April; the rest of the story. (Why I am not a writer, Continued.)

Training wise, there is not much to share... I rode....... As the Who once said; "for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles. Oh yea!....." Mostly Following my standard San Vicente to Ocean, then on to either Marina del Rey, Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo or Palos Verdes, depending on how many miles I am looking to log.  Kinda the same ol' thing. Not That I'm not digging the miles; I am. It's just that the routine is becoming, well routine.

My recovery  days, on the other hand, were anything but routine, as the wife and I went to Palo Alto, to visit Josh.  Really one of the best weekends we have had together in ages. We Left L.A. bright and early; arriving in Palo Alto by 12:30p. First thing we did is drop in to see this quarters housing, otherwise known as  "The Dojo".  It's a four  bedroom 70's ranch style home, on about 2 acres and backing up to The Dish, which is about 2500 acres of open space. Pretty impressive digs for a set of Stanford Juniors. We visited for about an hour, and then went on to check into Dinah's, our hotel. When we opened the door to our room......  Jackpot! Wow, what a fantastic little jewel of a place we found. The room was huge, and very well appointed. Big flat screen, (Not the we ever turned it on.)  nicely situated bar/sink/kitchenette area, big dining table and a nice big comfy reading chair. The best surprise came when we open up the drapes covering the double sliding doors.... we were greeted with a well executed oriental themed tropical oasis, complete with bamboo, ferns, and all manner of tropical plants.  Not to mention the huge koi swimming around. Really such a nice surprise, we were stunned that no one ever told us about this place. Second best thing is it's attached to an old school Trader Vic's!  Cocktails and pupus anyone?

That evening we took Josh out to dinner at a nice little spot Neysa found right near campus. It was so great just to have him to ourselves even if it was only for a little while. After that we..........

Hmmmm...... Maybe just a little too much information.....

I'll try again.

Neys and I went up to visit Josh. His living situation is great, and we had a really great time seeing him and hanging around several parts of the bay area.

Here are some pics.

The Stanford Steps

Burghers of Calais -  Detail

Burghers of Calais - Detail

View from the Hoover Tower

At the Dutch Goose

At the Dutch Goose with Neys and the boys

Flower shop Berkeley

Cheesy Rolls from the Cheese Board

Well, it is Berkeley

Don't hate me because I don't care for musicals 

It's a yiddish thing.......

Roasted bone marrow at Wayfare Tavern

The Lad  - Poolside at Dinahs

Montalvo - Sculpture detail

Montalvo - Sculpture detail

Montalvo - Nest made of newspapers 

Montalvo - Fountain detail

Ok thats it....... April is in the books

This is why I'm not a writer

Last post was April 2nd. Do you think I've been off my bike and not training for a month? Not a chance. The truth is I've been training like mad but just not posting. Training is easy, writing every day or so, is hard. I would not call it writer's block, I'd just call it penman's procrastination.

I'll try to fill in the highlights of Aprils training. Still averaging over 200 miles per week, and still keeping up with my yoga practice twice a week, if I can.

Firstly I have not only hit my fundraising goal, I have now exceeded it by over $1100.00!!! Pretty amazing. I am so thankful to all of those who have made my fundraising such a success. I need to give huge props to my dear friend Craig Grossmueller. who stepped up with a huge donation to the cause. Also Danny M. who's contribution was mind boggling. Really quite stunned at his generosity. Paul Dektor, Paul & Lea Culberg, Gail Reisman, Katya Culberg, John Dilmore. My Friend Richard Weiner. stepped up and put me over my goal with a follow up donation, after being one of the first to step up! Sharon Felder, Anne Madden, Maureen O'Connel, Myrna Palma, Christine Huynh & Troy Walker, Kevin & Anne McClusky and June Schwartz. All came through big time and I love all you guys!

I rode in another ALC training ride on the 14th of April. We rode down to San Pedro and back. Some good hills going over Palos Verdes. I started the ride with about six riders and we set a pretty good pace. Slower than I'd prefer because when your on an official ALC ride you HAVE to obey every traffic law. (After all, we are representing a charitable foundation and it would not look good for us to act like scofflaws!) That means a complete stop at every stop sign, red light, crosswalk if there is a pedestrian in it. You must unclip and touch the ground with one foot. That really slows you down in town. Even after you get really quick at the "unclip toe tap stop." I hung with that group until the second rest stop, in Redondo, and then pedaled out with one other rider from there. We traded post positions on and off until we hit one of the long climbs on which I put too much of a distance for him to catch up. (Nichols makes you strong!) I was way out in front for the rest of the first half, until I became unsure of the route, so I waited about 10 minutes for another rider to come along. He was not sure either, so we waited together until a third and fourth guy showed up. Thankfully one of them knew the route. So I headed out again in a group of four. That did not last too long, and once again I found myself out in front with just one other rider. We pulled in to the halfway stop for lunch together.

After a quick bite, I set out for home with the same rider I left the second stop with and we made pretty good time heading home. Once I hit El Porto, I put the hammer down a bit and pulled away pretty fast. I was kinda like one of those horses we used to rent as kids in Griffith Park, who really made a beeline back to the barn once they turned around. I got back to our starting point about 35 minutes ahead of the next rider. I must say though, my knees were a little achey, which was a bit disturbing. The pain dissipated as I went through a few stretching routines, but still, I iced and took some Advil once I got home just to be safe. The ALC ride was officially 77 Miles, but as I rode to the starting point and back, I added 10 miles to the day for a total 87 miles.

Being still a little worried about my knees, I decided to skip Nichols that Sunday.

Lets see...... Oh Yea, I had a birthday.

I'll finish out the month in my next post........ Palo Alto, Stanford, Berkeley and San Francisco.... Pics galore!