January 1 2003– Although we had planned to do the bike ride at the Rose Parade for the past seven years, this is the first New Year’s morning when I felt sober enough to attempt the trip to Pasadena. We were the first of the approximately 12 BCI’ers (who can count at that hour) at the Alhambra parking spot and the temperature was in the mid 40’s at the start of a crystal clear day. The 4-mile ride was a nice warm up to the staging point for the floats on Orange Grove. There we had a chance to walk our bikes within 5 feet of the floats – up close and personal.

We continued past the ride turn point on California to view more of the floats. Tommie assured us this was not a problem, as she knew a “short cut” back to the route. Actually, Tommie took us down several “short cuts”, each of which was a dead end – not a through street. Rumor has it that Tommie is planning a special tour next year – the “Dead End Streets of Pasadena.”

The short detours gave us a nice appetite for the bagel/breakfast stop before we got to the viewing point. As the parade had gotten a little ahead of us – the bagels were a little slow – we headed past the normal viewing street (Bionnie), up to San Marino, where we arrived as the first float was passing. The temperature had climbed up to around 60º, the sky was crystal clear and the viewing was terrific.

A short ride back after the parade brought us to an old-time historic Pasadena eating spot, Twohey’s. Obviously, we stopped to eat as we had been without food for several hours. The meal was very good and the company was great.

In summary, this was a great way to see the parade with no traffic and no long waits to “get a good spot.” On the way up, we heard on the radio of the traffic backup on the I-210 due to people going to the parade. We ran into absolute no heavy traffic on our route up the I-710 and through South Pasadena. Perfect weather and a perfectly great way to start the new year.