hung out with some old NYC friends, and got stalked by a friendly dog.
We discovered several great LA bike paths, here's a quick review of each.
LOS ANGELES BIKE PATHS
Rio Hondo: A short bike path that goes through the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, and ends at the Peck Rd park. Both of the parks have a beautiful lake in the middle of it. Lots of street exits along the way to get on and off the bike path. A nice ride I would recommend to anyone. The best part was at the end of the ride we were only a hop and a skip away from King Taco, where we pigged out on $2 quesadillas, $1 tacos and tamales, and a chocolate chip cookie. Biking has been awesome for our metabolism. We eat ice cream, tacos, and IHOP at midnight and are still getting skinny.
LA River: We biked from Monterey Park to Griffith Park and then biked along the LA River back to Downtown LA. Griffith Park has a very nice bike path with lots of trees and shade, and it's very scenic (the zoo and the ponies stables) it's an easy ride not too hilly, but the actual bike path inside the park is quite short. The Griffith Park bike path leads to the LA River bike path,which runs right along the 5 Freeway. The only thing separating the bike path and the freeway is a crappy old fence. Unless you enjoy getting high off of exhaust fumes, make sure you don't ride during rush hour traffic.
Upper San Gabriel River: We biked from Longo Toyota in South El Monte to Irwindale to get on the bike trail. This was probably my favorite trail. I felt like I was in an 80's movie as the teen from the wrong side of the tracks. It's a narrow elevated bike path that runs along the SG river. Biking along the route you can see a metamorphosis of the river from sludgey sewage, to swamplands, to pretty river bed with trees, to backdrop for Huck Finn. On this route we made a new friend Joe. A super nice guy, who breeds pitbull, once drove to Panama from California, and works in an assisted living home.
Joe: Hey, can I ride with you guys?
Karin: Sure
Joe: Do you guys know any bike tricks?
Deb: No, do you?
Joe:
Santa Monica to Malibu: Most of the bike route along the beach is super flat and easy for cruising. If you're a serious biker don't come here especially on the weekends when it is packed full of tourist on dumb cruiser bikes wobbling around between both lanes. It made me feel a little bit like an asshole in spandex when I kept having to yell "LEFT" to all the tourists on their rental bikes. Great for a relaxing ride, not so good for training. Get off the bike path and get on PCH to Malibu, that's where the real training comes in. You not only have to concentrate on riding a very straight line so you don't get hit by speeding oncoming traffic, but you also have to do it on a very steady continuous incline. Check out Malibu riding in photo below. Debbie's Dangerous spandex outfit got a ton of cat calls and honks.
Note on catcallers in LA: Dudes in LA are chickenshit when it comes to hollering at girls. They only catcall girls from a moving car so they can make a quick getaway. One time Debbie and I caught up to a car full of boys that had just catcalled us and they looked at us like deer in headlights. All I know is, my homies in Harlem at least were man enough to step to me and ask for my number and invite me to dinner. Next time I'm going to bike up to a catcaller and scream, "You like this? Well you gotta take it out to dinner first. And we HUNGRY!"
Mid-San Gabriel River: One day we biked from Monterey Park to Norwalk in the mid-day sun. The bike ride was not as enjoyable as I thought it would be. I think we may have experienced beginning stages of heatstroke and we didn't eat breakfast that morning. I got really bored and then irritable, and then cursed at a woman driver for giving me the right of way on the road. I barely even remember the trail now. I think it was pretty boring and monotonous with few trees. Midway through Debs and I stopped at a Target and drank lemonade, and ate a loaf of bread, a bag of string cheese and a bunch of granola bars. We both felt a bit like we were from crazytown that day. Lesson learned, no more riding hungry in mid-day sun!
Because weekends are made for fun.... We gave ourselves a day off over the weekend and drove to brunch with some NYC expats. It was a beautiful day in Echo Park. We are going to stay with Walter (on the right) in San Diego. He is officially the first host on the Girls Gone Wildlife bike tour!!!! Thank you!!!
Later that day a really cute crazy dog named Oso stalked me and Debbie on our way back to our ride. Debbie wanted to take it on our bike tour. It followed us for blocks. I kept having to tell Debbie don't look at him, stop turning around. It was a little bit cute and sad. I thought we would have to throw rocks at him. "Get out of here you stupid dog. You're free! Run! Go!!!" like the White Fang, The Yearling and all that other Disney shit that makes children cry.
1 comment:
Maybe that's the Joe I'm supposed to be with? Hmmmm.....
You guys are tubular.
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