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!