Excitement, excitement.

Ladies, Fellas: My first blog ever! And today certainly deserves one. As I was out riding I was thinking I'd better pay attention in case something interesting happens, but I hardly had to.

I went for a road ride up the Angeles Crest, and just as I was starting up the mountain, I noticed a police car coming down. And then another. And another. Two motorcycle cops...then a fire truck...an ambulance. But that didn't really phase me and I shortly forgot all about it, since in fact that isn't all too uncommon in LA, and there are always plenty of cops on the Crest handing out their daily share of tickets.

But then, coming around the bend, there was Cal Trans blocking the road. Hmm... I figured they'd probably let me by. I was on a bicylcle and could easily go around some road work. But no. It was a car chase and the police were finishing up their investigation. I talked to the Cal Trans guy for a while, but to no avail. He was nice enough but couldn't let me by. Come to think of it, I am a girl after all, and it wouldn't have hurt to flash a smile and bat my eyelashes. Oh, well, too little, too late.



So, I get home, and Lyle is checking his e-mails. Huh, what do you know? Daniel was out there too:

"Today at around noon, I was riding up the first half mile of the crest and rocking out to a euphonious track by the band "Tool" on my iPod, when a car flew by at about 70-80mph. At first I thought maybe the car was going normal speed and I was perhaps traveling backwards at 60mph, but my computer did infact indicate i was going +11mph. The car was followed by about 500 police cars and police motorcycles with loud sirens and flashy lights - I guess they just happened to also be in hurry to get to where the fast car was in a hurry to get to. There were two helicopters in the air. The sites and sounds surrounding me almost made me feel like I was riding in the tour, and I was on a mega breakaway. Then, back to reality, I just happened to see my brother descending down the oposite side of the road - what a small world. He tried to turn around and chase me down but I was going way to fast for legs as weak as his, so he resorted to calling my cell phone. He suggested that the crest would not be the best place to be riding on a bicycle during a police chase, since it's already pretty sketchy under normal conditions. I agreed and turned around, turning my 80 mile day in to a 60 mile day, which was plenty enough anyways.

I'm not sure if it was televised, but if it was and you saw two fellas wearing PAA duds (one in last year's colors and one in the new), them there were's us.

Have a great day!
Daniel"

Anyways, Lyle and I opted for a mountain bike ride after that. We went up Lower Sam Merrill to the railroad ruins on Echo Mountain.


The days have been warming up (actually it was outright HOT today!) and it has officially become lizard season out on the trails (as if I'm some sort of expert). There was even a blue tailed snake-like lizardy thing which I was too slow to catch with the camera. But here's a snake I saw:


We headed over to Sunset trail and down, which I rode pretty well, but that's nothin'. We did El Prieto after that AND......I CLEANED IT!!! First time ever. And I did it like a pro. No jerky struggles fighting with the trail, just smooth sailing. WooHOO!


So that was my riding for today. Until next time!

(As an interesting side note, that didn't officially end my excitement for the day. While driving in my car afterwards, I got a flat tire. Lyle taught me how to change the tire and had me do most of the work. Better watch it honey. The more you teach me how to do guy things, the less I'll be needing your help. Wait a minute--that's good for you, huh?)