icyclist 

Inspired by the second stage courage exhibited by the Tour of California riders, I decided to climb onto my bike, too. That is, if the rain let up. Otherwise, it was going to be the rollers for me.

Luckily, the sky did begin to clear, so I pushed off about 4 p.m., not quite sure where I was headed. Because of the Presidents Day holiday, traffic was light on major roadways and almost non-existent, as usual, on residential streets.

I began to angle north, through the Carthay Circle neighborhood. I rolled over a rain puddle that was reflective enough to make me feel as if I was riding upside down.



A little farther and still in Carthay Circle, I saw the sunlight glinting off an office building that rose above Wilshire Blvd. My cyclometer showed the temperature was 60 degrees - oddly warm after the cold and monsoon-like conditions earlier in the day. A little later, as the road tilted up, I stowed my jacket.



Three miles after starting my ride, I passed the Pacific Design Center, in West Hollywood. An Oscar party - pre or post I cannot say - will be held inside an enormous tent erected in the large courtyard of the center.



Just beyond the party tent, under clearing skies, I rolled past some construction on the north side of the Pacific Design Center. The sky seemed to be clearing nicely.



Reaching Sunset Blvd., I took it west for a bit, before turning onto N. Doheny Road. A number of steep streets, lined shoulder to shoulder with large homes, are found here. Although officially named The Santa Monica Mountains, the heights here are part of the city of Beverly Hills. Remember the "Beverly Hillbillies?" Jed Clampett found his Black Gold, Texas T - Oil! - on that old t.v. show. Most of Beverly Hills lies in the flatlands, and the exterior scenes shown on the t.v. show were filmed in nearby Bel-Air (where a number of mansions sit in relative solitude on large plots of land).

About a half-mile shy of the end of the pavement in a cul-de-sac, the road switchbacks and the grade slackens off for a bit through the turn. Then it tilts up to about 14% for the final run to the top. In the distance, the skyscrapers of Century City (which was once the backlot of the 20th Century Fox studios) rose into the now clear skies.



I roller coastered a few more steep streets. A last blast of pure sunlight lit up the top of the landscape.



Someone out walking and who was a lot younger than me thought it was cool someone "your age" was able to ride a bike. Seeing me make a few pictures from the apex of my ride, she asked if she could photograph me against the backdrop of the city. Hey, she makes better photographs than I do.



The sun was preparing to drop into the Pacific Ocean and it was time for me to make few a last photographs and pull on my jacket. I had climbed 1500+ feet in a few miles, and so I would have a speedy return in the gathering darkness. The temperature was 48 F up here (but would rise four degrees by the time I reached the flats).



Here's a closer and somewhat blurry photograph (maybe I was shaking from the cold) of Century City, rising to the southwest. Beverly Hills sits in the foreground, and the blank area beyond the buildings is the Pacific Ocean. The rain began to fall again a few hours after I reached my home, and lasted through the night. This morning, the skies are finally starting to lighten. I'm going to catch some of the TOC and if it stays reasonably clear, I'll be inspired to ride again late this afternoon, in what sometimes truly is the Golden State.

Second Mouse

Thanks for the photos--almost makes it look like it would be worth living there!

Great jersey, too!

AssosMan

Better than I thought. I actually thought that this was going to be another one of those Lance Armstrong threads...........

baiskeli

Great photos!!

b.t.w we have the same jersey

icyclist 

>I actually thought that this was going to be another one of those Lance Armstrong threads...........<

I should have spelled out Los Angeles in full - I'll probably have lots of people ignoring this post.

travkat

great post and great pics.

simplify

Thank you so much for this. Beautiful. I'm terribly homesick...

NickExxon

And, BTW, would you care to identify that jersey. I think me likey...

seb1041

Grass...

Water not frozen...

Trees with leaves...

Damn winters are long here.

HAMMER MAN

jeeeeeeeeeez,

I miss S. Calif.

icyclist 

>b.t.w we have the same jersey<

>And, BTW, would you care to identify that jersey. I think me likey...<

It's the "Veni, Vidi, Vomiti" jersey.

I picked it up after my heart attack a few months ago - it seemed appropriate at the time, as I wasn't sure what I'd feel like once I climbed on my bike again. So far the only heaving I've done is a sigh of relief that I can still ride to and enjoy seeing some beautiful locations.

KiddSisko

Great picture!

aham23

^^^^ ditto. thanks for sharing. we got snow in the forecast for Chicago . later.

dcbikeguy

Looks warm, so what's with the ice in your beard?

icyclist 

>Looks warm, so what's with the ice in your beard?<

I dyed the beard to match my classy Nashbar sunglasses, of course.

bwunger

Nicely played sir.

and thanks for the pics.

icyclist 

>would you care to identify that jersey<

I should have added that elevengear also offers matching cap, socks and water bottle for the near-perfect Fred look. The shirt alone is the opposite of Fred, especially when worn on a long climb (OK, I want the cap, socks and water bottle, too).

Dannihilator

Nice writeup.

Mojo Slim

Thanks for posting (you should post more often). I love the switchback picture. And it is a rare occurance to get a picture of oneself actually riding a bike.

Mojo Slim

I hope you don't mind, but I love playing around with pictures like this. You can use this for your next poster.

rollin

Nice post, thanks for sharing.

Artkansas 

And I thought LA stood for Lower Arkansas as Louisiana is sometimes known.


The Baldwin Hills in the distance take me back to my youth when I used to cruise them on my U08.

buzzedbiker

Great pictures! thanks for sharing.

icyclist 

Awesome. I want to use it as my official bf portrait. In fact, I already have set it as my avatar.

Mojo Slim

Great. Glad to be of service.