I've taken a few photos with Clair, the dinosaur next to the gas price signs at the Sinclair station at San Vicente and 26th Street in Brentwood. In one of my photos during the pandemic, she's wearing a mask. But Clair was kidnapped on September 27. I didn't hear about it until today, when news stories appeared saying she had been returned unharmed, with a note begging forgiveness. No surprise, since the kidnapper was caught on security camera loading her into his distinctive white pickup truck. Heck, you can almost read the license plates! They should at least pay the cost of repairing Clair's perch, which they went at with power tools. LAist insists her name is Clair (after Sinclair, presumably), even noting the kidnapper mispelled it in his note: "A note attached to the dino stated: 'I'm sorry for stealing Claire (sic)! Please do not press charges! Thank you!'" But the New York Times insists on Claire. I prefer Clair. So when I stopped to welcome Clair back today, I asked a Sinclair employee how it's spelled. She told me it's Claire. But I'm sticking to my guns! Credits: https://urlzr.mp/fvb (Redirects to NY Times) https://urlzr.mp/gvb (Redirects to LAist) I don't know how long it has been since I climbed Mandeville and Westridge. A few months, I think. I've been avoiding it mostly because I don't like the short downhill Sunset Boulevard transition between Burlingame Avenue and Mandeville Canyon Road, or the shorter uphill Sunset Boulevard transition from Mandeville Canyon Road up to South Rockingham Avenue. Sunset Boulevard traffic is heavy and fast, and there's no shoulder. But, if I'm honest, I've *never* had a problem on those stretches of Sunset. I just take the whole lane, and no driver has ever even honked. Today, I wanted to see whether my slightly improved strength and much improved endurance would make Mandeville and Westridge a more enjoyable ride. And it did, of course. I felt faster on Mandeville, which is not especially steep until the very top. And I was able to ride up to the Westridge trailhead with no trouble, not even any stops to rest or S turns on the wall. Slow, but steady. My emotional state was much better on the bike than days when I don't ride, and I did a bunch of physical work after finishing the ride without any trouble. Yeah, the usual orthostatic hypertension, but that's just a brief, pleasant high, since I don't actually fall down. A shout-out to the driver who right-hooked me on Arizona Avenue: Congratulations, you inattentive numbskull! You've joined all the other crap drivers who aren't going to jail because I expect *every* driver approaching an intersection with no turn signal in the traffic lane to the left of the bike lane to right hook me every time. I hope you were startled badly enough to change your behavior.