New Bike Shop

I threw my back out this past Thursday and could not go for any rides this weekend on the mountain bike. Kind of a bummer for me. I am really getting to like the Santa Monicas! There are so many trails to ride and so many different places to explore.

So instead of going for a ride, I visited a new bike shop here in West LA named Cynergy Cycles. They are located at the corner of 23rd Street and Santa Monica Blvd in Santa Monica near St. John’s Medical Center. The folks in the shop are really nice and took the time to talk to me as a person, something that we don’t see very often this day and age of big box stores. In fact, I have been boycotting Performance Bicycles ever since I was treated so poorly by their staff in the Santa Monica store over the course of a couple of visits. In fact, not only do I not shop there but I let anyone that will listen know that they should not shop there either! I guess when you are one of the largest volume cycling retailers in California, you can pick and choose who you are nice to! This negative criticism does not include all Performance Bicycle Shops. The Performance Bicycle in Ventura has always been great to me every time that I have gone in there.

But anyway, based on my good experience at Cynergy Cycles, if you get a chance, check them out. You might like what you find! I have a tick in my bottom bracket right now on my mountain bike and I think that I will be taking it to Cynergy to get checked out.

New Old Hobbies

I have recently rediscovered my love for cycling. It had been more years than I care to remember since I did any kind of serious cycling. I was a commute to campus once every few weeks at the most type of cyclist. One of the main reasons that I had been so reluctant to ride were the multitude of hills in my area of West LA. I had always hated hills and the idea of getting out there on my bicycle just to climb hills was not a pleasant thought. But then my parents bought me a new Specialized Hardrock Sport mountain bike on closeout at Performance Bicycles in Ventura for Christmas last year and I rediscovered my love of cycling and even learned to live with the hills and climbs that come with it!

Recently, I decided that it would be great to give it a shot riding in the Santa Monica Mountains. Let me tell you, the downhills are great but the uphills are the ones that are a pain in the butt!
I found a group on the internet that rides in the mountains around the LA area called the Over The Bars Mountain Biking Club. They were riding from the Caballero Canyon off Reseda Blvd and up into the Santa Monica Mountains from there. Needless to say, I was not ready for the 24 miles with almost 5,000 feet vertical gain and loss for the day. I was just thankful that it was overcast for the first 2 hours that we were on the trails!  I was holding them back to say the least. But it was a very nice group of three guys that continually stopped and waited for me to catch up. They made sure that I was not left behind and I was very thankful!

For the last few weeks, I have been slowly working my way up to more rides in the Santa Monicas. The week after, I left home at 7am and rode up into the mountains above Brentwood. This took alot of effort even before I got up onto the ride road. The next week I drove up to the end of one of the roads and began my ride from there. That left me alot more energy to make it up to the Nike Missile Control site at the top of San Vicente Mountain. The Santa Monicas are a treasure that is right at our backdoor. Take advantage of them!

And while you are at it, check out CORBA. This is a group of mountain bikers that is dedicated to preserving access for mountain bikers in the LA area. They do everything from trail work in the mountains around LA to helping keep Canyonback open to the public. They balance access with preservation and stick to the IMBA Rules of the Trail. If you wonder whether you would like to join, maybe check them out at their annual Fat Tire Fest Fundraiser on October 14th at Malibu Creek State Park.