About Biking Activities

Our monthly Saturday bike rides keep us on paved surfaces and away from traffic.  We rely on the paths beside the San Gabriel, Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Santa Ana Rivers and on the beach bike paths from the Palisades to Redondo Beach.  An exception, and always a favorite, is the paved road closed to traffic in the mountains above Azusa alongside the West Fork of the San Gabriel River.  Other exceptions are the rides around the Santa Fe Dam and the Hansen Dam. These rides range from 12 to 22 miles in length. Average speeds range from 8 to 15 miles per hour. Our rides typically cover only a segment of a path, which permits us to have a group that targets a slower, shorter ride and another group that stretches out for a faster, farther ride. We celebrate our exercise triumph with lunch after the ride or on the return leg of the route. Rides conclude in the early afternoon. Our biking enthusiasts also ride more frequently than monthly, including midweek especially on the beach paths or their own neighborhoods, and several of our members have an interest in mountain biking. A weekend of biking, usually combined with hiking, is often planned for the October-November and April-May timeframes. Destinations such as Laguna Beach, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Borrego Springs and Death Valley have allowed us to sample the biking experience in these locales, as well as enjoy resort area settings.

Recent Bike Rides (Continued)
Elderhostel Bike and Barge Trip 2007 Recap.  On September 14, 20 adventurous OHGLA'ers arrived in Luxembourg and were bussed to Metz, Germany, and the Quo Vadis barge, our "home away from home" for 14 nights.  After our initial impressions that the barge was much smaller than we had imagined, and after learning that our cabins were much much smaller than we had imagined, we settled into living out of our suitcases and soon developed a warm feeling for our little hotel.  The captain, cook, and mate were the total crew, and they took care of us well, with big buffet breakfasts; cookies, coffee, and tea to welcome us at the end of each day; and superb cuisine each evening.  Our bike leader, Peter, and van support driver, Rolf, took excellent care of us during the day, with Rolf stopping at many points along the way to cheer us on. We bicycled a little over 200 miles, down the Mosel for 11 days to Koblenz, and then up the mighty Rhine for 3 days to our final destination in Mainz.  After what locals described as a miserable cold and rainy August, we were treated to wonderful Indian summer days, with all the flowers abloom and the trees just beginning to show their colors.  One miserable day of bicycling in cold rain only served to make us appreciate all the beautiful days that had come before. Along the way we visited picturesque towns , fortresses, castles, and wineries on the rivers.  We learned that the Romans introduced wine to the region and had opportunities for tastings at several small family wineries.  The vineyards are located on steep slopes, which provides more sunlight for each vine, and the underlying shale absorbs the heat during the day and helps keep the vineyards warm during the night.  Because this was harvest time, we were able to attend some village wine festivals in the evenings and sample the local "new wine" paired with Zwiebelkuchen, a delicious onion tart. In addition to bicycling, we had walking tours, on-board lectures, and some free afternoons to browse local villages for lunch and shopping.  We learned about and visited Luxembourg, a major financial center of Europe; the Maginot Line, a French fortification built between 1929 and 1940 to protect (unsuccessfully) against German invasion; Trier, Germany's oldest city founded by the Romans; Traben-Traback, with its art nouveau buildings; Cohem, ad the incredible Reichsburg castle; Koblenz at the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine rivers; and Mainz with its Gutenburg Museum. There were may more highlights too numerous to mention. We all made it safely, though with a few cuts and bruises. The biggest hazard was going thump in the night, as the mattresses on our little cots had an uncanny knack of working themselves off the beds. Finally, full of sausages, strudel, ice cream and wine, we reluctantly bid farewell and boarded our return flights. Many thanks to Fran Ando for arranging this wonderful and memorable trip. Report by Charlene Baker

Sepulveda Basin in Van Nuys, October 13  Rain the night before did not keep six members from showing up for this ride. We met at the Encino Golf Course and did a leisurely, meandering ride through the basin. On the route we were treated to sightings of migratory birds and ducks of this time of year and resident year around fowl. The group was interested in and explored a portion of the new Orange Line bike way that crosses the Valley. Afterwards the group enjoyed a hearty lunch at the golf club restaurant. report by Fred T.

Recent Bike Rides
Playa Del Rey Ride, November 10, 2007.  Nine OHGLA members took part in our monthly ride. Original plan had been to do an annual ride that many riders look forward to, West Fork of the San Gabriel River. A check with the Forestry Service said access to the National Forest area was closed due to high fire hazard. So instead we opted for our tried and proven beach ride from Playa Del Rey. Apprehension with weather reports that forecasted a cold overcast day proved wrong. We were treated to a beautiful day at the beach with light headwinds and little beach path traffic. Afterwards the group enjoyed lunch at El Torito. Which like this scribe shows signs of aging -- not as hip and vibrant as in the 70s. Report by Fred Torres.









 

Irvine to Newport Back Bay, August 11, 2007
Nine of us launched our ride by circling around the nearby Irvine Lake, which we found to be surprisingly large and a whopper of an advertisement for planned communities.  Then we found the path beside San Diego Creek and followed it north to the Mountains to the Sea trail. Biking west, we detoured to the Irvine Civic Center entrance to mark that spot and then continued onto the Back Bay trail and biked partly around the perimeter of the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.  After a number of mechanical adjustments and a flat tire fix before the ride, we were mishap-free during the ride. The cooling ocean breezes were appreciated.  We all enjoyed lunch at Mimi’s – all of us being Fran and Ken Ando, Jacky Godo Kiss and friend Olive, Melody and Dave Richmond, Rose Marie and Roger Tashima, and Marilyn Tullius.  Our leader Fred Torres had to stay home on this one due to a malady that a prescription is curing – but he enjoyed the ride a couple of weeks earlier on a scouting trip.  Report by Marilyn T.

 Long Beach to Los Angeles River and Beyond, July 21, 2007 
Nine OHGLA members took part in our monthly ride.  Long Beach is a popular venue in July and July 21 was no exception.  In addition to the activity on the bike path there was a power boat race and volleyball tournament going on.  But true cyclists that we are, we stuck to our plans.  We rode from Junipero and the bike path to the Los Angeles River path and then back to the Queensway Bridge and visited the Queen Mary.  The bridge provided a photo opportunity with great views of the Queen.  The bridge must be the only place ever where a car lane was taken up and rededicated as a bike path.  A fine lunch at the Long Beach Museum Restaurant rounded out the day.  Report by Fred T.


June 7-10, Thursday – Sunday.  San Diego Biking trip.  Talk about California gold, we experienced a lot of it on our long weekend to the San Diego bay area.  Twenty-two OHGLA members journeyed down to the San Diego Bay Harbor Holiday Inn for a biking, kayaking, sightseeing, dining, and socializing experience. The hotel had ample facilities (miniature golf, swimming pool, bar, ping pong, pool table and of course a nice restaurant) made more attractive by drink and meal coupons we soon learned were available. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and on Friday we biked from the hotel to the San Diego harbor for a ferry ride to Coronado. While crossing to Coronado, we saw the USS Midway which dates back to her launch in 1945 and is now a floating museum. On Coronado we biked from the northern end past some neatly kept nice homes, working our way south to the Silver Strand. The strand runs all the way down to Imperial Beach. Some of the group biked to the outskirts of Imperial Beach and then returned to Loew's Coronado Bay Resort to join the rest of the group for lunch. That evening most of the group car pooled to Old Town. This is the location where the first Spanish settlement and first Spanish Mission were established in 1769. The group appropriately had Mexican food for dinner at the Casa Guadalajara restaurant. Saturday found us driving to Mission Bay for biking, kayaking and sightseeing. Most of us biked around Mission Bay, which I must add is a bit difficult in places since the trail is not all that well marked and in places is not marked at all. My kudos to Charlene for recalling all the twists and turns to get us back to our starting point without losing anyone. We returned to our hotel where we found the kayakers who also had a great day. That evening most of us went via shuttle to the Gas Light Quarter of downtown San Diego for a guided tour of this historic area. We were told of the history of San Diego and shown many of the restored buildings. Sue Raymond is related to Alfonso Horton, who is given credit for the start of the early building boom in San Diego. He built a shipping wharf at the end of 5th Avenue in the 1870s. San Diego in these early days was complete with bars, gambling halls, and a renowned red light area called Stingaree. This area was cleaned up commencing in 1912 when they arrested 138 prostitutes. Today the area is a mixture of restored old buildings and more modern structures with all kinds of entertainment available. Definitely something you want to see and experience. We returned to our hotel and many socialized at the pool side bar. Sunday we drove down to the Chula Vista Nature Center for a tour of this area. The nature center is an ocean marshland that is also home to both wild birds and a Shark / Ray tank. Most of the birds here are unable to be set free due to injury or birth defect. We had our farewell luncheon at Chula Vista Marina, which as elsewhere was filled with many sailboats. The weather each day started out with the normal California June gloom, but it generally burned off before noon and it was great biking, kayaking, shopping and sightseeing weather. The trip was well planned and the places visited were educationally informative.  As Huell Howser would say, "This was surely California's Gold.

Chuck D. has planned and led several mountain biking rides in the local mountains.

Van B. is our expert in riding technique and bicycle care and repair

Return to Top