January 5-13, 2003
story & photos by Brian Chapman

Hollywood	Ed Nussbaum
Stephan Cerra	Shawn White
Flatland Book	Ed Nussbaum

I've never been a fan of cold weather. Cold weather has been my adversary riding-wise for the past 18 years.

I've been back for over a week and until now have not realized the incredible time I had. For one whole week, I was living a dream of having only one priority which was to ride. I would wake up and think about where I was going to be riding that day and who I'd be riding with. But I'm back now and behind my desk at work scanning through the photos of my trip. I see the parking lots I rode in in L.A. and the people I got to ride with wearing short sleeves. I was in a strange world where it was always sunny and 70 degrees. I guess that's not completely normal for L.A. in January but you didn't hear me complaining.

I arrived at LAX on Sunday the 5th and just drove my crappy rental Cavalier around in no particular direction to try and find a place to crash. I hadn't showered in a couple days and I rode pretty hard Saturday at the Final Exam Jam in Athens, GA so I stayed in a tiny hotel in Huntington Beach. I made a couple calls to Bobby Carter and Ed Nussbaum, my main contacts in the city, and planned to ride the next day, ALL day. I was convinced that that was going to be my routine for the whole week.

Stephan Cerra	Bobby Carter
Clouds	Bob Weatherbee
Malibu	Andrew Scott
Stephan Cerra	Ed Nussbaum

That was how it went for the first couple of days. After day three I had to take a break. My 29 year old body couldn't handle the stresses of riding fulltime. My wrists and elbows were sore and my calloused hands were pink as if developing blisters all over again. I ended up taking two days off, driving south to San Onofre by recommendation from Ed. It was an amazing place where, in every season aside from winter, you can camp out on the beach. I ended up finding a campground in San Mateo and the next morning trekked out to the beach in nearby San Clemente to watch the surfers. My second day off was spent farther inland in the mountains of Palomar State Park. I really wasn't prepared for the climate change in the mountains and nearly froze that night. I figured two days off was adequate for my body to recover and headed back to L.A. taking the long route north through Simi Valley and Malibu which had recently been charred by forest fires.

Thursday I got back into the swing of things and felt rejuvenated for the time being. I rode with Ed, Bobby, and a local flatlander named Andrew Scott in Long Beach on Thursday. I got pretty beat after just three hours of riding and called it a day. On Friday, I got to ride with Stephen Cerra, Shawn White, Bob Weatherbee, Ed, and Bobby at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I woke up at 8 and was in Redondo Beach for 9. We ended up riding until 4 and I knew I was shot. The next day I was only able to ride for an hour or two before I decided to search for a hotel to crash in for the night before my flight back to Providence.

That night I was longing to be back home. I missed my roommates, friends, and cats. I especially missed my relaxation time that I would normally be spending at the bar in Julian's restaurant. And, believe it or not, I was even longing for the cold weather. I figured out that the seasons in New England are what keep me from getting burnt out on riding. I think it applies to a lot of New England flatlanders who are approaching (or have surpassed) their 20th year of riding. Sure our bodies take a beating in the spring, summer, and fall but we have all winter to recover. I never realized how much of a beautiful thing it really is. So now, instead of cursing the cold air blowing here from Canada, I just go down to my local bar, hang out with friends and patiently wait for spring's arrival.

Notes/Highlights:

• Hanging out with Ed, Bobby, Steve, and all the L.A. area flatlanders.
• Spending the day in the Long Beach parking lot.
• Watching Ed wave to some rad punk girl on the bike path and end up hanging out with her all week. "You mean you waved and she actually came back?"—Bobby Carter
• The wide variety of oddball donut shops and burger joints!
• Riding at the "legendary" Ralph's supermarket in Hollywood.
• Learning that Steve Scheurer is an avid record collector of obscure late 70s early 80s synthpunk.
• Eating my new favorite breakfast: French toast and bananas (at Fred's '62 in Hollywood or Rose's Sugarshack in San Clemente more specifically).
• The jukebox at Fern's Bar in Long Beach.
• Taqueria La Mexicana #2!
• Being able to say that I traveled 3000 miles to ride in a parking lot for no reason other than I love riding.

San Onofre

San Onofre

San Onofre

San Onofre

San Onofre