A Cheerful Mob

#143

Sunday, February 12th
10-ish miles around Lake Natoma.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Creatures of all sizes and states, it was time again today for The Ride Around The Lake Whilst and at the Same Time Yakking and Generally Carrying On. (so sue me, I've been reading strange books again).

It was sunny at home, and foggy in Folsom. I'm glad my yellow windbreaker was in the car, or I would have been a cold recumbent driver! My fingers were a little cold, but not too bad.

One person turned back since she got too cold. I had considered wearing shorts and am glad I did not!

My sweetheart came along today. The new gears he got made a HUGE difference. He chewed up the hills. Well. We call them hills, since this is a Casual Bike Ride. And no bailing out to wait for pick up.

And ... I was surprised and charmed to meet another triker today. He has an inexpensive recumbent trike which he ordered from a place down in Florida and did most of the assembly of the components himself. He was pleased as punch with his brand new ride and had no problems sticking w/ the group. I sure could not have kept up on my first ride. He even spoke of centuries in his future. Go dude!

We had 16 people on the ride, the usual mix of hybrids and road bikes. And now I suppose I ought to add trikes, since I am not alone, thanks to Mr. New Dude and "Parking Lot" Al.

I hope to get another ride in this week, since President's Day weekend is already booked.

(No pictures, bad blogger, no biscuit!)

Bunch of Fun

#138

Sunday, January 15th

I cruised around the lake (Lake Natoma) today with a pack of 18 cheerful casual riders. It was a little cold, and maybe a bit windy (but nothing like last weekend). We rolled on anyway, having a good time. This ride organizing is getting a little easier as I do it every month.


I successfully ran my little bitty 808 HD camera, attached to the visor of the cap I wear under my bike helmet. The videos are OK, I need to do a lot of editing since my bicycle technique apparently involves a lot of head-bobbing. I might try mounting the camera on my right front fender next time. It is light enough it sticks on with a bit of velcro. The video quality is not enough to clip stills out of, but then that's not why I bought the camera!

I did have one tiny moment of glory today. We were coming up from Negro Bar, on my alternate route to the Folsom-Auburn Rd bridge, when we passed two confused looking cyclists. They were looking for the bridge, so for a little while my comet-trail of fellow riders was increased by two. I was glad to help them out.


I'll head out tomorrow on a short excursion with "Parking lot Al" and our trikes. It will be good to see him again.

I PROMISE pictures tomorrow! Really.

Taken by one of the Eighteen

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!

Her Majesty

#130

Wednesday, November 30th
11 miles around Lovely Lake Natoma

The wind was a blowing, I was pompously pontificating, and I had a flat on the left front before I even loaded up the trike for the ride. So Three, count 'em, Three blow(s/hards/outs) for the price of One.
Buy Now.
Eat at Joe's.

I think that the xmas advertising has gotten to me a little bit.

"Parking lot Al" and I went around Lake Natoma. He's offered to sweep the upcoming Casual Bike ride so I wanted to show him my route of choice.

The wind was blowing enough that I was afraid our flags would go around the lake without us. It was thick fog at my house, but by the time I got to our start point (1100 feet lower) the sun was peeking out. We looked like arctic explorers, bundled up the way we were. I don't know what all Al was wearing, but he looked a bit wider than normal, so I'm thinking at least 4 layers. I had 3, and for a wonder, kept them all on.

My favorite fall/winter/spring garment is a wool Buff (tm). Just a long tube of fine Merino wool, it can be worn multiple ways. I use it most often on bike rides as a balaclava or sometimes as an ear warmer. I did both today.

We averaged 9mph (Al did at anyrate, and we stuck together pretty well so I'll borrow his number - I was too confused this morning to reset my odo from last weeks Stupidly Steep Climb). We took several breaks, admiring the new Hazel Bridge interchange (it is just too grand to call it a bike path).

I left the camera in the pouch, since I had my gloves on most of the time and it is a bit awkward to use that way. So please imagine an achingly blue sky, a few clouds barreling along here and there, and about a hundred seagulls circling in the sky, making a big messy scribbly circle, orbiting the Fish Hatchery, hoping desperately for a tasty scrap of salmon.

Leaving the gulls and their fish heads fish head roly poly fish heads ...

Loyal readers will remember I had filled my tires with some anti-leak stuff: True Goo, so I was understandably dismayed to find a flat this morning.
Then I realised that the goo stuff works best on small holes in a moving tire. Neither of which was the case for me.

After I had pried the flat tube out of the tire (they tend to weld themselves together a little bit) I noticed one other spot where the goo had patched a hole for me. It is easy to see since there is some amount of goo ejected through the hole before sealing happens. The goo leaves a white residue on the inside of the tire.

I'll be replacing these tires with more Scorchers, but the kevlar belted ones, soon. Meanwhile, this is HRM, the Queen of Flats, signing off.

CU

9 on the Freak-o-Meter

#125

Sunday, November 13th
11 or so miles around Lake Natoma

I had 14 people to shepherd around the lake today. My sweetie came along also. He ended up not feeling too well, so I sat with him trailside for a while then he decided to wait at a road-side access point for me to bring the car back for him.

Honestly? Bikers are the Best. I had so many offers of help that the Freak-o-Meter dropped to 7 or 8.

Once my sweetheart was parked and waiting for pickup, I boogied along at 20mph (amazing what adrenaline can do for a girl) to catch up with the rest of the group.

I led my merry parade of bikers on the 'secret' shortcut up to the bridge, barreled along the bridge far too fast, sped back to the car, tossed the trike in the back, and navigated my way to the heart of downtown Orangevale to pick up Himself.


I have GOT to figure out how to assist/encourage/nag/browbeat/induce my sweetheart to get strong and fit so I can retire the Freak-o-Meter.

There are many other reasons I would have liked to have had to go 20mph on the bike path.

Some solo rides next week, then who knows!?

Workin'

#119 (ride, that is)

Saturday, October 22nd
11ish miles around Lake Natoma

I'm pretty sure there were only 21 of us pedaling around the lake this morning, but I might be wrong. I was sort of freaking out all week as I saw the sign-ups for this ride hit 30+ and STAY THERE!

I utterly and completely confused most people by using a hiking-type count off. Gather in a circle, say your name and a number, increment by one. So "Liz, 1." "Michelle, 2." "Sandra." "Alex." I interrupt, "Sandra 3, Alex 4." You get the idea. We got to 21 in a staggering, semi-coherent fashion. I had some no-shows.

I drafted a Repeat Offender (previously on this ride with me) to lead the group off. I took up the rear. That worked.

One third of the group leaving on our ride

I drafted other Repeat Offenders to direct riders to our rest stop. That worked.

I requested, "If you decide to leave, or go on ahead, please tell someone. Does not have to be me, just someone." That worked. Had 5 people go on ahead after the reststop. Got word that a family of three was dealing with a flat and that we "were not to wait". So we did not.

I put off trying to explain the Hazel Bridge interface until we were gathered at the rest stop, and then I put it off some more. Not working so well!
There are three ways to get over the bridge and I think our group used all three. I need to remember to make any announcements as soon as I get to the stop, not try to do it as people are impatiently starting to move on. We split up over that bridge like field mice avoiding a barn cat.

We had the right number of people after the bridge, so that was OK after all.

I boogied on ahead, trying to get ahead of the most of the group so I could catch them at Negro Bar to lead them on the last of the ride. That worked, thanks to yet more Repeat Offenders.

Having taken the "official" route to the bridge ramp a few weeks ago, I am more firm in my resolve to always use the park road bypass. Way better!

For those of you riding in the Folsom area, this might make sense. For the rest of you, go get a cup of coffee or something.

The blue arrow is the way to the bridge. The red line is the official way. The orange line is my sneaky way.

The problem with the official way is the left turn from the bike trail onto a park road. There are folks overtaking you, trying to get their speed up for the approach to the Beals climb. There are people oncoming, moving fast off the last hill down from Beals. If you are an inexperienced rider, it is difficult to judge your speed and timing and look behind you and maintain a straight line and signal to turn and shift or stand because didn't I mention you go uphill on Park road?

I hope your coffee was nice.

Tech Talk.
I finally took off my rear wheel, squashed the poor rounded off aluminum nut with the awesome and mighty power of the Vise Grips, laboriously spun it off the bolt, and found a replacement nut at the hardware store. So my rear fender is finally fixed properly. I even used blue Loctite on it.

I scooted my boom out about 1/4 of an inch. Nice, a little more leg extension.

I got some True Goo and put it in my tires. No flats today but that does not prove anything much. Removing the valve cores was no problem. Filling tubes in 20" wheels was a bit awkward, but the Goo wipes up nicely.

Maybe I can entice my sweetheart out for a short ride tomorrow.

'Round the lake, again!

Ride #105
Sunday, September 11th.

Around Lake Natoma

I never get tired of this ride. Especially when I'm out with a bunch of people. And today was a particularly awesome day since the heatwave went away and it never got over 74 while we were out.

This was an organized ride with a local Meetup group. The tandem folks came again (still no disk brakes) and we saw another tandem along the way. And I saw only one other recumbent (two wheels). Our group was made of folks on casual bikes and a handful of stray roadies.
One of the road bikes was a sharp looking Cannondale. It (and the rider) disappeared 1/2 way through the ride (which I was later told he tends to do.) I hope he is not still circling the lake!

Ooooh oooh! And I forgot to mention this in my last post: a Unicycle! Yep, an intrepid fellow on one rather large wheel. I've seem him twice on the north side of Lake Natoma, once on the way down from Beals Point and than again today on the long flat stretch running right near the lake.

Our group collectively had one flat and one slipped chain. The flat was in the parking lot at the beginning of the ride so there was a floor pump handy and the slipped chain (on the trail) was an easy fix. The chain-person went off the local bike shop after the ride to see about stopping this from happening again.

I decided to ditch the phone for keeping track of my 11 participants and went to paper and pencil. Much better!

Here's a pic of some of the group making their way up to the Hazel bridge. If you look carefully you might tell the lead bike has two left knees. That's the tandem.

For once, everyone in a picture is part of our group. How'd that happen?!

I tried mounting my camera facing backwards this time, using an old Manfrotto Super Clamp on my seat frame. That's the thing with all the levers sticking out from my seat.

Worked well. I have to operate it by feel since the camera sits right beside my head and I can't see the buttons. It leaves me with one hand to steer and that's a good thing. It also means (assuming I got it level to begin with) my pictures do not need straightening.

At least one more scheduled ride this week, a wine ride on the weekend (hoo boy!) and who knows what else in between?

My day off

Ride #103

Monday, September 5th (Labor Day)
32.5 miles

Being 'self unemployed' you'd think every day was a day off. Not so. Especially after hosting a weekend music party. Guests arrived around 6pm on Friday and the last ones left sometime on Monday.
I bailed out Monday morning for a self-indulgent ride so I can't tell you exactly when they left.

I hit the trail at my old favorite place, in a shopping center in Folsom. I wound down through the bike paths in Folsom, stopping here and there to fiddle with my camera.
I was trying some trick shots involving clamping my old portable "clamp anywhere" Manfrotto tripod to various bits of my bike. I did have some trouble getting the video to run consistently, and I ran through many batteries! HD video is a real juice-sucker.
I've reviewed the video and there is not much there I can use. Oh well. The clamp is nice and heavy and quite stable so the idea is OK, the execution needs work. I just need to figure out how many minutes of video one set of fresh-charged AAs will give me and plan accordingly.

I popped out on the American River Bike Trail near the Folsom outlet mall, then took a break at the State Park near the CSUS Aquatic center for half a ham and cheese sandwich. Then I decided to go up Sunrise to get a tasty Jamba Juice treat. I debated heading over past Wm Pond to the CSUS campus, but returned instead to Folsom via the Hazel Bridge and the north side of Lake Natoma. I slogged my way up to Beals point, ate the other half of my ham and cheese, and chatted for a while with a woman on a trike with an e-assist motor. Cool stuff!

I whipped down Beals, took the Folsom Crossing and a hidden bike path back over to where I had parked my car. I discovered there a note stuck under my windshield wiper from Al, the fellow I'd met last year in this parking lot (mentioned here, and here). We were on the same schedule for bike rides when I first got my trike but lately we'd diverged. Turns out he is looking to buy a recumbent trike, and wanted to pick my brains. I earned my coffee dispensing opinions of dubious value (thanks for the cuppa joe, Al!) and I hope I didn't confuse him further.

During the week of cleaning in preparation for the house party, I rinsed my bike off (I sweat a lot and salt is corrosive) and finished my light bar. I need a way to clamp it to my trike, and Al had the answer. I need to find a part and I can debut my light bar! Yay!

Today I gave that UnderArmour shirt a work out. I think I like it. It really does a terrific job of wicking moisture away. I got chilled enough in the shade at Jamba Juice that I put my windbreaker on.

Here's my ludicrous loop from today.

That's Ms Mama Duck, thank you

Ride #101

11 miles around Lake Natoma
Saturday August 27th

It is supposed to get mighty hot today, so for some reason that now escapes me I scheduled this ride to start at 9am instead of 8. What was I thinking!

Nevertheless, it was OK since the group today was speedy. Speedy like roadrunners, or fire-tailed cats, or greased lightning (wouldn't that just ignite? Nevermind). So we beat the heat.

I had 9 people on 8 bikes (a tandem was along for the ride - cool!) behind me from Folsom onto the American River Bike Trail, and then over to Hazel Bridge, a stop at the state park there, and back to Folsom along the 'south' side of the lake. No mishaps, no mechanicals, no stupid freaking thorns, no heat problems. Just a great ride with fun people.

There was some kind of low-key running event on the ARBT side of the bridge, but since it was not signed 'trail closed' we decided to just use the trail anyway. We soon ran out of runners (ha ha) and had only the usual bikers and hikers along the path.

I did scare one beautiful golden retriever nearly to death. His owner was not controlling him very well and he was tending to wander onto the trail (she was also walking with traffic, not against it, so the dog would have wandered right into my trike). As I came up behind them, dinging my bell like a nut, the dog suddenly noticed me and teleported himself from the path to the ditch, cowering and flinching from the terrible machine that was going to EAT him. Or something. I am sad that I scared a dog (I like dogs and hate to see them scared) but I'm still a little irritated at the in-need-of-a-clue owner. I sure hope she had water for herself and the dog.

Some of the group stopped after the ride at Karen's Bakery Cafe (yummy yummy, good neither for my pocketbook nor my waistline but how could I resist the lure of fresh orange juice and an avocado/bacon/chicken sandwich). Half the sandwich is waiting in the refrigerator for my dinner.

I got to chat about my trike with a couple of people, always fun. One fellow had a scrumptious orange Catrike (another recumbent brand), one of the super speedy ones. After food, conversation and bike-chat I spiraled my way up to the top of the parking structure and loaded my trike.

I don't think I've really talked about that so here goes. When I'm driving the SUV, I just roll the trike up a pet ramp and into the truck.

I have to lift the front end of the trike since the bumper is high enough that the front of the trike would dig into the concrete. With the rear wheel supported, it is easy enough to move.

My flags, and their multitude of pole-pieces, tend to become scattered around the car, so I've taken to bundling them together with rubber bands.

Then tucking the whole mess behind an unused seatbelt along the side of the car.

The red thing is a shop rag and the white things are my sun sleeves. There are these nifty little plastic hooks along the sides of the car good for tucking random stuff into. The floor pump (blue) is usually piled on top of the flags out of the way.

The 'light bar' from the last post is coming along, just waiting for a few more lights. And I've decided that it is time to modify my front chainrings to a smaller 'big' and a slightly smaller 'middle' and a smaller granny.
Time to go count teeth and reading up on the procedure. I'm pretty sure I still want three rings, even with the duplication that can occur.

A longer ride tomorrow, and then probably a week off while I get ready for a weekend of house-partying.

How oncoming flu adds a 20lb brick

Ride #100

11 or so miles around Lake Natoma
Tuesday, August 23rd

I picked this route since I would be able to go faster than my other idea of Folsom bicycle paths. I ended up loafing around the lake anyway. Who put that 20lb brick on the back of my trike, anyway!?

I got a late start so it was hotter weather than I usually chose to ride in. I tried out an UnderArmor shirt. Supposed to be for hot weather: wicking and all that. Not too bad. I have worn other wicking shirts with a cooler smoother feel (my favorite golf shirt) but this is long sleeved and in a screaming bright blue. I also have a yellow one. Not high-viz but pretty bright anyway.

I went counter clock wise since that's how I'll be leading Saturday's ride. I'm not sure that is the BEST direction to go in, since the little rolling hills are at the end of the ride, but I'm tired of always going clockwise.

I stopped and watched some happy water folks from the bridge.

You can see the reflection of the older bridge in the water.

Then set off into the dry countryside, brown hillsides dotted with dark green oaks.

My shifting seemed a bit noisy today, so I think I'll lube the chain and check for lumps of crud in the works before the next ride on Thursday.

I have been contemplating adding a light bar to my trike (not one with turn-signals and all, just several red flashers) so overtaking nighttime traffic will have a better idea of how wide I am. I think I'll start with a PVC tube painted black with red blinkers attached.
It needs to be (in my opinion) about as high as a sedan's taillights, and my headrest is just about as high as the lights on our Prius. So I'll ziptie the bar to the headrest supports. If I can figure out a stable velcro strap method, I'll do that later. The next thing to add will be white flashing lights pointing forward.

The ultimate in annoying lighting would be 12v battery powered LED strips. Might be too geeky, even for me.

Be Seen
Be Safe

A balmy 75 degrees

Ride #91

Sunday, July 31st
11ish miles around Lake Natoma

You'll see this ride repeated probably once a month. It makes a good ride for beginners and it is pretty, even with the grass turning brown for summer.

We, this was a group ride led by moi (thanks, Miss Piggy), set out at 8am, early enough to beat the heat, and late enough that only one of the signups overslept. We saw circling raptors (hawks, what kind I won't venture to guess) and a few butterflies. I don't normally pay much attention to butterflies, but one of the folks along for the ride does, so I looked for them today. This is why riding with random people can be fun. Never would have occurred to me to scan for butterflies.

There were also lots of folks out using the trail. Some of the groups announce themselves when overtaking, others just fly by in intimidating silence. One lovely pack of four even gave us a count of how many would pass. Thanks, guys!

One other pair made audible comments about there being a center line and traffic should stay on the correct side. C'mon guys! This is a recreational trail. If you are not comfortable (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt) passing on a blind corner, maybe you could wait? Ok. Now I'm just being sarcastic. Yes, one of our riders was probably wobbling around a bit, but give him a break. In retaliation for the snide-ish-ness (snide-ni-tude?) I busted out one of my patented sarcastic waves (I'm pretty good at nonverbal communication) and got a chuckle from our party.

The Lovely Nimbus Dam

So how does one successfully lead a ride? Here are my thoughts.
Know your riders. Have a vague clue of their abilities and the kind of ride they'd enjoy. This is kind of self-selecting for the rides I lead, which are fairly well described and the riders choose the rides which interest them.
I have had to only once discourage a rider from one section of a two part ride, since I was pretty sure he was not physically fit. He found the second, easier half "just right" so that worked out OK. AND he got to hang out in a coffee place while waiting for the second half to begin.

Mother-hen them just a little bit, but don't get crazy with the rules. I routinely ask folks before we set out if they've locked their cars and if they've got water bottles, since water is a safety issue and worrying about your car sucks all the fun out of a ride.
Helmets are required on our rides, but that's an easy visual check. It is there or it is not.
If there is an epidemic of mal-adjusted helmets, I'll mention briefly how helmets are supposed to fit, and see who wants help fixing theirs. Here's a good resource for that.

Let the group know what's expected of them. Explain the rules of the trail, mention rest stops. Use rest stops to talk about what's coming up, don't try to pile all the information on at the beginning of the ride. Although it can be fun to watch their eyes glaze over.

Check on your riders every once in a while. I like to buzz by up the line of people (I'm usually in the back, sweeping unless there's a tricky-to-follow part coming up) and ask them how they are doing. If someone for instance (as happened today) is stuck in one gear for the whole ride but can handle it, don't worry about it.
If someone is looking like the heat or exertion is getting to be too much, get them to take a break and recover for a while. Make them drink water and eat something (I've had to do this). Sometimes you have to hassle them into taking it a little easy, but it beats calling for the EMTs down the road (which I have not had to do).

Know your route! If you are blazing new trails, make sure the group knows it and are comfortable with it. Many will not be. They want to see the leader as infallible. Where's the fun in that, I ask?!

Be prepared. I carry a first aid kit and I know how to use it. Although I don't have a common tube size, I do carry an assortment of tools with me. I know how to change a tube, remove a broken link, and unjam a chain. I stink at adjusting deraillers.
I have fed people along the trail, loaned out a spare helmet, handed out bandaids, and insisted that a rider borrow a waterbottle.

Have fun. If leading rides becomes a hassle, ask yourself why you are still doing it? If you still want to do it, fix the hassles and carry on.
Fun is contagious, but so is un-fun.

It seems that I'm recovering well from my recent surgery, so I'll be piling on the rides for August. Yay!

Breakfast is important, but not that important

Ride #86

Saturday, June 25th
12 or so miles around Lake Natoma in Folsom, CA

A group ride of 12 or so happy casual riders and one maniac (me) on a recumbent trike. We only lost one person but she found us again.

Bad leader! No biscuit!

I was the leader of the merry band so I get to say that.

I'm the bossy looking woman in pink.

AND I did not take any pictures. These pictures are from one of our merry band of bikers.

I got home from the ride and my stepson told me that I had forgotten to eat my oatmeal this morning. So I had post-ride instead of pre-ride oats. Not too bad cold. Kind of refreshing.

A few days ago I finally got around to taking the front wheels off my trike, figuring I might need to check the brake pads and it is easier for me to take off the wheel then to remove the caliper (and get it back in the right spot).
No problems. Nothing to see here, move along.
Nothing fell off on the ride today so I think I got everything back correctly.

Finally had a flag made. Slepnir has too many legs for a horse and my ride has too many 'legs' for a bike. Not that I'm comparing myself to Odin, or that my ride is the unnatural offspring of a trickster or anything.

For those of you actually paying attention to my ramblings (for crying out loud! don't sit there, go outside and play!) I did not go on a Friday ride as promised, but will go on a Tuesday ride.

Duck, duck, _ _ _ _ _!

Ride #72
Thursday, May 12th

About 11 miles around Lake Natoma

Cool, clear, and sunny this morning. We went clockwise around the lake (a wide spot formed by the Nimbus Dam on the American River), hauling ourselves up the still-under-construction Hazel Bridge.

I like this bridge and the new bike lane is a huge wonderful improvement over the old one. They've even added bike-lane lights! How cool!

And lights-on-a-stick. Pretty!

We were trying to figure out what the decorative stuff is on the downstream side of the bridge (where the old ped/bike sidewalk used to be covered by an ugly but effective mesh). Maybe a replacement for the mesh?

The early morning view upstream is a blast of sparkly sunlight.

We were out early enough to catch some of the later bicycle commuter traffic, and late enough to see a handful of other recreational cyclists out enjoying the morning.

These particular trail denizens did NOT want to give us right-of-way.

A little further on, we saw some damage from the recent winds.

The limb from waaaaaaaaay up there...

landed waaaaaaaaaay down here. And it was a tree-sized limb. Or maybe a trike-sized limb.

A couple more rides this week coming up.
Will I make it to the 300 miles I pledged for MayIsBikeMonth?
Stay tuned: you'll know when I know.

Loopy

Ride #66
Saturday, April 30th

12-ish miles around Lake Natoma

It was a beautiful breezy day for a bike ride: my safety bicycle (translation: "normal" bicycle) friends suffered more in the breeze than I did, but I still felt the effects.

We started in old Folsom, went along the "south"  side of Lake Natoma, then up across the Hazel bridge and back to Folsom on the "north" side of the lake, then back to the start across the newish bridge.

Once again, I let the photographers of the world down, since I decided to concentrate on shepherding my charges around the lake instead. One of the herd-ees took some snaps, so anything you see will not be from me! I'll add pics as I can get them.

Even though I cannot generally have a conversation with another cyclist while on the bicycle path, it is still a lot of fun to show folks around the bike paths. We stopped to check out the Willow Creek area: a boat launch on the American River; then again to watch dozens of very long millipede things on the water (rowing competition on the lake); then again 1/2 way up Hazel bridge for a good view of Nimbus dam; then AGAIN to point out Negro Bar - a great place for swimming and hanging out in the hot summer months.

The stop at Negro Bar was also to let me consult my cheat-sheet for the detour.

past horsey place. next to big parking lot

veer left & go up park road

through 2 stop signs, set of poles

under overpass

stay to left & downshift!

I was shown a different way to get back up on the bridge and thought I'd try it again. This is the first time I have not missed it.
Whew.

Ever since high school & English with Mr. Kling, I have taken great pleasure in using '&' whenever I want & sometimes even inventing places for it!

Another ride tomorrow to kick off May is Bike Month, assuming I can get my right brake/wheel/something sorted out. It only squeaks when I'm actually riding the trike. How inconvenient! And annoying! And just a little bit embarrassing!

CU

Today's route (the part over the Hazel bridge is not really accurate: Google has yet to catch up with the ever-changing construction there)

Talk-powered triking

Ride #55
Tuesday, March 22nd
Around Lake Natomas, about 12.5 miles

Slogged around the lake today, clockwise. I was feeling pretty whipped from physical therapy yesterday, so I was not my usual zippy self, but the beautiful blue skies, puffy clouds, and early wildflowers made it all worth while.

And the great conversation with another triker.

No, that's not a strange exotic spider following me, its a trike!

All the gates are open on the Nimbus dam, I wish now I'd stopped for a better picture of the foaming water at the base of the dam, but I did not so you will have to use your imagination.

Here's some more pics for your entertainment.

South side of the lake

The new bridge with the older one behind

Park area on the north side

Blue skies ahead!

Dam from the Hazel bridge

Look! I forgot to make a title!

Ride #41
Sunday, February 6th
11 or so miles on the American River Trail

Somewhere between 70 and 80 degrees today. Moderate breezes, and shockingly green grass. My nose is stuffed up and the dog is shedding like there's no tomorrow.
It is spring. I'm sure it will rain again and be cold and miserable before May, but right now that is very hard to imagine.

My sweetheart felt a little queasy (happens sometimes when he over-exerts himself) so we stopped for a while at a beautiful shady spot along the river to rest, drink some more water, and share a orange. Yes, the grass really is that green - unreal, isn't it? We saw a large raptor circling overhead, and heard plenty of birdsong. Not so many squirrels as yesterday. Several folks stopped to check that we were OK and that we were not too far from the car and so on. Lovely people, bicyclists are. Recovered, we finished our ride.

Today, we decided to go around Lake Natomas (something we have not done since they've been doing the Hazel Ave. improvement project, and something I'd not done on my trike). I'm sure it will be lovely when it is finished, but right now it is not stellar for a trike. There is a steep grade going up to Hazel from the "north" side of the lake, Granny handled that just fine (but I did wonder if Himself would have to push me up the last bit - there was some swearing as I powered up the steepest part. Yep. Me. Potty mouth). However the interface between the very wide concrete sidewalk on the upstream side of Hazel and the existing bike path needs some work. I only had to dodge one oncoming cyclist and travel against traffic for a little while. I'll be glad when the construction is done.

The other thing about the Lake Natomas loop is getting across the river at the Folsom end. There is a bike lane on Folsom-Auburn Rd., segregated from traffic by reassuring concrete walls, but that path is quite narrow for a trike, even my trike which can fit through most doorways. The other option is to take surface streets to the old wooden bridge across the American River, which is what we did today.

Something I forgot to note about yesterday's long ride - I added some gel forefoot inserts (marketed for women's high heels) to my yellow Superfeet insoles in my bike shoes. I was looking for something that would be a little cushy but not too squishy, since on the 30 mile ride a few months ago the balls of my feet felt a little pounded on. Much better with the gel inserts. Since I unstuck these from a pair of heels I don't wear very often, I needed to stick the edge down with some paper medical tape since the trailing edge of the insert tends to roll up and attach itself to my sock. I think some of the 'stick' remained in the other shoes.

And on today's ride, I again managed to drop my chain between the small and middle chain rings while shifting down. Himself held the back of my ride up and I wrestled the chain back into place. I think this happens when I am applying a little more force to the cranks then I might normally when shifting, and when I am in a smaller ring in back. Easy enough to fix, just annoying and greasy. I was worrying about my sweetheart and not paying attention to my shifting!

A couple of rides scheduled for next week: hope the weather holds!

I did my best to show how the Hazel interface worked today: no guarantees...