Jan. 15-20......36.16 in 3:08.....I did one ride in this time period, an exploration of some more canyon roads in Santa Clarita. The Santa Ana winds were rocking, and the drought conditions had everything crispy. There is a wild fire in LA, called the Colby Fire, that is making national headlines. The only trace we have seen of it is some smoke, as it is about 30-40 miles south of us, and has burned about 2000 acres and five homes. There was also a minor earthquake, which we didn't feel, but we are getting the full Southern California experience. Pam has an earthquake app on her phone, and this area always has a little rumble going on somewhere. It's just a part of life here, like snow back east, but I must admit, it would be cool to feel a little rumble, as I never have.
My ride expanded to some roads on the outskirts of town, and they made a big loop. The wind wasn't really terrible (all that Outer Banks riding has made me reconsider what a stiff wind is), but I did have one moment where all the stars aligned( tailwind, smooth road, no traffic, downhill) and I hit 46.7 miles per hour, which I believe is the fastest I've ever gone on a bike. If I would have realized the conditions a little sooner, I could have put some more effort into it, and maybe hit 50 mph! An opportunity missed, I guess. I rode south to Stevensons Ranch, then east on Lyons Rd, to Railroad Street, to Bouquet Canyon, to Soledad Canyon, White Canyon, Plum Canyon, back to Bouquet Canyon, then Copper Hill Dr. to cousin Marina's house for a glass of water. Joseph, the 20 year old, just had shoulder surgery, and I checked in to see how he was doing. The tailwind carried me home, after a head wind in most of the canyons. Most of the roads out of town follow a canyon in this mountainous area, and it makes for great riding, because you have hills, but you never have to peak a mountain to get around. I enjoy the hills because I have to stay in some sort of shape to climb a 4500 ft pass out of San Diego when the trip eastward begins in February.
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| Bike parked with the giant tumbleweeds that rolled in with the Santa Ana winds |
Jan.16.....Michael Jarocki, Marina 's husband, used his far reaching connections as a free lance cameraman, to arrange VIP tickets for us to see the Jimmy Kimmel Show. The show is made on Hollywood Blvd, right across from the Chinese Theatre, so we had to drive back to that area, where we had explored last week, so we had an idea where we were going. They were full, so at first we thought we were going to get to be in the Green Room, where the stars lounge before and after their appearance, and there is free food and drinks for all of us VIPs. Marina was excited that we would get to do that, but an opening came up, and we were given seats to the actual show. There were a lot of differences between Leno and Kimmel. Leno's studio was bigger and nicer. Kimmel had to set up his desk during a commercial after his monologue. I had never heard of Kimmels' guests, even though they were well known to others. We saw Chris Pine, who has been in a lot of movies, including playing Captain Kirk in the newest version of Star Trek movies, and a guy who is on the TV show, Shark Tank. The musical guest was Gregory Porter, a jazz/blues guy that was really good, we had just never heard of him. As an audience, we had to leave our seats and go to a different area and stand to see him. We had a good view, but some people couldn't see him. After the show, we walked across the street to the Hard Rock Cafe of Hollywood and had supper and a drink. The walk of fame was very slow, with a relatively small amount of people, so there weren't so many of the crazies out, like we saw last time.
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| Window shopping in Hollywood! |
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| Taking a break in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel |
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| This is the line waiting to get into Jimmy Kimmel! |
Jan. 17... On Friday, Pam worked around the RV while I ran around in the Jeep for a while, before it was off to another show. This time we went to the Paramount Studios, where Michael was actually working as a cameraman in Studio 19, on a live audience Nickelodeon show called See Dad Run. We drove into Hollywood again, and parked on the very famous studio's lot. Our name was on 'the list', so we didn't have to pay to park. As we wandered, we met Michael, who gave us a small tour of the lot. We saw the New York Street set, as well as a little day care type green space and park that Desi and Lucy had built for little Ricky to play in when they lived on the lot for the Lucille Ball Show. The studio where our show was filmed was the one used for movies, such as Citizen Kane, and the TV show Happy Days. The star of See Daddy Run was Scott Baio who played Chachi on Happy Days. We also recognized Mark Curry, a tall black guy who we've seen on other Nickelodeon type shows. We got center isle seats, just above Scott Baio's wife and daughter, and got to see how a sitcom is directed, shot, and produced. We were there for about three hours, and they did multiple takes of about ten scenes. The crowd was not exactly what we expected, mostly LA people that they gathered from somewhere, and definitely not as sophisticated as audiences on Leno and Kimmel.
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| Famous Paramount Studio water tower |
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| The gate to Paramount Studios |
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| Michael Jarocki and Pam posing in front of the Paramount directory - the right side of the sign lists all of the TV shows and movies currently being filmed at the Paramount Studio. |
Saturday, Jan. 18....Pam, Marina, Rosie, Christopher, and I headed to Malibu for a day at the beach. Marina drove her minivan, and took us through LA and Scenic Malibu Canyon, to Zuma Beach, which I rode right by on my travels down the coast. It was in the 80's, but the sun, even though warm, just doesn't burn you this time of year. The beach was pretty busy, and we just sat for a few hours, and watched whales, dolphins, pelicans, sea lions and/or seals play in the water pretty near to shore. I also took a dip in water that was 59 degrees, according to the lifeguard's report. After that, we went to a favorite spot of Marina's, Paradise Cove. It's a pay beach and restaurant where many beach movies have been shot. We really didn't get a chance to stroll the beach and clouds covered any sunset, but the middle of January will be like that sometimes! The place is the sight of the movie, Beach Blanket Bingo from the fifties, many commercials, Baywatch, American Pie, and a whole list of other movies and TV shows I've heard of. We had a nice meal, and I tried all sorts of things I couldn't identify that were on the salad bar. We got home at about 8:30, and called it a night.
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| Sitting on Zuma beach |
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| Beach side of Paradise Cove |
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| Posing by Paradise Cove surfboard sign |
Sunday, Jan. 19..... After a quiet day, we were invited to Marina's for a BBQ chicken dinner and an evening of hanging out around the campfire. Michael BBQ'd, Marina made the sides, including a corn and avocado salad (very California!). The campfire was in the back yard in a little round fire pit. It was good that Lane (Marina's younger brother), was there, as I haven't seen him very much because of his work.
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| Dinner with the Rose/Jarocki families |
Monday, Jan 20..... 37.56 in 3:04..... I knew I needed to get out for some exercise, so I headed a little north to a small town called Castaic, and headed out Lake Hughes Rd. I didn't make it to Lake Hughes, but Castaic Lake and Recreation Area provided the scenery as I climbed a pretty decent hill above the huge dam and lake and into the Angeles National Forest and accompanying mountains. There was a lower, smaller lake for fishing and non motorized boats, and then a pretty big dam that is visible from I-5, but not very noticeable if you're not looking for it because of its earth tone color that matches right in. The upper lake, behind the dam, was teaming with motor boats, because today is MLK Day, and some people and schools were off. The lake was relatively full, compared to others I've seen in the area, and there were some green trees around it, which really stood out from the dry, brown , scrub grass predominant in the area. As I got higher up the mountain, the headwind began to blow pretty good, so I picked a turn around spot when I could clearly see that I was heading out into nowhere land, with plenty of climbing. I ended up climbing about 2300 ft the way it was. The road was virtually traffic free, and another fantastic ride out a canyon in this area. I really like the multiple options for riding in this area, and I have really explored very little of what's available. I could live here.
I turned around earlier than I might have, because I had to be back to the RV by 2pm for a scheduled interview and photo session with the Santa Clarita Signal, the local newspaper. Marina contacted them about our travels, and they were actually interested in the story, so it looks like we are going to get a story. The writer said we were inspirational to people over 50. Imagine that. Thank you for feeding my ego, Marina!
This link should take you to the video interview.....this link is an experiment, so....
