rider. Look what I found, a Roll 2! :)

Apparently, the best part of the ride was still to come. It started to get dark but there was one more stop we had to make. The sunset was beautiful and the seagulls were enjoying the view too. We decided to set ourselves back about 20 years and act like we could still tell you how old we were by holding up our fingers. "You want to make the seagulls fly?" Um, well, that's a silly question because HECK YES, I DO.

The look of satisfaction. (It's not that difficult to act like your five years old after a long ride.)

By the time we got back, it was dark, we rode approximately 48 miles, escaped the rain that had falled in Huntington Beach while we were north, and of course, we were hungry. Oh, and we did manage to pick up some spandex. :) So much for an easy ride the day before my half marathon!!

George Hincapie!

2010-02-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

I live in West Los Angeles and there are plenty of celebrities around this side of town but I'm never "star struck" by anyone really. I see Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey cycling around the hood (in Cynergy and Specialized gear), saw Carson Daly at Cynergy Cycles, Seal (the singer, husband of Heidi Klum) cut me off in his car, Conan O'Brien lives up the street, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are frequents at my local farmer's market and I could really care less but put a professional cyclist in front of me and I get dumb. Real dumb. I mean, I think this picture pretty much explains everything:

He is known for being "nice" and he was totally so sweet to me when I caught him walking out the door and begged him for a picture and an autograph. :)

I'm Not Obsessed

2010-01-31T19:47:00.000-08:00

Another Sunday, the trails have had a week to dry, and it was a fantastic ride! I love how the dirt becomes grippy and all the new ruts the rain leaves behind. It's like riding an entirely new trail!

I brought along Eric for a ride today--he usually rides on all the Midnight Ridazz rides with me on his fixie. Needless to say, this was a whole new experience for him but I'm so happy came out and tried it! Brakes and steep, steep climbs are a foreign concept but he held his own. This is what happens when you decide to ride up a crazy hill off of 3 hours of sleep:

This is what happens when you actually have a good night's rest. Will, founder of the EHNHDUUURR!!!! ride, looking pretty happy to be on the trail.

Will's socks. They may not be a matching pair but at least they're color coordinated?

Rico. The sweetest mountain biker I know.

Specialized's Elon Rubin. He tears it up on a bike. I bow down to him.

Mark, aka Water Boy. He killed it on today's ride because:

He carried all the water, spare tubes, etc.
Lost some screws (literally) and was riding without a rear brake most of the ride
Went down a super sketchy downhill without a rear brake and did a slow motion flip over the handlebars only to get back on and ride the rest of it down

The big turnout for the demo ride today:

Elon tore his hand up.

And his leg. I was a little bit jealous I ended the ride without a scratch!

2 Rides in Less than 24 hours

2010-01-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

Last night I went on the Critical Mass ride through the streets of LA. It was kind of a mess because the "mass" got split up into three groups but still fun nonetheless. (So much fun that I didn't take any pictures from the ride!) Made some new friends and saw some old ones. My favorite part of the ride is doing the "Circle of Death" at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland. We only usually ride in a circle three times or so and ride east down Hollywood Blvd to make a statement. One guy was carrying a sign the entire night advertising the Cyclists Bill of Rights. This is what the organized chaos looks like:

And of course after a late night of riding, my friends and I had a case of the munchies and ended up in Little Tokyo for some Japanese goodness:

I got home and went to bed around 2 a.m. this morning only to wake up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for my spandex wearing ride. It was a chilly but beautiful morning. Ravi, Jenn, and I caught up to a bigger group of riders and drafted off of them for a bit on our way up PCH. I haven't been on my road bike in a while and I totally felt the neglect after a short 35 mile ride WITH a coffee break. I'm so disappointed in myself, I may go for a run tonight....

A peloton in front of us:

A break at Starbucks with Jenn and Ravi (I look tired after only 4.5 hours of sleep):

So beautiful riding back from Malibu to Santa Monica. Worth every minute of the "cold" weather and sacrificing sleep:

Up and Running Again!

2010-01-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I was out of commission the week it was torrential downpour. The clouds parted in time for my comeback and I'm (unfortunately) back to running. The good news is that I can't remember the last time I've ran as well as I did tonight but I also did a hilly route. The funny thing is, I think it's less painful than flats because I'm using similar muscles to biking on the hills? Maybe. Anyway, I've ran the last three days and I'm so excited that I don't have to run tomorrow. Why? Because it's Critical Mass time! I'll be riding through the streets of LA again and hopefully will have a more visual post than this one.

Until then, you can enjoy this excellent video by my friend, Chris, from the Critical Mass in May:

Critical Mass, Los Angeles - May 2009 from Christophe Serafino on Vimeo.

Safety First, Seriously

2010-01-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't moved much from the last time I posted, except to go to the doctor and somehow manage to sit at my desk at work, I haven't had much time to ride or do much of anything. So I'm taking the opportunity to tell you that helmets save lives originally posted here.

--------------

Cruisin’ the Conejo was supposed to be my first organized metric century as well as Bobby’s. Unfortunately for Bobby, he crashed hard at around mile 23 going down a long, straight decent at around 35 mph. By the looks of this photo, I can’t stress how important it is to be wearing a helmet! You might feel “dorky” in a helmet but it really does save lives. Check out his gnarly bruise on his head WITH the helmet. Can you imagine what that’d be like without one? It’s a good thing our friend Debbie was there by his side at the time of the accident…

A Week Without Riding

2010-01-20T23:23:00.001-08:00

I was always the kid that had to call out sick because of whatever allergies or illness was ailing me and it seems as though I haven't grown out of it. Without getting too graphic (you know I'm good at posting pictures of my cool injuries), I'm going to say I went to the ER and went under a knife. I wish I could say that it was some awesome cycling injury but unfortunately, it's nothing to write home about. I'm alive, okay, and somewhat functioning (soreness but not as bad as a few days ago) so don't worry!

I haven't had much riding time given my open wounds and torrential rains in LA so I've kept myself entertained by combing through The Dropout: An Austin Bike Zine. They covered the Texas Custom Bike Show which had some pretty cool bikes. It's a pretty new publication and I expect more great things from these guys!

A good friend of mine also felt sorry for me that I'm confined to a couch/bed/indoors so he bought me this DVD. I mean, I love Lance Armstrong but I LOVE George Hincapie. Totally brought my spirits up. :)

Bike Polo, Anyone?

2010-01-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

This is the next thing I'm going to try. I've seen a lot more posts for Bike Polo games on the Midnight Ridazz site and have been meaning to try it out. It's supposed to rain all week in LA so I think this week is a bust for me to try it out but here's a video of a Bike Polo Tournament. If only I could be this graceful while riding a bike and holding a mallet....

Bike Polo from Bicykiller on Vimeo.

Riding a bike ≠ $$$

2010-01-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

Serious cycling is an expensive sport but riding a bike doesn't have to cost you too much money--unless you end up using a bill as a temporary fix on your tire like this:

Don't worry, I gave Rambod a tire so he didn't have money in his tire. It's a great trick when you have a hole in your tire and need to get to where you're going to fix it! Acts as a good buffer between the outside world and the tube inside.

Anyway, back to my point about biking not having to cost a lot of money. If you can't afford a new bike, can't afford a real bike tech to take a look at your bike issues, there's a solution. Bikerowave 3.o is a great place to stop by if you're having any issues with your bike or need help building one. It's a cooperative "Do It Yourself" repair shop run by knowledgeable volunteers. You pay by the hour or on a yearly basis for use of the shop space, knowledge and it's tools. There is no excuse for anyone to say they can't afford to ride. It's also a great place to meet a sleuth of fellow urban riders alike. (Sidenote: San Francisco has their own version called the Bike Kitchen.)

The best part of Bikerowave? Personality is written all over the walls--more specifically, the restroom walls.

Best one yet: "Bikerowave Suggestion Box"

My scars don't lie, I love to ride! (Warning: A few pictures of battle wounds!)

2010-01-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

The tagline to my blog has been "My thighs don't lie, I love to ride" but after my first gnarly fall today, the guys at the shop suggested I change it to "My scars don't lie, I love to ride!" Brilliant!! It would be so fitting considering falling off my bike has been the trend lately. The best part is, I usually have a bigger smile on my face after eating pavement or dirt. I'm in a little bit of pain right now but at least I look tough and will have cool scars, right?

The group today:

Looking like a dork wearing my new Mellow Johnny's jersey. I have yet to eat dirt when this was taken.

The boys from the shop downhilling. Some good spills but kudos to them for making it down in one piece. Although, I think this is where Mark (top) dislocated his shoulder....and then popped it back in himself.

Unfortunate flat. Teaming together to fit to 26 (?) tube for a 29.

Elbow pads saved me.

My knee pads that are on backorder would have been nice today...

Mark's cool injury and his runin with the cranks...

Mark was smiling really big. Seriously.

I think I have more than one knee. It actually looks worse in person. Who knew taking a picture of your own knee could be so difficult.

Post ride meal. The best tortas milanesa EVER from Tacos Por Favor. Makes all the pain go away....except when your stomach hurts from too much chipotle sauce. :)

Now I have to figure out how to run this dang half marathon I signed up for with a bum knee....whoops. :)

Tall Bike Culture Isn't For Sale...

2010-01-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

...so I took a test spin on someone else's tall bike. :)

Another Friday night, another Midnight Ridazz ride. I started my ride in Santa Monica and met up with a friend Rambod. We took a tour down to Venice and grabbed a quick bite before venturing over to the official start at the La Brea Tar Pits. We rode west on Wilshire Blvd and had a tour of a West LA I'm not all familiar with. It was "hillier" than I had imagined it to be but if I mash downhill fast enough on the fixed, the uphills aren't so bad.

Here's just a few highlights from my ride last night:

Bike Friendly Austin and Mellow Johnny's

2010-01-06T23:13:00.000-08:00

I've finally recovered from my trip to Austin over the New Year weekend. I've never eaten so much comfort food or felt so deprived from the lack of biking this past weekend. There were

moments where I had to catch the drool spilling over my bottom lip not only from the delicious (but totally unhealthy) food in front of me but also due to the presence of bikes. They were everywhere from the most secluded of highways to the busiest roads with ricochets just littering the hipster side of town. If there's one thing I learned about Texas, if they like something, it's serious business. Food, football, biking, it's legit.

2010 started off with the ultimate question, "Have you ever had meat sweat?" Um, meat sweat!? Apparently, it's what happens when you BYOB and eat Salt Lick BBQ. It's the sensation you get when you eat so much good BBQ that you sweat it out from your pores and reek like the deliciousness your stomach is having a heck of a time digesting. Don't worry folks, this wasn't all I had to eat--this plate was my "appetizer." I ate plenty more after this plate. How could I not? It's all you can eat! Topped off with the best blackberry cobbler a la mode I have ever had!! (I would seriously fly back just for the blackberry cobbler......) The rest of the day--well it was a blur. Exhausted from a late night of drinking and eating as much as I could....

In order to feel a little less guilty about stuffing my face with Salt Lick, we walked around downtown Austin and of course I started taking pictures of all the bike racks and bikes that were around. Check it out. It's a Specialized even in Lance's hometown! :) I do have to say that I'm pretty disturbed with the lock up job of the bikes below. I guess Austin is way friendlier and bikes don't get stolen as often as they do in LA?

Next stop was Chuy's. Their awesomeness of the queso matched the cheesy decoration. I'm now hungry for Chuy's as I write this....

And of course Mellow Johnny's was awesome. I was grinning ear to ear at all the cool stuff Lance has in his shop and spent a limb to buy way too much merchandise. Here's a video of my journey to my mecca:

The damage (this picture doesn't even include everything I got that day...yikes):

Of course after all that shopping and eating, I had to relax with one of these from the cafe adjacent to his shop:

Next time I go back to Austin (because I will go back), I'll need to take my bike with me. The roads are so rideable...It's now on my bucket list of things to do. What better way to justify eating all that goodness than to bike it off in a (bike) friendly city? Anyone else want to join me?

Oh, and one last thing, special thanks to Jordan and Shirley for making my Austin experience. :)

On My Way to Mellow Johnny's

2009-12-31T01:47:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-12-30T20:58:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-19T02:34:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-12-18T16:39:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-12-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-07T20:06:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-12-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

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. :)

Riding to Work

2009-11-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm sure most of you are sick of my shaky videos so I made a video slideshow instead. :) Now you can view the hazards, crowded streets, and lack of bike lanes, all without experiencing the streets that are riddled with potholes! The best part of the ride to work is that it takes just as long to get there on a bike as it does in a car, mostly because it's downhill. The ride home, well, that's a different story...I'm not going to lie, I sometimes wish for gears on my ride home.

Riding to Work in West LA from starla hashimoto on Vimeo.

Justifying my Thanksgiving Meal

2009-11-27T18:02:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! I lumped around on the couch right after gorging myself with turkey, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and pecan pie but this year, it was a little different from every other year. This past year, every since my rediscovery of bicycles, I decided to make it a goal to maintain my health and fitness. There was a conglomeration of events that left me determined to make better life choices--eating better foods and exercising being at the top of my list. I started off on a program that had me doing something active six days a week, and biking at least four of those days. In the beginning, it was a difficult adjustment to wake up early in the AM or ride after work when I just wanted to enjoy a margarita at happy hour but over time, I enjoyed it. I sought hills to climb then eventually canyon roads. A little masochistic, I know, but I'm sure every cyclist addict knows what I'm talking about. Exercise was my new addiction.

Somewhere between all my cycling, I decided that I would be fit enough to run a half marathon without much training. Needless to say, I was a fool to think that it'd be "easy" but somehow I finished. Despite all the pain I felt after 13.1 miles of run/walking, I wanted more. Running was a new challenge. I started a new 1/2 marathon training plan and found my next event, a 10k Turkey Trot in beautiful Dana Point, CA.

My T-day morning started at 4:00 am. At that early hour, I couldn't understand why I had ever thought it'd be a great idea to run and leave my warm bed. I have never been so nervous for an event either but I think it's because I actually set a goal for myself AND it's been over a month since I did a run more than two miles. Here's a summary of my thoughts during the run:

Mile 1: So glad it's no longer 47 degrees. It's a perfect 70 degrees and sunny, shoulda worn sunglasses--it's Southern California, what was I thinking?
Mile 1.5: Elite runners already turned around, wow.
Mile 2: I'm intimidated, everyone has shapely legs like my marathoner friends.
Mile 2.5: I hurt...I'll allow myself to walk for a little bit on mile 3
Mile 3: Urgh, too many spectators, I can't walk and lose face now! ELITE RUNNERS DONE.
Mile 4: Dang it, I CAN'T WALK NOW! I'm already more than halfway done!
Mile 5: My marathoner friends must be done....
Mile 6: SPRINT. BEAT THE CLOCK.
Finish: Wow, I jogged the whole thing and beat my time goal by a minute and a half! WOO!!

I think my turkey dinner was well deserved. :)

OH, and rest assured two-wheelers, I haven't given up on the bike thing. It's my first love and nothing will change that. I'm going for a long ride on Sunday through Malibu! And a night ride on my Roll 2 on Wednesday! YAY!

Timé Weeps, So We Ride!

2009-11-23T03:55:00.000-08:00

I have a tendency to name inanimate objects and bikes are no exception. Timé, my second road bike, is a "middle child" bicycle and has been neglected for the past few weeks when I played with my Roll 2 (which has yet to be named). The story behind Timé's name? There's not much of story like everything else I've appointed a name to--I lack creativity in that regard. Example: I had a stuffed animal whale and his name was Mr. Blue Whale. It's a Time bike so.........I don't think this needs any further explanation of why but here's a video of how you'd pronounce his name:

This Sunday, like many other Sundays for the past year, I rode with a mostly women's group through the wonderfully packed streets of LA along the beach. Katie, as you will in this video, is the person I blame for pushing me over the edge into my obsession for bikes in general. I also blame her for my itch to own a mountain bike NOW. (I'd love to blog about your mountain bikes, Specialized--oh, and don't worry about Timé, I have two other bikes besides the Roll with your name on it...hehe. Talk about brand loyalty. :P )

Here's a short video (err, maybe not so short, sorry) of my ride through the beach cities. How could you NOT fall in love with riding when the sun is shining and the weather is a perfect 68 degrees?

(Ok, again, sorry for bad video quality/lack of video taping skills.)

Bicycle and Coffee

2009-11-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

I'm not the biggest coffee drinker by all means but I always seem to find my way to a coffee shop. Part of the reason might be because I get a fifty dollar allowance from work every month at Starbucks. The other part is probably because there is almost always outdoor seating where I can sit, relax, and enjoy the Southern California weather with some friends in between riding. Having the Roll 2 has made it that much easier to just commute to a casual drink because I don't have to put on the whole cycling getup like when I ride my roadie. This past weekend, my every waking moment was either spent on the Roll 2 or sipping a cup of non-joe with my pinky up in the air.

Here are just a few pictures from my pedaling adventures to various beverage shops:

My sister and best friend, Sherry, and her fancy roadie in the back.

Wearing my road jersey...I'm a hybrid.

Cider on a chilly night w/Kenji and Eric.

"Green" bike racks. Bikes locked up to bolted down old bikes!

Chibi Sits, I Stay (Track Standing!)

2009-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Meet Chibi, my lovable lump of a dog niece dog. I visited her this weekend in the OC. (Yup, the same OC as that canceled television show. For those of you who don't know, OC stands for Orange County and if you've never heard of the TV show, thank your lucky stars.) Instead of taking her on a walk, we hung out in the front yard, sun bathed under the autumn sky, and she ran around the cul-de-sac as I practiced some things out on my bike. My friend Eric had taught me how to track stand the night before and here is video proof of me showing off my new trick and Chibi showing off her old tricks:

I had crossed one task off my long to-do list of things to learn on my bike so by the end of the night, I moved onto my next big thing. Track standing with no hands. I rolled up to the top of a parking structure so I could practice my moves on a level surface. You can see that I'm still a little shaky given that my arms look like they're flapping in this photo.

And here's me, trying way too hard to look urban. Since I'm not a blur with the slower shutter speed here, you might assume that I've got this whole track stand with hands, down. But don't let this picture or video above fool you, I cave under pressure at a stop light...I'm working on it...

Midweek Decompression Ride

2009-11-13T01:03:00.000-08:00

The last week has been a rough one. Over the weekend, there was a family emergency and I slept maybe two hours over a 35+ hour period. Not a lot got accomplished and I didn't go on my regular Sunday ride which left me in a funk. It's a good thing I now have a regular Wednesday ride thanks to Will! It's called the "EHNHDUUURR" ride because by midweek, our brains are fried and we need a little mindless fun.

On this week's ride, we decided to stop by the Kogi BBQ truck to grab some grub--we couldn't find it. But let me rewind for a second, you're probably thinking, "Korean BBQ TRUCK?" Well, around LA, food trucks a.k.a. "roach coaches" or "taco trucks" have been around f o r e v e r and are known to have the best tacos in the Southern California area. The problem is, you had to know where these trucks were and not all of them are good. Kogi BBQ revamped the food truck craze and gave it a whole new twist. They started serving Korean BBQ tacos, quesadillas with kimchee (spicy pickled cabbage) in it, and all these other "fusion" dishes. When they first launched, the lines for this gem was hours long like a Disneyland ride. People caught on to this fad and now there are SO MANY food trucks--the one we found was called Nom Nom. If you live in West LA, you can follow West_LA on twitter for what trucks are around during lunch and dinner.

Anyway, after seeing the MASSIVE crowds, we just continued to ride on through the Marina and Culver City. Night riding is such a great stress reliever. There are less cars on the road, less people, and there is nothing else like pedaling through the fog that rolls in and riding next to the water.

Here's a little clip from our journey on Wednesday night--thanks for everyone that put up with me videotaping. And for those that do choose to view the video, I'm SO SORRY that it's shaky. Riding and recording is not the easiest thing in the world....

If I were a professional, riding through LA would look like this (Jared Leto with some Midnight Ridazz):

Fixie+Starla=Le Tired!

2009-11-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

It all started out with a tweet from my favorite bike shop, Cynergy Cycles at 1:46 PM as I looked over some spreadsheet full of performance numbers:

@starlah OMG come get you bike girl it's here!!!

I just about screamed, flipped, and danced in the cubicle I’m confined to between the hours of 9 to 5 but contained myself when I realized I needed my job and my health insurance if I was going to ride a fixie.

For the past year, I mostly rode a road bike that allows me to brake, coast, change gears and averaged up to 45 miles per ride, the longest being 80 miles. I knew riding a fixed would be different from the few times I toted around the block on a friend’s bike but I didn’t think it’d be so hard! After a 7 mile trip to the beach and back, I was a little beat an in pain. I think my face says it all:

It literally kicked my behind but I'm super excited for the challenge that lays ahead.

Livestrong, Robert

2009-11-06T10:43:00.000-08:00

As many of you already know, Globe Bikes, the urban bike division of Specialized, has selected a few of us to write about our experiences with the bikes they’ve provided us. I was one of the very few lucky ones chosen to write about my Globe experience. We’ve all pooled together from different parts of the “globe” (haha, like you didn’t see THAT one coming) to share our day to day journey but I wanted to bring to your attention one Glober in particular that deserves some special attention.

Meet Robert, here: http://robertfuel.com/fight

He’s fighting the fight—the same fight that Lance won and then trampled all over it fivefold AND some. He has kept normalcy and humor in his life despite the chemo and numerous surgeries. Anyway, I just wanted to get the word out. Please send him your well wishes, support, money if you feel so inclined here:

http://fightforfeuille.com

Robert, I’m hoping you’ll get well soon so your mad social media skills can be used to blog about your adventures on your rad new bike!

The Simple Things...

2009-11-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

On Christmas morning 1987, I woke up to the sound of metal tools hitting each other. I rolled out of my bed, rubbed my groggy eyes, and to my delight, I found my dad putting the last training wheel on my very first bike! I was so excited that it didn't even cross my mind that Santa didn't build it for me and took it out for a spin as soon as my mom let me. I rode around the house and down the sidewalk a couple house lengths and thought life couldn't get any better.

As time went on, school and life got in the way, I outgrew my bikes and never looked back--until recently. Somehow, the stars aligned, I inherited a vintage Specialized Sirrus and a friend of mine convinced me to go on a night bike ride last October. It was the monthly Midnight Ridazz ride and it was a “wear-whatever-costume-you-want” kind of party. That night, as I rode around the streets of Downtown LA as Harry Potter’s alter ego, I fell in love. It took me back to those days when I rode around my neighborhood as a kid and never felt so free, so cleared from the thoughts that were bogging me down for so many months. The wind blew through my cape and Hedwig hopped a ride in my backpack to join me o n my journey to escape the real world. It was like magic, not any ol’ pull-a-rabbit-out-of-a-hat magic, but the kind that rids of Voldemort.

When I'm on my bike, I feel like it's 1987 all over again except that Santa is now known as Specialized/Globe Bikes. I've become slightly obsessed with the pleasure of riding my bike whether it be on my roadie, a borrowed mountain, or my long awaited fixie. What can I say, the simple things in life bring the biggest smile to my face. :)