Easy Street

We rode by Easy Street on our "easy tapering ride" that  Lance Oldstrong put together. Except for being 70 miles with three lung-searing climbs, it was pretty relaxing. I only managed to find a new max heart rate a couple of times. I took advantage of the climb next to 580 on Dublin Bl to get a workout — and later on some semi-secret climb Oldstrong found (update: Palomares Hills) — to darn near kill myself. Tricia went along, and we tried to drop her all day, but she just wouldn't stay dropped.

It's impossible tp use an iPhone with fingered gloves on, so all my images are off the bike. The most amusing was this really really expensive time trial bike with a freakin' trailer. He carries ... dogs. I asked him not to go where we were as I wasn't in the mood to be passed by a trailer bike.

Barely bike related: Cuba!

This may be my first non-bike post on this blog, but it's too big a deal to not post it.

I'm taking a study abroad class to Cuba and teaching photography for a week in summer of 2012. And guess what, you can come too! It's through Los Medanos College, so if you'd like to come, all you need to do is apply at LMC, and sign up for the class. You'll have to get your deposit in to the study abroad folks by mid-march too. My Photography in Cuba blog has more info, and a downloadable brochure with deposit info and an itinerary.

You can be sure I'll be posting some Cuban bicycle photos here, and if you come, I'll post yours too!

Stuff I think about when I ride

Sometimes a good ride helps me turn off my brain and just be. Sometimes not. Maybe it's the coffee, but I occasionally find myself in senseless contemplation of ideas and issues such as...

• It feels unfair that no matter how far I ride, it always fits on the screen at the same size in Strava, RideWithGPS or even my Ascent program. Two hundred miles looks just like a ride to the grocery store. That can't be right. Something here needs to be fixed.

• It seems that however hard I work on a climb or interval, coughing up a lung and crying, as soon as I stop, I think "I could have gone just a little harder. I should have gone just a little harder." I keep telling myself I'm going harder than the guys that are home on the couch, but right about then some other cyclist will roll past at looking calm and rested, confirming that indeed I should have worked just a bit more.

• Do Hammer products really work, or do they just make me focus more because I spent so darn much money on them? Mitocaps? Do they do anything? Phytomax? Really Curtis? And does Recoverite really help recovery, or is much-cheaper chocolate milk just as good, as some claim? I don't know, but right now I'm into voodoo and will give anything a shot. Well, maybe not the Dark Rage, or the Size On I saw in the weight lifting section of "The Vitamin Shop." That stuff is just scary. I think. Unless some cyclist tells me it works. I'd try it then. Unless it kills you after it makes you better. Then I'd only try it a little.

• The best thing about drinking wine is not that it tastes so wonderful. It's not even that it's so relaxing. It's that if you wake up not feeling well, a bit sore and grumpy and with an aching body you can think "Hey, I should have skipped that last glass of fine vino." Now that I've cut wine out of my diet (temporally, as a weight loose measure,) when I wake up hurting the only thing I can think of is "Damn, I'm getting old." I miss the wine.

• How much is a gram? How much is an ounce? I'm pretty sure that a lot of either added up makes a lot, which makes a difference. But how about one, or just a few? If I drop 100 grams from my bike, that's more than four ounces, which is a quarter pound, which starts to sound like it might matter. But then again I carry a 16 ounce water bottle (that's the water itself, not even the bottle weight) and sometimes even two of those. Are 180 gram tires worth their delicate nature, or are 225 gram tires really more appropriate for the riding I do? If I have two tubes in the tires and one spare, should I use 49 gram tubes, or are 100 gram tubes smarter even though there's that 150 gram difference slowing me down?  Should I stop carrying a pump and a spare tube? Do I really need bar tape?  How much does a Road ID weigh? Do I need a haircut? Should I trim my nails? Is it wrong to carry a phone? How about a camera? Should I weigh my clothes?

• And cassettes. Oh my.  My 11-28 Ultegra weighs 242 grams, but I'd really like a lower set of gears for an upcoming ride with lots of super-steep hills. There's a Tiagra 12-30 that might be perfect, but it weighs 329 grams. Do I trade lower weight for the lower gear?  It makes me crazy.

• Compression: Is it just more voodoo, or or a legit way to aid recovery? I feel both more silly, and more like a super hero, in my black compression tights and shirt. But do they do anything? Are they tight enough even if compression does work? And do I really work hard enough that I even need this "recovery" everyone speaks so highly of? Tricia asked me "How are those different than the sup-hose the oldsters wear?" and I didn't have an answer. Blacker? Pricier?I'm not sure. Maybe I should get some for her and she'll not ask such questions. Or ask more.

Mt.Hamilton with Tricia and snow

The required mirror photo at the Mt. Hamilton summit.

 We were so very proud of our Mt. Hamilton climb, right up until the couple on fixed-gear bikes rolled in behind us. It was Tricia's first time up, so we made sure to pick a nice cold morning so she could experience the maximum amount of suffering. Even though the sun was out a bit, the shadows were really cold, and there were still small piles of snow near the top.  Even with a cap and long gloves, the ride down was even colder. I tried to do some hard nine-minute efforts on the way up, and we both worked hard on the two uphills that come during the descent trying to warm up, but my biggest heart-rate spike was when a car came within inches of me on the way down.

Tricia, riding behind me, saw them swing out to pass her, then move back into our lane only to run up behind me as another car came in the opposite lane. It ended up as close to me as I've ever had a car come. We followed it on the descent for a mile or two, so clearly it was important that it pass us. It warmed us up, at least.

Other than a near death experience and losing feeling in my fingers, it was a grand day. Tricia is full of HTFU and just rocked the whole thing without even a trace of whimper or whine. I did almost as well. A good time was had by all.

8,653 feet and then it got dark

It's really not all that lonely at the top. In fact, it's rather swell.

I ride with fear. Not terror, but an uneasy worry that I'll run out of energy and just fall over by the side of the road, unable to continue because I've burned all my matches hammering a hill or trying to hang with faster riders.

So when I took advantage of a rare Friday off by spending the day solo on my bike, I went out slow, and stayed slow. Really slow. I'd hoped to do 100 miles with a little climbing. Unfortunately, even though I started at 8:18 A.M., I ran out of daylight shortly before my goal. I did, however, manage 8,653 feet of climbing and 91 miles.

Riding out of Antioch to get anywhere interesting to ride is a pain that involves too many bike paths and a short jaunt down the freeway on Highway 4 next to the Concord Navel Weapon Station. But after that my ride was a lot more fun. Going up Pig Farm I was passed by a young woman with amazing boots. So amazing that when she stopped at the top I stopped too just to photograph them, or Tricia would never have believed my description. I went on to the Three Bears, rolled through Lafayette and out to Danville to catch South Gate Road and then up to the Diablo Junction. From there I had just enough time to get down North Gate Road to the Pleasant Hill BART station as it got dark. My sweet bride picked my tired ol' self up in Bay Point and drove me home.

What's crazy is that my heart rate was low all day, and even though my legs were tired by the time I got to the Diablo Summit, I still felt pretty good. This, for no good reason, got me thinking about the cutoff times for the Devil Mountain Double (eight hours for the first 100 miles, with similar climbing...) and wondering if... no, never mind. It was just a fleeting question.

Net loss, Strava

I hit a giant benchmark today. Though I weigh on my home digital scales, I can't help but think the balance-beam, doctor-style scales in my college locker room are the gold standard.

I usually set the big weight on 150 and slide the other over until it balances. Today, for the first time in forever, I had to start with the large weight on 100. This is big news (or should I say smaller news) for me as I was way  too far over 160 at the start of 2012. My doing without my much-enjoyed evening glass of wine, and forgoing many tasty morsels, seems to be paying off.

I'm still doing intervals. I'm hurting myself several times a week in addition to my 16 mile round-trip commute. That may be helping. I'm starting to think I'll be ready for the Solvang Double Century and I'm even contemplating (I have a notion that I'm working into an idea) doing some others. Feasibility testing will began shortly.

I've also been harassed by my cycling colleagues to sign onto Strava. I was reluctant because it, basically, confirms how slow I am, and then posts it in public so I can be suitably ridiculed (feel free to join in.) I have the free account, but the suffer-fest score feature almost has me ready to sign up for the paid version. Here's today's lunch interval ride using their embedded feature. I may be slow, but my heart rate was high...

Mt Hamiltion. Both sides now.

Being as Lance Oldstrong (AKA Dan) is getting ready for the Death Valley Double and I'm working on being ready for the Solvang Double I suggested a 60 mile bike ride, with a little bit of climbing for Saturday. He countered with "Let's do Mt. Hamilton, then drop down the back and climb back up again."

My Mom used to say things like, "If Lance Oldstrong jumped off a roof, would you jump off a roof?" as a warning to be smart. Of course, being a smart ass, I always answered "Yes."  I did this time too.

We picked a beautiful day. It was cool, but the sun was shining and there were no clouds but for the mist hanging over San Jose.

I was a bit worried about the massive amount of climbing, but we took it easy on the ride up and it wasn't bad at all. Dan pointed out the road was graded at a constant six percent to make it possible for trucks to get building materials to the observatory at the top. I had fun talking to another cyclist about our backside plan. He seemed amazed and kept trying to talk me out of it. Ha!

On the back side of Hamilton the road builders had no grade constraints. It's double digits most of the five miles to the bridge where we turned around. I was glad I'd put on new brake pads, and even then it was a white-knuckle decent.

The ride back to the top was a grunt, but not as tough as I'd feared. We didn't hammer it, but it's still a lot of work. I surprised myself by feeling great when we got to the top. I usually think of a "climbing ride" as ascending 100 feet per mile (as in 30 miles, 3000 feet). At this point we'd done 30 miles and climbed 7100 feet. That's a lot of up.

The descent wasn't as much fun. The top is bumpy with a lot of switchbacks. When we got part way down we were passed by a guy on a beautiful white bike. Dan doesn't like that, and gave chase. I'd not a mad-cornering descender, and I found myself doing wind sprints between the corners trying in vain to hang on, and watching them pull away. It seems wrong that I had my highest heart rates for the day on the flippin' descent, but I did.

After Dan big-ringed him up the last little uphill section they sat up and waited for me. Mr. White-Bike offered a Mexican restaurant suggestion that we ended up taking for out post-ride protein reload session.

All in all, 50 miles, 7501 feet of climbing, and a darn swell day. I learned that I'm in better shape than I thought, and that I can't use my iPhone to make photos while wearing wool glove liners under my cycling gloves.

Garmin readout at our second summit.

No ride is really complete without a Lance Oldstrong song, so here, used without any permission whatsoever, is:

Bows and flows of yellow lines and science castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at Hammie that way.
But now they only block the sun, those domes that rise above everyone.
So many things I would have done but Hammie got in my way.

I've looked at Hammie from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow
It's Hammie’s illusions I recall.
I really don't know Hammie at all.

Moons and Junes and Williams wheels, the dizzy dancing way you feel
As another slow ascent comes real; I’ve looked at Hammie that way.
But now it's just another ride. you leave 'em laughing as you glide.
And if you crack, don't let them know, don't give yourself away.

I've looked at Hammie from both sides now,
From give and take, and still somehow
It's Hammie's illusions I recall.
I really don't know Hammie at all.

Tears and fears and feeling proud to say "Climb Hammie twice" right out loud,
Dreams and schemes and Alpe d'Huez crowds, I’ve looked at Hammie that way.
But now old friends are acting strange,

They shake their heads, they say I've changed.
Something's lost but something's gained in riding every day.

I've looked at Hammie from both sides now,
From win and lose, and still somehow
It's Hammie's illusions I recall.
I really don't know Hammie at all.

Secret codes and rationalizations

I'm still trying to follow the Chris Carmichael Time Crunched Cyclist Training Program. I'm doing pretty well. I even managed to get in a set when I was in Morro Bay. But sometimes there are ... issues.

Today I was supposed to do over/under intervals. Carmichael describes them as dividing intervals into sections of 92-94% of your maximum sustainable heart rate with other sections at full-tilt 100% plus.

In the book the description reads:
60-90 min EM with 3x8 min
OU (3U,10) (6 min RBI)

Which was making me crazy. What does that "10" mean? After entirely too long — I mean days —  I finely realized it wasn't "one-zero," it was "one-over." So: Three minutes at 92%, One at "crazy," then repeat. Do that three times. So I did. You can really see the "crazy" parts in the graph.

The graph ends up interesting because the heart rate lags behind the work done, i.e. it takes a moment to ramp up, then a bit to wind down.  That must be why people spend big bucks on power meters.

Is it time to start the rationalization machine? Is a power meter really that expensive, considering how much they do, and how cool they are? And because I don't go to Starbucks and buy a fancy coffee drink every day I'm in effect saving all that money that could go to a device that would only improve my health, making me a happier person, which would benefit every single person I come in contact with.

Life and work vs training and goals

It's an embarrassment of riches and lack of will power. Here I am at beautiful Morro Bay for a journalism faculty conference. I brought the bike, and it sits unused in the hotel room. What with the rain and the conference I've missed two days of riding. And to make matters worse, they feed us really well.

Last night Tricia and I went out to taste wine and eat cheese on the waterfront. She's lovely, the wine was delightful and cheese was suitably cheesey. But it didn't do anything to make me more ready for the Solvang Double. 

I hope I can get at least a short hard ride in after checkout before the drive home. At least the photos are coming out well.

Intervals on the trainer

Today is the first rain we've had in ages. So instead of getting to ride out in the real world, with sky and air and wind and hills, I set up the Kurt Kinetic trainer in the garage.

What a pain-in-the-butt difference. In this world there's riding a bike (fun) and riding the trainer (not so much.) Maybe it's because there is zero coasting, no joyous downhills after a climb, no variation in... much of anything. Whatever, it's not delightful. But as if that isn't enough, it's harder too. Maybe it's that constant no rest thing, but yikes, what a pain. Just doing my 8x3 after my bike commute was more work than a longer ride outside. The only thing that wasn't awful was that the garage was freakin' cold, so I didn't get a soaked as i might have.

I sure hope it pays off, because if it's not helping me get a lot stronger it's a really really really really stupid thing to be doing.

Note to blog readers: I promise not to log every workout I do, it's just that this actual planned effort thing is all new to me, so I'm just full of insights.

Interval interupted

I had to do some tricky scheduling to get in my 3x10 interval work on Tuesday, and it was really cold when I started. But it was all going to work out. Even though I have a hard time convincing myself that it's crucial to hammer hard when it was hard enough riding easy, I was doing it. Interval 1: success Interval 2... Well under way.

Then along comes the cyclist's favorite. A flat. I was annoyed, but it's no big deal I think, until I discover my spare is defective. That's OK too, I have a patch kit. Except the glue is dry. And I'm on the closed-to-cars Empire Mine Road, and a mile and a half from any auto-accessible intersection. In road cleats. And Tricia is a work. And my daughter is in San Francisco.

Fortunately for me, my college colleague Ken answered his cell and was willing to come get me. So I rode on my flat — it felt awful — to the intersection where he picked me up. What a hero!

Of course, he can't understand why I won't put 2 pounds of Kevlar anti-flat bands on my road bike. I just can't understand why I had a bad tube and dry glue.

Now I'm 1.2 repeats behind, and the rain is coming. I sure hope Thursday works out better, even it's on the trainer.

Breezing through the Delta

I fought the wind and the wind won

I fought the wind and the wind won

I needed legs and I had none

I fought the wind and the wind won

I fought the wind and it's no fun

When Tricia and I were invited to go on a slow jaunt through the Delta with a few of the  much-feared members of BikeForums.net NorCal division, it sounded great. Heck, there was even a full on lunch stop near Walnut Grove.  Saturday had been perfect weather, so how different could Sunday be?

Have you ever heard of the "Delta Breeze?"

We met at Brannon Island at 9:30. After the usual complaining about the cold and wind we headed out, we being Tricia and "da boys" — Mark, Steve, Daniel, John, Rich, Georges, and me. Despite the wind, we had an easy ride toward Giusti's near Walnut Grove, where we could have had a few stiff drinks to strengthen our resolve, or opt for lunch instead. We rattled on toward our lunch stop, enjoying roads with names like Race Track Road, where Dan had us take a wrong turn cleverly led us up onto a levee so we could see the migrating bird flocks and somewhat rare sandhill cranes.

After lunch we took a ferry over to Ryer Island, which we circumnavigated in increasing wind (14-28mph, with higher gusts according to the weather folks), giving us a chance to test our 11mph echelon skills and generally beat ourselves senseless. At least there was a brief moment of pure tail wind that let us hit 30 plus for entirely too short a time.

For an amazingly flat ride  there were a few hilarious "hills" where the farmland roads rise up to join the levee roads. They look like walls, but they're short. I think most were contested in an attempt to claim the days KOM points.

What with doing intervals into the wind and a couple of fun sprints I was toast, so of course I took a wrong turn and added almost 10 miles to my route. Oh well.

Total damage: 68 miles.

Photo by our delightful full-service ferry pilot.

Intervals: my first time

I used a red pen to write my intervals on my arm.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

— Bene Gesserit litany against fear

I was so worried I'd forget what I was supposed to do that I wrote a reminder on my arm — 4 times for 6 minutes at 92 percent of my maximum sustained heart rate. I warmed up a long time because I was still a bit tired from yesterday's ride over Pig Farm, up the Bears and back through LanceOldStrong's secret Walnut Creek climb. But eventually I got to the road I'd decided to do this on. I tried to set aside my fears of failure and pain, and got close to succeeding.

I'd been told intervals hurt, but that's an understatement, and not even all there is to it. It's hard to concentrate on keeping a specific level of pain going, even with help from a stop watch and heart rate monitor. And it's even harder to do the second, third and fourth interval when, after the first,  knowing how much it will hurt.

But I did. The real question is: Will I be able to convince myself to do this twice a week until the Solvang Double? To help motivate myself, I got on the scales today. My optimistic estimate of only a slight weight gain over the holidays was proven hopelessly naive. I have a long way to go.

Time Crunched Cyclist Training Program fitness test

Here I am, armed with "The Time Crunched Cyclist" by Chris Carmichael, as if I'm actually going to train for the Slovang Double Century I signed up for. I know I'll ride a bunch, but the idea of planned training is intimidating.

The program starts with a test: find a flat road where you can ride for eight minutes without stopping.
From a near stop, accelerate and hammer as hard as you can for the eight minutes. Record your max heart rate, and average heart rate.

Sounds easy, but it isn't. Just finding a road was tough. I used Chestnut near the Byron Highway in Brentwood, a road was almost long enough, with one turn onto Sellars.

Starting was tough. I had to nearly stop, then hit the lap button on the Garmin while watching my stopwatch.

Riding as hard as I could was, well, hard. It hurt. I kept thinking, as my legs burned (shut up legs) "Do I have more?" and tried to give it.

While not backing off early, I tried to hit the lap button at eight minutes. I was off by five and two seconds.

Now I need to interpret the results.
My Max heart rates were 167 and 170. In the past on short effort hills efforts I've recorded 183 as a max.
My averages on these two runs were 158 and 160. But if I remove the startup heart rates I end up with 165. I did average 165 during a Mt. Diablo Hill Climb Time Trial. So did I ride hard enough this time? Did I have more? Would I have been able to achieve a higher heart rate if I worked harder?  Could I have possibly worked harder? Are the previous highs hill related?

So, what number should I use for my maximum sustainable heart? It matters because that's what gets used to calculate the workouts.

I'm lost. I fear all I've really done is confirm that I'm really slow, and provided only confusing numbers that won't help me figure out what I need to do.

Maybe I should just go ride the bike.

Life, the universe, and cable caps

It was one of those things that I noticed when I was on the bike, then promptly forgot all about when I got home. I knew it was wrong, and that I needed to address it, but I just somehow let it fall off my radar over and over.

It started when I was in Washington state this summer. I had a bit of emergency work preformed on my bike right before a big tour. The shop, for some reason, put a gold — that's right, gold — cable cap on my black and white Roubaix. It looked stupid and I intended to change it. I just never did.

On the Lodi Giro d' Vino ride, Bikeforum.net's BigBossMan rode up next to me and, at 17 mph, and in his not so subtle manner, called it out. I believe he actually snickered, rolled his eyes, and tried to innocently ask why I had a gold cap on my otherwise not gold bike. I was chagrined to say the least.

I am relieved to report that I have at last  replaced the offending gold cap with a better-than-standard-chrome black cap. And fear not BigBossMan, I also replaced the other caps with black.

I know you, and I, will sleep more soundly knowing this travesty has been dealt with.

New Years Day on Diablo

Slow motion. Very slow motion.

Cliche or tradition? It's hard to say. But Tricia and I rode up to the Diablo summit to ring in 2012. It was a stunning day, and almost too warm, considering we left Antioch in the cold dark fog. By the time we were in Walnut Creek there wasn't a touch of fog, or a cloud in the sky.

There were many more cyclists than cars on the mountain. It made me smile. Back in the "Olden Days" of the 70s just seeing another rider was cause for celebration. Today we were everywhere.

I struggled up slowly today while Tricia looked great. Perhaps doing Pilates in the evening is more healthy than just drinking a glass of wine. Further research will be undertaken.

Now that we are two of those annoying iPhonies we can twitter and Facebook from the summit. So we did.  The best part for me is that the iPhone has a camera, and being that Tricia has one there's a possibility of there being photos of me as well as her on my blog.

Hello 2012! It's us! At the summit!

Year end ride, wrap up and mileage totals

December 31 2011, Empire Mine Road, last ride of the year.  iPhone photo.

I though Friday would be my last ride of 2011, but Tricia had a mileage goal to reach, and when I added up my 3 bikes stats I was just shy of 7500, so we rolled around Antioch until we got nice numbers.

Curtis  stats

Bike        Start           End          Total

Fixed/SS      573           1209          636

Commuter    10200          12560         2360 

Road         3146           7659         4513

                                   TOTAL 7509

Tricia  stats

Bike        Total

Commuter    2000

Road        4400

TOTAL       6400

2011 has been pretty good for riding. Highlights included:

The two bridges, three murder sites, squirrels and flowers ride, and Steven Cozza's Giro Bello Ride
We also managed to ride in California, Oregon, Washington, Vancouver BC, Victoria BC, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. We did a number of group rides and a few organized centuries. Tricia did her Cinderella, I did my Davis Double.

For 2012
I have yet to ride Tam, or the back of Hamilton, so they are still on the list. I signed up the 2012 Solvang Double. Tricia and I have a short summer tour planned.

The Eve of New Years Eve metric

LanceOldStrong in Hobbit Land

When LanceOldStrong called to say he had Friday off and ask if I was up for a metric I said "you bet."
As always his routes are top shelf. Even if I know about where we're headed, he always manages to toss in a few interesting twists. This ride started in Concord, went through Danville, popped over to Castro Valley up Redwood road, through Canyon. The redwoods in Canyon are magnificent, and it always feels like a magical place. On a ride a while ago as we rode out of Canyon and into Moraga LanceOldStrong remarked "We're not in the Shire any more." Since then I always think of Canyon as "Hobbit Land."

Our 63 mile jaunt was foggy, cold, fun and generally uneventful until we got back to walnut Creek, where a motorized bicycle passed us on Olympic Blvd. LanceOldStrong, being LanceOldStrong couldn't stand it and had to chase him down, then blow him away. Though he then made a total Cat 6 move by turning right. Sure, it was really our route, but still...

Anyway, what a pleasant way to wrap up the year. It's almost time to compute year end mileages, and set next years goals!

Bikeforums.net Christmas Eve Diablo ride

Man, I'm glad I went on this ride. I'd say I was toast, but toast is warm. It was around 34 degrees at the start. I only made the junction, and even though it was supposed to be to the summit, when I got there I felt as beat as if I'd gone to the top. Tricia (MyLilPony) made me promise to go up new years day. How much training can one do in a week? We'll see.


It was still great to ride with the BF gang and have our old friend Pete show up on his single speed at the junction, and to ride with Dan (below) who hammered out his twentieth ride to the summit for 2011. Yikes!

The mist photos are from a fountain at Pleasant Hill BART, where the ride started, that tosses up vapor on cold days.



Photo note: I traded in my no-internet, no-texting phone when it broke and got an iPhone 4S. I've been enjoying the camera, and used it on this ride.

Delta Pedalers Christmas tree light bike ride

When my bike forum friends call for an 8am ride, we leave at 8am. When the Pedalers, bless their hearts, call for a 5pm ride, they mean they'll show up and start getting their bikes ready some time around 5:20. And they're proud of it too! They told me they aren't all uptight, and it isn't a job, it's supposed to be fun.

Eventually some riders with decorated bikes turned on their lights and sometime about 5:30 we launched our ride through the neighborhoods of Antioch, checking out the Christmas lights. I was really cold, but only because it was a slow ride with a lot of stops to gawk. I'd brilliantly brought a thermos of Starbucks hot coco, so Tricia and I had a bit of a warmer upper.

The ride was fun. There are a few over-the-top houses that make it all worthwhile. Imagine, FM radio transmitters broadcasting Christmas music, and a zillion lights. There was a two-story inflatable elf with a clear stomach containing Santa and another elf (I never figured that one out) and a house with a Santa photo studio in the garage.

We rode about a bit with our blinky-flashers competing and losing to the Simpson Santa and the part-of-the-decoration large screen TV playing a Christmas video.

Our hearts were warm, but our bodies were freezing. We rode home as fast as we could to generate a bit of warmth, and by the time we got back we were feeling pretty good.