22 December 2014

Trike polo

#357 / #158

Finally, after what seems like 40 days and 40 nights of rain for California and work-stuff for Red Leader, we got out!

I was moving very slowly, having overdone it (apparently) yesterday. So I invented a new game. There are very large pinecones littering the trail. I roll by one, jigging my front wheel as I go by (at a slow speed) shooting the poor pine cone into the weeds.
Fun!

And that's all I have to say today. Happy Holidays!

12 November 2014

Short days

Wednesday, 12 November

#356 / #157

We only went 10 miles today. It is hard to figure out how to ride on a weekday afternoon when the darn sun goes down at 4:45pm. Red Leader just takes a few hours off of work and we go.

We rode from the parking garage in Folsom out to Nimbus Flats and back. Nothing special, but we could tell that we had ridden hard on Sunday!

I debated starting out in a jacket, but decided to just wear shirtsleeves. I was fairly chilly for the first few miles, then I warmed right up. But I was glad to put the jacket on when we were done with our ride. It maybe time to find a long sleeves high-viz shirt.

Probably Sunday this weekend.

Cashing in

9 Nov

#355 / #157

The fruits of my plotting were to incorporate the Johnny Cash trail (Folsom, CA) into our ride today.

New bike trail up to the new Johnny Cash overcrossing. Pretty cool!


We went on Oak Ave trail between Blue Ravine and Natomas St, rode the couple hundred feet on the shoulder to the new center median left turn green painted "bike box" that allows bike and ped traffic to make its way across busy Natomas Rd.

Then it was up over the new overcrossing and down the other side of Folsom Crossing. We'd planned to continue up to Beale's Point, but Red Leader decided that he didn't want to get his heart rate up over 165 anymore times that day.

No worries!

I took us back to the Raley's parking lot via the horrible crossings of the rail-trail that parallels Folsom Blvd. Will use the riverside bike trail next time! I think it would have been about 20 miles if we had gone to Beals and used the riverside bike path.

This is our route with some elevation info (screenshot from Strava - I give up on Google Maps - used to be good for making routes, now stinks like a three day old roadkill skunk).



09 November 2014

Birthday ride

5 Nov

#354 / #156

Neither Red Leader nor I were up to riding my age this year, so we declared it "Ladies' Choice" and I chose to ride around Lake Natomas. So we did!

It was perfect weather and a great birthday ride. On the way home, I persuaded RL to drive on East Natomas so I could see if the new path leading up to the new overcrossing was open. It was! So I started plotting ...

03 November 2014

Walloping along

Sunday, 2 November

#353 / #155

Red Leader and I finally managed to get out the door for a ride. Cool, sunny, unexpectedly windy.

Strava let me down, recording 3.8 miles of my 19 mile ride. And I was even trying for a PR on the Enchanted Forest segment. I don't play the personal record game, but sometimes I just can't resist. So I have no idea if I was even near my previous best time.

Oh well.

Saw a deer, RL saw a coyote, and lots of squirrels.

A trio of trike riders, and we saw two more as we were driving up to the Sunrise Rec area.

And that's about all I can remember from the ride.

CU

25 October 2014

Singin' in the Rain

#352
Saturday, October 25

I had intended to meet up with the TARTAR riders (organized through bentrideronline) for the 10am ride from Rancho Cordova to Folsom.

The ride's official route is RC to F and back, but I hate riding on a full stomach, and I'd rather ride earlier than later given the chance, so I usually ride from Folsom to the ride start, then do the 1st half of the official ride, hitting the important part of the ride, lunch, with the crowd.

Well, it is raining today. And windy. And I managed to start out when the rain started, and then became a brief downpour. So I got soaked. Which I was actually dressed for. BUT - my plan would have me standing around in a parking lot for who knows how long, waiting for the group to get rolling, getting colder and colder and colder. As long as I'm moving, I can be soaked through and stay warm (wool). But once I stop .....

I have never gotten hypothermia and I don't plan on starting now.

So I turned around after about 3.5 miles and went back to Folsom, changed into the dry shirt from the car, and ate my breakfast at Karen's Bakery Cafe. Yum!

I've got to say, that I got more nods and smiles and hellos then I ever have on a Sat morning ride. The community of nutters running and riding in the rain are friendly folk. Maybe they were just relieved to see someone else out exercising in the rain. I know I was.

The rain brings out all the wonderful smells of the woodland - mostly pine, but all lovely.

I have a huge heap of soaked bike clothes, my bike is covered in mud and tossed up tree-bits. It sure is nice to be inside right now. And as I write this, the sun is shining! Aaaaargh!

22 October 2014

Like, omg, cosmic dude

#351 / #153

Wednesday, October 22

I could not have arranged our ride tally numbers in a more pleasing fashion if I had planned it. And I didn't, so I'm extra pleased.

Today we mixed it up a little bit, out and back between Folsom's parking garage and the ped bridge in Fair Oaks, all along the American River trail. We had about 2 hours of daylight when we were finally ready to go, so we went a conservative 16 miles. We could have gone a bit farther, but then we would have missed the nifty glowing pink clouds at sunset on our drive home.

Not a lot of wildlife, except for some death-wish squirrels. What fall colors the Sacramento Valley has are starting to appear, and the reflections in the river were outstanding. I need to go back out there with a camera and tripod and all that.

I might ride on Saturday - have not decided yet. Will I make my 52 mile birthday ride in early November. Doubtful!

CU

18 October 2014

Four rides, no waiting

Yes, faithful readers, I have been not feeling much like writing. But I'm back in the groove now, so I will say that today's ride (and the three before that since last we talked) were all nice.

24th Sept, 1st and 13th October

And today, Oct 18th #350 / #152

The ride on the 13th was a quick 3.5 miles from the auto repair to my husband's office, where I picked up the car and multi-moded my way home.

The 24th and the 1st were some of our usual rides on the trail.

Today was lovely - high 70s, not too breezy, sunny. We saw 7 other recumbents - 4 trikes and 3 bikes.
Several squirrels tried to stare me down from the middle of the pavement. I won.

I thought I'd try not bringing or consuming snacks on this ride, hoping that my grain and fruit breakfast and mid morning chicken tandoori w/ rice snack would tide me over.
Nope, not at all! I'm good for about 40 minutes before I start flagging. Red Leader can ride for hours on one donut. Not me. I need refueling. So I just got slower and slower and slower but eventually finished the 22 mile ride.

Tttttthat's all, folks!

04 September 2014

Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times

#345-6 / #149

I went for a ride on Tuesday, first thing in the morning. Just around Lake Natoma. Not a lot of people out there that time of day on a weekday.

How different was Wednesday's late afternoon ride with Red Leader. Lots of folks out, trying to get some time in on the trail when it was barely 90 degrees. That's what we were doing anyway.

Several times I felt like I should contract my trike to a narrower size. That can't happen, but I did squeeze my shoulders together and pulled my elbows in. Which does no good but makes me feel better, anyway. Oncoming walkers and doubled up oncoming bikers on a corner. Yikes!

I've been a bit blah about riding lately - Red Leader thinks it may be the weather. I hope it is and I hope that cooler weather will revive my bicycling spirits!

CU, and remember ...
Rubber side down, please.

22 August 2014

Totally tubular

Wednesday, August 20th

#344 / #148

Ha.
I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten about the ride numbers. Nope.

Anyway, Red Leader and I got tired of the extra short valve stems on the cheap tubes we bought earlier this year. And we've had enough flats (thank you, goatheads!) that we were running low on tubes. I read up on Presta valves (did you know they come in different lengths? I did not) and searched Amazon for a good price and free shipping for some Schwalbe tubes.

Why Schwalbe? Because they are one of the few tube manufacturers who state how long the stem is on a given tube. That's why.

It might be our Park Tools floor pump, but neither of us can start a tube from 0 pressure with that thing. So we are always busting out our mini-pumps. We had hoped to avoid the multi-pump tango with the longer stems, but it was not the case. I had another flat starting out (3 in the last 4 rides) and RL decided to change out one of his old tubes (Kenda) for a new one.

Interestingly, to me anyway, Red Leader's tube in his Schwalbe Marathon tires did not want to fill out the tire in the area of the valve. So I told him to stop trying to pull every last millimeter of the valve through the rim, deflated the tube, checked it was not twisted, and did it again. All OK. Now, these tubes are the narrowest that his tires will take, so maybe that was it. But I still think it was his yanking on the valve.

After all that tube-fun, we had a nice ride along the American River Parkway, chatting with one of the usual Saturday Recumbent riders whom I have not seen in ages. He left us in the dust after our chat.

Red Leader might head out on his own on Saturday, or we might ride together today (Friday). We'll see.

14 August 2014

IOU2

Ok, ok. So we've been riding, but not very much. And I owe all-you-alls FOUR, count 'em 4, posts.
So here goes...

23 July
Weather, continuing to Armageddon. Hot hot hot. We rode anyway. How long, I can't remember. It was either on the American River Parkway or the American River Parkway. Take your choice.

2 August
See above.

10 August
See above.

13 August
Ok. The real deal. It is finally below 90 today, and we are ON FIRE. Not us, although there was a small fire on the other side of the river from the bike trail. We watched a helicopter with a water thing suck up water from the river at a wide spot, then fly in a big loop to the hot spot and spray water in the general area of the fire while the ground crew dealt with the burning shrubs.
Actually, Red Leader was on fire, I was merely smoldering. I went for a swim in the morning, and I was remarkably tired on the bike ride. So I kept up on the way out to Wm Pond, then loafed on the way back.
Also, I'm upping my protein and dropping a little bit of the carbs I love so much (30% calories from carbs, 35% from protein, and 30% from fats). So I had no fuel for the ride. I guess I have to go back to making up goo and bringing that along. Sigh.

CU L8er

24 July 2014

too darn hot

Saturday, July 19th and Wednesday, July 23rd

#339 / #143 (the Wednesday numbers)

Red Leader went out by himself last week, as I felt it necessary to stay home with our elderly dog (she is feeling better now, yay). So I went out on Saturday very early in the morning. It has been a long time since I started a ride with the sun, and it felt good!
A cool 63 degrees. I started at Iron Point and went out to Sunrise Rec Area. A ride of only 11 miles total, since the trail past Sunrise would be closed starting 1/2 hour before I got there for some big event.

Wednesday's ride was unusual in that Red Leader and I saw no other recumbents of any kind on the trail. We rode 22 miles, from Sunrise to Howe Ave and back. We timed our ride perfectly and got back just as the sun was setting. So I suppose my July rides could be considered sunrise to sunset.

It's going to be hot hot hot again this weekend, so I don't expect we'll ride much until the heatwave breaks.

13 June 2014

Ugh

#337 / #141

The weather is cooler (only 90 this afternoon) and Red Leader and I finally, finally made it out for a ride. A short ride, a mere 12 miles, but satisfying nevertheless.

And that's all I feel like writing today. So there. Phhhhhhhhht, as Bill the Cat would have said.

31 May 2014

2-leaf clover

#336

Today was the day for my 'famous' 9+9 = 18 ride, where the early birds meet at 8am and go ride around Empire Ranch, then the rest of the folks meet us 1.5 hours later for a relaxing casual ride around Folsom.

It was 19 miles for me, making me still below the 200 I pledged this year for May is Bike Month and far short of last years astounding (for me) 249 miles. How did I manage that, anyway? No clue.

As I write this, after a busy afternoon of band-geekery, Red Leader is out riding around, getting the rest of the 100 miles he pledged for MiBM.

CU in June!

28 May 2014

Bike-shark

#335 / #139

Red Leader and I got a late start today, 6:35pm, after fixing a flat on his right front tire. He replaced the tube, I supervised.

We went from the Folsom parking garage to some really outstandingly awful porta-potties past the Upper and Lower Sunrise areas.

We got back right before sunset: still enough light to see but glad we were both running front and rear blinkies as the bikes oncoming and overtaking us at the end of our ride were remarkably difficult to see (those with no lights).

I don't take corners as fast as Red Leader does, so he slowly pulls away from me on curvy sections, like the one coming to Willow Creek boat launch from the west.
Anyway, Red Leader was 1 curve ahead of me the whole way through that, and the tall yellow flag looked just like a shark fin, cruising right, then left, then right, then left.

I'm leading a ride on Saturday morning, and that'll be my last ride for May is Bike Month. I toyed with the idea of riding around tomorrow, to make up the lousy 33 miles I'll be missing from the 200 I pledged, but I just have too many other things to do. Boo hoo!

24 May 2014

Pizza, gravel, trains

#344 / #138

Red Leader and I rode down to Alphabent (local recumbent shop) where we met yet another new shop minion. I don't know what I'll call him: Nameless Minion? to pick up the replacement seat mesh for RL's Gekko, which was stretching out where he sits.

It was rather hot today, but we decided to see about detouring to Costco over on Expo for a slice of pizza. I was - as uaual - hungry! We found a place to park out of the way. I minded the trikes and Red Leader fetched hot hot pepperoni pizza. Yum!

We headed back towards the bike trail, deciding to continue along the levee to see if there was a bike path entrance at the other end of the Costco building. We didn't see one, but we did get to ride/skid down an access hill covered with large gravel to rejoin the bike trail.

Just as we were going under the elevated train bridge, the freight loco let off several blasts for the upcoming level crossing. Very loud under the bridge!

We staggered back to our parking spot at William Pond, sweaty and tired.

Saw 5 trikes and 2 recumbents on the trail. The recumbent may have been the same one twice. It was orange, I can tell you that.

19 May 2014

The Divine Delta



#343 / #136

Sunday, May 18th
Red Leader and I headed out yesterday to the Delta to ride around on Andrus Island and Isleton Roads. The County of Sacramento, as they did a few weeks ago for the Great Scott! ride, closed sections of some roads in the Delta to all but residents, and invited bicylists and walkers to come out and play.



It is about an hour's drive to Walnut Grove, near the historic town of Locke, and it was a nice drive through rural Sacramento County to the Community Center (parking, and most importantly, bathrooms!). We decided to go counter clock wise to have the river on our side of the road.

It was a really nice day for a ride. There was a bit of a quartering head wind on the leg heading north on Isleton Rd, but we sure enjoyed the 3 mile return with a quartering tailwind!



Andrus Island Road cuts across the island, and the road surface was not a nice as the othe road. Red Leader decided that he would want a trike with a 26" wheel and suspension if he were to ride on roads like that in the future. It was not too bad on my fully suspended Scorpion, but there was a lot of vibration.

12 May 2014

Snot-pocalyse

#342

Sunday, 11 May

Have I used this title before? (yes, I have. Tough.)
Anyway, yesterday's ride (and the day before's, for that matter) induced the worst allergies I've had since I was a kid baling hay in the ragweed-infested Midwest.

I started at Alphabent on C and 11th, after having Other Shop Dude sort out my new rear fender (was rubbing on the tire a little bit) and planned to ride up to Elverta on the Northern rail trail, but stopped when I got to Rio Linda as the wind was just too much.

It was better coming back - I was rolling along at 15-17mph instead of 8-10mph but today, waking up with my eyes puffy, blindly groping for the tissues, was less fun.

Red Leader will be back in town today, so we will resume our together-rides on Tues or Wednesday. Yay!

10 May 2014

Pollen Polka

#341

31 miles today on the American River Parkway trail. It was pretty windy, and some trees, particularly near William Pond, were shedding clouds of white fluffy pollen. One hefty piece of pollen or maybe a lightweight bug clobbered me right in the middle of my lower lip, giving me a lovely pout for the rest of my ride.

The AMGEN race is coming to the area soon. I don't know if that was the reason, but there were a lot of identically clad very fast pacelines on the trail today. Many of them were not very good at staying on their side of the yellow line. On a quiet weekday morning this would not be an issue, but on a beautiful Saturday in May, it was, rather.
I'm not quite as wide as two experienced diamond frame riders riding side by side, but I'm not comfortable riding over far enough from the edge to let a runner by (they have right of way, you know) if the folks in the oncoming lane can't stay off my side of the yellow line. So I muttered unpleasant comments under my breath several times.

By the time I was on my way back, most of the pacelines were somewhere else. So the muttering abated.

I'm pleasantly tired and my eyes are bright red from allergies. A great day!

04 May 2014

Great Scott!

#340


I arrived at the shopping center parking lot at 7:55am, to find that Whole Foods, my planned restroom and trailmix acquisition stop, didn't open until 8am. So I unloaded the car, unfolded my bike, and bicycled over there at 8:05am. Rested and trail-mixed, I headed out onto Bidwell/Scott Road to take part in the Great Scott! ride (2014 edition).

The county of Sacramento and various other area agencies cooperate to close stretches of Scott, Latrobe, and White Rock roads for a day, so folks can ride and walk through beautiful rural countryside without contending with motor vehicle traffic.

I was met right off the bat with a headwind and a slog up to the top of the freeway overpass. Gracefully getting out of the freeway-bound lanes and over in to the leftmost thru-traffic lane was no problem this early on a Sunday morning. Then down the other side (through orange "witch's hats" spaced a little too closely for a trike) and into the car free zone.

I rode out to Scott Road at Latrobe Rd (a better starting point if you don't like ANY motor vehicles), took a bio break, then headed back to Folsom, taking Placerville Road back from White Rock. Another bio break there (thank goodness for porta-pottys), then out in the Big Wide World of multilane, 50mph traffic. I smoothly negotiated my left turn back into the parking lot, packed up the car, and had a nice lunch at Panera.

I can't really describe how beautiful this ride was. It included not only rolling green countryside and nervous cattle (my singing voice? The flags on my trike?), but redwing blackbird song, peepers (frogs), and the thrumming of a strong breeze through telephone wires.








Skateboarders!

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03 May 2014

Loopy

#339 / #135

Lead a ride today for the Casual riding group. Fun! 7 people aside from Red Leader and me. The weather was lovely - about 72 degrees and sunny, slight breeze. Everyone on the ride enjoyed themselves.
I sneezed a lot. If only I could turn the sneezes around to help propel me!

Scott Road Ride tomorrow. If I rode everywhere they have closed off, it would be 40 miles. I'd better bring snacks!

ttttthaaaath's all folks!

01 May 2014

Throwback Thursday

May is Bike Month!
but that's not why this post is here.

Monday, 28 April

#337

Yes, this is out of order. Why I forgot to write this post I can't remember. Ha ha.
Our Prius has 120,000 miles on it, which means a day at the shop for service. I loaded my trike in the back, drove to the gym for yoga and weight lifting, then drove over to the coffee shop for a bagel and cream cheese ...

"Wait!" you say, "What has this to do with a riding a recumbent?"
"Patience, grasshopper, we're getting there."

Now, where was I. Ah yes. .... cream cheese. Then I drove (would you STOP, already - PATIENCE!) to the auto shop, unloaded my trike, dropped off the keys, and pedaled home.

There, satisfied!?

I attained my fastest time on Durock road - 28mph, and managed late morning traffic (~9:30am) in Cameron Park reasonably well.
My tentative plan was to vamp long enough at the coffee shop that Red Leader would have arrived at his office (on my way home through town) so I could grab the truck there and load the bike. As it was, I arrived home just as he was hopping through the shower.

I'm going on two rides this weekend. I promise promise cross my heart that I will keep up with the posts better!

CU

30 April 2014

Lazy Saturday

#338 / #133

Saturday, 26th April

We decided to be lazy on Saturday, starting from near the bottom of Willow Creek Trail in Folsom and going only as far as the skate park.

You'll notice that Red Leader's ride count skipped a number: he went riding on Wednesday while I was backpacking.

This week we will be together again, trying to beat the heat here in Sacramento. This weekend, I'll do two rides, my usual Lake Natoma Loop (about 12 signed up so far), and then I'll go celebrate May is Bike Month by riding around on Scott Road (closed to all but local motor vehicle traffic for the day). I don't know which ride Red Leader will join me on.

20 April 2014

Shop-hop

#336 / #131

For Easter, time of bunnies, we hopped on over to Alphabent to get a few small things taken care of. Red Leader has a new seat mesh ordered, and his old one has been guyed out with some cheerful yellow zipties around the seat cover and the arms of the cruciform. He has a foam pad in there also, and reports that the seat feels much better. His steering was also tightened up. I believe the seat changes gave him a firmer base from which to pedal so our time on the way back was faster than usual.

My beautiful orange machine has a new rear fender, repositioned steering, and some other small tweaks. Much quieter without the pieces of fender bouncing and clattering in back. Carrying the folded bike in the back of the SUV caused the fender to get cracked. As long as the tire is touching the inside of the car, the fender is protected, but there is one common position, when the trike rotates around a little, and the tire sticks out into the space next to the rear passenger door, where the fender can get bashed against the door's armrest.

We met the new shop help, I shall call him Shop Minion (as opposed to Shop Dude and Other Shop Dude). Very helpful and friendly, even after fighting with an HP Velo fender.

Lots of groups out on the trail, some riding, but most of them cooking AMAZING smelling food for this Easter Sunday.

Happy trails, everyone!

19 April 2014

laughing loafers

#335

This morning I left Red Leader snoozing and set out to lead a gaggle of happy bikers around and around Folsom's beautiful bike paths. I had 12 signups and drafted a fellow biker who has also led rides around to be my sweep. After all that, several did't show up (not uncommon) so I only had 6 bikes following me around. My sweep's yellow jacket was really easy to spot way back there in my rearview!

The ponds and wetlands have plenty of water right now, and there was plenty of wildlife to see. Mostly noisy quail. Saw another group of casual riders exploring the trail on this beautiful breezy morning.

It is a real pleasure to introduce folks to Folsom this way. Just lovely landscapes to admire.

A longer, faster ride tomorrow with Red Leader.

CU

17 April 2014

I O U

Great Galloping something that begins with a G (gobsmacks? Gila monsters? I know - Godzillas!)
I am THREE posts behind on this blog.

Without further ado, here's the massive catchup post.

#332-4 / #128-30

Saturday, April 12 Bike Around the Buttes
Lovely weather, no hurricane winds like last year, did the 17 mile fun course again. Red Leader wants to go for the 40 next year. I am pleased. Nay, I am STOKED!
There were a lot of cows on the route. I decided, 3 miles into the initial climb, that I could have been counting cows to keep myself amused. But then, later, I decided that I would have run out of fingers, even if I counted 20 cows on each hand several times over.
The music and lunch after the ride were nice.
We particularly like this ride since the check in for the two shorter rides is open until 11am.

Monday, April 14th - a short ride in Folsom
We were still a bit tired from the previous ride, but we had also decided, on the car ride back from the Buttes, that we would try to fit in a third weekly ride. So we phoned it in and went around the 10 mile loop on Folsom's city bike paths. Red Leader commented that someone had gone around and shaved off the top of all the hills. Nice!

Wednesday, April 16th - Sunrise to Howe on the American River Trail.
Feeling somewhat recovered, yet curious to see how 3 rides in 5 days felt, we decided on our 20.2 mile ride on the parkway.
Warmish weather but once we got moving, the self-generated breeze kept us both comfy. Saw a young coyote and a jackrabbit. Lots of squirrels.
Had a nice conversation with another trike rider when we got to the parking lot. She had just finished stuffing her Terratrike into her car and was interested to see the two different folding methods on our trikes. Good times!
Red Leader is going to take a break, I think, until Sunday, but I'll repeat the easy Folsom ride on Saturday, leading a gaggle of casual bikers for an organized ride - the first ride I've lead in many months. Excited!

11 April 2014

Back on the lounger

#331 / #127

Wednesday, 9 April.

I can't say 'back on the saddle' as I don't have one on my luxurious recumbent trike.

I was camping last weekend when Red Leader went for a 20 mile ride. So that explains his number.

This ride was our 'usual' up and down the American River Trail. I am sad to say to RL's best time on Watt to Sunrise Drinking Fountain (a Strava segment) is a shade faster than my best time. I guess I'll head out there early one morning (when I'm at my fastest) and see if I can (metaphorically) clobber him.

This weekend we will be up in Yuba County, riding to raise money for a children's diabetes center. We did this ride last spring and enjoyed it, despite the wind. I wonder what the forecast is this year? I'll know in a day or so.

rubbersidedown

02 April 2014

Upholding the Stereotype

#330 / #125

Red Leader and I returned to our usual haunt: Sunrise to Wm Pond/Watt on the American River Parkway trail. The rain let up and gave us a beautiful sunny day, still cool, with very little breeze and lots of company on the trail. I think the bicyclists outnumbered the turkeys, but not by much. I also saw a coyote, muzzle covered wth grass. I think he had been digging for mice or something.

I decided, when we got to William Pond, that I would turn around a mosey back to the car. I don't know why I had so little get up and go today, but I did enjoy myself loafing back down the trail to the car.

Red Leader is on his own this weekend for rides. I'm going camping!

23 March 2014

Mozzie Mambo

#329 / #124

A late afternoon ride today after a 4 hour car ride. Yes!

Folsom's parking garage to Sunrise and back again - 18 miles, all on the south side of Lake Natoma. The last little bit coming back to Folsom involves a hill that is nice and shady on a hot summer day, but houses mosquitoes on a warm spring afternoon. As soon as I dropped into my hill climbing gear and slowed down to a sedate creep, the bugs started biting. At least I could feel comfortable swatting away while creeping along.

This is my new favorite ride - all the little hills provide built in intervals and the twists and turns are fun, although Red Leader still takes corners faster than I am willing to do so. I catch him up on the straightaways. Everything is dressed in spring green. Really pretty.

that's all, folks!

15 March 2014

Be Prepared

#328 / #123

Red Leader and I decided to mix it up a little bit and rode from the Folsom parking garage to William Pond and back. Yep. 30 miles. We are both tired. I'd like to do a ride like this with him at least once a month. But it takes a big chunk out of our day, especially since Red Leader is not an early riser on weekends.

We came across the aftermath of a bike/bike collision near the Fish Hatchery. I stopped, after inquring if they needed a first aid kit. I handed out a couple of wipes. That's it.

In addition to water, tube and/or patch kit, inflation method (cartridge, pump) I think we should all carry just a little first aid stuff. How about a couple of wipes, some antibiotic gel, a couple of large gauze pads and maybe some adhesive tape, since getting stuff to stay in place on bendy elbows is tough. If  you have that on hand (I've carried a minimal kit like that packed in an Altoids' tin) you won't have to wait for the person who has the kit to show up.

Anyway, that's enough lecturing for now. Enjoy Spring!

10 March 2014

The Mom-glare

#237 / #122

Saturday, March 8th

Have you ever seen the Mom-glare?
It starts with a lowering of the eyebrows, followed by a deep, slow inhalation which unfolds into a stern admonishment, often graced with an extended arm tipped with a menacingly slow unfolding of the index finger.

I got to use the Mom-glare on the driver of a white van who seemed to think that Red Leader was going to wait for him (we had the green, and he was oncoming, preparing to turn left). The driver stopped. Then I waved cheerfully. For that is another characteristc of the Mom-glare, the sudden transformation into sweetness and light after the storm clouds of displeasure have passed. Whipsawed!

All this happened very slowly, as we had all been stopped at our respective red lights down in Sacramento.

Anyway, we spent a sunny, breezy Saturday riding down to Alphabent on C Street to hang out at the shop and chat. Bike Dude had almost every trike out and there were several test-riders wheeling happily about.

We noticed that Red Leader's Gekko seat mesh will need replacement or repair sometime. The spot right under his rump has the mesh pulling away from the material at the sides. We might slap some adhesive on it, or an additional section of mesh (pet guard at the local home improvement store has been recommended) or I might dig through my box of outdoor fabric and see if I can find a useful sized scrap to reinforce the stretched out area.

It's supposed to be a high just shy of 80 on Wednesday. Whoo! March my shiny posterior!

CU

05 March 2014

Dodging Drops

#236 / #121

It rained one whole drop on us today. We did a short ride, Sunrise to Wm Pond as we didn't want to get stuck riding too far if it decided to rain.

Had a nice conversation with a trio of guys interested in our trikes. One of the fellows had some Sun recumbents, but not a trike. The front suspension on my Scorpion was the most impressive feature.

Not a lot else to report, other than Sam the Suicide Squirrel was out again. This time he dodged Red Leader's left front wheel instead of mine.

CU

25 February 2014

One Bike, Two Bike, Red Bike, Blue Bike

#235 / #120

Red Leader and I did our usual ride on the American River trail (this time together - I took the weekend off of bicycling since my foot was sore).

Many people out enjoying the horrible dry, warm weather (we need RAIN, otherwise I wouldn't object to such nice weather).

Some of what we saw: wide dude on a very short bike, knees up around his ears, serenely cruising along. Recumbent bike, overwhelming impression of Yellow. Usual dude on his high racer passing us like we were not going 15mph, but rather standing still. Buzz - blue-black-black-orange-black-red-green-black - buzz: pack of fast racers.

I had a close call with an oncoming bicyclist. I was hugging the right edge of the pavement, my right wheel about an inch from the dirt. Small drop off, so if I bobbled I'd roll. Oncoming bike - I think he was passing someone? Or just swerving, going pretty fast, passing 4 inches from my left front wheel, our combined speeds leaving me just enough time to transfer my gaze back to my right wheel, concentrating on keeping it off the dirt, while hunching my left shoulder in anticipation of a collision which did not come.  Whew. I think I let out one loud contralto squeak.

CU

19 February 2014

Blow, thou Winter Wind

#234 / #118

Finally back on the bikes (travel, work, torrential rain (yay!) all conspired to keep us off our bikes.

Gusts to 27mph this afternoon. But nice and sunny and in the mid 60s. The trailside is starting to green up thanks to the ride-preventing torrential downpours. The wind slowed me down so much (and I didn't have my trusty goo with me for quick fuel), that I watched Red Leader pull steadily away from me on our return leg from our Sunrise/Watt/Sunrise ride.

Oh well, I was just so happy to be back on the bike I didn't really mind.

Hopefully another ride Friday or Saturday!

CU

09 February 2014

Chillin'

#233 / #117

Wednesday, Feb 5th

This is about our ride on Wednesday. I forgot to write about it until now. oops. We went up and down the American River trail again, as usual. It was pretty cold. I didn't take off my full-fingered gloves until our turn around at Wm Pond.

Neither Red Leader nor I were moving too fast - 1mph average slower than our usual. The cold, maybe?

We enjoyed it anyway, even though the sun was not out. It seemed only the hardiest of riders were out; we saw one triking couple, with her scarf wrapped all the way up to her eyeballs!

Rained all weekend (8th adn 9th). I went to the gym today (Sunday) for a 40 minutes recumbent exercise bicycle ride. It was weird. The cranks are long and the angle is different. But at least I got sweaty! I used a 'rolling hill' workout. Baby hills in my opinion. I couldn't pedal faster than 90 rpm as the machine got to rocking quite a bit at that speed. I'll probably use it again when I can't get out on a real bike.

01 February 2014

Bike-cream Social

#322 / #116

American River trail today, as usual. The 1st Saturday Recumbent Ride caught us just after we set out, so we stopped and chatted with them for some minutes. It was good to catch up with them.

We continued our socializing with a lovely family out for a bike ride from Hazel to Discovery Park. The littlest girl needed an assisting push up the hills but both girls seemed to have a lot of fun. We first met them when they stopped at William Pond park, then waved and rang our bell madly when we saw them again on our way back. They peppered us with questions about our trikes, which we were glad to answer. The girls inspected our shoes, our cleats, our pedals, our lights, our helmets, our reflectors, our bags - the oldest even noticed and inquired about the built in zippered pocket on the Velotechnik's mesh seat. I handed out one of Alphabent's cards.

We turned around again at Howe - there's a nice relativly unused portajohn there and if we stop there for our bio-breaks, we can make a non-stop ride back to the car. Red Leader was pleased to get a few more personal records on some Strava segments, and I finally got two new PRs on the Enchanted Forest, in both directions. We were trying to keep up with the 1st Saturday ride on the way out, and Red Leader was on fire on the way back.

A good day for a ride (is there a bad one?)

CU

26 January 2014

Crank-a-dellic

#321 /#115

I started our 30 mile ride in a terrible humor, and got to mile 25 still cranky. So I slowed way down, kicked back and noodled along, admiring the countryside and the other cyclists and the kids and the parents and the squirrel who thought he'd play chicken with me.

And by mile 30, my mood was much improved!

'nuf said.

22 January 2014

Grin or Grimace?

#320 / #114

We rolled this afternoon from Sunrise to Howe on the American River Trail (and back), for about 22 miles of delightfully unseasonal weather. Coming back, we had the sun behind us and I found some amusement in the grimacing faces of oncoming traffic, squinting against the sun.

We saw some regular recumbents folks, a grey velo and the gray haired FAST dude on a recumbent with a fairing, and a handful of other recumbent bikes, but no other trikes. Many packs of joggers out, not much wildlife that I could see.

I took along a bit of homemade gu and didn't run out of energy this time. Yay.

13.2 mph average, 22.6 miles, a paltry 68 feet of elevation.


19 January 2014

A tube is not a chain and other stories

#319 / #113

I owe you a post (rides #s 318 and 112) so I'll just say we rode from Sunrise to Watt and back on Wednesday.

Today (Sunday, and a beautiful sunny day it was) we planned to go from Sunrise to I-80 and back - 30 miles. Red Leader had that awful creaking noise return, so I started randomly trying to diagnose it while rolling merrily along. I'd drift up beside him when traffic on the American River Trail allowed, and bellow a suggestion. He'd try it and then we'd repeat.

I had noticed that the creak was louder when his left leg was at full extension, and also that his torso bobs around quite a bit when turning the cranks. So I asked him push harder with his right and that evened the creak out in regards to left/right.

Then I asked him to coast and shift his weight around like he was pedaling and ta-da! Creaking.

We stopped at William Pond and he started checking his trike from back to front and decided that the rear wheel's quick release could be tighter. So he tightened it a little bit. He sat in the trike and bobbed around and it did not creak as much.

Ok, that's good.

Somewhere between Wm Pond and Watt, Red Leader pulled over announcing that his chain had disappeared. WTF!?

Turned out that the upper front chain tube had come unmoored and crept up the chain and tried to insert itself through the front derailler. That kind of worked, but the tube is not a chain so did not travel along the cogs well, instead diving off to the left and trying to wrap the tube and chain around the left crank.

I need to add zipties to my pile-o-stuff (there used to be zip ties in there, honest!) Red Leader figured out what was going on, got the chain tube to go back through the webbing/zip tie tether without taking anything apart, and reinforced the end of his battered chain tube with some Gorilla tape. Which I did have in the pile-o-stuff.

We went on to Watt and decided to turn around since all the diagnosis and repair had eaten up some of our bike time.

I'll be getting some new tubes on both trikes, as I've been putting off that job for my trike and I had no idea Red Leader's tubes were so chewed up and split.

10 January 2014

The rut

#317 / #111

Guess where we rode today?! Yep. The American River Parkway from Sunrise to Wm Pond. Again.
Hey, as long as Red Leader gets out riding with me, I really don't care.

To make it more interesting for me, I stayed in my middle ring the whole time, spending lots of time on the smallest cog in back. Good for my cadence.

We didn't ride on Wednesday since I had had yet another filling replaced and it takes a while for me to get over having gone to the dentist. I like my dentist and his staff, but .... it's still the dentist.

And probably no more rides this week since the weather should be rainy. It had BETTER rain. I'm tired of drought. Tired, tired, tired. So there.

RAIN ALREADY!!!

06 January 2014

Proclaim the Day!

#316 / #110
5 Jan 2014

As Red Leader and I were unfolding trikes and pumping tires and all the things necessary before rolling down the trail, a fellow triker proclaimed that it "is a great day for a ride." We concurred.

30 miles later, tired but satisfied, we returned to our starting place, ready for lunch. At 4:30pm. Good heavens! We declared it Lupper - lunch/supper (I'm from the midwest and often call the evening meal supper instead of dinner). Linner, Dunch, Slush were all losers. Lupper it is.

I never did eat dinner, but that's OK. Unless 2 tangerines count as dinner.

We saw lots of recumbents, 2 and 3 wheeled, on our ride. The 60 degree, sunny, calm weather brought lots of people out.

CU

01 January 2014

Parkway Parfait

#315 / #109

Busy day today on the American River trail. Packs of roadies, families, trailers - I even saw a Wike trailer (fancy!), solos, tandems, recumbent bicycles and tricycles, walkers, horses (with riders). No rollerbladers, and no handcycles. But everybody else.

Riding behind Red Leader as I do, I am often unable to pass safely to keep up with him. So I click along behind a group of slower riders, lurking, eavedropping, finally passing when I have a clear shot and a straightaway.

Sometimes I have to pass a single person at at time, so you get trike, bike, trike, bike. Or bike, trike, bike, trike. Like a fancy layered dessert! But better because it is human powered!

A 19 mile bike ride is the perfect way to start the new year. So, happy new year to all, and to all good riding for the next 364 days!