May 21, 2010 Tour of California Stage 6

The Peloton goes by HTC team going by

First good view of the main group

The break away in front

Couple of interested viewers

Went up on Thursday with Steve and Jim and found the site at Table Mountain that Chuck had reserved. He got up there around 7:45 PM or so, and dinner was prepared. We got up the next morning and Jim made his usual great breakfast for everyone before we headed out to watch the race. Seeing how Lance had crashed out the day before, expectations had been dimmed some, but it was still exciting watching these pros coming up Angeles Crest. Great time in the mountains.

April 27, 2010 GMR

Looking down on lower part of GMR Down towards Newman's Point in the clouds

The "Ride" at top of GMR on cloudy day

Didn't get off my butt until almost 5 PM, but I did ride. Was fairly warm on way up until the clouds hid the sun, then it cooled down noticeably. View from on top was way restricted, but still worth the effort. Ride down was cool, almost cold on the ears and fingers, but had the rest of the bod covered in arm and leg warmers, heavy jacket, and wind pants.

April 24, 2010 UCLA Spring game at the Rose Bowl with Jeff and Jason

Jeff with the UCLA head football coach Jeff with one of UCLA's offensive linemen.

Jeff down on the field at the Rose Bowl

Goal posts at the Rose Bowl from field level.

Jeff with UCLA offensive lineman. This one went

high school at Walnut. Nice guy.

Found out that UCLA was having their spring game at the Rose Bowl Saturday night and called Jeff to see if he would be interested in going. Seeing how it was UCLA and he is a USC fan, I figured he wouldn't be interested, but to my surprise, he wanted to go. So I picked him and Jason up and we headed to the Rose Bowl. I was blown away by how many people there were in attendance. We watched the game and I was wanting to go after a while, but Jeff talked me into staying so he could go down on the field and meet some of the players and coaches. I was glad he talked me into staying. We met not only some players, but he got his picture taken with the head coach. It made me feel good that he had such a good time.

April 23, 2010 Sking Solo up at Baldy

Shot of top of Baldy from top of Thunder Telegraph from Thunder

Top of Baldy from Thunder

Got off work and headed up to Baldy for a few runs. Seeing how it is almost the end of April, it is really nice that they are still open for some skiing. The weather was warm, and the snow soft and fairly wet, but it was nice just to get up in the hills. Great day in the mountains.

April 19,2010 GMR Again

Thought I would go up agian after being up yesterday, just to see how I would feel and the results were better than I had hoped for. Legs felt really good for having been off the bike so long. Must be in better shape than I thought. Great Spring day to be in the mountains.

April 18, 2010 GMR after 3 weeks off bike

Baldy from up on GMR. Baldy from top of GMR After being off the bike for over 3 weeks, due to wanting to save the legs for the Whitney climb, I finaly got on the bike and headed up GMR Sunday after the Laker game, Great ride, nice and warm and not crowded at all.

April 9th, 2010 Mountaineers route, Mt Whitney

Climber heading up the chute Summit ridge from Lower Boy Scout Lake

Me heading up to Iceberg Lake

View frok Lower Boy Scout towards the Crest

Warren and myself at start of climb

Took off on Thursday afternoon, meeting Warren in Lone Pine about 5 pm or so. We got our permit, checked into the Whitney Hostle, and then headed out for pizza. Got back to the hostle, and had cocktails out on the veranda, where we ended up meeting the owner, Doug. We sat and talked to him for almost an hour, picking his mind about what we could expect up the North Fork of LPC. Friday we took our time and got started about 1 PM or so. It took us about 4 and a half hours to get from the trail head up to Lower Boy Scout Lake, via the bottom of the canyon. That hike took longer than I thought it would, mainly because we were not that familiar with the route. Spent the night at LBSL,spending some time after dark star gazing, and took off the next morning for Upper BSL. We got there and found what we thought was the best tent site available, an already dug out platform. We melted some snow for water and got to bed at a reasonable time, the wind blowing the entire time. The next mornng it was blowing even worse , but we took off for Iceberg Lake, without helmets or climbing gear. We got up to Iceberg Lake, enjoying the bad weather as it was. After being at 13,000 feet for a while , we came back down and packed up camp> I will admit, I thought it was a mistake, as I figured it would take a lot longer to get down to the paved road than it did. After getting back to Whitney Portal, we hiked down the road to the cars, helping some guy get his truck past the snow plow spot. We made it down and had burgers , and then found out we missed the time cutoff for staying at the hostel. Warren took off for home and I drove 30 miles south of town and crashed for the night. The next morning was an incredible drive through the desert to get home. A great trip all in all, even though we did not make the top.