Bike Forums Slow Poke ride

I thought I'd wear my Piet Mondrian-inspired La Vie Clare jersey for our Bike Forums Slow Poke Ride.  I was glad I did when we came across this "art car" parked on Grizzly Peak Road in (where else... Berkeley.) As Tricia shot the photo I cajoled her to make, I was "rewarded" by some cyclists who rode by and asked if I was Greg Lemond. Clearly they hadn't seen me climbing earlier.

Bike Forum's Bikingshearer organized this short but climby and slow jaunt, and he couldn't have picked a nicer day. We may have a water shortage, but we're making the best of our lack of rain. Seventy degrees in late February? That's cycling weather. We even had a surprise appearance by famed Bike Forum's member Lance Oldstrong.

We did come across one unfortunate incident. On our climb up Wildcat Canyon we heard an odd crunching sound, and as we came around the corner we found a pair of cyclists who looked like they might have overcooked an off-camber corner coming down the hill and crashed. One was pretty much OK, but his friend was crumpled. He didn't appear to have a head injury, but was in a lot of pain and not moving much. We stopped to see if we could help, but others stopped as well. We left when they called an ambulance and didn't think we had anything to contribute.

We finished our climbing, enjoying the view, the weather and the Narnia-like descent through Canyon to end up at a deli in Rheem for tasty sandwiches. I had so much fun the grunt back to Orinda wasn't even much of a bother. Clearly, more Bike Forums rides are in order.