So, on Wednesday a friend of mine from the ALC forums sent me an email asking me if I was up for braving the La Tuna Canyon ride…now I wasnt thinking and thought ya sounds great 38 miles lets do it…so we agreed to meet up at griffith park the next morning..I had to ride my bike to get there and back..so it was an extra 12 mile ride each way for me so add on about 24 miles to the 38 and I had a full day ahead of me…on my way to the park I got my first flat ever…do I know how to change them…nope..do i have the tools to change it with..nope..but good thing brian got me to buy some spare tubes a few weeks before..I did have those!! so Im hoping that Carol knows how to fix a flat…I ended up riding my bike with a flat a few miles to the park..I know not good for the bike but I had no other option…lucky me she knows how to fix it…it seems fairly easy…so we fix the tire and set off to her house on the route to pump it up full…we do some stretching and head out…the first 20 miles is all climbing..but easy steady climbs…and i handled it fairly easy like flat roads…we hit the first rest stop a few miles from the main climb and we load up on fluids and some eats and this is when im told its a 4 mile climb straight up!! i was all like HOLY MA what did I get myself into…I really made it out to be worse then it was..here I am thinking great im gonna be walking my bike up this thing for four miles and im gonna be pulling over to stop a zillion times..and its gonna take me hours to get up top…I told carol when we get there to just keep going and i'll meet her at the top haha…shes a really good climber I must say..I am jealous of those granny gears..I will have to definately look into upgrading my bike in a few spots (fear shifters and more gears!).

so we reach the canyon…honestly..it was really easy compared to what I though it would be..It wasnt to hard on the legs and I went at a pretty good pace…I didnt walk up a single millimeter..closer to the top it got a little bit steeper and it was harder to pedal and I was almost going at no pace at all like floating even haha if that makes any sense..but I still did it!! I made it to the top..I hydrated the entire time I was going up and at the top it was VERY REWARDING because I did it and it was nothing…Im almost to the point where I am liking climbs!! the ride back was easy and breezy too we had a bit of head wind but nothing unbarable…when we got back to the park we split our seperate ways..I had promised a friend I would visit on my way home because they seemed to be close to where I was…BIG MISTAKE!! they ended up being nowhere near where I was…I ended up getting lost on my bike..ended up going up more climbs wich were fairly easy and by the time I found my way home I had logged in a little over my first century!! I was exhausted…annoyed…yet proud of myself at the same time…thank you Iphone GPS mapping system for saving the day!!  so I conquered the dreaded la tuna canyon…did my 70 miles and added on an extra 30 plus for kicks 😉 all before it got too dark for me to see (Im blind  in the dark..yaya we all are but I cant see anything its like having my eyes closed…)..so im taking today off..and tomorrow I will be setting out on a beautiful 70 mile rolling hilled PCH ride from malibu to oxnard and back!! stay tuned for more stories and adventures!!

Loves ya,

Chrystyna