My longest bike ride in nearly 27 years

Yesterday, our little "Tuesday/Thursday" bike riding group took off on a great adventure on one of the most beautiful days we have had in quite a while. Wonderful high sirrus and cumulus clouds added interest to the clear blue sky and provided a backdrop to the pictures Deanna and I took.

Here is the Profile of the ride:



And here are some pictures from the great adventure. The first one is of our "tour guide," and the person who inspired this long ride.

Shortly after Deanna took a couple of pictures of our group, a woman came up and volunteered to take a picture of the entire group.



Right behind us was this great, old ship.

Along the boardwalk on the bay, there are sculptures that change every six months or so. Larry told us about this one and we had to stop to admire it as it turned in the breeze.

Deanna's picture of the same sculpture came out really well.



Our ultimate destination turned out to be Shelter Island where this boat, a reproduction of Christopher Columbus' boat, The Nina. Seeing that ship was the purpose of our ride.


It was a fantastic day, a wonderful ride, and a truly-great adventure. I am indebted to Deanna for coming up with the idea.

A new rider joins our Saturday "Bike Buddies" group

Through Craigslist, I met a young man from Ramona who drove all the way down to join us. The weather was beautiful again. Here is the Profile of the ride:




During this ride, one of the guys I was riding near had a flat tire. It didn't take too long to fix it by putting in a new tube, but the delay kept us from catching up to the rest of the group again until we arrived at the Coffee Ground coffee shop. We had to make another stop so I could readjust my saddle. I had changed it from the WTB Pure V to the Specialized one, and although I thought it was tight, it moved back, making the descent down Arnold and Harbison Canyon more interesting than usual.

I really had a good time, and although we need rain, I am so grateful for the wonderful weather we have had so far this winter.

A great ride out through the San Diego River valley

I don't have a correct track and profile for today's ride because I forgot the GPSr. I was excited to ride my new $150.00 bike.



The weather was beautiful. Rain had been predicted, so Steve was riding a hybrid mountain bike. Tom was also riding a different bike, his "rain" bike. So there were three of us on unfamiliar bikes. Larry helped me adjust the derailleur on my new Mako bike so it would shift better. I also had to learn how to use the shifters. Campy does things differently from Shimano . . .

Another Mountain Bike Ride on Barber Road

This was my companion's first Mountain Bike ride and he did great.

I fell over . . . twice.

Those pedals are getting replaced with platform pedals . . .

A Good Samaritan Comes to my Rescue

As I pedaled hard up Dehesa hill, I suddenly heard an awful crunching sound and couldn't pedal anymore. I struggled to get my feet out of the pedals, so I could stop before falling over. I turned around and looked at the derailleur on my bike. It was turned upside down on top of the cassette . . .

The guys, including Hector who is a very good bike mechanic, took off the derailleur and shortened my chain so I could ride the bike back to town in one gear.

Because it has been cold, I haven't worn my short-sleeved "Kokopelli" jersey for several weeks, but this morning I decided to get it out and wear it. When my bike chain hopped onto a larger sprocket on the rear cluster and I could not pedal anymore, I impulsively stuck out my thumb when I saw a pickup truck approaching.

The man turned around and stopped. When Steve and I explained the problem and told him where I needed to go, he volunteered to take me and my bike back to the RSD shopping center.

On the dash of his truck was a little Kokopelli figure . . .

What are the odds?

Here are the tracks of my shortened ride:

A Sunday ride for a change

Because of all the rain and bad weather Saturday, I wasn't able to ride. But, Steve Six wanted to ride today, so we met at the RSD shopping center. Later on we rode with Frank and we took a different way home with him.

After he split off from us, we took quite the tour of Granite Hills.

Here is the profile of that long ride.

A little ride with "Sit-down" Steve on Barber Road