PASKENTA CENTURY RIDE! my first century (and soon to be second)!

The plan was simple. Stick together (my brother and I) and draft off riders better than us. Stick together - Fail.  Draft off riders better than us - semi success. It sounds like my brother did better at staying in a group.  I stayed with a group for maybe the first half and then solo for the last thirty miles or so.  I figure near 300 riders showed up for this FREE epic century ride/race.  It's a ride, but it turn into a race once you get out of town.

Everyone meets up at One Mile at Bidwell Park in Chico, CA prior to 8:00am on Super Bowl Sunday.

So last year things were starting out nice, I seemed to have stuck with the main pack going down the Esplanade after someone crashed (having lost my brother almost immediately - as he went off talking to someone he knew), but as we were picking up speed someone almost took out my front wheel by swerving violently to the left (no idea what they were thinking) sending me into the centerline which had reflectors and was graded making for a bit of a bumpy ride until someone let me back into the group.  All would have been well but my saddle bag had come undone and was beating against my right leg.  I had to stop and lost touch with the main group. 

Someones shot of the promenade down the esplanade. ( I forgot where I got this picture)

I think the worst part was that we (the main group) had already made big gap between us and everyone else and I thought my bro was in the main group still.  So i had no one to ride with for quite some time.  I tried in vain to catch up but just wasted A LOT of energy. Soon I was caught by a group of riders, some of whom I recognized from the area, who were getting on quite nicely.  I dropped in behind them and took a sort of break. I made my way along with them taking my turns in the rotations when I realized I was already wasted. We were moving pretty good and I was still tired from my chase attempt.  After under 30 miles I wasn't able to hang on and was dropped.  I for maybe 5 min with no one until a UC Davis clad guy came screaming by me.  My first thought was DRAFT! So I did a little sprint and tucked in behind him.   The plan was to get back up to that group I was with.  It Worked!  This guy was cruisin'.  He dropped me off when we caught up to the group, I thanked him for the ride, and he continued screaming along. 

Ian Boswell @theboz91 · Feb 1

It's a big sporting day back in the USA today, Paskenta Century and some Superb Owl game. Let freedom ring...

  Everyone  stopped in Corning at a gas station which was nice.  I ate some food and had some drink and waited for everyone to be ready to go.  Here began my semi solo ride.  The group was going to be split into smaller groups because not everyone was riding the full route through gravel.  I was determined to ride the full route and maybe find my bro along the way.  I set out with a group and soon a few people broke off to shorten the route.  Next I decided I'd just spin at my rate to my own liking since there was still a long way to go which caused me to drop of the rear.   I road alone and was passed by a few people until the Paskenta market where the group I was with had stopped again.  Instead of stopping and grouping up with them I continued on since I still felt good having been going at my own pace.  I was passed by them again before we hit the 4ish/5 mile strip of gravel road in Paskenta.  In the gravel I picked people off one by one and finished the gravel before most of the group that had passed me.  They passed me again after the gravel and that was the last I saw of them. I lost one of my new Camelback insulated bottles while rattling along in the gravel. 

One of my favorite pics from the Paskenta gravel showing how it makes you feel.  This is actually from the Chico Stage Race which takes the gravel road on in the opposite direction from the Paskenta Century.

 After riding 20-30 min. alone another small group which was moving pretty good came up behind me.  I rode with them for quite some time until the group disintegrated.  Again alone I pedaled along the 32.  Me and another rider then played leap frog as I would stop for water, or to eat, or just being tired, and I guess he was doing the same.  I was very tired at this point.  I finished off the last of my food and drink and stood on the side of the road watching cars pass by knowing I was only 10 or so miles from the finish.  I finally felt like I could continue on and it must have been after the gatorade etc. got into my system because I felt pretty good and was able to maintain 20mph (which was very impressive to me at the time) the rest of the way in.  Happiness was having my bro and his wife there waiting for me to give me a ride home!  All the time I thought my brother was ahead of me when apparently he had gotten behind me when we were still on the Esplanade.  I guess he had spent the beginning of his ride trying to catch up to me!  He ended up taking the 80 mile route and riding with a group not from the area.  
       I think a day later, my brother called and said he thought someone had found my water bottle.  It turns out they had!  Big thanks to the Wentlands for finding, picking up, and returning the bottle!

Date's wrong.  Me, alone, somewhere before Corning.  The news was there covering the ride.

Things I learned and would recommend to others :

- Know yourself and how much food you need! If you're not sure, bring more.

- Either be in the leading group which has a Motorcycle lead out or be in a group who knows where they're going at least until you get to corning! After that it's pretty simple.

- Leave at least some water in both of your bottles so that they'll be less likely to rattle out in the gravel (the water bottle I lost was empty).

- Stay seated in the gravel! You need the weight over your rear wheel or it will just spin and you will be likely have to stop.

- Don't pick a gear too low.  Again all of the torque will cause you're wheel to spin in the gravel.

- Go your own pace.  Taking it easy will likely make the ride more enjoyable.  You'll be able to take a look around and enjoy the beauty.

- Don't ride alone.  Coming from someone who almost exclusively rides alone this should have some weight to it.  On long or difficult rides it is all around better to be with someone.  Not to mention it will be easier.

- Do the Paskenta Century Ride/Race! It's fun !

Big Thanks to Rodney for putting this on!

Backyard Race : GEDC 2nd Edition (Golden Eagle Dirt Classic)

BACKYARD RACE

What could be better to do on such a beautiful day than race and ride your bike?
I took this after the race on my way home. What a day!

Before:


Not everyone has a big backyard and some people might not even know someone with a big backyard.  Furthermore the percentage is made smaller by those backyards that have an awesome single track mountain bike course! This past week I had got an invite to the Golden Eagle Dirt Classic put on by the Golet family.  For me quite the honor since I consider my cycling skills to be fairly minimal and I'm pretty anti-social (you'd be pretty hard pressed to find someone in the cycling community to put my name to my face - I guess that's what happens when you do the vast majority of your riding in the dark).  Luckily my mother in law was in town to watch my kids so I could go and race.  But there was one conflict: My "training" schedule.  I have been trying to ride ever day and climb three to five thousand feet every ride for the month of January and going to the race would put a damper on my days leading up to the race.  Instead of ruining my schedule I actually was able to take some really easy rides a couple days before the race and I decided that I would only race the first half hour then take pictures the rest of the race and then go on a long ride after the race.  Another reason I figured a half hour would be quite nice is because all I really wanted to do was try out the track that Greg has in his backyard since I follow him on strava and see him digging trenches with his bike around the course quite often.  The other reason a half hour for me was good was because of the people who were also on the track.  I don't know the guys but I know who they are and know that they are quite fast and on a fairly short course (.7 miles) I could cut the times I was lapped down by cutting down my time on the track. 


Day Of:

So Saturday morning I set out to my first mountain bike race on my 31lbs beast of a mountain bike, which I've only owned for three months, with an extra 10ish lbs of camera equipment and other cycling supplies I take along for longer rides.   After making my way down the canyon (seeing more cyclists on this route in the 9 min decent than I've seen all year on my early morning rides) and on to the climb up the other side I was passed by quite of few vehicles with bikes - mountain bikes. Even though I'm fairly antisocial there's something about seeing other cyclists that makes me feel good.  In my short time since getting "into" cycling (2 years) I have come to the conclusion that the majority of cyclists are "good people."  Maybe it's just that we share a common love for spinning our legs in little circles for hours at a time or maybe it's the de-stress effect you get from being outside and exercising that makes me feel like I'm amongst good people.   Either way, in going to cycling events I can be pretty sure that there will be plenty of nice people on location.  I was not disappointed upon arrival.  There were probably already 20 plus riders either getting to know the course or getting to know each other.   I grabbed a number signed in and introduced myself to Greg.  Then did a few laps around the course which for me was daunting.  I don't think I'd ever ridden a berm and there were berms a plenty.  All of the downhill I was hanging on and steering for dear life but was quite happy when there was an uphill section.  My first time across the bridge or should I say on the bridge I realized I didn't get a straight entry onto it and had to bunny hop off.  Luckily it's only about 2 ft. off the ground so upon landing I didn't crash or have to dismount.  After doing some laps I hung out for a bit, a few words were said before the race, everyone lined up, and the race was on.  My time in the race pretty much went like it did in getting to know the course (crazy going down, happy going up) only progressively better.  I did my best to get out of the way for the fast guys and just ride and have fun.  I discovered that I am a decent climber because it was fairly easy for me to keep up or pass people on the uphill sections though I hesitated to pass a few time knowing that the downhill was right after and I wasn't out to have others sitting behind me.  It was definitely a huge learning experience.   After riding for a little over a half hour I climbed off my bike grabbed my camera and started to shoot.  With something like 40 riders(I think every local bike club was represented) on a 0.7 mile course there was always someone to take pictures of.  I had fun and took LOTs of pictures.  When the race was over I said my thanks for putting on this great event, packed my camera bag back up and headed home to my kiddos (taking the long scenic route).  After I left there was a kids and others(those just wanting to ride around) race and a BBQ!  The winner of our race was none other than Greg Golet himself (I don't think anyone can truly claim he had home court advantage because he'd probably beat them anywhere).  Something I thought was really impressive were the medals made and given out for the winners.

Besides these awe inspiring medals for the A/B and kids top finishers the Women 1,2 and 3 got gift cards AND there were other prizes for standing out in some way i.e. awesome facial hair, vintage style etc. 

And now for some of the pictures I took.  I took something like 200+ pictures and these ones made the cut to be edited because I liked them.  I hope you like them too. Some of them are uhm... more artistic. 

Pre-race chatter going on while the bikes sunbathe.

This was actually a cool segment of shots.  79 (riding a fixed gear) was being passed when this guy jumped over and gave him a good push launching him forward and avoiding the pass. (the picture was a lot more green but I took care of that so the people would be the focus)

Three riders screaming downhill.

No school like the old school! '85 Specialized Stumpjumper - The chain broke right before the race, luckily mountain bikers come prepared and a spare was on hand. 

The Man (or Beast) of the Hour 

Just liked this one.

Mountain biking in the canyon on a beautiful day.

Fun in the sun - Mountain man.

Shredding
SHRED: Negotiating trails with sufficient speed and elan to evoke awe in fellow riders or onlookers. Doing it with a higher-than-usual level of expertise.

Can you see all 7 riders? This shot didn't take much editing at all so you get an idea of how nice it was.

asdf

Draped in original GEDC Eagle apparel and handling the new tree feature for this 2nd GEDC event.

Have Fun and Ride On

Honor to Paris-Roubaix : A couple ways you can honor The Hell of the North too

Yesterday I paid my respects to The Hell of the North in my own way.  For those who don't know, the Hell of the North is a more formally known as Paris-Roubaix and is a cycling road race known for it's many sections of cobbled and muddy roads.  It's taking place today. In fact it might be over by the time you read this but as I said I paid my respects to the race yesterday and you can too. All you need is a handful of this :

yes it's gravel

and one of these 

a driveway

or just the street.

This is how it's done.  Get all dressed up in your cycling clothes. Toss the gravel on the driveway (not to all-over since you're probably going to have to sweep it up).  Climb on your road bike. Ride through the gravel. Hop off the bike and go inside to enjoy the rest of the day!  

The next way takes a little more effort or premeditation.  If you've seen a cobbled driveway or sidewalk near your home then just spin over to it and quickly ride across it so that no one notices that you're trespassing.

 Respects paid to the race and you can go home or enjoy a normal ride.  If you're lucky you might even have a cobbled road (I know there are some in Pittsburgh) or public with cobbled sections.  I don't recommend this second method or trespassing.

Ok so I didn't do either of these but I thought about them as I road.  I did ride through a short section (a mile) of gravel on my ride yesterday.  This is probably the best route to take if you have the time and sturdy tires and wheels.  If you are going to do this just remember to stay seated if you have to do go uphill at all in gravel.  If you stand your rear wheel is very likely to just spin and kick up rocks.  This is bad.  Leave your weight on the seat and suffer.  Better yet don't go uphill at all if you're not into torture.  

On the subject of torture or self torture I have come to the conclusion that cyclists (or any athletes for that matter) are at least a little masochistic.  I actually never thought about this doing any other sport except cycling so I relate this more to cycling than anything else.  Completing a hundred mile ride earlier this year for the first time which included a five mile strip of hilly gravel secured this conclusion in my mind.  When all was done I told my wife I had fun.  And I'm still going back for more.  

I'm going back to bed.  Ride. Watch the Pros suffer today if you can while you rest or at least be amazed by their suffering after the race and all of the pictures of the muddy dirty riders come out.  www.cyclingnews.com is a good place to check out news and pics for cycling.

Chico Stage Race: An Overview

  I've raced before but nothing official until this past weekend.  I raced in the Chico Stage Race.  I'll get to my experience in the 3 stages that I did in another post and maybe a little in this one but first I would like to go over all of the stages in a kind of spectator and/or racer point of view.  For the P 1/2 and 35+ 1/2/3 categories there were four stages and for everyone else there were three (stage one was not included).  I'll brake it down stage by stage.  You can get lots of info on the race at the race's website http://www.chicostagerace.com/

Stage One : Thunderhill Twilight Circuit Race

This was pretty awesome.  I wasn't in the race but I'm sure for the racer's this was a great experience.  Races on motorways seem to be only for the elite so to have this included in the Chico Stage Race may have boosted its chances for growth in future and it may turn the event into a classic in the U.S.   The field was 110 strong for the P 1/2 race!  The crowd didn't seem to be big but that can be thanks to the event being held about 40 minutes outside of Chico in Willows, CA (it took my family about an hour to get there).   There were probably a lot more people there than it appeared becuase of the courses size and the amount of places which the track could be viewed.  Several small bleachers could be found around the track but most people had brought lawn or camping chairs they could take around with them and sit pretty much anywhere along the track.  The race could also be viewed from a skybox which I happened to like besides not being able to take decent pictures through the tinted glass.  Almost the entire track was visible from the skybox.

  With sprint points being given out throughout the race it made for alot of action.  Several riders attempted breakaways but I think the courses nature pretty much drowned out any of those attempts.  It came down to a sprint finish  which was really close, because I couldn't tell who won from where I was standing and I don't think the riders knew either because no one raised their hands in victory.  Good fun, and a great experience.  Part of the reason I wanted to go, besides getting to watch the race, was just being somewhere I'd never been and it was a beautiful place.  The track is set in foothills and right now they are all green. 

  The best part was getting in the car.  Why? Because my three year old son thanked me for taking him to "the bicycle race" or more specifically "Papa...spacibo za to chto ti prines menja na velisopednaja gonka."  I'll tell you what. That made quite a happy person.  He thanked me several times actually.  He watched some of the race but luckily at the track there is a small playground area which made it easier for my wife to watch the kids (she is an amazing woman who let me have fun this past weekend at the races).  Besides having the playground there was lots of room for kids to run willy nilly and not get into any trouble.   Here's a couple videos from youtube of the race and the winner.

Stage Two - Paskenta Hills Road Race

  This is also a course that I think is worthy of making the Chico Stage Race a classic.  Mostly for it's 4 mile strip of gravel which rips apart races.  The higher category races hit the gravel twice since they do two laps which makes this race a 90 miler.   This had even fewer spectators since it's a bit further than circuit race was probably 50 minutes or so from Chico (it took me about an hour and 20 minutes).  This race is also set in foothills so it's pretty though while racing I didn't really look around too much, but I've ridden the course before when I did look around and there are streams and green hills with the cascades as a backdrop (still with some snow caps).  Last time I road here (not in the race and alone) I did a little talking to the livestock out there.  Call me crazy but it's fun to make the animals look your way and image them thinking, "Wh wh What? oh it's a crazy cyclist." There were sheep and goats and horses and cows so I got to make many farm animal sounds! You may think of stink when I mention all of the animals but none of them were close to each other.  Lots of open pasture for the animals to roam with a road running through it for cyclists to ride and race.  

   Back to the race.   Once there there was plenty of parking and space to warm up on your trainer or even ride around a bit.  The local elementary school was putting on a fundraiser with a spaghetti feed for any tired and drained riders.  The race course is pretty simple.  About twenty miles of flatness and then a bit more than twenty miles of mostly rollers where there is more up than down and don't forget the four miles of gravel (which is also rollers) towards the end of the lap.  The finish is pretty flat with a slight up hill at the very end which could make for a decent sprint finish but I didn't see one so I couldn't tell you how interesting it is and I don't think there were any mass finishes anyway. 

  I didn't bring the family out to this one because there's not much out there for little kids.  It's a very small town and the few times I've been out there I didn't see any playgrounds or anything so not much to do unless you are old enough to enjoy just being outside and waiting, longing, yearning to see, after almost two hours, a cyclist or if your lucky a whole group! Not good for watching, but definately fun and challenging to ride.  Here's a couple of videos one is really long (about and hour) but most of the rollers and all of the gravel on the course and the other is the P 1/2 winner.

 

Stage Three : River Road Time Trial

There's not too much to explain for the time trial other than it's just about as flat as you can ask for and has two easy right hand turns.  When I say easy I mean there's no need to get out of your tuck for the turns.  The pavement is decent.  It's not ideal but the road is definitely not bad.  I saw a few bikes that had flatted during my tt.  Riders were let off in 30 second increments throughout the day.  If you wanted to see screaming fast bikes with huge price tags then this was the place to hang out.  It was only a bit over a mile away from the downtown criterium so most everyone road there bike to the start and back to the criterium from the finish since most of the parking is downtown.   Here's a video of what I'm pretty sure is the P 1/2 riders.




Stage Four : Chico Downtown Criterium

 This one is for everybody.  In that there are a lot of people to come out and watch.  One of the main events is the kid's races!  I didn't get to watch all of them since my race had just finished but I know they had several different races for different age groups and I know that it was really cute.  I could see the younger kids all lined up across the road from a distance and it was quite the site.  The crit could be viewed from anywhere on the course since it's located in downtown Chico which also means that there are quite a few places you can choose from to eat.  From a viewers perspective there is one thing you need to be aware of.  My brother and I were talking before my race when he says," what's that smell?"  He was right it smelled bad.  We had stopped in front of a pair of benches.  He answered his own question,"Oh, yeah this is where the bums hang out."  It is true.  The park area in the center of the downtown criterium course is where the homeless/vagrants, whatever you want to call them spend a lot of time whether it be just sitting, or sleeping but worst of all using the bushes as their personal toilets.  Just a note to be aware of.  Better to stay around the perimeter of the course or close to the sidewalk on the inner part of the course.  
  With all of the primes being handed out, keeping the racing lively, and the larger crowds the crits were the most exciting part of the stage race.  One of the best moments was probably seeing Garrett Marking, a local rider who's only 15, win the Cat 3 crit.  It was simply great racing by him and his team (Limitless Cycling).  Garrett got into a 3 man break early and held it well over half of the race when they were swallowed up.  Another Limitless Cycling member counter attacked keeping the pace high.  I think the most impressive part came with three to go.  I believe a Team Audi rider was in a solo break and on this third to last lap the peloton caught and Garrett broke away.  He was able to hold on to the finish where he raised his hands up in victory and gave a few punches to the sky and of course the crowd loved it.  After the race I overheard several riders who were in the cat. 3 race talking about how they were pushing the pace but could not keep up with him (Garrett) and were stunned to find out he was only 15. Here's a link to Garrett crossing the line http://instagram.com/p/l5r-8SNQoG/ .  
   The course itself is a good one which I would consider fairly difficult though my only experience doing crits prior to this one were on fairly rectangular courses.  It is an L shaped course  with 6 90degree turns.  The finish line was pretty close to the last corner so pretty much anyone who came into that final turn holding pretty good speed took the win.  I think the pro 1/2 winner talks about it a little after his win.  Here is a video of that (P 1/2 winner) and of cat 4 45+ race.  It's the whole race but you can see the course.




The conclusion here is that this race is getting bigger and better.  It has all of the elements to attract bigger teams and better riders.  The courses are great and a couple of them are ideal for spectators.  I'm already looking forward to doing this one again next year.  And... the overall winners (P 1/2) were... I don't know.  You'll have to look it up.  Cruel maybe to those who really want to know but they were all from the same team - Optum Pro Cycling (who also won the team competition). Pretty sure two of the top three are Routley and Friedman from the videos above.

Keep Spinning!

Cyclists believe in ghosts?

I've made it a goal to get up in the morning and ride at 4am.  Yes that's right 4am.  Why so early in the morning?  Because it's the only time I have to get in a two hour ride.  My kids wake up at around six and I being the morning person in our family take care of the kidlets in the early hours.  My wife gets to take a little longer to wake up and that is a very good thing.  A happy wife makes a happy family!  I've been getting up early to ride for the past three weeks.  It has become more of a daily occurrence since I quite my job! I've started back up at school and we'd crunched numbers for a while to make sure I could and well I am a happy stay at home dad/student now.  My wife works out of our home so we get to see each other a lot more now!  

So I've been waking up at 4 am to ride.  It's very dark at 4 am.  Not just that the sun isn't out, but where I live the street lights are not on, or rather they are non-existent.  I have several routes that I like to ride so there's always something different to do in my two hours in the morning.   But it seems I've been putting off one of the routes that I really like since I started riding in the wee hours of the morning.  It is 25 miles or so and has about 2500 ft of climbing.  It's down one side of a canyon up the other side and back.  As I set out on the ride this morning a thought crossed my mind as to why I've been putting this route off.  Many reasons ran through my head but one that stuck out was that on the opposite side of the canyon up towards the top of the climb is a cemetery.  Now I'm not superstitious but I can't say I don't believe in ghosts in fact I might say otherwise if forced to give my opinion but riding in or near cemeteries in the pitch dark of the very early morning on a little single lane road, up in the tree covered mountains is not my idea of the ideal ride. 

Before I get to riding near the cemetery I must tell about riding in the dark a little.  Riding in the dark is scary.  I have a pretty good light but i still don't see what's on my right and left let alone looking behind to see well nothing.  Being unaware is scary.  Sounds are more scary while riding in the dark.  Mostly because you don't know where they are coming from or who is making those twig cracking or bush rustling noises.  "Please let it be a squirrel and not a pit bull" or "I hope I'm going fast enough that the skunk can't spray this far! If it's a skunk." There are two scary colors while riding in the dark.  The first is rarely scary because it's so common.  Red.  You see red light on cars and such or stop lights or stop signs but every now and again there are strange little red lights coming from who knows what that are creepy becuase you can't tell what they are attached to.  They remind me of the red beaming bird's eyes perched on a tree or bush in a dark forest that you might see in movies.

 

The other color which is creepy is white.   What color are ghosts or spirits or whatever you want to call them? White.  At least that's what they are usually perceived to be.  Almost everything that's white in the dark is visible to some extent and of course it's not clear enough to tell exactly what it is so it comes across as a hazy fuzzy white color.  Yes I saw a few white things on my ride and yes they were all creepy.  Nothing like a nice big irregular ovalish shaped hazy white spot which is apparently elevated off of the ground to get the heart rate up.   Yes I was a few of these hazy white spots.  They were all a little different size and shape.  A family of... or a few generations of white floating spots along the road.  Luckily I was going down hill.  Did I see what they were for sure?  Yes.  They were rocks.  Big rocks protruding from the canyon wall which were painted white so no one would run into them.  What they didn't think about is that they might just scare someone enough to turn the other way and go plunging off the cliff.  The other thing that I saw that was white was a fence.  Now not all fences are scary but this one was.  I was riding along thinking to myself that there is a cemetery somewhere up this road and maybe I won't even notice that I've gone by it because it's so dark.  WRONG! "oh yeah there's a little white picket fence that borders the cemetery."  The white fence is there just so that you know it's there in the midnight hours.  Whoever built it was thinking I'm going to put the heeby jeebies into any cyclist who is going to ride by in the wee hours of the morn'.  Their wish came true with me.  Riding by the little cemetery wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for all of the rustling sounds and creaking trees(I assume creaking sounds are trees) and of course I'm moving slow uphill so there's no getting away from what lurks behind the white picket fence.  I made it though.  I made it home too.  No zombie apocalypes while on my ride this morning. Phew. 

There's something else that's white and quite scary in the dark too.  It's little white cars like priuses or geos or fiats.  In the distance they look like ghosts screaming towards you.  They kind of have that humming whistling sound too as they buzz down the road which adds to their scary factor.  Just kidding. All you see are headlights. 

Anyway riding bikes is fun.  Keep spinning. 

What Did You See While Cycling Today?! I Saw...

Three of these

Two of these

One of these

One of these

and one of these

Yes that is a truck very close to going over the side of a cliff.  There were also multiple other usual sites like squirrels and cars and other cyclists but for my three year old son this would have been the ultimate cycling trip (maybe if there was a construction site along the way too).

I saw the a Highway Patrol car (now SUV-referred to as CHP below) coming up the road as I was going down which was only slightly strange becuase the road is little traveled but thought nothing of it.  I gave the officer a nod and carried on.  A bit down the way there was a car stopped with another CHP in front of it.  People were standing around and then the next obvious site was a Fire Engine (kind of hard to miss).  And to the side of the road, the side of the road that has no side i.e. it is a cliff and trees, was a white truck half in the trees half on the road.  A fire fighter was pulling out chainsaws and I figured they were going to have to do a little work to make it possible for the tow truck to do his duty.  And on the other side of the fire truck and tow truck was another CHP.  It didn't look like anyone was hurt, probably just a little shaken up.  I didn't stick around and watch, just shimmied on by.  They must have dealt with the truck pretty quick because it was taken care of before I was headed back that way in about 30min.  The point here is to get out and ride! It's exciting and fun as long as the excitement does not invovle oneself too much!

Sure in my Cycling Novicehood

  Yesterday my brother and I went for a ride and on this ride I was reassured that I am a beginner cyclist.  Luckily I'm able to laugh off these uncomfortable and pride crippling situations.  We had made it 20 miles or so through our ride when my brother noticed he had a flat tire.  I was behind him so I noticed he was slowing down.   I slowed down as well and as he got off his bike he said, "I've got a flat... and you're.... falling of your bike."  Yes it was true, I was falling off my bike.  What happened?  Well I almost always, no, always unclip my left foot and get off my bike to the left.  Here there was not and option for that since it meant going into the road and I'd pulled to the right of my brother.  I unclipped my right foot and took mental note that I had to get off my bike on the ride side but I think my body naturally leans left now and well I leaned left and timber.  Down I went.  My bro. broke my fall for the most part.  No blood or even torn skin on the road, just some pieces of my pride were left behind.  This hasn't happened to me in a very long time but it should definately keep me aware of how much of a begginer I really am.   Besides falling off my bike I was able to give my brother all that he needed to fix his flat since he wasn't with a saddle bag and I was.   We went on our way and as we went I got a few chuckles out of the way he said I was falling off my bike.   The moral of this story is to be prepared to stop getting off either side of your bike.  Here's a short video of some pro cyclist falls.  Most of which I'd never seen.  Even the pros fall just not like me.  But we do have the same attitude in common.  We get back up and spin on. 

The Best Ride is with the One You Love!

I did two rides today one was a joy ride and the other was a semi-joy ride.  The better of the two was the straight joy ride.  Why was it so nice?  Because my wife went with me!  It actually came as a bit of a shock.  She's a bit scared to ride her bike but today when I woke up she said she wanted to go with me!  So i picked out an easy route and encouraged her along the way.  She does great, it's just not habitual for her yet to get in and out of the clipless pedals.  We went down the bike path then did a few laps around a block and were able to chat a little and then we headed back towards our home.  We spotted Gaba (my wife's mom who's visiting from Russia - Gaba is actually a name my oldest son came up with. It's a mix of Galya which is her name and babooshka which is the Russian word for Grandma - hence Gaba) walking with our kids, so we rode on up to them.  I must admit I was all smiles the whole way.  I love riding, and the weather was great, but riding with my wife on a beautiful day just brings a new level of happiness to riding!  I figure it will be the same way to ride with my kids too.   6.7 miles of joy.  Luckily I get to be around my wife alot.  I'm pretty lucky. I love my wife!

Bike Ride: Depressing or Motivating

This morning I came home from work and asked my wife if I could go for a ride.  She rolled over in bed and said to keep it short.  So I decided I'd do part of a ride that I hadn't done for a few months.  The ride is only about 7 miles total 3.5 miles down and 3.5 miles back up about 1,500 ft.  I think it's a cat. three climb having a 6% grade avg. so it's a pretty good ride and I've used it alot for training since it's close to home.  I new it was cold so I dressed the part taking note of my advice to self from my previous post. The ride down I take pretty slow because there are switchbacks and you cannot tell if cars are coming or not.  I also take the trip back up pretty slow but there's not much I can do about going any faster, it's just steep.  Today the ride seemed especially difficult.  I think part of why it seemed difficult is because the road was a bit different in that the road has changed.  It is rather dirty and new graffiti has been added to the road so calculating where I was was more difficult.  The road seemed more steep that I remember and longer!  More steep because I had to get out of my seat more often to keep from stopping and tipping over.  Longer becuase it was longer that is it took me longer to complete than the last time I did it by about four or five minutes.  So as I was riding I had a flow of emotions.  It started with being depressed becuase I figured the reason that the ride seemed so difficult and long was because I was in worse shape that I was previously but rather than dwell on that fact which might have kept me from riding for a while after my attitude changed to well I better do this more often and get back into good form.  I think this attitude is so essential in most of our activities and I'm glad this time it came to me.  There is always more to do and a way to get better.  For cycling the way is to spin those wheels.   

It looks like a bike path but it's a single lane road.



Thanksgiving or A Giving Thanks Ride

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving.  I had to work the night before and night of and was getting little sleep but... as I was driving home Thanksgiving day I realized there was just about nobody on the road.  This made me excited.  I should ride.  And ride I did.  I got approval from my wife and took off on a Giving Thanks Ride.  As I rode I thought about some of the things I was thankful for.  Besides being thankful for my loving and beautiful family at this time as I rode I was especially thankful for a functioning and healthy body.  Being healthy allows me to play and have fun with my family, have a physically active job, and well... ride a bike.  Though riding a bike may seem like small think many people are not able to participate in the joy of cycling.   On this Thanksgiving I was especially thankful for my ability to engoy a ride on my bike.   I told myself I would take it easy and just go for a spin but I could not help myself and pushed up some of the climbs and sped around some decending corners.  I was home in an hour.   Even though I was running on empty I felt great.  We went to the store as a family and bought what we needed for our Thanksgiving dinner and headed home.  We decided to have an Italian Thanksgiving, so no turkey and potatoes this year.  Besides my bro and his family headed to Bakersfield to spend Thanksgiving.  So anyway I wanted to share one dish from our thanksgiving which is actually a fairly regular dish that we love.  It is super easy, super fast, and the first word that comes to mind about its taste is fresh.  It tastes great.  It is caprese salad.  You need tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  Slice up the tomates and mozzarella, slice up the basil (or just use whole leaves).  Add olive oil across the top.  Give it the salt and pepper.  And I guess it's optional but for us it makes the dish perfect is to add balsamic vinegar.  You must be careful with the balsamic vinegar because it's strong.  I usually pour it onto a spoon first and then lightly drizzle it onto the dish making sure each piece of tomatoe and mozzarella get a nice line of the vinegar.

We usually add quite a bit more basil than pictured here, but this is a good representation.  When picking out mozzorella make sure you get something nice and moist,NOT pre-cut, and NOT spiced in any way.  You can also make this dish with cherry tomatoes and little mozzarella balls (that have some specific name in Italian).  Using the the cherry tomates etc. cuts down the preparation time practically down to nil, but I personally prefer having sliced tomates and mozzarella.  Italian food equals happiness.  Well, good food equals happiness no matter who claims the dish.  And... here's a bike idea by Konstantin Datz in Germany

It's actually supposed to be a folding bike.  Whether or not this is technically engeneerically sound I do not know, but I liked the idea.  Here's a link for a few more pics.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/azor-bicycle-prototype/764198 .

NO.. it's not over I must add that I think I have one more reason to love holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.  No one is out on the rode in the morning.  No One. ok. that's all.

Bakersfield Ride

So I went for two rides in the three days that I was in Bakersfield.  They were both quite refreshing since I didn't push the pace at all.  Just explored some unmapped territory (to me anyway).  Though I grew up and lived in Bakersfield most of my life, I only rode on the Kern River Parkway Bike Trail once and that was when I was well... riding a single speed 16 inch wheeled bike with training wheels pedaling a mile a minute to keep up with my Dad and older brother.   The bike path since then I believe has grown quite a bit along with the city.   I believe it boasts something like 30 miles of traffic free riding!!  But the bike path was saved for the second ride and this is about the first ride I took.  I kept this ride relatively close to home which is ok because the only hilly part of Bakersfield is around where my parents live.  The only nice part is that the AMGEN Tour of California has come through Bakersfield several times, most recently in 2012 where they held a Time Trial.  It's cool that the race was held in Bakersfield, but what is even better is knowing that I was able to ride the same roads as professional cyclists like Tejay van Garderen.  I didn't do the same course that they did, only part of it with the the biggest decent and acent.
 
Here's a video of the route they took.   Even though I didn't do the whole route that they did I would like to the next time I'm in Bakersfield.  I like taking existing routes and using them (as well as making up my own routes).  Before my brother and I started riding last year we did a little research to see where the local races took and take place so we could get a taste for what we were getting in to.  I would recommend this to everyone.  Strava is a good place to do this, but it's also a good idea to look up races that have taken place in your area.  I'm sure if you just search in google "cycling race in..(your area)" you'll come up with something.  There is always a chance you don't come up with something but then you get to do some exploring, check out a map and go on an adventure.   On this morning when I did this short 15 mile ride I found a new (to me) trail that I didn't know was there.  When I was done I told my Dad about it and he in turn told me about part of the Kern River Parkway Bike Trail that I was unaware of.  So the key here is research, get out, ride and have fun! 

Bakersfield Bluffs - Walking Trail on Panorama

I was finishing up my 40 mile ride on the Kern River Parkway Trail, which goes along the bottom of the Bluffs which also has a trail, when I noticed a few women walking on the Bluffs.  I'm not sure if you can't ride your bike on the trail and it's just a walking/running trail or it's just that no one does becuase the trail is pretty short.  It's a nice little path with a view of uhm... well oilfields.  Not the best view, unless you're in the oil business, then it's a pretty site. 

Here is a nice shot that give you an idea of what the path looks like but more importantly take note of the drop.  Falling would lead to a nasty incident.  It must be atleast a 300 ft. drop.  So back to the women.  Here they are

plugging away, but... they are not on the path, they are walking up to the path along a ridge.  I don't think that I would have paid much attention to people walking/hiking up to path except that these women seemed to be fairly weathly in years and were teeter-tottering up the trail.  So as I rode and watched one lady slipped! Slipping on the Bluffs is a bad idea.  These women ended up making it to the top, but after a quick search I found this article and video from the local news.  Check out this link - http://www.turnto23.com/news/your-neighborhood/east-county/second-hiker-falls-off-bluffs-in-2-weeks  To sum things us let's just say... uhm be careful and don't slip if you don't want to break a leg or worse while walking on the ridge of a clif.  I think that's nice enough. 

Night Rider!

I woke up at 12:30am and was feeling pretty good.  I bought new front and rear lights for my bike and I've been dying to try them out. Except I've been sleeping through the night which is unusual for me but fully accepted. Sleep is good (but that is for another post)  I've also been wanting to make a segment on strava for a lap around town that I want to do more often since they just added a nice bike lane for part of my to be lap.  With this in mind I jumped on my bike and lit up the night with my new SecurityIng® 4 Modes Waterproof 2800 Lumens Cree XM-L U2 LED Bicycle Light (& 6400mAh Battery Pack & Charger, Cree LED Bike Lamp Light Super Bright Lighting Lamp for Outdoor Sports Like Camping, Hiking, etc..) which might just be getting a smashing review after some more use.  The rear light seems to be nice too but it's not something I can really see in action while riding, though it did offer a little light to my feet while clipping in.  Hopefully I'll get up a review of both the front light and the rear light (a Portland Design Works Danger Zone Tail Light).  Happily I used my new lights and could see great in the pitch black streetlightless roads around town, but riding at night is scary, at least it was this my first time.  Scared of the dark? No.  But there were the



Deer may be skittish but atleast you don't need to fear an attack!

 

deer.  I came across four of them on my 2.5 mile ride.  The first one scared me the most because it was on the side of the road and I didn't see it and it didn't see me until the last second at which point it jumped. Luckily for me in the right direction.  The others I saw from a distance and whistled and they went on there way no problem.  A dear could end my ride quite easily so I happy to dodge this first obtacle.  So along I ride and see more "wildlife." Infact the most wild of animals. 

The night cyclists least worrisome foe:the cat

The CAT!  Ok, so I saw a few cats and they were the least of my worries while riding since they were all a far away and steered clear of me.  But the next foe was probably the most worrisome opponents I came accross.  A dark (I think marbled) pitbull.  I'm not a big fan of pitbulls, and animals with little fear that like to chase bikes or cars (how dumb is that anyway - that's like a person chasing an airplane) such as dogs can pose a threat to the cyclist - in this case me.  I've been barked at on several occasions and chased by dogs that were behind fenses but this pitbull was strolling down the single lane street coming in my direction. 

 

Rare shot of a pitbull at night.  You won't find me taking one.



The dog saw me and I saw the dog but I am not a local news headline (thank goodness).  Neither of us gave up ground and went on our ways.  I quickened my pace after we passed and listened to make sure I didn't have the enemy attacking.  No offense to the dog, but I never want to see you again.  -- I would like to note that it took quite a while to find a picture of a pitbull at night.  I guess no one goes out seeking a pitbull at night for a photoshoot or says," Hey check it out it's a pitbull let's take a pic."

The last nightcreeper I saw was a

the nights final opponent:the raccoon

raccoon.  It was pretty big. It was probably medium dog sized and as many know raccoons can be quite scary.  The raccoon and I snuck up on each other so I'm sure the raccoons heart skipped a beat too as I rode away and it ran. Again in opposite directions!  I was back in bed by 1:00am. 

 After this short 15 min. or so night ride will I be riding at night again? Yes, but I think I got a heads up that there are definately others up at midnight for cyclists to worry about.  Less cars, more animals!  I think I'll take my chances with the animals.  I think a collision with a deуr would end better than a collision with a car.  I saw this pic which with a few animal modifications pretty well sums up my first night ride.

For me it would have been a deer, dog, racoon, cat combo.  I think there's a rooster on top in the photo.