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