Clearing Weather, Yosemite Valley (click on the photo for a larger version)

On the June Lake Loop Road (click on the photo for a larger version)

Meet the New Boss - Same as the Old Boss!

After a week in Yosemite and along the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with two groups of talented and impressively friendly and enthusiastic photographers, I returned home to Los Angeles.

It was tough to unwind after such an epic undertaking: we had some of the best autumn colors I've ever seen in California, and the cooperated with a variety of magnificent effects.

I went to sleep sometime after 2 a.m. This morning, waking too early, the bags under my eyes had bags.

During a break between the two trips, Curtis Schwartz made my portrait while I was dressed in my cycling finery. That afternoon, I took an invigorating spin around Yosemite Valley wearing, for the first time, my Death Ride finisher's jersey, which I earned last July.

Pedaling through the Valley, I spotted a huge black bear. Parking my bike, which would have been impossible in a car, I started walking toward the bear. The bear just as quickly walked away from me. I tried to hide behind the tall, thick trunks of ponderosa pines as we headed up the Valley and toward the Merced River. The bear stopped, glanced over its shoulder, spotted me, and took off running. After repeating this process a few times, I left the bear alone and returned to my bike and my ride.

Not visible under my helmet in the above photo is a tangled mass of hair. On the trips this past week, I looked a bit like a cross between Moses and the homeless guy who lives in the alley off Pico Boulevard. Clearly it was time for a change. This morning, before making another bike ride, I visited my barber.

My kids like the look and think I look a little like Matt Lauer, the "Today" show host.

However, I think there is now more than a passing resemblance between Lance Armstrong and me. The main difference is that Lance never could grow a good beard.

From my 2009 ride with Lance

As documented by my wife, Kathy, the bags under my eyes remain, although the Moses/homelessness look is gone.