Bike Bike Bike Bike

When John and I pulled up behind these wheels we were thankful for the red light. We needed time for the camera scramble, plus we wanted to figure out how many bikes were attached to this car.

But I can beat this. Take a look: it was a Zen Monday in 2010. Not quite in focus, but enough to see the difference between sane, happy family off to ride bikes on the mountain trails and insane someone who MUST HAVE BIKE BIKE BIKE BIKE BIKE.

I have a jar where I throw change. Do you collect?

Rovers

If you're looking for something to do on a Saturday (and you're checking in here early, before 8:30 a.m.), head on down to Lower Arroyo Park and let the Pasadena Roving Archers show you a thing or two.

You're going to be shooting arrows, so there are requirements. Like minimum age 10 years, proper attire (a t-shirt would work), tie your hair back (because ouch! you don't want it getting caught in the bow, I remember that from high school), and bring some water (it gets hot down there). Read all the requirements here.

What is not required: money. Beginning classes are free of charge.

I met three Roving Archers in the Arroyo last week; pictured here is Robert Storts, retrieving his arrows. Ernie Lateer and Ramon Oceguera are two more of the expert archers you'll meet, and they were friendly (and really, really good shots). You can stop by and speak with members and/or club officers on Saturday or Sunday mornings.

The archers rove throughout the southwest side of Lower Arroyo Park, where you'll see different targets peering out from the brush. It's a case for keeping that other Rover on a leash.

Update: While we're on the subject of the Arroyo, I've just updated this post (about the fluffy white tree north of the dam), thanks to information Ann Erdman was able to find.

Pasadena's New Year's Eve

What's that I see across the dark Arroyo? Over there, on the other side of the freeway. Why, it's the Rose Bowl Stadium, all lit up on a cold night.

On this New Year's Eve, as on every other New Year's Eve in Pasadena for the past 118 years, Pasadena awaits the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Football Game.

That doesn't mean we just sit around all evening. We have company! Folks are here from out of town! We have to entertain.

So the bars and restaurants are full. Colorado Blvd. is a [no tents allowed] campground all the way from Orange Grove Blvd. in the southwest to Sierra Madre Blvd. in the northeast. It's five miles of solid partay.

Not everyone is celebrating. Tournament officials are busy putting on the finishing touches. The Rose Queen and her Court are presumably getting their beauty sleep (if they're not too excited). I imagine there are some nervous college football players tossing and turning somewhere out there, too. Float decorators are still poking posies into chicken wire, or however they do it these days. Glue guns?

I hope you have a fun and safe New Year's Eve. Here in Pasadena everyone has something to do. The weather has warmed up and it looks like tomorrow's going to be a glorious day for football and roses.

Irrepressible

Some people just can't be stopped.

Plan Your Route Accordingly

Because I couldn't find any runners or bikers during my small window of photo-taking time today, this is my way of reminding you that the Pasadena Marathon takes place tomorrow.

Weird, because there's usually someone running or biking pretty much wherever I go in Pasadena. It's a health- and fitness-minded place. There are more gyms in town than there are Starbucks (I'm not kidding), we have 24 city parks with facilities for everything from swimming to archery to baseball, and you can even go walking with the Mayor and his buds if you're willing to get up really early on a Wednesday morning. And I haven't even mentioned our miles of beautiful hiking trails.

(Could they have done a more believable job on the marathon website woman's cleavage? That's almost good enough for Photoshop Disasters.)

Recognize the corner? They've been fixing up the place and they're not finished yet.

UPDATE 11/16: THE MARATHON HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO THE LOW AIR QUALITY CAUSED BY SMOKE FROM SURROUNDING BRUSH FIRES.

Psycho-Cross

Think you're tough? Oh, you probably are.

Not me. Not like these people. They're practicing for a kind of bicycle racing called Cycle-Cross.

This part doesn't look that hard. You jump off your bike, lift it over the logs and jump on again. What the camera doesn't capture is that you're going at break-neck speed.

Our local group, SoCalCross, practices on Wednesday evenings in the same place where Boz and I like to walk. Thankfully these guys are nice about dogs and Boz sorta knows to stay out of their way. Still, it's a good idea to watch out if you're walking at Hahamongna Watershed Park on a Wednesday evening. These bikers are fast!

I understand from an insider that new riders are welcome to train with them. Are you man or woman enough? Not me. I'm sticking with wide tires and baskets.

Giant Asparagus

After rains like the ones we've had over the last couple of days, our crops prosper. Here's some of the giant asparagus that grows here, just beginning to sprout. Soon there will be enough to feed the locals all summer. (See husband for scale.)

Okay, it's called Agave Americana, or Century Plant. It's a succulent that needs very little water. It takes ten years or so to grow very big, bloom once, then die. This one's getting close to blooming. The blooms will come out at the tops and sides of those tall stalks. Eventually the stalks will dry out and fall over, at which time you don't want to be walking along the path.

We're west of the Brookside Golf Course, just north of the Rose Bowl Stadium. If you walk your dog there, keep Fido on a leash. Dogs just love a putting green, and the fence has some intriguing, dog-sized holes in it. People! Balls! Carts to chase! What fun! Fido! Come back!