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...

King of Squirrel Hill

Ride #40
Saturday, February 5th
29.6 miles on the lovely American River Parkway

It's the first Saturday of the month, so the Recumbent Riders of Sacramento gathered this morning to ride and this month I could finally join them again.

I thought for a moment I might not find parking since there was a very large race event finishing up when I arrived. Fortunately, the RRS tend to run a little late in their departures, so I had time to show exactly how bad I am at names and faces. Honestly, if people would just wear the same clothes, the same helmet, and ride the same bike every time I see them, I'd be fine (not).

The bunch of recumbents set off through swarms of runners, walkers, cyclists, and squirrels. Gray squirrels everywhere, on fence posts, on trees, dashing madly across the pavement. As I was creeping up a hill, I looked to my right, directly into some beady squirrel-eyes. For a minute, I thought the critter was going to leap on to my trike and hitch a ride. He went up the tree instead, and scolded me. The nerve! What does he, rule the place?

Although I trailed along in the rear as usual, I did try really really hard to keep up for about the first 7 miles, and my average speed was 12mph. Pretty smokin' for poor old me. Then after 15 miles it was 11mph average. By the time I got back to the car at the end of the ride, it was just over 10. I'm pleased anyway. I managed to stay in the middle chainring unless I had to get up some little stinking rise. I even batted along at 16mph for a while. I am slowly getting my chutzpah back on cornering, but I did still do some braking.

I need to check the directions for my brakes: I'm pretty sure I can move the left pad in a little bit, since the right brake is grabbier than the left. I stayed out of the "little little" combination of gears (in which the chain is the slackest) and I had no shifting problems at all.

No pics today (too busy pedaling like a maniac) but might have some after tomorrow's ride. Yes, two rides in a row! Whooo!

I declare this Middle Chainring Month

Ride #39
Wednesday, February 2nd
8.8 miles in Folsom

Returned to an old favorite route - mostly bike paths and some street riding with a fun loop uuuuuuuuup hill and then doooooooooooown hill. My ride ran like a dream, since bike-shop-dude adjusted the rear derailer for me. He also advised taking out another link in the chain, so I said "go for it!"

I decided that I need to push myself a little bit, so I stayed in my middle chainring in front as much as I could. There were a few sections where I needed to be in a lower gear, so I headed in the direction of Granny once or twice. The gearing on this trike is a lot better fit for me than the gearing on my old Trek, or maybe I'm getting in better shape? Anyway, I did not feel the need to drape myself over my ride and pant once I got to the top. I did stop to adjust my brake pads. Much better!

Now for a bunch of pictures!

Hills ahead

Uphill direction on the bridge

<whine>Aren't we done yet?</whine>

Hellooooooo! Granny!

Oh for crying out loud Who said UP was ok?!

Yes, wheel-wrecking curb cuts and prickly shrub debris ahead.

Riding this weekend - both days if I can manage it.
CU!

Two in a row!

Ride #38

Friday, January 28th
8.9 miles in Folsom

The rain is supposed to start up again, so Himself and I went for a ride this afternoon (Himself is waiting for software testing results so nothing going on at work today for him). We had planned to do the 10 mile loop of last weekend, but my derailer was giving me FITS! And Himself decided to crank up the speed a notch. So I was pooped and we took a shortcut back to shorten our ride by a mile.

I'm very proud of my sweetheart - he is really committed to getting fit (of course, the stinker will get fit Much Faster than I will!) On our car-ride home we talked a little bit about the mechanics of standing to pedal up hills. I never did have clips or toe-traps on any of my upright bikes, so I never really got in the habit of standing to pedal. But I've read a lot about it and I can deliver loads of plausible sounding BS at the drop of a hat. We'll see if he can stand sometime to climb.

I've made an appointment to take the beast in for rear-derailer work tomorrow morning. Bike-shop-dude says it  should be a quick fix and if necessary he can just swap out the rear derailer. What a guy!

Our ride on Sunday might get rained out, so just keep checking back for a new post!

The hills are...

Ride #37
Thursday, January 27th
"Powerline" hills in Folsom, just over 5 miles

I went out again to the rolling hills that follow the powerline in Folsom. This time with some bicycling friends to scout these rollers as a possible group ride. The conclusion: if folks are willing to walk up a short hill or two if they need to, to work a bit, to huff and puff if necessary, then it will be a good ride. A perfect ride, in fact, for practicing shifting gears. It is a quiet path, mostly mid-morning dog walkers. So, I will schedule this ride on our group's calendar real soon now.

My friends both drove to our meeting place through fog, so they were wondering if we were really going to ride or not. I had not a doubt in the world since it was supremely sunny at my house. On our ride, we did not reach the fog (if we had gone south instead of west we would have). While we were chatting in the parking lot before riding, my "parking lot acquaintance" Al showed up. He was heading to the fog. Introductions all around and off we all went.

I was passed on the uphills and generally braked on the down hills (must remember to check if my brakes need adjusting again after this ride) and my friends were more than happy to wait at the top of hills for me. My rear derailer is beyond me at this point, so I'll call the wonderful shop that built my ride and schedule some non-do-it-yourself adjustments. Sometimes you have to turn the experts loose on your problem.

This is not the exact path we took (we started across the street at the grocery store) but it is the path I will use for the group ride.

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!

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!