Chain link fence

Ride #49
Monday, February 28th
16.5 miles on the Folsom South Canal

B'bye February!

I like the South Canal but it has issues. It is flat, flat flat flat, (which actually gets a little boring at times) except for some short rises that cross various other things crossing the canal. Clear, ain't I? But anyway the mini hills give a nice view of the canal.

And starting at the Nimbus end means crossing lots of streets and and out-of-service railroad track and some more streets. Then there is the White Rock Road crossing, which right now is mostly a detour on busy streets. Not good for a crowd of beginner bikers!

I've been trying to figure out how to avoid White Rock Road, so today I started just off of North Mather Rd., which made for a very nice ride.

 Brand new smooooooooooooth asphalt bike paths through neighborhoods half ticky-tacky boxes and half vacant fields with developers' signs fading in the sun. I think this will make a good group ride, as long as it is not howling wind or sweltering summer sun.

I saw some more waterbirds perched this time on a pipe crossing the canal,

and also tried (and failed) to get a shot of some entertaining black and white water birds. I need to brush up on my bird identification: black and white birds, maybe slightly smaller than a duck, while floating around they have black topsides and a white hull (a little nautical there). Then when they take off their wings are black with a wide white band. They also make a sort of squeaky sound as they try to get up to speed on the water. I'm sure they can fly, but they seem to prefer to flap along just on the surface of the water, then settle down when they are far enough from my disturbing self.

As you might notice on the map, I took a little detour up Zinfandel (I have no idea what I was thinking about, guess I was just enjoying the sunshine). BUT on the way back I spotted a bike path unlisted on maps so went exploring. A great day for a ride. Supposed to start raining again later this week so this might be all I do for a while.

Brass monkeys

Ride #48
9 or so miles in Folsom
Sunday, February 27th

Today I led a small intrepid band of bicyclists on a "lollypop" in Folsom (route with an out and back part and a loop stuck in the middle). We chugged up a looooooooooong grade and then whooped and hollered our way down the other side. We charged through puddles from the recent rain and I sort of missed my fenders but I got several free mini-showers as a bonus.

One of the folks on the ride commented that all the people we encountered on our ride were friendly. I figure it is due to a couple of things: Folsom is a nice town, I've been spreading cheer every time I ride on those trails (I always try to beat the other guy to the smile and wave), and a recumbent trike is just something to smile at.

Many birds, including a very nice landing by a very large and very close Egret. Lots of walkers, joggers, a small band of bicyclists, and of course, dog walkers. No bobcat today. The 'cat was probably denned up somewhere nice and warm. The weather was cool and extraordinarily clear, but there was a light breeze with a cold bite.

I'm so glad I have the chance to lead rides for two area bicycle groups. So far all of my rides have been listed on both groups (one is casual and one is more hard-core) but eventually I hope to be able to ride with the medium fast crowd.

This is pretty much where we went, but I skipped the top loop, only doing the left hand side for both out and back.

More rides scheduled, planned, and hoped for in the next few weeks - I'm a bit tired of rain so I hope it holds off for a few more days.

Drunk on sunshine

Ride #47
Tuesday, February 22nd
10ish miles in Folsom's Wild Animal Kingdom

Had a blast in the sunshine - plenty of other folks out today - including a small group of the ever-friendly and cheery Sacramento Wheelmen.

I think this time I'll let the camera do the talking.

I'll take that one, and that one and - ooooh - that one...

Ride #46
Monday, February 21st

Finally home and finally no rain so finally rode! Yay!

13 miles or so on the Folsom South Canal

A bit of a headwind cramped my style heading south, but it was niiiice on the way back. I had intended to go maybe as far as Sloughhouse Rd, but turned around far short of that since my chain tube finally cried out for my attention loudly enough I could not ignore it any more.

I successfully navigated the White Rock Rd detour (only signed in some places but I have friends who told me where to go. Um, that came out wrong, didn't it?) and made my back onto the canal-side road. I had hoped to take some advanced beginners on this ride in the future, but there are no bike lanes on the detour roads. I don't mind playing in traffic and "taking a lane", but I know a number of my usual riders would not be comfortable in that situation.

Chain tubes are useful things since they help prevent chain tattoo (when the chain leaves a grease mark on a leg - often the calf with a recumbent bike). And they keep some of the muck off the chain as it whizzes along mere inches from the ground. And with a chain about 3x as long as a 'normal' bike, that's a lot of chain to keep clean! I have 2 main tubes on my trike (made from shorter segments).

As soon as I got home I wheeled the trike into the garage, popped the master link of the chain free, slid the chain tube off, sawed the ripped up split end off, flared the cut end a little (probably not enough), and reassembled my beautiful ride. Didn't take too long at all and now the top chain tube will stay well clear of the front derailer and all will be well for tomorrow's ride! I hope the weather holds - a little overcast and a chilly breeze, but no rain!

This is the whole route - my turnaround today was a little short of Douglas Road

Idyllic

Ride #45
Sunday, February 13th
A bit over 10 miles on the American River trail (no, I'm not writing a poem today despite the title)

A group ride today from Wm. Pond to the Sac State bridge and back. I played shepherd on my trike and the rest were on diamond frame bikes. We had two mountain bikers show up out of the blue to check out the casual bike group. My friend with the 100 pounds of kids and trailer in tow took off like her tail was on fire (which she did not have to do but she was having so much fun...), the other two followed her like they were being pulled in her wake, and I stayed waaaaaay back with the two folks on mountain bikes. They decided that the pace was a bit fast for them so we had a nice chat and then went our separate ways. I cycled like a madwoman (holding 18mph for a while) to catch up with the rest of the group. Gosh, I love flat straight trails!

We had a little snack and water break at our turn around point, chatted some more (this is, after all, a social bike ride) and pedaled back. We saw a group of at least 5 deer browsing on the green vegetation in a hollow below the bike path. The deer didn't even look up - too hungry, I guess. We also saw a pair of handtrikes - the really low ones, and I spotted one other recumbent trike. The rest of the folks we saw were bicycling or walking, some solo and some in groups. One family group had a little kid on a tricycle who was pedaling so furiously his feet should have blurred like a cartoon character!

One rider had a flat (and a spare tube - YAY!) in the parking lot before setting out but no other mechanical issues with our little band of bikers.

The winter weather will return later this week, but I'll ride and post when I can.

Flat like a pancake, not a tire

Ride #44
Thursday, February 10th
9 extremely flat miles on the Folsom South Canal

I've been talking for what seems like forever about getting back out on the Folsom South Canal to ride, and I finally got around to it with a friend from one of the bike groups I hang out with. We started out from the temporary dirt parking lot near Nimbus Hatchery and played in mild traffic until we could get on the canal-side path. This ride is horrible on a hot summer day, but with the banks of grass still green it was not so bad. We saw a few pedestrians, more cyclists than I expected, and one (county?) truck using the road for service access.

Phone wires cross the canal in several places and they are usually bedecked with birds looking for their lunch.

We crept up on our 'cycles, waiting to see how close we could get before they took off. We were totally ignored, probably since we did not look like fish.

Although we had planned to go farther on the canal, the small gate at White Rock Road was closed. I suppose we could have hoisted my friend's bike over and slid my trike under the gate, but since we both had other things to do today (yes, I do have more in my life than 'cycling) we turned around and headed back.

When I bought my trike, I interrogated bike-dude if it really truly would fit between the yellow posts at the beginning of bike paths. I guess this was the path I was remembering. If I wiggle my handlebars just so, I can scrape through without leaving a mirror behind. These yellow posts are much narrower than the usual bike path posts.

Not stuck, cautious!

I like this ride, even though it is an industrial landscape, and I think the corridor has potential for a great commuting/recreation route. There was apparently in 2007 some talk of developing the south canal but I don't think anything ever came of it. Probably the housing developers who were part of the proto-planning ran headlong into the housing crisis.

Other challenges to using this path, aside from very narrow gates that are sometimes closed, are several places where the canal path users have to dash across a street through traffic. The Powers that Be added a push-button crossing at Sunrise, and there is a nice echo-y tunnel under US 50 (yes, we made silly sonar noises and sang while in the tunnel)  but some interesting roads (Douglas, for instance) have no access points to the canal path, making it less useful as a recreation and commuting option.

US 50 tunnel on left

Enough social and political maunderings, time to get some stuff around the house done! Riding again this weekend, TTFN

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.