Again, Finnegan

#133

26 Dec, 2011
6 miles in lovely Folsom

Rambled around the bike trails with my sweetie and his son today. Said son (6 ft 3" and long legs) perched uneasily atop my old Trek hybrid (I'm 5' 10 and short legs). My sweetie took it easy and we didn't go very far. He had no problems with heart rate this time. Yay!

Beautiful sunshine, practically empty trails, and no ice this time.

Despite being on a bike too small and very different from his usual vintage Schwinn, the kid still managed no-hands.

Not a tandem, just tailgating.

The only mechanical thing we had (which was quite minor) were flat batteries on my sweetie's bike computer. Watching the numbers go by is a big part of his bicycle-enjoyment, so he stopped in at the nearby store to get new batteries.

 All set and ready to go!

My favorite oak tree.

Your intrepid report is a shadow of her former self.

I've got some stuff to do tomorrow but I plan on getting out both on the trike and on foot a few times later this week.
The weather is not so good for my snowshoe plans, but it sure makes for nice triking weather!

Worth it? Totally!

#132

Friday, December 23rd

It's been a while, hasn't it? Colds, holiday nonsense, overscheduling, yadda yadda blah blah. Just excuses.

A mostly sunny, cool day in Folsom. I decided to take it easy and mosey along for about 6 miles. It was lovely to get outside and roll through the beautifully bleak winter landscape.

Here's some lovely pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I turned around so I could ride over this bridge. Now that's dedication!

Ice! Actual ice. I rode through a couple of ice-rimmed puddles today. So exciting!

No rain = blue skies.

Took "The Parkway" today. Yes there are bike trails paralleling this, but what fun is that?

Quail.

A tree that I think makes me sneeze.

It was shedding fluffy bits like mad.

Trail of Ice!

Make like a tree and leaf.

No spinning tinkling snowglobe. Or inflatable 4' tall penguins. So disappointed!

Happy holidays, all.
As Queen said, Get on your bikes and RIDE.

Sun-Day in December

#131

11 miles around Lake Natoma
Saturday, December 10th

Our gathering spot in Folsom (picture by Al)

A medium-large group set out at 10 this morning from Folsom. TWO trikers this time, me and my intrepid friend, Al. The rest on an assortment of comfort bikes, road bikes, and mountain bikes. Most of us were content to just go around the lake but one rider was heading back to Sacramento after our ride. He might have taken the train down, which would give him about 41 miles, or he may have pedaled the whole way, which would be 70 miles.

"That trike was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis wide" (picture by Al)

We saw horses today, and their timing was great. I do worry about accidentally freaking out horses. We overtook a bunch just as they were exiting the paved trail for the dirt path, and then two of that group kindly scooted ahead farther down the trail to get out of the way of the 16 bike-riding fools clogging up the trail. I think they are either park rangers or volunteers. I've seen them around before. One of the horses was a beautiful glossy prancing tail-flagging Arabian.

I set a pretty brisk pace (the excuse was the need to warm up a little) and that seemed to be OK. Al was our sweeper today (complete with a broom tied to the back of his trike. And a festive seasonal ribbon as well).

The Dust Buster

I took all of three pictures today (one was dark, one was boring, and one is above) so any other pictures you might see in today's post were taken by Al.

We gathered after the ride at Karen's Bakery Cafe. A great place to eat: a bit pricey but worth it. I devoured a small bowl of salmon pasta salad and Al plowed through a sandwich with some greens.

"Hmmm," Liz says. "My plate is quite empty now! So distressed..." (Al's picture)

You'd think I'd get bored with this ride, but it is really fun to do. So I'll schedule another one for January. I hope that day in January is as nice as today!