Matthew’s ALC8 Blog

This ride was a short (but with a couple of nasty climbs) starting out at the Victory Trailhead in Upper Virgenes Canyon Park (somewhat recently doubled in size) in support of the Baby Dragon Fund (which goes to support the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center).  After parking up near the trailhead, we went down the hill and did a loop in the Calasbasas area, including passing right by the Grantparents’ house of a good friend of mine (which was strange, as I’ve always found it a pain to drive there, and now I’ve bicycled it…).

After the ride and lunch, there was a ceremony to dedicate the Hunter Allen trail.  The ceremony was very nice and well done, followed by a ~2 mile trek down the trail, which was quite beautiful.

One of the two nasty climbs was on Mulholland Hwy, and was deceptively steep.  I only realized just how steep it was when I took a short break and realized how fast my heart was pumping.  The other climb was up Victory Blvd at the end, which I was originally hoping I wasn’t going to have to do when I drove up it, but did it anyways.  We also encountered some other kind of official event that shared part of our route, and it was a nice peaceful ride.

Baby Dragon Fund Training Ride (click to view detail)

I’m not entirely sure if this was actually my first half century, but it certainly was the most difficult ride I have done.

For this ride we started out in Calabasas, and then headed out for a long loop that went well past Thousand Oaks, and had quite a bit of climbing.  There were a lot of nice long swaths with minimal traffic, making for a nice ride for the most part.

Unfortunately there were a couple of accidents on this ride, two of which I passed by and happened no more than a half mile apart, which was a really strange coincidence since they weren’t related (one from crowding by some motorcycles, one from slipping on gravel while going too fast.)  There were some other issues for some people, including some people who were prepared and got dehydrated, including one near the end of the ride.

Besides these issues, it was a nice but difficult ride for me, but completing this told me that I could do this if I kept it up.

This ride also happened on my mother’s birthday.  After finishing the ride, I had to run to Best Buy to pick up a last minute present, before getting back home before we went out to dinner.  I was still able to walk up to Sunset including a couple flights of steps, so I felt good about my accomplishment on this ride, and the day ended with a nice birthday dinner for my mom.

First Half Century (click for full detail)