PEDAL TO METTLE: You’re about to start...

PEDAL TO METTLE: You’re about to start seeing a new side of Mayor Riordan--His Honor the Bicyclist (B1). Turns out the new mayor is a passionate pedaler, juggling his schedule and giving bodyguards the slip to go mountain biking on dirt roads (fellow cyclist’s question: “So, what do you do?”). . . . His longtime pastime provides a political payoff--the image of a vigorous leader; he’s inviting the public to join him for a ride Saturday from Marina del Rey to Venice.

POLITICAL TRAIL: Proving a mayor can’t escape politics, a favorite Riordan cycle road crosses land owned by his new police commissioner--Valley auto mogul and GOP leader Herbert Boeckmann II. Boeckmann wants to build houses there--an issue that could wind up on Riordan’s desk. . . . Possible result: a complex controversy involving his cycling with environmentalists battling a key supporter (B5).

STAR PERFORMANCE: From timing Jupiter’s cloud bands to scanning for supernovae, the night sky in August is a hot ticket in the Valley area. Special attraction: the Perseid meteor shower, which could make cosmic history. Best of all, it can be free. See Valley Life, Page 10 for a viewer’s guide to the heavens, with clip-out sky chart.

CHARLIE BROWN SR.: Valley baseball leagues for grown men have given hundreds of players from 18 to 60 another chance at the national pastime (C10). . . . The National Adult Baseball Assn., which perpetuates the boyhood dreams of 15,000 players nationwide, wraps up its season with national championships at spring-training sites of major league teams.

ZINGS AND ARROWS: For 20 years, native Australian Gordon Currie has served up wit and sarcasm about Hollywood--and almost anything else--to Midwestern radio listeners. His brand of corn, broadcast live from his home in Glendale, plays well in the Farm Belt. See Valley Life, Page 3.