January in LA

When I moved to Los Angeles from Boulder, Colorado in 1993, my colleagues felt sorry for me and treated my move like a prison sentence. As a southern California native, I knew that California was a much different (and better) place than that imagined by Boulderites. We reaffirmed that last weekend (see Grace's post as well).

Here we are on a January day at Playa del Rey riding our Santana Sovereign tandem towing our BurleyPiccolo tag-along bike. It was our first real ride (25-30 miles) using this equipment combo, and it worked out great. It's fast on the flats and downhills and extremely stable; however, we did struggle a bit on every uphill. The uphill performance may reflect our conditioning more than the equipment. We rode city streets and the beach path. Occasionally we had to ride on major thoroughfares and drivers were very understanding and cooperative, usually getting out of our lane to pass. We have pledged to do this every good weather weekend from here on out, working up to an overnight tour in the summer.

Iris complained about a sore rear end throughout the return phase of the ride, but was an excellent sport. We did promise her that if she liked the ride, we'd buy her a jersey and bike shorts. She is usually keen to pursue any activity that has fashion accessories. We found some kid-sized bike wear at Performance, and she should feel much better next time out.