One hour, fifteen

#457 / #264

Monday, November 21st
Retail madness (my new job) - even part time - is interfering with my chances to ride while the sun is shining. Red Leader, being a computer guy and independent of clamoring customers, snuck out for a ride on the 18th. 22.8 miles. Go, Red Leader!!

Today, we cruised around Lake Natoma backwards (counter clockwise) squinting into the patches of sun on the way west, and switching on our lights on the way back east.

I would like to shave 15 minutes off this ride and do it in one hour, but I'd need to be a LOT faster on the flats and really spin around the curvy parts, and charge up the hills. I might never make it, but the attempt will occupy me for a few years.

Next ride, Turkey Day - weather permitting!

Folsom Ramble, a New Beginning

#456 / #262

9.7 miles in beautiful Folsom on Nov 14th
We didn't have a lot of time, so we did a quick lovely ride through lots of fall leaves.
The Hill Shaving Fairies had been at it again, with inclines we used to notice becoming almost unnoticeable.
You will notice that Red Leader's ride number jumped by one more than mine. He has been trying very hard to exercise every other day, and I'm so pleased that he can go for a ride when I'm stuck at work.

Little, Middle, Big or Nerds on Bikes, a Conversation

Friday, Nov 11th

#455 / #260
Little, middle, big might refer to chain rings, but for these two nerdy recumbent riders, it was all about the glutes.

Yes, children. Butt muscles.

Specifically, the proper Latin plural for gluteus medius. That the muscle I feel the most after frequent rides. We never did figure the plural out. Red Leader had more Latin than I ever did, but it was a long time ago.

So, there you have it. Nerds.
Nerds on bikes.
The world is safe again.

CU

Hurry, scurry

#454 / #259

9 Nov. Wednesday

Our usual time for our Wednesday ride was disrupted by the end of daylight savings time, and by my work schedule.

So Red Leader drove in the bike-carrying truck from his work, and I drove from my work, meeting in the Folsom garage around 3:15 to start our refreshing 15 mile ride.

I could only find one water bottle in the morning brain fog, and Red Leader left his in the fridge at work, but my missing bottle was in the car, already full. So we each had a bottle, stopping to refill on our way back by Nimbus boat launch.

We did our shorter weekday afternoon ride from Folsom out to an easy turnaround before Sunrise, then back on whatever side of the lake we hadn't ridden on the way out.

I hope to ride again on Friday or Saturday this week! We shall see.

A Fork in the Road

No. I mean literally. A serving fork on the trail. Just lying there, no reason atall.

#453 / #248
7 Nov. Monday.
Red Leader went for a ride Saturday by himself. And had a flat. The tube in question has been sitting, inflated, on the kitchen counter all day. Still inflated. That man has a flat fairy following him around.

No flats today.
Anyway, we decided to do our old loop around Lake Natoma, as the time change is kind of messing with our usual schedule.
The river is high enough that the Nimbus Dam had two gates open. Nice to see. Does this mean there is hope for the drought? Dunno.
My chain tubes are beat up again, and I'm not sure when I can get in to the shop to get them changed out. Pretty sure Velotechnik did not intend to have the Scorpion folded all the time. So I go through a lot of tubes. Even with my newly acquired habit of putting the chain on the smallest rings.

Unclear when we will ride again. Hope Wednesday.

CU

Long time comin'

Whew. Has it really been THAT LONG since I wrote a blog post? Any blog post?

Yes, yes it has.

months and months and months!
I shall attempt a summary, and a big jump in our ride counts.

Last time we were here:
Me on ride #430  and Red Leader on #224


I can say that we have ridden together every time but twice since then, so I can just count the Strava riding activities and do some arithmetic.


One more ride in July where I forgot to bring my phone. So I manually added a ride based on Red Leader's Strava info. July's average ride distance 20 miles.


Then, four rides in August (five for Red Leader), including a re-visit of Folsom's neighborhood bike paths. Average ride distance 13 miles. A ride of a whopping 2.8 miles accounts for the low average.
This was the month when RL had 6 flats in two days of riding. 5 on the rear wheel. New rim tape seems to have done the trick. Red Leader, on the 2.8 mile ride, dragged his trike off the American River Parkway via a neighborhood access road, while I rode back to get the car and meet him. The ride I didn't go on also involved enough flats that Red Leader ran out of tubes and I had to drive to Sacramento to fetch him. He started carrying his street shoes with him for the next month. A talisman against flats.


Seven rides in September (we resolved to exercise more frequently) with an average distance of 19 miles. One of those was a 8.9 mile slog up to Beales Point.


Nine rides in October (8 for Red Leader). Average of 19.4
My solo ride was from Hazel over to the Capital Air Show. Really fun. I parked bikes with SABA for a few hours, then wandered the airshow in the cool drizzle. Riding back, the detours from traffic control meant I rode a considerable distance further on 5 lane roads, but I was liberally bedecked in hi-viz yellow, blinking lights, and flags, so it was not too bad.


And one in November. So far.



#452 for me and #246 for Red Leader


Somewhere in this back-log mess, my on-board odometer rolled over to 7000 miles. That does not seem like much to me, but at least I noticed it.


The weather is about perfect for riding, as long as the rain stays away. We are nervously anticipating the time change, when our afternoon weekday ride will have to start an hour earlier. Good thing my work schedule is part time and Red Leader has piles of vacation time he must use (or lose).

Two For

Rides #429 and 430  / #223 and 224

Very hot on June 25th. Really awful. But we rode anyway. I can't remember a thing about it. Thank goodness for Strava. If not for Strava I would have no way of figuring out where I rode when.

Then there was the Sunday, July 10th.
Why such a big gap? We were off at a music workshop for a week. Also, when we were home it was hot hot hot.
We decided to ride on the north side of Lake Natoma then out to Elmanto and back to Folsom via the south side. A nice 21 miles. We were moving (for us) pretty fast. Red Leader pointed out that it was his fastest time for that route (by a few seconds). Thank you, Strava.

See, Strava = memory.

Braincells, PHAH.