Sproing!

Ride #115
9.5 miles on the American River Trail
Sunday, October 9th

I set out with the intention of going up to Beals Point, then back down and around Lake Natoma. Hey, at least I did the climbing part (I ended up skipping the lake today).

I set off from old Folsom across the bridge and up the trail to Beals.

A very pretty Nor Cal fall day. Not a lot of rain yet, so the hillsides give a nice contrast with the always-green oaks.

That's the backside of Folsom Prison on the far hill.

After the newish construction at Folsom Auburn Road, there is an encouraging sign.

Of course, it is 1 mile of hill but I got to the top and took a snack break by the lake.

These trees looked neglected so today was their photoshoot.

Coming down Beals I still did not quite reach 30mph (29 today, 27 point something the last time). Today, since I had planned to go around the lake, I went all the way back down Beals to old Folsom.

There is a lot of rough trail (tree roots) and I have no way to avoid it. I used to stand up on the bike when I encountered these things. Now on my recumbent I had to just sit there today and let the suspension take the hit and try to remember to keep my teeth from snapping together.

Then there was a sudden rattling! Oh no! My rear fender stay came unstuck. The Gorilla Tape I'd 'repaired' it with had given way. The rattling was driving me NUTS so I did a U-turn and headed back. I'm going to avoid that rough section from now on. Too hard on me and the trike.

Coming back on the bridge there were multiple groups of walkers, including one family who had the BEST way of keeping their kids to one side of the bridge (the interesting side), "Hands on the railing!" Thanks, folks. Made me much less nervous going by them with oncoming bicycle traffic. My trike looks WIDE but it is really not. It looks even WIDER when I'm on a ped/bikeway with high concrete on one side and a high fence on the other.

So my task before Foxys on Saturday is to get a mirror and a flashlight and see if I can see underneath the fender to figure out how the stays are supposed to "stay" (ha ha) and FIX it. I think there is supposed to be a hex nut under there.

I don't really want to ride around Davis/Vacaville/Winters with Gorilla tape stuck to my beautiful trike.

Oh yeah, and last ride I had a soft tire. I pumped it up. This morning it was FLAT. So I stood around in the parking garage changing the tube. I had TWO holes in that stupid tube. So after my ride, when I got home, I sat around and patched it.
grumblegrumblegrumble
Stupid thorns!

Rollin' with the Roadies

Ride #102

Sunday, August 28th
39 miles on the American River Bike Trail

A lovely group ride today with the 'big boys' - the Hammerin' Wheels bicycle group. Nearly all of their rides are outside my personal limits, usually for both speed and distance, but this one was just right. It pushed me but didn't kill me. And I'll bet I'm a little stronger for being pushed. Thank you, Herr Nietzsche.

Since I slow significantly on hills (not that I mind, since I get to see squirrels and turkeys up close) I would drop behind sometimes, and when we reached the flats I took off as fast as I could go since I was getting tired of the view of 27" wheels and logo-bedecked spandex rumps. I got to the turnaround point (yet another cafe - what would these places do without cyclists?) just a few minutes behind the group.

Finding a place to stash my trike within sight of the group was easy, and I sat on the outskirts of the table and listened in to the conversations. I had a huge cup of ice tea and a nice berry scone. I decided to take it easy on the way back, and told the leader not to wait for me. I cruised back at a 'tourist's pace' of 10mph - something I now feel like I could do all day. I'm glad I slowed down since my legs are pretty tired now.

I did not have any flat tires, but several folks in the group did, so I was passed repeatedly by folks catching up or turning back to assist. I've made it a policy to wave and say "Hey!" whenever anyone calls my name, since I have no hope of recognizing a road bike whipping past 15mph faster than I'm going, and my bike is the memorable one.
Ok.
The 15mph is a lame excuse, I'm memorably (har har) bad with names and faces.

The first part of the ride was the climb up to Beals Point. I'm glad I did it (it was actually easy, but I am slow). The last time I tried it from the bottom was years ago, too soon after getting my hybrid Trek. Totally not ready for it.
I don't care for hills, but it sure is fun screaming down them. I need to do more hills.
AND I do think that the hills in my neighborhood are steeper than anything going up to Beals. I know what I'm going to be doing on quiet dry winter weekday mornings: orbiting the subdivision until I can't orbit no more.

I tried out some new shorts I got from Aero Tech Designs. They are very well made (as always) but the material is slippery! And the trail down from Beals is curvy and bumpy. Every time I'd hit a bump, I'd slide down the seat. And the sitting part of my seat is pretty small. (Let me clarify. My butt is plenty big, but the target on the bike's seat is fairly small, as recumbent seats go).
And cornering! On tight curves going fast, I tend to hook my shoulderblade over the seat's edge when cornering. Imagine my distress when my butt started sliding the other way. So these shorts will go in the 'hiking' bucket. They'll be great for that.

These are the "Fitness Compression Shorts" made of "tricot knit microfiber". I have a pair of their "Men's Unpadded Cycling Skin Shorts" made from "7 1/2 oz, nylon/lycra, tricot knit" which is grippier than the super smooth shorts I wore today. The men's shorts have a longer leg then I'd like, but they are OK. I wonder what other shorts (unpadded) they make from that second fabric?

Things I forgot today.

• Drink enough water, darn it! Despite 3 bike bottles of water and 1 large ice tea, I came home and drank 64 ounces of electrolyte water. NOW I feel like I drank enough.
• Re-sunscreen after 2 hours. I was out for four and a half, and had gutted my bike bag to lighten my load for climbing a 7% grade, removing the bottle of sunscreen that is usually in there.
• Lip balm with sunscreen. I have it in my bike bag and I failed to put it on at the beginning of the ride. Forgot yesterday too. I put some on at our break, and then again later on.
• Stop and eat when you are hungry. Don't get all angsty about keeping up. Stop and take care of yourself.
• Lube your chain when you think about it. I had not done it as I said I would so my shifting was clunky and noisy. 

I'm not stuffing food in my face! (medium length gray hair, glasses, red shirt)

I'm probably taking the week off since I have big Labor Day stuff going on. But the houseguests will be mostly gone by Monday, so I'll ride then.

Not my map, but a good one anyway.

get out of the kitchen!

Ride #84
Sunday, June 19th

20 miles in Folsom

One of the other ride leaders for the casual biking meetup group decided to put together a 20 mile ride in Folsom, mostly on bicycle paths and mostly including hills.

Windy!

I've decided to call it K's Crazy Cure (for excess  energy).

It was hot. At the end of our ride the wunderground.com said it was 86 degrees. And the wind was roaring today. I was quite distressed at one point to have an uphill AND a headwind! Bah!

The section from the top of the Folsom Lake Crossing to the river (you can see the big divot on the elevation profile below) is something I've always wanted to try, wondering just how fast I can merely coast down. Well, with a straight on 20mph headwind, it was a lousy 30.3 mph. I will try it again on a day with no wind.

By coming up the Folsom Crossing, we sort of cheated the famous Beals climb, since the 7% grade is downstream from the crossing. We at least got to fly down that grade, although since it is so curvy (and I've not been on it in a loooooong time) I felt I should brake most of the way.

I applied sunscreen three times today (we were out from 10:30 to 3pm, prime sun exposure time) and I don't seem to be as pink as I might sometimes be. Next time I'll take some baby wipes and wipe off the old sunscreen first. My shins looked like they had some kind of horrible skin condition with the way road grit and sunscreen combined to pill up.

I lost track of how many bottles of water I drank. I had my usual plastic one handed bite valve with me, and I refilled it from some metal bottles that I had encased in soggy cotton socks (evaporative cooling) so I had at least cool water to drink. I've had one electrolyte drink since I've come home and I think I need another one. I sweated so much today that when I dumped water over my head at the end of the ride I got an eye full of sweaty water from the stuff running off my scalp.

We picnicked at Beal's Point: I had a lovely turkey club sandwich and a big bottle of chocolate milk. I also ate salty nut and raisin mix along the way, as well as handing some of it out to one of the other riders.

A ride Tuesday, Saturday, then Tuesday again.