Man, I went on a great road ride today that I would like to call The Great Tomato Salad Ride. Really turned my day around.
Backstory: Was home around 11:30am, washing bikes and complaining to my wife that the heirloom tomatoes I've been buying at Whole Foods in recent weeks are incredibly expensive and yet not super tasty. She says why don't you stop complaining and just go to a farmer's market?
So I look online and the only farmer's market I see on Sunday is in Santa Monica, which I where I bike commute to M-F. No way. She reminds me that there's one in Rolling Hills Estate, on top of Palos Verdes. I look it up. Open until 1pm.
That farmers market is about 15 miles away, on top of 1000 foot climb. It's now 11:35. I take a one-minute shower, kit up, and begin my TTT (tomato time trial). I normally would just go out an meander the hills on Sunday but now I'm like on a structured training ride.
So here I am in Redondo. Look at this beautiful bike lane out of the door zone. Look at the view. The farmers market is on top of that hill. I have 50 minutes at this point. It’s on! 
I went out wearing chamois & road shoes but everything else non technical. Cotton T-shirt. Shorts with pockets. One of those shopping bags I take to Whole Foods crumpled in my pocket. As I rode I thought about how I see the genius of Giro New Road more now than I did 10 years ago
As I started riding uphill, I found a nice rhythm. It was hot but I felt good. I thought about Brandywine tomatoes. I spend too much time riding on busy streets & thinking about advocacy & it was great to be pedaling up a non-contentious road. I could feel stress leaving my body
I was having a lot of fun being on a hard road ride with a purpose, one not guided by training goals or a ranking on a social media platform but a road ride in pursuit of salad fruit.
I was feeling increasingly good about time but decided to take the most direct route, this road called Silver Spur to the top of Palos Verdes. There are like 20 ways to the top of PV and no one rides up a few of them. Silver Spur is one of those.
I've gone down Silver Spur 100 times on group rides. It's a road where you're going 55mph if you're not careful. It's got no bike lane or shoulder. No shade. Just a straight shot up the hill. (I looked it up on Strava when I got home: 500ft in a mile. So hard but not crazy)
Anyway, I peeked at my phone at bottom and top of climb. Took me about 10 minutes. And when I peeked at Strava I saw that actually 1254 people have gone up Silver Spur and I would have been like #650 and the leaderboard was like a typically funny LA story.
Long story short: I got to the farmer's market with 20 minutes to spare. Bought lovely tomatoes. (And basil. And peaches and nectarines etc.) I bought like 10 lbs of yummy produce for the price of two mediocre tomatoes at Whole Foods.
I filled my shopping bag and wore it like a backpack and then rode back down the hill at 50 mph. I was pretty sweaty but my whole situation smelled like fresh basil.
Back to Redondo I hooked up with a superfit roadie couple who wondered about the guy in clipless pedals and a cotton t-shirt with a bag of tomatoes on his back. So we chatted. They recently went to Hawaii & talked about the varieties of pineapples they bought at farmer's markets
I love utility riding. And I love recreational riding. So it felt great to ba on a utility recreational ride, a hard 30 mile caper to buy tomatoes! Not one stressful thing happened. I talked to nice strangers. I felt in tune with my body and mind. A great ride!
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