Finds From The Grind III

Since this month is "climbing month" for daily rides (last month was cardio month), I've been picking a gear and picking a hill to concentrate on for each week. When you're training, try to stay one gear harder than you're comfortable with for as long as you can. It's only pain, right? And it's over with in about an hour. When you do your long mileage ride, don't ride the harder gear, but eventually you'll find the harder gear becomes the cruising gear. And that's how you do safe, slow strength-building.

This week is the narrow winding road above the Rose Bowl called Glen Oaks. Here's the view of the Bowl before you make the hillside turn towards Glendale.

And here, you can see the view into Eagle Rock. With the heavy rains we recently had, not only is there a lot of work going on keeping the hillsides from sliding into the homes, but all that brush is green and growing. Now is the time to shore up those fire breaks.

An odd find on the way home from the hills: a dead green parrot on the side of the road. Yes, it was a late parrot, not resting at all. In the San Gabriel Valley, we have flocks of wild parrots roaming around because a movie shoot let them loose in the 1930's. Now we have screeching swarms flying through Temple City, South Pasadena, Arcadia, Pasadena, and San Marino. This particular guy seemed out of his territory and young too.