65K of pain

Besides my need for cold weather, and snow covered peaks, Malibu offers me everything I could ever need.

Sunday made for the PERFECT day to be on 2 wheels, with just my legs to turn them.

I hit 2 grewling mountain passes in the Santa Monica Mountains, just off the coast near Zuma Beach and Point Dume.


(c/o www.pashnit.com)

Latigo Canyon is a windy switch-back that climbs 15 Kms from the ocean, for a total vertical gain of about 2200Ft. I was lucky enough to catch at least one roadie on the way up, plus, the high-light, seeing a gang of 10 Porsches from the Rennlist doing a morning "jog" through the hills. Hearing those flat-sixes echoing against the rocks sure gave me a good boost to kick hard for the final turn to the top.


(c/o maxnine11 on the Pelican Parts and Rennlist Boards)

The above shots were both taken at a place called "The Bleachers", which overlooks Mulholland Highway as it snakes up the hill from the the Rock Shop, a famous Motorcycle hang-out down below.

Next, I road South-East Towards Topanga, and hooked up with Stunt Road, a 5 kilometer climb up to an intersection effectively known as "TOP OF THE WORLD". From there, you can look back into the valley you came from, and down the other side to the Ocean. The cool thing about Stunt, is that someone has made the effort to paint, in white, distance markers as you head for the top. Hitting that final "100m" marker (100 meters to go), while your legs are screaming at you, sure feels good.

I also discovered a great new technique for all you "roadies" out there. When you reach the summit of what ever climb you are on, do yourself a favour: Imagine for a minute you are Lance, Pantani, Merckx or Indurain, lift your hands off the bars, kiss both your index fingures and reach for the sky.



Trust me, you'll feel like a million dollars.