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.

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.

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

Bridge, anyone?

Ride #97
The Usual 30 miles with One Usual Suspect
on the American River Bike Trail

For once, I got to show my triking friend a new thing:. that handsome bicycle overpass thingy at Hazel that I wrote about yesterday.

Here're the pictures I promised.

Ped-Bike sidewalk down Hazel. Soooo much better than the old one.

Quick steep ramp in foreground, long ramp in background

A better view of the beautiful long ramp. Summer-brown hills this time of year.

Today's ride was unremarkable, except that I need to figure out how to build up to consecutive long rides. Like I'll do when I'm touring.
I'm going to go 20 tomorrow, and I expect I'll be slow like a turtle since I was slow like a turtle at the end of today's ride.
 
I believe I'll do a short sweet ride on Folsom's bike paths on Friday, picking up a picnic brunch at the Farmer's market. And that will be ride #100! And almost a year of riding.

I tried wearing my old Ex-Officio button down style 'wicking' shirt. OK on the bike, except the long sleeves catch the air, puffing out enough I can't see my mirror, and off the bike just not nice. Felt like a big blue plastic bag. Back to the closet with you! Here's a link to a picture of the shirt.
I've ordered some long sleeved Under Armour shirts in screamingly bright colors. Hope they are satisfactory. I like the red golf shirt I usually wear, but it is short sleeved, and not a terribly visible color.

Speaking of visible, these folks were not on the trail yet, thankfully.

I'm still not sure what would happen with multiple horses and multiple trikes. Probably not pretty.

Running around loose

Ride #71
Tuesday, May 10th
9 miles of errands around town

I'm still chicken about the BIIIIIG hill in front of our house (up or down, does not matter - just give me a set of yellow feathers!) so I caught a ride across town with my sweetie and then rode back through town, erranding along the way.

Rolling small town street

The bank for a new PIN, the jewelers, coffee to kill time until my order was ready, back to the jewelers, back to the bank to double check the PIN, to the library to return some books and books on CD, to the pharmacy to pick up a 'scrip, then home. Whew!

Huge beautiful oak at the library.

I have got to figure out some high-viz clothing that does not feel like wearing plastic wrap. I shed my yellow jacket once I was in a less congested area, leaving me in a bright pink long sleeved light cotton shirt. I hate polyester and nylon and other unnatural fibers, but finding cotton or light wool in true high-viz yellow has so far proved impossible.

I, as usual, behaved like a vehicle, using left turn lanes and all that. I was pleasantly surprised how many of the automated signals in left turn lanes were bicycle-aware.
I got a congratulatory rebel yell from a passing motorcycle: probably because my ride is just plain cool and I was pedaling along at about 25mph at the time. I returned the compliment with a big Power to the People gesture.

Not all city lots have houses on them.

As usual, passing cars gave me plenty of room, and I tried to stay in the shoulder (what there is of it) where it was not full of dubious looking debris. My tires took a beating from my trip through Placerville: lots of little slices. I'm loath to get replacement kevlar banded tires while my original ones are still in reasonable shape but I often wonder how a blow-out will feel. I just keep an eye on all three tires, pick gravel out when I find it, and cross my fingers!

Another ride later this week (assuming no rain) and then some weekend riding fun!

The jeans gene

Ride #65
Thursday, April 21st

About 13 miles on the splendid American River Bike Trail: Sunrise to Wm. Pond and back again.

The rain stopped, the sun came out, and I had to get OUT. I had an appointment later in the afternoon, so for the first (and last) time I rode my recumbent trike in jeans. Not doing that again.

Why were the jeans so awful?
Was it the button digging into my bellybutton? Was it the rolled up cuff catching repeatedly on the end of the chain tube? (Chain tubes are plastic tubes through which the bicycle chain runs - helps keep the chain and you cleaner). Was it the apparent effort needed to repeatedly force folds into all that fabric around my knees on every stroke?

Some wag on bentrideronline said something like "would you ski in a swimsuit?" when responding to the 'bent community's tendency to gloat about wearing street clothes for bicycling instead of 'having' to wear bicycle-specific clothing.

Street clothes mean you blend in when not on your bike, you theoretically don't have to change clothes after a ride (I do since I sweat like a horse), and you don't have to buy more clothes just for bicycling. Well, I like bicycling-oid clothes since they don't flap around and get caught on parts of my 'cycle, they identify me as a bicyclist, and they come in BRIGHT colors.

However, when I get to the point of wearing shirts and shorts plastered with logos and advertisements and so on, you may feel free to point and laugh.

Well. Got that out of my system.

I saw a recumbent tandem today on my ride, and lots of families out together (Spring Break for many local schools). And never have I seen so many squirrels dashing across the trail. Spring Break for squirrels?

I was so excited to get out that I managed an overall average speed of 11.4 mph over the 12 miles! That's pretty fast for me. I think the longer ride last weekend got me over some speed-barrier (not to mention the intoxicating effects of fresh air and sunshine).

My bicycle group has a ride this weekend and I hope to get my sweetie out also (he is getting over a horrible chest cold so we'll see).

Elementary error

Ride #63
Thursday, April 14th
21.5 miles on the El Dorado Trail

The parts of this trail that are paved are great.

All kinds of excitement today: wildlife, traffic, hills, repairs, human powered towing.

My triking friend and I headed out once again from the Missouri Flat Rd. trailhead of the El Dorado Trail. We worked our way up the grade, figured out a shortcut from our usual route, zoomed down Main Street in Placerville, over the nifty twisty bridge, and this time did NOT get lost picking up the trail again at Clay St.

Double Trike Madness? Enough flags, you think?

With two trikes and bright clothing and multiple flags. OH, and lights, we felt OK to take the lane and control the traffic behind us on the Forni Rd. downgrade. We decided not to take that shortcut on the way back since we would be in very low gears and there is no bike lane, no shoulder, and limited sightlines. And we wanted to stop at the local bike store later. But flying down that road was fun.

In Placerville

After we picked up the trail again at Clay St., we climbed steadily up the old rail road grade. We were loafing and chatting and generally in no hurry, so our speed to our turnaround point was a lousy 5.3 mph average. We saw a deer turn around and bail off the trail.

Yes, I know those are not deer.

We got to the end of the paved segment and decided to do a little dirt riding.

Since my trike has suspension all around, I came down hill on that dirt faster than my friend did. And I had many more mud-splatters on me then she did.

We made our way back to Placerville, this time skipping the curly bridge and just using Main Street. It is downhill in that direction through Placerville, so we had no trouble at all staying with the traffic through town. My friend was feeling bold, so we used the left turn lane to get onto Ray Lawyer drive and start up our last big hill.

Our left turn lane is at the left of the frame.

We were almost at the top of the hill when my friend's chain snapped! So close to the trailhead where we had parked this morning!
So we had a little chain-tool smackdown (my chain tool lost), and she successfully removed the bent link and reattached her chain. She has reusable rivets on her chain. Mine are not resuable so I would use a special replacement link in her situation. HOWEVER, we did not double double check the chain path before reattaching the link (we were too entranced with our mad chain-breaking abilities) and we crossed her chain.

Blah. Trike no go.

We did not want to mess with the chain again (I suppose we should have, but we did not, why I do not know. I figure we did not want to tempt the chain-tool-gods again) and we decided to go on anyway: coasting on the mostly downhill route. I gave her a towing assist on the flats, and she walked up the two short hills. We did a lot of unseemly giggling.

Try shooting straight over your shoulder. Obviously, I failed! We are on a trestle bridge, that's the wood platform. She's got a grip on the back of my trike's rear rack. Figures she'd be grinning.

Ooooh! A Tunnel!

Not in the flat land anymore

Bridge over US 50

Today's route. Dig that elevation profile!

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.

Not quite cats

Ride #35
Saturday, January 22nd
9.9 miles in lovely Folsom

Led my crew of biking acquaintances around and around and around the paths of Folsom. No one got lost, left behind, or confused. And everybody seemed to have fun. My sweetheart (who came with us and graciously agreed to sweep the ride) said he didn't see a single one of my beautiful blue arrows. I did, but then I knew where to look. I think they look bigger from a 'bent then from a conventional bike. We finished off our ride with tasty Chicago style pizza. Yum!

Lots of strollers, toddlers, dogs, other cyclists, geese, ducks, coots, blackbirds, squirrels and so on. A busy day on the trails. Lovely spring weather in the low 60s - perfect for cycling around.

One usable pic today: of everybody else that was on the ride, stopped for a lot of chat at the duck pond. We left when the geese started noisily fighting over the bread some kids were tossing in. Some of us speculated on the possibility of nice fat goose for dinner. Yum!

I had to straighten my seat out a little bit (and I think I'll take another look at it before I ride again) and I really do need to check the indexing of my rear derailer as well. I like my Detroit Tigers baseball cap as a visor under my helmet, but I would like a visor or hat that does not have such bulky seams. Leaves an impression my my poor forehead! I like having pockets in my shirt, but I hate how the stuff in my pockets pulls the shirt on the back of my neck. Time to get serious about figuring out some kind of seat-side pouches for assorted stuff: camera, snacks, handkerchief.

I'll take a couple of days off and then it will be back on the trike again!

Waxing Rhapsodic

Ride #30
Tuesday, January 11th
Just over 7 miles on Folsom's bike paths.

Lots more people out today than I expected: mostly accompanied by dogs. Lots and lots of birds also. The blackbirds were making a ruckus in every damp spot (and there are a lot of damp spots right now). Saw an egret/heron/thing. I stink at bird identification.

And Canadian Geese!

I spent a few minutes several times today explaining my odd contraption to interested parties. A common question is "how do you steer it?" I suppose it is not obvious right away, lacking the familiar handlebars of a conventional bicycle.

It was pretty nippy with a chance of rain. There were two drops as I started out, but the rain held off until I was well finished with my ride. Whew! About 45 degrees F, slight breeze, overcast skies, kind of humid. A day to appreciate wool clothing.

If you would like to hear the birds, the first minute or so of my latest youtube video has bird song. Stick around for the rest of the ride, the video's less than 6 minutes long.

Thursday is an Official Ride with my bicycle clubs. And I'm leading the ride! Whoooo! Hope we don't get rained out ...

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.

Blue days, all of them gone ...

Ride #25
Thursday, December 23rd.
A beautiful sunny 7 mile trip on a bit of Folsom's bike paths.

My sweetheart said that the coding problem at work (he is on vacation until the end of the year but email never sleeps) would not get solved today so he came for a ride with me. Booyah! Yes! There was much rejoicing! Und so weiter.

The less he has to do to get out and on the bike, the more likely he is to go. I love fussing around with bicycles so I don't mind at all pumping up tires and loading equipment and all that. He led this ride, with me bellowing occasional directions from behind. I polled him every once in a while if he wanted to go on or turn around and eventually he decided to turn around.

Today's route was partly on the route we could not finish on the 16th, and I think himself is interested in doing the whole messy complicated route one day. We talked a bit about how where we turned around fit into that other ride. He avoided cotton next to his skin and he was more comfortable this time. We might go shopping for a lightweight baselayer for him after xmas. (He borrowed a wicking t-shirt from me and it was, um ... snug. He looked a bit like a giant olive green Buddha.)

My trike worked beautifully today - I just needed to mess with the barrel adjuster for the rear derailluer a little bit near the end of the ride. I moved my tools and bike lock to a seat-back bag and I like having less stuff to paw through in my trunk bag. I was sure there was a baggie of raisins in there, but I could not find them. I'd better check again!

I've ordered a replacement digital point and shoot (a refurbished Canon Powershot) so pictures should appear again soon.

I am scheduled for a 30 mile ride on Sunday, but there is an 80% chance of thunderstorms, so I fear the ride will be canceled.

Happy holidays everyone - time to tinker with my egg nog recipe!

Noise Pollution

Ride #22
Tuesday, December 14th. almost 8 miles in rainy Folsom.

Cool and rainy: 53 degrees with enough rain to run the windshield wipers on the way in on the fastest intermittent setting. Breezy. Totally overcast/foggy/misty. Lots of water puddles to test fenders with. Most of the ride was just damp and breezy, but there was one moment of rain showers.

I was a little tired from physical therapy yesterday, so I poodled along averaging 7 - 8 mph. I saw one intrepid (desperate?) runner and two dog walkers: one set with both dog and walker bundled up in bright colors. The other dog was happily trying to catch an egret. No luck, the egret was airborne long before the dog was in range. I saw a handful of California Quail, heard a toad, and saw a flock of geese overhead.

 My favorite curvy section beckoned, but I took it slow today. If you get moving moderately fast over the bridge, then the curves are a swooping bucket o' fun!

Another reason for going slow were all the leaves knocked onto the trail from the recent wind and rain. I love riding on a carpet of fall color, but I do wonder just what might be hiding under those leaves ...




My old Brooks high-viz windbreaker cut the wind just fine, but did get wet through at the zipper, shoulders, and upper arm areas. The midweight Ibex wool shirt underneath, however, kept me toasty warm. Someday I'm going to ride in really nasty weather. I'm thinking 35 - 40 and raining and windy. Then I'll have a reason to break out my lightweight kayak jacket (no front zipper to leak all over me). If I had worn that jacket today, I'd have overheated in no time.
I wore my old Terry cool weather tights (with the pad ripped out) and my legs were OK, although I think my knees were a little stiff from the cold. I think I would have been more comfortable in wool tights and some kind of windbreaking thing over them.
My hands and feet were toasty in wool hiking socks and some Ibex wool gloves and I really like the wool Buff used as a cap under my helmet: just enough to keep me warm.

My trike is parked in the garage right now (instead of in the car in the garage) since I need to move the chain along every once in a while to help get the water out of the chain tubes. Or so I've been told. There was also a mysterious noise on the front left side: I think it might have to do with the brake, so I'll check that out as well.

Oh yeah, the noise pollution came from my outrageously-noisy-when-wet disk brakes. I suppose that was another reason to go slow: less squalling and squealing.

Almost forgot!

Am I daft?

Ride #17
Sunday, November 21st, bike trails in Folsom CA. A measly 5.6 miles.

It was raining and windy at my house, but down in Folsom, it was just breezy and overcast. The weather forecast was dire enough (thunderstorms! wind advisory!) that the leader of the scheduled picnic ride sensibly cancelled the outing. I went on a ride anyway. There were some families out enjoying the break in the rain, and a couple of other crazy cyclists out jamming through puddles.

I paused, as I always do, by the pond. It is much fuller than the last time I took a picture (see blog for September 10th) and inhabited by ducks and other waterfowl.
I had wanted to do a more extensive loop through Folsom, but my planned route used 3 bicycle underpasses, all probably flooded with all the recent rain. Some of the underpasses have surface street options, but one would require hauling my trike up a muddy embankment. No thanks!


I spent some time fiddling with the barrel adjuster for my rear derailluer, but I think to do it right I'll have to work on the bike in the garage, where I can concentrate just on the bike and not stuff like, oh, driving off the trail or running over a jogger and so on. My fenders (which I reinstalled last week) worked just fine to keep me from getting splashed from the damp trails and occasional puddle.

I dressed in wool layers, topped off with my high-viz windbreaker. I tried Ibex midweight longjohns for leg protection and they were acceptable. If it had been raining, I think I would have been too cold without rain pants on as well. I did eventually unzip my windbreaker and also the neck of the midweight Ibex top I was wearing. I could probably have left the lightweight 'woolie' shirt at home, but it was nice to have when I was unloading the bike. I ended up pulling my wool buff (serving as a balaclava) off as well as my wool gloves by the end of the ride. If I had been riding on hills, I would have removed layers sooner.

The partially unzipped windbreaker was a great place to store my camera and phone while pedaling along although the lumps and bumps caused by doing so probably did not do much for my image as a bicycling fashion plate. The most damage to my image was probably the bright red wool wrap skirt I was wearing (along with a yellow jacket and a bright blue shirt. And a bright red face from the wind.) I whipped up the wrap skirt the other day since, as I often have said, the world does not need to see my rear in spandex (or wool tights).

I might see if I can entice folks out on a short Turkey Day ride. If not then, then on the weekend.

OMG! May I please borrow a lung?

Ride # 16
Tuesday, November 16th. A shade over 6 miles. In traffic. Ooooh yeah!

I love riding for fun, but I also plan to use my trike (as I used my bike) for running local errands. So today I did.

My doc changed hospital affiliations, so I needed to sign a form allowing the old lab to send my records over to the new lab. My sweetheart works at the 'business' end of town, near the old lab, so I took the opportunity to get a lift to that end of town and cycle back to the house on this beautiful sunny day.

For those out you who worry about cyclists on the roads I was dressed for visibility: wearing a screaming yellow windbreaker, both tail lights blinking, the very bright headlight on, and two flags flapping merrily away.

I scooted from one end of Cameron Park to the other, using a route made mostly of residential streets. When I am a stronger cyclist, I'll run errands via a round trip from home. All kinds of interesting things are just a short ride away: a good hardware store, the library, grocery stores, my dentist, my doctor, the pet store (but I'm not planning on hauling 30 lbs of dog food home), multiple places for coffee, even haircuts!

For the first part of the ride, I slogged up the hill on the way to the lab (not a big hill, but bigger than I'm really ready for) in the granny gear, huffing and puffing. I took advantage of my trike's stability and low gearing to simply stop and catch my breath at two spots on the hill. The second time I stopped was because of two dogs who had to come over and see what I was.

Uncontrolled off leash dogs worry me quite a bit, not because I'm afraid of them, but because I am afraid for them. These two dogs were on the other side of the road, and charged heedlessly across two lanes to have a visit.

In about 5 minutes, a pair of dogs will come over the hill.

A car in each direction had to stop to avoid the dogs. I stopped (I needed to anyway) and let the owners get their dogs back. A stationary trike is less interesting to the dogs, especially since I had spoken in a cheery voice, identifying myself as human.

Although my route home followed the valley that is Cameron Park, there are still little hills. Down hill is fun (that hill I slogged up at the beginning gave me 30mph on the way down!) but uphill is boooooooring. I am so out of shape I had to stop and just breathe in certain carefully selected shady spots. I suppose I need to do this some more?

Nice and quiet road, horrible chipseal!

I wore my usual cotton capris (since I can't seem to find my non-padded bike shorts) and a very lightweight wool short sleeved t-shirt. The wool shirt is MUCH preferable to a cotton shirt. I was about ready to shed my high-viz windbreaker, since I was getting rather warm, but I treasure the visibility it gives me so I just pedaled slower. Yeah, that's why I was so slow. The windbreaker. Wanna buy a nice bridge? Oceanfront property?

I averaged 7.7 mph, top speed 30mph, slowest about 3 mph. My cleats stayed put on the shoes, my trike shifted well (but I still need to check the limit screws for the rear) and I had no flats, despite riding on the shoulder for most of the ride.

The trike is fine, the 'engine' needs some serious rehabilitation.

I'm still hoping for a picnic on Sunday! If it is cancelled, I'll slap the fenders on and go for a ride anyway.

Time to break out the woolies

Ride #15, Saturday November 13th
Just over 12.5 miles on the beautiful American River Bike Trail.

It was a lovely day in the mid 60s, not a lot of breeze, mostly sunny. The usual assortment of folks on the path: road bikes, cruiser bikes, recumbent trikes and bikes - one with a partial fairing, the hand-trike fellow again, and walkers and joggers.

We started at one of the parking lots at the Sunrise river access, rode just over the bridge into William B. Pond Park, then turned around and headed back to the car. Himself set the pace, an average of about 10 mph. I tended to catch up on downhills (my fastest today was just 20mph) but instead of falling too far behind on what tiny uphills there were, I found myself sometimes coasting up the hill. Now that's fun!

As has been my habit, I wore cotton capris and a cotton t-shirt. Perfectly comfortable on the 'cycle, but I was a little damp and chilled at lunch after our ride. So it is time for more fall-like clothing. I really like wool since it never feels clammy and wicks just as well as 'technical' polyester fabrics and I have piles of it in the closet. You can take me out of Michigan, but you can't ... well, you know. So, you see, we are not busting sheep out of jail, just changing to wool clothing! We'll just leave the sheep in lockup ... baaaaaaaaaaaa.

I have no scenic pictures for today's ride since I left my camera at home. I did bring my GPS tracker with me - forgetting, as usual, to turn it on when we actually started our ride and then forgetting to turn it off after we stopped 'cycling!

We spent a little time at the beginning of our ride, getting my sweetheart's saddle (he rides a 'normal' bike) adjusted a little bit. I never did adjust my rear derailluer and it worked fine this time. I think I want to move my headrest a little bit, since when I relax and flop my head against it, I get a great view of the sky. Interesting, but hard to stay on the trail.

Swapped out my improvised water bladder carrier for a Camelbak Un-bottle. No problems attaching it to the back of the seat, but I forgot to shut off the valve at one of our stops and ended up dribbling water all over the seat. Someday I'll remember.

I had a loose cleat on my right shoe, but I was able to pry the cleat out of the pedal with a screwdriver and screw it back in place. I need to figure out what is going on with my right foot. Do I just wiggle around a lot? Is that why I get a loose cleat on that side? I must remember to add 'cleats' to my pre-ride checklist. And I should put a spare pair of cleats and screws in my bike bag: just in case.

Next weekend a picnic ride with the Casual Biking group! I'll bring my camping setup so I can have hot tea. This will be good to see how my camping kitchen will fit in my bike bag. I'll actually have to add one of the panniers I bought for touring! Cross your fingers for no rain on Sunday.