Ever had one of those days?

#142

Sunday, February 5th

A whopping 5 miles.

A So. Cal recumbent fellow is heading up this way in April to ride on the American River Trail.
So I said I'd go out and video the proposed route from the proposed hotel to the trail and back.

This is the email I sent him after my ride.

"Gah. Just gah.

"I went out today and videoed the route. However, I managed to slam the hatch of my car on my helmeted (and camera-ed) head, popping the SD card out w/out noticing it (probably still in the parking lot of the hotel) so I can't provide any video. I'm such a klutz!

"I started at the Red Roof Inn and followed your route as best I could (including dodging through the parking lot). I had to take to the street (Zinfandel) to cross Folsom Blvd since the sidewalk (south of Folsom and east of Zinfandel)  was closed and impassable due to construction.

I assume you intend us to cross Folsom Blvd at Zinfandel using the ped crosswalk and signal?

"Coming back I used the "alley" you mention at Coloma (I don't know the proper name of them, but they are little streets that control a neighborhood's access to a busy street). The ped crossing pushbutton

from the alley onto Cordova worked great there.

"Since the sidewalk was closed at Folsom, I took the left- most traffic lane on Zinfandel and turned left at the BKing entrance to the parking lot, since that is the first entrance accessible going south on

Zinfandel. Not something I'd recommend for folks timid in traffic. I, however, seem to be laboring under the delusion I am immortal, so I was OK with it.

"Here's a ridewithgps link for my route today (I tried to be faithful to my various dodgings in the satellite view)

"They should be done with the sidewalk by April and hopefully will not be doing anything else to get in our way!"

Folsom Frolic

#140

Saturday, January 28th

My sweetheart asked ME to go on a bike ride. Usually it is the other way around.

I have that new little 'spy' camera to play with, so I stuck it on my hat and away we went.

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

The problem is not the camera

#137

Short jaunt in Folsom
Friday, January 13th

I got a hold of an 808 camera (a little bitty primitive 30 frames-per-second HD video camera built in a automotive remote fob).

I tried to take some video today.

I, as usual, was terminally camera-confused and spent my entire ride talking to a turned-off camera. I'll try again on Sunday's ride.

So no pictures, no report, and no joy.

CU later!

Laughing Loafing Lunatics

#127

Saturday, November 19th
American River Bike Trail

"Parking lot Al" and I hit the trails today. In my mind was scouting for a route for an easy recumbent trike ride.

Saturday on the ABRT is not going to fly. Too many people!

So we will try again later this week (now we're thinking Folsom's bike trails).

While leisurely loafing from the Fish Hatchery to Hagen Park and back, we saw groups of joggers, other bicyclists, and cool low delta trike.

He slowed down to drink some water. Before that he was a yellow blur.

Bridge over to Fair Oaks

Al and his spiffy white trike parked next to my orange contraption.

I tried to get some video today. But once again, I can't seem to operate my nice Kodak video camera. 

I got this much. 

which is what happens when doofus (me) forgets that the little bitty round thing on the camera is the LENS and it should point AWAY from you.

Al and I had a long strange conversation about cameras and how to mount them (we don't think the bra-cam would be a winner). I thought I was recording. 

Apparently I was only holding out at arm's length for a mile or so a turned OFF camera. (do you like that 1/2 German syntax there? Keep thinking about that sentence, it will clear up, I promise).*

For our next ride I will bust out the old helmet, and mount the camera on the helmet. It is cel-phone shaped (my camera, not the helmet) and will look pretty strange sticking up from the top of my head.

For you, dear readers, I will ride around Folsom with bright blue rectangle strapped to my head.

*Alternatively, "I only at arm's length for a mile or so a turned off camera holding was." Better? I didn't think so.

Sonoma Skedaddle I

Ride #110

Monday, September 26th
16 miles around Wimdsor and Healdsburg, California.

My usual small digital camera has a severe allergy to rechargeable batteries, so I'm using my phone for pictures.

I'm staying with some friends in Sonoma County this weekend.

My hosts' toddler had preschool this morning, so all four of us set off across Windsor to drop the child off.

My hosts take their child to school via bike whenever they can. She (the child) is loaded in the trailer with juice in one side pocket and toast in the other. I suppose it is easier to turn a trailer over and shake the crumbs out then it would be to invert a mini-van. AND this child will grow up with bicycling being a normal thing. Yay! 

Mr. Host went home with the trailer while Mrs. Host and I headed up to Healdsburg to stroll around the town square playing empty-pocketed tourists.

This bridge did have a sidewalk, but we took the lane to get across. Coming back, I thought the railroad bridge (that looks like this one) was our left turn but I figured it out eventually. That would have been amusing, but bumpy.

We did buy a loaf of bread for our upcoming picnic, then spent some time admiring the gazebo.

We also got some tasty pastries: she had an apricot cherry pocket and I had a delightfully gingery ginger cookie. We peered in the window of the fan museum, admired the vertical fountain (water and spoons) and then hopped back on our cycles to head back to the house.

We will wait there for Mrs. Host's mom to arrive, for Mr Host to retrieve little hostlet from school, to swap around bikes and trailers and bags and baskets, then off to our mini cycling wine tour.

I've decided that my phone is OK at taking pictures in broad daylight without too many funny shadows (what I expected) and that my phone will not do as my sole source of internet posting while on tour, since there seems to be some problems with photos, phones, uploading, and blogger. Not to mention that I would have no way of satisfactorily editing the photos. Looks like it might be netbook or tablet time.

'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?

Breakfast. It's not just for breakfast anymore?

Ride #104

Thursday, September 8th
20 miles on the ARBT

Neither I nor my friend with the trailer full of kids were feeling like superwomen today. We dragged ourselves along the trail about 2mph slower than usual. Hey, but at least we got out. We decided that we had failed to eat our usual breakfasts and that was our problem. Yeah. That's it. For sure.

I got to Wm Pond ahead of her, as usual (but slower), and waited there in the early morning quiet, people-watching.

Imagine a quiet park, cool in the shade, not quite yet uncomfortably hot in the sun, well watered green grass, shady picnic tables, cyclists coming and going.

Sometimes you are the only person in sight, sometimes there are 3 or 4 groups of cyclists, some chatting quietly about food (salad with heirloom tomatoes, jalapenos, and peaches!), the best way to wipe off grease (baby wipes), sprains vs breaks. Conversations are quiet, languid, their tempo anticipating the heat of the day.

One group is fixing their third flat of the morning, another chatting under a tree: a reflexive seeking out of shade, born from the dry hot air.

Along the trail comes a group of cyclists, whirring along. Some stop, with a  clacking of road shoes on pavement, then the snapping of cleats and the clicking of the shift into a useable gear as they continue on.

Quiet again, except for an intermittent crow.

My friend caught up, we all ate a snack, then turned around and slogged back.

My glutes were KILLING me by the end of the ride. Do I need a different foam pad in the seat? Should I tighten up the straps on the mesh? What's up!? Are my muscles worn out from the Beals climb the other day?

My theory for complaining glutes goes like this: For me, at least, the glutes (for sure maximus, but maybe medius also?) are the muscles I most use to propel myself and my trike. Speeding and climbing hills uses them up faster. Also, these poor abused muscles are what I'm sitting on when pedaling. Sitting on them squashes them a bit, depriving them of the nice oxygen-filled blood that keeps them working well. Hardworking oppressed glutes will naturally complain. Gluteal Muscles of the World Unite!

I didn't get any pictures today, batteries were flat again. Sigh. Maybe I should go back to manual-everything film? No, no instant gratification then.
I found that swapping the positions of the two AAs that run my camera will give me another shot or two, since the two batteries are not equally drawn upon. However, the nice shot of a gentleman sitting contemplatively at a picnic table with his beautiful road bike became decomposed (the guy got up and left, the nerve!) by the time I got the batteries swapped out.

I'm taking a group around Lake Natoma this weekend, and hope to get out another day as well. Yes, I'll be refilling my rechargeable battery stash.

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.

flat, fat, fast, fun

Ride #90
Thursday, July 28th

13 miles on the ARBT

I spent entirely to much time this week moping around the house feeling fat so today I finally pried myself off the big comfy couch and climbed onto my smaller but equally comfy trike. (yes, even I have bad days)

I decided to see what kind of average I could maintain for the six miles from Sunrise to Wm. Pond. I was pleased to see it was just slightly over 13mph. I don't know how long I could maintain that (I suspect less than 15miles, in favorable conditions) but it was sure fun zipping along today.

Once I fixed the flat. Yes, my second flat in over 1000 miles. On the right front (the side that gets all the debris on the side of the trail). I could not detect a leak once I removed the tube (I'll do the water bucket test in a little bit) and I did not feel any sharp things in the tire. So I installed a new tube and went on my merry way.

I also tried messing around with a couple of camera mounts today. One is a handlebar mount and the other is a helmet mount. I need to revert to my old helmet to make the helmet mount work, and I may need a lighter, smaller camera. I think it will wobble around quite a bit.
The handlebar mount was a little too big for the accessory mount on the front of my bike, but some innertube scraps from the last flat helped. However (and I knew this but had to try it anyway) the front of a trike is WAY too bouncy for video.
I am now the proud creator of several minutes of very jittery video. Really unwatchable. I had to shrink it down quite small on the computer to stand to watch it and I think a whole lot of caffeine might have helped. The jitters might cancel each other out. Or not. Where's my coffee!?
But I did get a couple of frames of other recumbents (not very high resolution, but better than nothing). I wonder if I can set that video camera to take frames every few seconds. And if so, what would the resolution be? Have to read the manual, I guess.

This is a fellow who made his own recumbent trike. We had a nice long chat about the geometry of a recumbent trike, the possible benefits of changing to shorter cranks, and the goodness of clips (on the shoes, you know).

He is planning to make a tandem recumbent trike so his wife can ride along with him. Lucky lady!
We also shared war stories about that little short very steep ramp up to the Hazel bridge. He has one bad knee so he made it up by mashing with his good leg, applying the brakes, spinning the cranks around backwards, releasing the brakes and mashing with his good leg. Rinse, repeat, until at the top of the hill.
He definitely needs some bigger gears in back!

And I know I've seen this guy before, and probably ridden with him on the monthly recumbent rides, but I have no idea who he is. But he always sticks out a hand. I try to remember to do so also, but usually forget. But it is a cool kind of laid back thing.

Social graces are not always my strong suit.

I HAVE HAVE HAVE to get that reflector on the left side to quit squeaking. It is going to drive me nuts. I'll just take it off for now, then put it back on for a night ride, then forget to take it off and whine some more when it squeaks. Which is what I did last time, which is why it is still on there and still driving me nuts.

Let's see. What else.
Oh, I saw a deer leap over the trail, and a turkey hen and a half-grown turkey. I clicked at them and they scurried off into the scrub.

I'm contemplating a ride in the Delta this weekend. We'll see. The lure of the couch may be too much.

Riding like my head's on fire

Ride #88

Saturday, July 16th
13 miles on the American River Parkway

Although I am still recovering from minor shoulder surgery, I dragged my sweetheart and his college-aged son out on the bike trail today.
First ride since surgery!
They had some fresh air and sunshine, and I had minions to unload my beautiful orange beast. Even with the ramp, it is still more than I should lift right now. AND someone else got to pump up 7 tires, which I usually do.

There were a lot of people out today, all enjoying the clear, warm, but not blazingly hot weather.

Since this is the American RIVER parkway, we got to hear (and catch glimpses) of dozens and dozens of happy people in various bright-colored watercraft floating down the river. We could have even stopped for fresh produce along the way!

High racer recumbents, several trikes (hand and foot powered), folks with cruisers with baskets (one with a dog, a-la Toto in the Wizard of Oz), fast-moving skinny racer types, kids on little bikes, pedestrians, lots of equestrians.
I saw one sulky, but it was not hitched up. I'm not sure a sulky is suited to off-roading on dirt (which is where most of the horses are) and I know of no horse (not even a heavily sedated one) that would be OK traveling on the paved trail surrounded by hordes of bright fast-moving scary predators.

There were a group of about 8 bicycle tourists traveling from somewhere over to the group camping at Negro Bar. I'm going to say they were coming up from Davis, since they had sort of a laid-back college-town DIY vibe. I saw one enterprising person who had sewn pieces of bandanna to the back of a shirt for improvised jersey pockets.

I finally dug out my little Kodak Playsport video camera as well as my trusty digital point and shoot. Since I spent more time with the video running than taking stills, I needed to clip scenes with which to decorate this fascinating post.

So that meant I needed to load the video editor on my newish computer, and then remember how to use it. And you, the reader, can't tell, but there was a significant gap between this paragraph and the rest of the post.

I had cleaned up my bike, wiped down and re-lubed the chain, and sorted through my bike bags before I headed off for shoulder surgery.
It took me a while to get back in the groove of what stuff I wanted with me, but I eventually figured it out.
However, there was a lot of standing near the car, pondering, remembering some missing item, going inside to look for it, coming back out, going back in for something else. And it took about 5 minutes of hunting to find the sunscreen. Don't you keep your sunscreen on the kitchen counter?

And I finally have a new helmet, one of the Nutcase ones. In orange, remarkably close to my trike's color, and with FLAMES. Which I suppose ought to make me faster. Or at least odder. And the gray flames match my gray hair.

Does it get any better than this?

No.
No, it does not.

(Today's route was from Sunrise boat launch to William Pond and back)

Take me to your leader

Ride #43
Wednesday, February 9th
13.7 miles on the American River Bike Trail

Today was an organized ride and I didn't organize it! I just went along for the ride. Three riders set out on a casual ride from Hazel to wherever we decided to turn around (which was Hagen Park for two of us and Wm. Pond for the other). We saw fishermen, strollers, happy children being towed in a bike trailer, low-flying gulls, a handcyclist, a handful of recumbent bikes and a couple of recumbent trikes.

And lots and lots of twigs on the trail from yesterday's strong winds. Most of the twigs had been squashed to splinters, but there were enough big pieces left that I was a little worried about getting one stuck in the undercarriage. I didn't, but I passed a bike rider who did. He was fine, didn't crash or anything. Many years ago, when dinosaurs rode bikes, I bent a fork and a wheel on my old 5 speed bike from getting a stick through the spokes. Observers said I did a beautiful slow-motion somersault over the handlebars.

I'm getting used to spending part of every day coated in sticky sunscreen (my current favorite is Burt's Bees - it is titanium dioxide which works just fine - a physical barrier - does not rub or sweat off and seems so far to not make my face itch) but I'm still starting to get a bike short and shoes tan. I think maybe I need to use even more on my legs. I cannot detect a helmet strap tan line on my neck, so I think I'm doing OK there. I even remember my hands and fingers!

I planned to take pictures today, but my little point and shoot's batteries were already flat. I just charged them yesterday! I'll have to charge two sets at a time from now on I think. The non-rechargeable batteries lasted a LOT longer.

I believe I need to get a second and third set of some bike clothes: I don't like to dry them in the dryer since it destroys them faster, but they do not always dry overnight. I've found a zipfront sports bra by Champion that has no hooks in back to dig into my spine, and some cheapo Danskin exercise shorts. I've got plenty of shirts and socks.

Another wonderful day!

Ride #36
Tuesday, January 25th
8 miles in Folsom
With a bike group: fun!

I spent a little time today hanging out with folks on those strange upright bicycle things - they were everywhere! And following me! I could not escape!

Our little band of bikers had a good time listening to all the birds in Folsom this sunny spring-like day. We stopped at the duck pond to check out all the feathered inhabitants, and chatted for a while about the intricacies of Folsom's bike paths. Several folks went off after the ride to find maps of their own. I hope City Hall still has some available.

I eventually got frustrated with my phantom shifting problem and switched my rear derailer to non-indexed shifting. Ah, what a relief! Yes, yes. I still need to fool with it, but there are so many other things to do: like go for bike rides.

I hooked up my little Kodak Playsport video camera on my very old-school Manfrotto clamp-on tripod and turned it on. Or I thought I did. I had full batteries and an empty card, with theoretically an hour of battery life and 2 hours 30 minutes of recording time. I got 2 segments: 3 seconds and 5 seconds. Thrilling! Just peachy. I wonder if vibration is making it shut off? It's worked OK before. It couldn't be operator error, could it?!

A couple more rides scheduled later this week: catch you later!

Hairy Horses and Falling Dogs

Ride #28
Tuesday, January 4th

A scant 5 miles in beautiful sunny Folsom.

For the third time since I got my lovely trike, I headed out to the short hilly section of Folsom's bike trails, this time with my sweetheart's college-age son in tow. OK, so he was actually ahead of me the whole way, since he is young and fit.

This trip we skipped the fun but bumpy trip up the concrete path and followed the bike lanes on Willow Creek Drive to catch up with the bike trail again. We undid our route exactly on the way back, since neither of us felt like tackling the evil steep switchbacks up to the very top of BT Collins park. We were pooped! The kid ran out of leg power and stopped on the side of a hill to get over feeling faint (he is very tall with low blood pressure) and to get the old Trek shifted to a smaller gear. I admit to coasting as much as possible, but also riding the brakes a bit more then I might, since this is the same trail I had my lovely tumble on last month (git on the horse that threw you and the hair of the dog ... oh, you get the idea!).

I saw a large raptor of some kind circling, looking for lunch, and some smaller birds closer at hand. We heard the usual dogs barking at the usual places, and saw several sets of dog walkers and other folks out enjoying the break in our winter rains.

Look left and right for power towers!

Our route generally followed a powerline. Putting a bike path under and between the line is a good use of green space. There are a few sections of bike trail that do this.



I tried out my new HD video camera, attached to the edge of my seat with an old Manfrotto clamp-on tripod. I'm pleased with the quality and I look forward to trying out different attachment points. But, boy oh boy, I talk a lot! I never shut up! If only my trike were powered with hot air, I'd be golden. The pics in this post are clipped from that video stream.

On Thursday, I'm scheduled to go meet up with a beginning cyclist to explore part of the American River trail. Fun!

Not Quite Hail

Ride #27
Saturday, January 1st

7.5 miles.
In Folsom.
In the rain.

Oy.

A bicycling club I belong to was having a hill-climbing smackdown on this first day of the year. I declined to ride the hill, but volunteered to take photos. So I parked at my usual spot in Folsom and pedaled over to the event on actual streets in bike lanes and everything!

I had both flags flapping, a high viz jacket on, one headlight and two blinking taillights. I overheated going up E Natomas to Sophia, so I stopped and shed a layer. Then when I was coasting (25mph) down Sophia to Alexandria, all I could think of were the gloves I'd just taken off!

It was not too windy, and the rain was mostly showers, except for one cloud burst that if it had been any colder (it was 37 degs F) it would have been hail. They were big fat cold high-velocity drops. Ick! The sun tried to come out about 1/2 way through the event, but then the clouds came back even darker!

I parked my trike at the gathering point, got the scoop from the organizer, and wandered off to take lots of pictures of folks slogging up the hill and then flying back down again. And doing it again. And again. And again!

I carried not only 3 cameras, a complete change of warm dry clothes (including extra rain gear), but an umbrella (to shelter the SLR digital I'd borrowed) and even an entire English-style fruit cake to share. I used my nice Arkel panniers to carry all that. They worked well but I had to adjust my mirrors so I could see something other than bulging bags behind me. The trike handled well, although I took it easy on the long shallow slope down from Sophia to Blue Ravine: kept the speed to 12mph. My brakes finally dried off enough to stop honking and squealing.

It was windier and still raining (maybe even a bit harder) when it was time to head back, so I added high visibility rain pants. They were noisy but kept the cold rain and wind off my legs. I was worried that I might slide around in the seat too much, but it was just fine. I plan on taking the cuffs in and adding zippers to keep them from flapping around.

I need to force myself to slog up hills more often. I got winded, but my legs did not give out. I did get into the absolute granny once, more to give myself a little break then because anything was that steep.

Now, this is not a picture of me, but it will give you an idea of what the day was like:

I have started this year as I mean to continue: cycling.

Happy New Year everyone, and be safe out there.

Workin' the Turkey

Ride #19
Friday November 26th. About 12 miles. American River Bike Trail.

Zipped from Sunrise to Wm. Pond and back again. Lovely cool sunny day, not so many folks out at the start of my ride but plenty out and about on the way back. One recumbent hand cycle, but no other foot-powered 'bents.

Had one slightly embarrassing moment: I was at the bottom of a hill running my mouth instead of shifting down and had to stop 1/2 way up since I did not have the leg strength to pedal hard enough to get the front derailluer to move! A kind fellow in a bright yellow jacket helped me pry myself out of the seat and I got going again. I am always amazed how quickly I lose speed on an uphill.

I spent far too much time on this ride fooling around with my little point and shoot camera. I plan on putting together another 'cycling video, and took a lot of footage on this ride. Which made me realize that I really need to investigate a proper video camera: and a way to attach it to me or the the cycle for hands free photography fun!

Riverside

Deer fence around re-vegetation area

Trail-side parks

Before ride #18 (the super short one) I had taken the time to clean my chain (in place with solvent and a rag) and applied some 'wet' chain lube. I also think I figured out which way is which on the barrel adjuster, so between the cleaning and the adjustment, the rear derailluer worked like a champ.

I made a couple of small adjustments to the headrest and I think I've found a good place for it. There is only a small possible area of head resting with the helmet on. I dunno, maybe I should declare it a helmet rest?

oooh - exciting news! I finally have a proper torque wrench so I can make sure that the various things attached to my aluminum frame are not too tight. So this weekend I'll play in the garage.

Might ride in Folsom this weekend, and there is a chance of a Roseville ride midweek if the weather is not too bad.