Monterey in Mostly Monochrome

We took another quick trip to Monterey utilizing Veterans Day to make a three-day weekend.

On Saturday morning we rode north on the trail. It was a little cool but sunny. We totaled almost 16 miles and it was a great day.

The next morning we took a walk and had breakfast. Afterwards I went on a late morning solo ride.

In the afternoon we went on another walk and took some photos.

A bystander offered to take a rare picture of all three of us.

We walked around the marina and looked for animals along the shore.

We finished up with the car show near the wharf.

On Monday morning we went on our last ride, cramming in almost 19 miles before checkout. Now we head back to work and school. Hooray.

Another great trip in the books and a nice break that should nourish us until the Thanksgiving break.

Later.

Fat Jenny

It's been a long time since I have posted. In life, it's easy to create a habit, either good or bad. I decided to let a few days go by without posting, and the next thing I knew almost three months had passed. Time to break the habit.

Way back in the summer I bought new, wider wheels for my Pugsley. Then I needed new cranks to accommodate the wider rims and tires. That started an incompatibility chain reaction, which eventually caused a complete upgrade to a 10-speed drivetrain. With all the old parts then sitting in a pile, I realized I only needed a frameset to build another fat bike. I bought an extra small Pugsley frame and built it up, so now Jenn has a fatty.

This morning we went out to Folsom Lake for her first fat bike ride. The water level is pretty dismal, but it made for some interesting terrain. Here Jenn rides on the surface of Mars.

This egret had little trouble fishing in this landlocked puddle. Like shooting fish in a barrel . . .

We rode along the lake shore for a while. The dirt, mud, sand and rocks were no problem.

It has been difficult to get Jennifer to ride in the dirt over the years, but she didn't hesitate on her Pugsley. The fat tires are confidence inspiring from the first pedal stroke.

When we made it to Granite Bay, we looped back to Beal's point on the trails.

It was a fun ride and I think Jenn really enjoyed the fat bike experience.

Later.

Cool Video

I love this video. It combines my interests in photography, video editing and bikes.

My son recently attended an Apple Camp where the kids made their own videos. A few of them used stop motion techniques, and I was intrigued and impressed by their creativity. This video shows how far you can take stop motion. Enjoy.

Smoke on the Water

We spent this past weekend in Tahoe, and it was nice as always. Summer is drawing to a close, the kids are back in school, and fall baseball will be starting soon. We will have few opportunities to get up there once the sports start back up.

On Saturday I got out early for a ride. My intention was to do a nice off-road loop, but once I started moving I knew I didn't have great legs, which killed my enthusiasm and motivation. I opted to just stay on the road and climb to the summit. I didn't exactly set the road on fire with my speed, but I made it. On the way back down all I could think about was how horrible my fitness is right now.

After a shower and lunch we headed to Truckee to hang out for a while. We walked down main drag and did some window shopping before ending up at the Mellow Fellow Pub. They had a nice selection of 40 beers on tap and a foosball table, so we simply had to stop for a while. (You know, so the boy could play.) A few beers and foosball games later, we stepped outside to find the town shrouded in smoke. The wind had shifted, bringing with it the smoke from the American Fire in Forest Hill. Visibility was maybe half a mile.

We did a little more shopping and browsing in the stores. I popped into a chocolate shop and bought a number of ridiculously expensive truffles, turtles and caramels. Nobody else was very interested in them, and they were melting in the bag, so I had to eat them all. I simply had no choice. Really.

We made our way back to Tahoe and found that the smoke had made its way there also, although it wasn't as bad as Truckee.

By the next morning the smoke still hung in the air, and I didn't want to ride in it. I figured I would just ride later back home where the air would be "cleaner." Instead I went on a brisk two hour walk around Incline with Jenn and the boy.

When we arrived back home in the late afternoon the temperature was 97 degrees. The air didn't seem great, but looked much better than Tahoe. I dressed and went out for a ride, deciding to do my short loop due to time constraints. The loop is about 14.5 miles with 1000 feet of climbing. I usually do it in about an hour and four minutes on my 29er. A number of times I have tried to crack an hour, but without success.

Unlike the day before, I had great legs. I blasted up the first few climbs in the big chainring and felt good. Just for fun, I put myself into racer mode and gunned for my personal best time.

With two miles left I was at 49 minutes. It usually takes about 12 minutes to do the last climb, so knew I had a shot at the elusive hour mark. I turned myself inside out but came up nine seconds short in the end. If you look at the moving time of 59:59, you might consider that a win, but I don't. For me, stop signs, traffic lights, waiting for cars and any other slowdowns count towards the time. Otherwise, I could stop for 30 seconds somewhere, rest, and resume riding at a faster clip and make better time.

I didn't feel great in the hours following the ride. I had a headache and my lungs burned. Movement was minimal for the rest of the evening.

Today I woke up feeling like I had a bad hangover without enjoying one drop of beer. Just for grins, I checked the Spare The Air web site and yesterday was a spare-the-air day, the first of the year.

It never occurred to me that the ozone would be so high. Our air has been so much better the last few years, I don't even check anymore.

At any rate, I spent all day feeling horrible. This "smog sickness" has happened in the past, and I know better. Bad air is not something to mess around with, so I need to do a better job of checking the air quality.

Later.

Fat Sunday

Just like Fat Tuesday but with a little less booze and nudity.

Roger and I took the fat bikes out to Folsom Lake yesterday for a little ride. We started at Beal's Point and rode out to Donton's Point. You can see the route here.

We encountered sand, dirt, rocks, gravel, mud and granite slabs. None were any match for our fat tires and mad riding skills.

On the way back we took a few minutes to do some rock crawling and take a few pictures. Here Roger descends on The Beast with only a coaster brake at his disposal. It's a fine line between life and death out here.

A note regarding Roger's bike—It's from Walmart. It's called The Beast. It cost a cool 200 bucks.

When he first told me about it the bike snob in me thought, seriously? But after it showed up and I rode it, I didn't think it was too bad at all, even with the ridiculously high gearing. With a few key upgrades, and a gearing change, Roger has transformed it into a pretty cool and functional ride. It just goes to show that we sometimes place too much emphasis on the latest high-dollar gear.

(Dear Santa: I'm just saying that. I still really, really want a carbon Beargrease. That's B-E-A-R-G-R-E-A-S-E not B-E-A-S-T. Thanks.)

Later.

Presents!

Brown Santa came today. Let's see what he brought.

Oh, yeah. A new front wheel featuring a Holy Rolling Darryl rim, a pair of Knard tires (birthday present—thanks, Jen!), rim strips and a tube. Let's build 'er up.

Very nice.

This is the first step of a new project that I will talk about in a future post. That's it for now.

Later.

Separation Anxiety

After separating my shoulder in May, I kept my rides fairly short and stayed off the dirt for about six weeks. I was very concerned about having any setbacks that might prolong my recovery.

Recently I have been adding mileage and sprinkling in a little dirt here and there. Yesterday I finally felt like I was healed up enough to get back at it. I loaded up on food and water, and I headed out for a big loop I had never tried before.

First off was the trail near my house that parallels Highway 50 heading east. It isn't terribly exciting, but it gets technical and rocky in spots, and it keeps me off the road.

After crossing over Highway 50 and a short ride on Mother Lode Drive, I turned onto the El Dorado Trail, which heads south along the railroad tracks.

The trail varies from smooth singletrack, to steep and rocky ATV trail, to narrow goat path. In the beginning there are properties along both sides of the track. As you ride deeper into the boonies, there are times when you really feel isolated.

Towards the end the trail bends west towards South Shingle Road.

After nine miles of trail I hit South Shingle and headed south to the town of Latrobe. I crossed Latrobe Road and continued on South Shingle. After about a mile, the road turns to gravel.

The dirt and gravel continues for around seven miles. Sometimes the scenery looked like the gravel grinder racing pictures I have seen from the Midwest.

I left the dirt and took Scott Road north. As you can see from the elevation profile, this was the low point of the ride. From there I had a long, hot, uphill ride home. Although the Garmin output says it was only 82 degrees, it was way hotter than that. Perhaps that figure comes from the beginning of the ride.

The ride along Whiterock Road wasn't my favorite. It's basically used as a highway between Folsom and Elk Grove, so the high automobile speeds with a narrow shoulder left me feeling exposed.

I rolled up the driveway pretty spent, but I was pleased with how well my shoulder responded to 16 miles of pounding from a rigid fork on various off-road surfaces. Although I sometimes experience pain taking off my shirts, and I still can't sleep on my left side, from a cycling standpoint I consider the shoulder 100% healed. I hereby declare myself medically cleared to do whatever the heck I want.

I'm looking forward to putting some miles in and getting back to the fitness level I achieved in May.

Later.