RIDING IN THE BU

I did some blog surfing last night and stumbled across this post from Neil the editor at Road Magazine. I loved it because it reminded me of my 5 years of posting up at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Cross Creek Blvd in the Bu. He was right on with his description of the posing that ensued at the meet place, from the desperate housewives to the "deal makers in the industry". Don't be fooled, we were posing ourselves. It was awesome. The place to see and be seen. Like the time we saw Pamela Anderson come stumbling up with Kid Rock. The best part of us bike geeks posing at the coffee shop in the Bu were the Euros of the group. They ate the sun and the eye candy up. We all did.

Slover, the metrosexual hairdresser mentioned in this post got me on my first team in LA, and he cut my hair. He even drove me home from the Porterville Stage Race in the back of our team van after I broke my leg in a crash. For those reasons he will always get props from me. The gang used to meet up at the Coffee Bean at Cross Creek on Thursday mornings and do Latigo. I used to drop down Malibu Canyon from my place to meet up with the group. It was quite the cast of characters. A virutal island of misfit toys. Latigo is one of the best canyon climbs off of the coast. Our other favorite canyon to do was further up the coast, Mullholland. That's right, of Mullholland Drive fame.

If you ever get a chance to log some miles and some sun in So Cal, do it. Head out from Santa Monica or drop down Malibu or Topanga Canyon from the Valley. Make sure you leave early enough to grab some spro at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Cross Creek. The service is terrible and the coffee is only slightly better. But that is not what you are there for. You're there for the sun, the eye candy and the chance to make a spectacle of yourself with all of your bike riding buddies before trying to tear each other's legs off up Latigo, Mullholland or Piuma. It really doesn't get any better than that.

Trust me. Do it.