Friday, December 28, 2018

English Channel to the Mediterranean, Peak Tours, 2018

I don't have stories, and I should. But I do have a bunch of cycling photos from our 2018 Peak Tours two-week ride across France, from the English Channel to the Mediterranean. Here they are. Click the image.
Peak Tours Channel to Mediterranean cycling

Monday, December 17, 2018

Antioch auto drivers. Yech

What's up with all teh crazy driving in Antioch? Sunday we had some jerk spin doughnuts in an intersection right in front of us. With a small child in the back seat. One tiny slip and that car would have taken me out.

 Then there's Tricia's bike commute on what should be sleepy suburban streets. But no. Check this video.

Sunday, December 02, 2018

Kids. Bikes. Old guys.



It felt like I'd been waiting forever. At last I got to go on a bike ride with young Michael. He's 3, and awesome. I just wish he was around more so we could do this more often What a delight!
Grandchildren. Who knew?


Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Tricia speaks at the Antioch City Council meeting

Tricia is concerned about the new configuration of a major street in Antioch, and about the way the city handles bicycle infrastructure. She spoke at the City Council meeting on November 26.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Friday, November 02, 2018

Drivers in Antioch

My morning commute. Not my closest pass or biggest jerk, just the one I happened to catch on camera.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Foxy's Fall Century 2018

Foxy's Fall Century by the Davis CA bike club is one of Tricia's favorites. Last year fires forced them to alter the route, and we on did the 100K ride. This year we took on the full 100 miler.

The route was different than it has been. I liked it a lot. It was still beautiful, but the front loaded the climbing. There's a lot of flat, so even though it's only 3,471 feet of climbing, it came in short sections.

We had perfect weather and not one issue. Thanks Davis support crew!

We were beat at the end, but still went to a concert in Auburn to see Chuck Prophet, who was wonderful.



Wednesday, October 03, 2018

Curtis the bike Commuter bonus photo

Just so my millions of loyal readers don't think I've lost my love for them, here's a photo of my daily bike commute, and a movie as well.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

New Mavic commuter wheel and tires

I thought I just had a broken spoke on my commuter bike. But alas on closer inspection I also had one the destroyed its eyelet.
I'd never loved these wheels. They came on the bike and needed truing out of the box. So instead of replacing just the rear wheel I got a set of nice Mavic gravel-oriented wheels from The Bike Shop that were take-offs from a bike they'd sold.
I also replaced the indestructible  but slow rolling Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires with Gatorskins. They roll a lot better. Now I'll find out how they do in the land of broken glass and thorns that is my commute.
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Mavic Aksium. The new wheels on my commuter bike.

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Friday, July 27, 2018

Crater lake in the smoke

I know, I know... Where are the France photos. It's a bunch of work and I've been lazy. But I will. In the meantime, here's a token photo from Crater Lake.

We went to Shady Grove for a week-long family vacation. Unfortunately we picked a week where the state is on fire and apparently the smoke collects here of all places. We have the worst air quality in the USA right now. Plus, it's super hot. Oh well.

We did manage to get to Crater Lake during a short window of minimal smoke there. We were lucky in that the smoke rolled in just as we finished our ride. If you haven't been there, do it.
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Tuesday, June 12, 2018

We have a plan. It involves France and bicycles

Years ago I got a fortune cookie that read "You need a change of environment. Try France." So we think we will. It will involve bicycles. And lots of riding. There will be blog posts someday, perhaps.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Hauling my bike on my bike with a Travoy trailer

Getting the bike home commute

When you bike commute in then get a ride home after an offsite gathering you end up with a bike at work and yourself at home. If you bike commute in the next day you end up with two bikes at work and find you need some way to get both bikes home. Enter Travoy trailer. I'm  hauling my 70s Gitane-turned-fixed gear on my titanium gravel-bike-turned-commuter bike with my Travoy.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Tour de Vigne 2018

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Once again we found ourselves rolling out of bed at oh-dark-stupid to head out for Lodi and the Tour de Vigne ride. What sounds like a great plan days before sure doesn't seem as clever that early.

The ride starts with so much flat land and straight roads it's actually hard. At least for me. I like hills, rollers, changes. The ability to just sit and crank consistently is not a skill I have. Tricia, on the other hand, is more of a metronome.  But even though she can lay down a solid cadence she also found herself looking forward to leaving the flatlands.

After leaving the farm and grazing lands of the Central Valley the ride heads up around Lake Camanche Reservoir and then to Pardee Reservoir. We even got to ride across the dam.

We had great weather until the last 15 miles of crazy headwind where staying in double digit speeds became a major effort.

Still, a good ride!
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Wine Country Century 2018

What a beautiful day for a bike ride. A little cool, but pretty much just right. And the Santa Rosa Cycling Club sure knows how to organize a ride. From the wonderful night-before check in to the free beer —FREE BEER —  at the end it was a wonderful experience. I'm a huge fan of drop bags, where you can leave your warm clothes at a rest stop and have them delivered to you at the ride end. Even though this time I created my own problem using that wonderful service.




Tricia gave me her warm jacket to bag up and send back. I did. Then, right after the rest stop I realized I was missing my left glove. I hadn't noticed because I still had a glove liner on. Bummer for me. I took my jacket out of my pocket to look for it, then stuffed it back in. Later I realized that I not only didn't have a glove, I had no jacket. When Tricia went to a lost and found at a rest stop to check on my glove a rider walked up with my jacket. Tricia claimed it, to some teasing about "Is that really yours?" But I had it again. Later, at the ride end (free beer!) I unwrapped her drop bag jacket and discovered my glove. Nothing lost after all. What a day.
We couldn't resist stopping for a photo at our favorite winery.





Monday, April 30, 2018

#30DaysofBiking 2018

We always aim for 30 days of biking and usually make it, even if it's just a short ride to the store for milk. This year I did actual rides every day. Michael is holding Tricia's spoke card to help celebrate. I myself am not cool enough for such a card, yet I still rode every day.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Bonus new jersey photo

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We managed to get in a nice ride along the East Bay Regional Parks Carquinez Regional Shoreline (say that in one breath...)

Tricia wore her newest jersey from the Primavera Century. I made her stop long enough to photograph her with the Carquinez Bridge peeking out in the background.