14 MILER and GOODBYE PELOTON

ran my 14 for the nyc marathon this morning around "the bowl." only got about 3.5 hours of sleep last night and woke up to realize i didn't really have anything in the house to eat for a good training breakfast. i eventually found a small yet dense erin baker breakfast cookie still left over from my vineman schwag bag. ate that and washed it down with some FRS, and off i went. not a great way to head out the door, but it was just 14, and i was gonna go at a super slow training pace since i'm still trying to figure out what that is. with the lack of sleep and the heat, i'm still not certain what my ultimate training pace is going to be, but i settled in at just under 11 minute miles. it felt like i was going super easy, and i could have held that all day, so i know i can pick it up at the next long run.



if you're not from the l.a. area, the rose bowl is located in pasadena, just two miles from my house. of course there's the actual arena known as the rose bowl, home to the rose bowl football game on new years day. in addition, there's a country club and golf course that surrounds the arena all enclosed by a 5k loop of a road open to two way traffic. for the most part, the traffic is not very heavy as the bowl sits in a ravine which is also part of the natural arroyo here in l.a. up and around the bowl are steeper hills as well. with ample parking, the bowl offers an ideal meet up spot for groups of all sizes and a variety of rides. also located down in the arroyo is the rose bowl aquatic center, a state of the art facility, so it's a triathlete's dream!!!. since as far back as 1973, cyclists have utilized the 5k loop around the bowl for peloton style riding. they currently meet on tuesdays and thursday evenings, and it is an inspiring sight to see up to 200 cyclists all en masse whizzing by!!! world class athletes have come from all over to join in this ride.

sadly, the city of pasadena, who claims on their website to be "the most bike friendly city in the county of l.a.," just passed their "peloton ordinance." it outlaws cyclists from riding more than two abreast on any city streets. while this doesn't effect your everyday cyclist or even triathlete who wants to train with a few friends and do some loops around the bowl, it will shut down the long standing tradition of the peloton ride. this makes me so sad. sad that these amazing athletes will be left with no alternatives as safe and accessible as the bowl to ride and train at. sad that community government can't seem to educate their citizens on the real and true issues of cyclists and public safety. instead they chose to shut it down without much dialogue on how cyclists can coexist with pedestrians and motorists.