Wood-chuck

#126

Tuesday, November 15th
About 10 miles or so

Today I had a physical therapy appointment (complete strangers mashing on my poor right shoulder) so, since it is very close to my house and it is a beautiful sunny day, I rode my bike.

I had also planned to pick up 15lbs of dogfood at the pet store, so I loaded all the usual top-bag stuff into my panniers to clear the top of the rack for dog food toting, and threw in a random assortment of bungie cords and cargo nets.

Physical therapy out of the way, I made an exciting left turn to continue on past the airport to the shopping center.

The orange plane is in the middle of 'touch and goes'

I saw some signs indicating construction ahead. Then I got to sit in traffic just like a real vehicle!
Yes, there is a shoulder there, but I make it a practice to take the lane when traffic speeds allow me to do so. That way, I'm right in front of the guy behind me and I won't suddenly 'appear' out of nowhere.

There was a crew trimming trees and turning them into wood chips. The guys on the crew cheered me on when the line of traffic got moving and I was cruising along trying not to hold up the truck behind me.

It turned out the pet store did not have the right dogfood. I could have ridden 3 miles more and gone to the feed store in the next town, but that would have meant two trips through a horrible intersection.

So I left my bungie cords in the bag, stopped at Subway for a sandwich, chatted to a fellow about tadpole trikes for a minute, then pedaled back to the house. I'll pick up dog food tomorrow with the car. Then I can get the 30# bag instead of the 15.

El Dorado has gutter pans intruding into the few bike lanes in the county. One might think that it would be reasonable to ride on the concrete section of the bike 'lane' but that would be a Bad Thing.

It is impossible to see in this photo, but the outlined green triangle is a sudden drop-off to direct water into the sewer system. If you dropped a wheel anywhere in that area you'd probably go down. I suspect that it would be quite easy to flip a trike on one of those.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day to ride, wood chippers, SUVs, and gutter pans notwithstanding.

Up, up and Away!

Ride #81
Wednesday, June 8th

9 miles around town

I finally decided it is past time to conquer the hill that starts at the bottom of our driveway. So I threw the beast in granny gear and huffed and puffed my way up and out of the subdivision.

Then I made my way over to the public library for a couple of books, turned around and came home. I'm still chicken down the big hill. Even the little hill I reach 20mph easily from a dead stop, just coasting. If only our road did not end at an intimidating orange and white stripped barrier. I might be willing to not brake all the way down.

So, today's rant is about the budget. First off, will California even have a budget by the June deadline? Then, there is the impact of the economy and so on on local services.

A wheel-killing pothole. No, I did not kill a wheel today, but not for lack of trying. I really do not remember seeing so many cracks and fissures in the road last year. More weeds, less maintenance .


However, I did get to ride in a construction zone. A first for me.

Then there's the public library hours. What was I doing coming home at noon from the library? Because it opens at 10am only a few days a week. Other days it is open at 1pm, even warmer. Bah.
Damn kids, get off my lawn! Ok. I'm done now.

A few more rides this week - maybe even a ride in the dark?! I'm still considering that one.

Library bike parking.

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...