A Whole Lot of Nothing

This weekend I did something I haven’t done in many, many years - nothing!!!  No riding.  No household chores.  Nada.  Just a whole of sitting around and resting.  The reason?  A week ago I managed to strain a muscle around my right hip so I spent the better part of the week limping around in pain.  

This was not good and not just because it kept me off the bike on a gorgeous winter weekend.  You see, Sherry and I are off to Italy next week and I really don't want to spend 10-days limping around Florence.  Now, if I have to choose between limping around the Florence or limping around the office you know what wins.  Still, my preference would be full mobility and zero pain so I am babying this injury like no other.

On a quick side note, it’s amazing what a little pain can do to change your daily routine (besides messing up your weekend rides).  In this case, it really hurt to raise my leg without support.  It also hurt to bend over.  Therefore, putting on my socks each day has been quite the comical sight.  Also, did you know you use your hip muscles when you sneeze?  Neither did I until I sneezed one day and sent a shooting pain down my leg.  The human body is amazingly interconnected.

What did I miss?  Well, my cycling team was doing one of our famous social rides.  This was a recovery ride for a teammate. It started at a little B&B he owns and afterwards everyone enjoyed a potluck brunch.  The pictures looked pretty awesome and I'm sure everyone had a great time.  I probably could have made it to the brunch but to be honest I didn’t feel like explaining why I wasn't on the ride over and over.  Plus, getting in and out of the car is one of my most painful activities.  So, I stayed home.

What did I do?  Well, I started a couple of books that I want to read.  That was fun.  I spent time playing Spider Solitaire on the iPad.  I lost a lot so that wasn’t as much fun.  I completed a professional certification (it was online) and it felt good to get that out of the way. 

Mostly, I felt bored and restless.  I’m contemplating retiring in 3-5 years and Sherry was joking that I needed a hobby.  But cycling is my hobby!  My problem wasn’t that I don’t have something that I really love to do.  My issue this weekend was that I wasn’t physically able to do that thing I really love to do.  Perhaps what I need for retirement is a backup hobby.

Fortunately, all this babying is working.  On Friday afternoon I was still in a decent amount of pain and my mobility was pretty limited.  By Monday morning (when I wrote this post), the pain had subsided greatly.  I also have much better mobility and felt like I was returning to normal.  I’m guessing my weekend of nothingness help quite a bit.  At this point, I am not anticipating any problems walking around Florence. 

I can also tell you that there will not be any more weekends of nothingness in the near future.  I have some big events coming up and now my training is behind schedule.  This means I have many big rides with big climbs in my immediate future as I push really hard to get ready.

Of course, all of that hard training means I’ll be moving around the office very slowly on Mondays for a totally different reason.

Ciao!

Fog - My Kryptonite

When will I learn that you can’t post a blog that makes it seem like you’re immune to the effects of Mother Nature?  Every time I do it just makes her up her game and of course, she always wins.  In my last post - Baby It’s Cold Outside - I talked about how much I love riding in the cold and called out a few of team mates for being a bit wimpy.

I may have also inadvertently given Mother Nature the impression that I was impervious to her attempts to keep me off the bike.  And, like always, she responded with a big dose of my kryptonite - fog!!! 

I’ve written about fog before  - Fog!!! (enough said) - so this is nothing new.  While I think fog can be quite beautiful that doesn’t mean I like riding in it.  The chill from a wet fog seems to impact my very soul and while it may not reduce my strength it absolutely destroys my motivation.

Photo by Jonathan Lee (who was

riding in the fog)

So, after riding in 30 degree weather the previous weekend, I am sipping coffee while I look out the front windows at very thick fog.  While I struggle to make out the house across the street I try to convince myself that it won’t be that bad.  After all, the temperature is around 50 degrees so it’s not that cold.  As I finish my last sip I think about my two options - pour another cup and get on the bike and deal with the fog.  The coffee won!

When the fog did burn off later that day I headed out on the bike.  However, the lack of mojo created by the fog is still there.  It’s as if my motivation is in a fog even if the skies have cleared.  I start out on a 40 mile ride that will climb a few moderate hills.  That never happened.

About 7 miles into the ride I was cruising through Oakmont when I kind of gave up on the idea of riding.  I decided that I didn’t have it in me that day so I’ll just finish the big loop and head home.  Then, I remembered the the VJB Winery & Market in Kenwood has espresso.  After a little bit of self talk, I convinced myself to go get a double espresso.

As I sat there sipping even more coffee, I realized that coming to VJB added about 5 miles to the ride.  I can’t believe I tricked myself into a few more miles just to have an espresso.  Hell, I have espresso at home so there was no need to ride any further.  What’s even worse is that I fell for my own trick!  

As I head back home I decide that I’ll make up for today’s puny little ride with a good ride on Sunday.  That didn’t happen either.

Of course, on Sunday the fog was just as thick and I once again waited for it to burn off.  As I rode I quickly realized that this would be another short ride as I was once again lacking in motivation.  I stopped in Sebastopol for a cappuccino where I ran into cycling friend I hadn’t seen in while.  Chatting with him while sipping my coffee was the ultimate cure for bringing me out of my motivational fog and the ride home was fabulous.

So, lesson learned right?  If I write a post about being a bad ass on the bike I need to make damn sure that Mother Nature doesn’t think I’m challenging her.  Because, like I said earlier, she always wins.

Ciao!

Baby It's Cold Outside

What is it about the cold that makes generally adventurous people start searching for their Snuggies?  This seems to be especially true in cycling where I have more than 1 friend with a 40 degree rule.  You know what I mean.  Those people who proclaim they won’t start a ride if the temperature is under 40 degrees.

That was our situation on last Saturday’s team ride.  I woke up to a beautiful frost covered morning.  It was a brisk 30 degrees with a  predicted temp of 39 at ride time.  Since I was the ride leader, I immediately started getting the “it’s too cold” text as folks bailed.

Cycling and espresso

Me? I love riding in the cold.  It’s the perfect excuse to hit the drive-thru espresso huts where I can quickly down a mid-ride espresso and never step off the bike.  But in reality, there’s more to it than that.

To begin with, I feel an obligation to my cycling friends from around the country who can’t ride in winter because they really have to deal with real cold.  On Facebook, people from Santa Rosa are frequently scoffed at for complaining when temps dip into the thirties.

I looked up the temps at ride time for a few locations where I have friends who would love to be out riding.  In Peterborough, NH it was 23 and snowing.  In Spokane, WA it as a brisk 10 degrees.  My friend in Whitefish, MT was dealing with a predicted high of 20 and snow.  Yeah, we really can’t bitch too much about 39 degrees with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine.

I also like the bad ass factor of riding in the cold.  I love it on Mondays in the office when someone walks up and says, “It’s too bad it was too cold to ride this weekend!”, and I reply that of course I went for a ride.  I always get one of two responses and I love them both.  They’ll either say that I’m insane or that I’m a bad ass. 

To be honest, the real reason I like riding in the cold, especially group rides, is that I think they’re just fun!  I always have a blast on these rides and Saturday’s team ride was no different.  

The ride was designed as a social winter fun ride that went from The Flying Goat in Healdsburg to Plank in Cloverdale (these are both really cool coffee shops).  As we drank coffee at the Goat, we started trash talking everyone who bailed as we convinced ourselves that it wasn’t really that cold outside.  Then, it was time to roll.

As we head out, we all stay to together in a tight bunch for the first part of the ride.  I assume this is the cycling equivalent to cuddling to stay warm.  As we enjoyed our coffees and pastries at Plank, a rider broke out his flask of something special, which we all knew he had with him, and we drank toast to our warm weather friends still at home.  We spent the entire ride chatting, joking, laughing. and perhaps trash talking just a bit.  In a word, we had a blast!!!

There you have it!  A little homage to my friends stuck on trainers in their basement in places with a real winter, a little bad ass factor to enhance my insane/badd ass reputation, and a whole lot of fun with friends.  So, let the temperature drop, I’m riding my bike!

Ciao!

The Happy Christmas Ride

We woke up on Christmas day to a brisk but beautiful sunny morning.  After weeks of morning fog and rain, which we really need, it was nice to see the sun so early in the day.  It felt like it was our Christmas present to be enjoyed by all. After a leisurely morning of drinking coffee and reading, I decided to take full advantage of this gift and headed out on the bike.

Riding on Christmas day has become a bit of tradition for me so there was no way I could pass up all this beautiful sunshine.  In fact, the sunshine seemed to add a bit of happiness to the ride and that quickly became a theme.  As I rode along, my mind was full of happy thoughts.  Perhaps that’s part of the Christmas magic.

I decided to head out of town along the path that follows the creek.  As I cruised along the path enjoying the day I wasn’t alone.  The path was full of couples, friends, and families who were also taking advantage of the beautiful day.  Trying to be courteous, I always gave a hearty “bike back” as I approached and replaced my usual greeting of “Good morning” with “Merry Christmas”.  In almost every case, I got a Merry Christmas in return.

As I continued to cruise along I saw a family up ahead.  When I got closer, I saw it was a cycling friend, Adrian, out with his wife and two sons.  For me, they seemed to be the embodiment of Christmas with the parents walking hand-in-hand as the children played on their new toys.

At least I hoped they were new.  One boy was on a scooter and the other on a bike.  I didn't look that closely but for some reason I just assumed they were presents out for a maiden voyage.  The thought of them coming down stairs and finding them under the tree made me very happy and I smiled as I thought about their squeals of delight.  

All of these happy thoughts continued after I left the path.  I passed houses with driveways filled to the brim with cars as family and friends gathered to celebrate the day.  I saw many other cars filled with presents as they traveled to be with their loved ones.  I also saw more than one truck loaded with mountain bikes and I was happy to know I wasn’t the only crazy cyclist out enjoying the magic of the day.

As I reached the town of Sebastopol, I was simultaneously hoping that one of the local coffee shops would be open while also wishing they would not.  I was happy that they were all closed to allow staff to enjoy the day although I would have been as giddy as a boy with a new bike if I could have found some espresso.  Still, it was fun cruising the calm city streets and testing my knowledge of coffee shop locations.

Finally, it was time to head back home.  I rolled through downtown Santa Rosa and enjoyed the quietness of the day compared to the shopping madness that occurred just 24 hours before.  This tranquility was bound to be broken the day after as people scampered to take advantage of post-Christmas sales.  But for now, all was peaceful and serene and that somehow felt right.

Yes, it was a happy ride full of happy thoughts.  Now, we just need to find a way to keep this happiness going year round.  That’s my Christmas wish for everyone.  To find a way to keep the joyous spirit of Christmas alive each and every day of the year!

Ciao!

The American River Trail

Last Thursday was one of those really fun days on the bike.  The plans for this midweek mini adventure started back in April when Sherry and I were talking about her schedule.  She has meetings in Sacramento once a month so I decided to take the day off and join her.

I was planning on riding the American River Trail.  In essence, this is a bike path goes from Sacramento to Folsom Lake.  It’s 32 miles each way, give or take, and closely follows the American River. This was supposed to be an awesome bike trail and I was looking forward to riding it for the first time. 

We arrive in downtown Sacramento and head to Sherry’s standard parking garage.  Along the way we see signs posted everywhere for the Tour of California which reminds us the race starts on Sunday.  That’s pretty cool since I know that means all of the teams should already be in the area.  

We get parked, on the top floor, and as soon as I get out of the I’m blasted by wind.  And I mean strong, gusty winds.  I look at Sherry and immediately state - “This ride’s going to suck!!!”  Still, that’s why I came so as she heads to her meeting I head out on the bike.

Now, it was only 6-blocks from the parking garage to Old Town but I still somehow managed to promptly get lost.  The road I thought I needed had nothing but freeway entrance signs so I went through the Amtrak parking lot and eventually got to the path.

Technically, the American River Trail starts at Discovery Park, which is about 2 miles from Old Town but there is a path that connects them.  So, I ride along river and eventually cross over a bridge into Discovery Park.  But, I have no idea where the trail actually starts.  This is when I discovered that unlike Google, the map app on my smart phone did not always show the trail.

Long story short, I finally found it and was off to Lake Folsom.  The path was indeed awesome.  You can tell it’s very popular with cyclists given the number of people on the path on a Thursday.  It’s well paved and basically flat so I settled into a nice rhythm that was up tempo enough to feel fast but slow enough to enjoy the scenery.

I will say the trail was not as scenic as I anticipated.  There were glimpses of the the river from time to time but for some reason I expected more.  The pleasant surprise was that the path constantly twisted and turned as it went along.  I love this style of riding and I really was having a great time gusty winds and all.

As I get close to Folsom Lake the trail starts branching out in all directions and the route I chose abruptly ended.  Since I needed to be back by 1:00 for lunch with Sherry I decided to turn around and head back.

On the way back I actually had two team sightings.  As I came around one corner, there was the entire team from Team BMC heading my way.  A little later, I saw 4 members of Team Net App as well.  That really added to the specialness of the ride for me.

Back at the car I changed and got ready for lunch.  As I was changing I reflected back on my comment that the ride would suck.  Well, it didn’t.  Sure I had to deal with strong winds (in both directions), but in the end it was a great ride on new “roads”.  And while the views were not what I expected they were far better than the views from my office. 

Since Sherry has these meeting every month, you can bet I’m checking my calendar to see when I can do this all over again.

Ciao!!!