LA Beach Ride Report

[dbrk]

My teaching schedule brought me to LA this weekend (and home tonight on the red-eye, as usual) and the best part of these visits is the chance to ride with some Serottapals. How can I ever thank Ben and Co. enough for providing the place (here) where I met friends like Thom Byrnes and Mavic? What great guys and since I can current whup Mavic's carcass up a hill my ego took particular pleasure in yesterday's jaunt. I am sure Mavic will answer this indiginity with something of a sporting vengence when he comes to the Finger Lakes this Labor Day.

Anyway, Thom led the way through a maze of coastal towns, down the beach bike path and the maze of strollers and walkers and skaters and nearly naked volleyballers, then streets and paths and lord knows where. Thom rode his Concours while Mavic had the pleasure of Thom's Ottrott which he managed well (despite it being a bit on the small side for him...). I had the 1980-something RichardSachs which fit me darn near perfectly by raising the saddle some. What a fantastic ride that bike is and, I must say, a near-twin to my other Sachs. Of all the bikes I have owned none are more consistent than the Sachs and none more alike in temperment and feel. Perfect would describe the ride.

I gotta go teach yoga and I wish I could say more about where we went on this ride...perhaps Thom could say. But I just wanted to say that Serottapals were out again, brought together by the Forum, and with much gratitude to Thom, Mavic, and Serotta.

gotta go teach yoga,
dbrk

[Climb01742]

douglas...surely you can't leave it at four measley words..."nearly naked volleyball players"...the important details, please... :p

[mavic1010]

Climb0....my apologies for not bringing my digital camera on this ride as I did with the J.B. ride.....I'm sure pictures would have nicely added to the "nearly naked volleyball players" comment. =)

[Climb01742]

how true, mavic, how true...i wish you guys would get your priorities straight!!!! especially for those of us who live in bikini-challenged climates...we're living thru you socal guys!

[Tom Byrnes]

Douglas - It was great seeing you in So Cal again. As always.
:beer: :banana:
So that you will be able to put some names with the areas we rode through, I will describe our route.

We rode through West Los Angeles, into the Veteran's Administration grounds (a chance to get away from the traffic for a few moments), into Brentwood and down San Vicente Boulevard (the street with all of the joggers) to the beach area in Santa Monica. We went by Santa Monica Canyon (Jeff Bridges' old house) and onto the bike bath.

We headed south along the bike path past "several nearly naked" female beach volleyball players. :) Climb01742 - It's a Southern California thing. - lots of two-women beach volleyball team matches played on both Saturdays and Sundays as soon as we have a hint of sun - so from January to December. We have had lots of sun lately, so there were lots of women's volleyball matches being played. The standard Southern California beach volleyball uniform = bikini.
:) :banana:
Riding the bike path in the summer is difficult. Besides from the repeated distractions caused by the "several nearly naked volleyball players" (the volleyball courts are set up very close to the bike path), the "bicycles only" path is congested with people jogging or walking at all speeds, rollerbladers, and children running blindly across it. So, we had to make our way carefully down the coast. It's extra hazardous for cyclists not used to the distractions.

We rode through Venice to the Marina Del Rey area and over to the Playa Del Rey Bridge. We left the coast and headed back to my house riding along the Ballona Creek Bike Path (no volleyball matches, very few strollers, skaters, and animals) for five miles to Culver City. We rode by the old MGM-now Sony Studios lot through the residential areas to my house.

The one (or biggest) drawback of the ride. As dbrk stated early into our ride, "I've ridden by more cars in the past hour than I have seen in a month in Upstate New York." :crap: Other than the traffic, a summer Santa Monica-Venice Beach Ride is a treat.

Mavic - Maybe we should take Weisan, Donn and Bob through that stretch of beach when we ride together again in two weeks. Climb01742, and any other SerottaPals - C'mon out to to L.A. We can take a nice beach ride.

Echoing what dbrk said, "thank you" to Ben Serotta, Kahuna (where are you, Gary?) and Company for creating and maintaining the wonderful Serotta Forum. What a great place for great people to meet in cyberspace, and then, later in person.
:) :) :banana: :banana:

Tom

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . I need to visit LA.

Hmmm, let’s see . . . I wonder how many nearly naked volleyball players there are around Bristol? . . . :confused: ;)

BBDave

[mavic1010]

not to fret...I will surely bring my camera on our ride with weisan.....I'm sure everyone on this board will want to see the "volleyball" players....maybe we could even ask them to pose with our bikes...

[Dekonick]

BBD - there is a nudist colony in Crownsville, MD. I must warn you that although nude, the sights are NOT pleasant. I assume the opposite is true in CA?

-mike

:D

[bcm119]

The adage about SoCal people being "better looking" is only part of the story. SoCal people are tanner and generally less overweight than many areas, and there is certainly a higher incidence of cosmetic surgery, but that doesn't mean the people have more naturally attractive features. It just means they worry about how they look more than anywhere else. I never saw that as a good thing. I guess the good part is that they wear less clothes.

On a related note, Time magazine recently had a US map of obesity rate by county- interesting map, and yes, LA county was in the skinniest category.

[Tom Byrnes]

Los Angeles's nice weather naturally lends itself to lots of outdoor activities throughout the year. Add the ever-present influence of the entertainment industry and the widespread interest in health and you get a lot of good-looking Angelinos (and others) playing at the beach throughout the year. I'm sure the same is true in Miami and San Diego, to mention two other big cities, even if those cities do not have the strong entertainment business influence.

I did not realize that LA County was a "skinniest county". That's good. There have to be a few benefits to living in a county with 7 million other people and, seemingly, 7 million automobiles.

Tom