60.2 miles, 2,700 ft elevation, 3:54 moving time.

Happy 4th of July!

We take advantage of the low traffic holiday and ride through the San Fernando Valley and to the Westside to Santa Monica.

Cool summer morning. Cloudy until the last stretch home. Early start 7am. We started from Eagle Rock and rolled through Glendale, Burbank (picked up GT, Julie and Michel), Toluca Lake, Sherman Oaks, along Riverside Drive. We turned south on Van Nuys and then rolled west along Green Leaf. Then, turned up Sepulveda (picked up Todd!!!) and over the Pass. This was the only big mountain along today’s ride. Tunnel at the apex. Then a long descent along Sepulveda, right next to the 405 Fwy. Top speed 37.8 mph. Passing the Skirball Center, Getty Center, VA Cemetery. We took a short cut through the VA lot, passing the UCLA Jackie Robinson Field. We rode down San Vicente, all the way to Ocean. The bluffs above the Santa Monica Beach. Awesome. Bit cloudy, but we could see the water and waves. Potty and snack stop. Took a big picture of the crew and headed back. The crawl back up the Sepulveda pass was not as bad, with the cooler weather. Along Green Leaf, the club got split into several groups. First group got to Van Nuys and waited and waited. Turns out Grazi took a spill on one of the road cement seams. He had some road rash and rolled on (and yes the new Bianchi is okay too, minor adjustments needed). While we were waiting for Grazi to get back rolling, there was 6.0 earthquake. We were standing by a strip mall with a huge sign that started swaying. And a delivery truck started shaking to. Our friends came up and they said they didn’t feel anything, cuz they were rolling at the time of the quake. Welcome to California. We rolled through Burbank along the Warner Bro. Lot, and Disney Studios and ABC Lots. Got back to Eagle Rock about 11:45am. Plenty of time to get back for BBQs and Fireworks. Happy 4th of July!

Lynda, Bob, James, Jim, Marcelo, Julie, Grazi, GT, Steve, Michel, Todd, Bjoern, MikeM, Marco, Paul, Teresa, Henry, Elysa, James, Erik, Trevor, Bill, Gregg, MikeW, Mark, Ray, Joe.