happy birthday!

today is my wife's birthday.

she is the most important person in my life and i can't believe how lucky i am to be her husband. i can't wait to explore another year with her.

welcome to bike week!

hey there pasadena. this week is pasadena's annual bike week. it includes a wide variety of events and bike rides, and city residents are encouraged to get out and ride their bicycles - to work, around town, or just around the block.

go have fun! and for details about this week, check out the website.

oh, and this picture was taken during our recent epic bike ride.

epic ride, part 5, final photo

one last photo from our epic bicycle ride. if you haven't been following all week, you can catch up by checking out this link right here.

this photo was really funny to me. obviously we weren't the first cyclists to ride along the 2. but this picture also shows that we were riding near ski areas! crazy, right? i love it.

back to pasadena tomorrow.

epic ride, part 4

as proud as we are to say that we completed the epic ride, i'm guessing that's the last time we attempt a ride like this again. oh sure, i may find myself doing something similar, but this was one for the books. a ride that at times made me think "this is the coolest thing i've ever done!", and at other times made me think "i can't believe how stupid this is". which i'm going to assume is a sign of a great day.

you can find more sky watch friday photos from all over the world by checking out the website right here.

epic ride, part 3

one of the things i'm most proud of about our massive bike ride last saturday was that my wife meredith hung in there for the whole thing - and lived to tell the story! she continues to amaze me with her cycling abilities. it is kind of hard to tell from this picture, but she is crouched perfectly as she heads down a hill into a tunnel. what a pro.

the epic ride, part 2

i should share some statistics from our epic day of riding.

time from start to finish - 10:45 hrs
maximum elevation - 6800 ft
miles logged in the saddle - 90
snow on top of the mountain - yes!
max speed on the decent to la canada - 40+ mph

happy earth day everyone! go outside and soak up some of our planet.

the epic ride.

on saturday i embarked on the most challenging bike ride of my life. i was joined by my wife and 4 of our good friends on a journey into the san gabriel mountain range. we headed out to duarte and headed north on route 39, where we proceeded to climb for 30 miles until we reached highway 2, which we took back down to pasadena.

this picture is a shot of the ladies of our group. if you click on it, you can almost make out three cyclists along the road, just beginning the worst of the climb.

over the next few days i'll share more about our adventure. in the meantime, check out a version of the route we did, and if you are up for a laugh, click on "show elevation". we are hardcore.