Factual and boring review of events. No Joke.

Tuesday's regular ride was preempted by a busy work schedule and an evening meeting .
I had assumed I was going to miss the entire week of riding, since this weekend and next week will include no cycling.
Today's schedule changed just about hourly, and my afternoon opened up unexpectedly. I was pleased to see an email from Vince looking for riders this afternoon. I was there at 5:00.

Frankly today's ride was uneventful. We rode familiar trails and didn't ride all that hard. It was a good opportunity for me to reflect on my progress.
I found myself today in far better physical condition than one year ago. It was one year ago in July that I actually started riding again for the first time since college. I bought a mountain bike to pull my daughter around with. My goal was to purchase a mountain bike with front suspension in reasonably good condition. As I looked for used bikes, I came across the bike I now own, a GT Idrive. I did some quick internet research and found that many people loved the bike - about as many as hated it. I also did some research to determine how much the bike should cost, and realized I was looking at a good deal. I bought the bike, and started pulling my daughter around on her "trailer bike."

I knew that now having a full suspension bike meant that I had to at least give real mountain biking a try. This I did, and haven't been the same since.
My first ride was in Briones, where I found hills which I deemed impassable. I rode around for 30 minutes or so and decided that there must be some better place to ride a bike. About a week later I was invited to ride in the same area by Rick, who had also hooked up with Vince. I soon found myself watching Vince climb these impassable hills. With his coaching, I was following not long after.

I have much more to say about those first few rides, which I will attempt to make more lively in the future - unless, of course, I don't have any more boring rides, in which case I will stick to current topics and rides.

Yes, and sorry, it's another cell phone picture.
Nice front shocks huh?
Overlooking Pleasant Hill, CA

5/26/08 Memorial Day, Castle Rock

New rider this morning. Tim Snow (Age 13). He may be young but he has distinct potential. And, a brand new bike.


This morning set a splendid ride through a beautiful wooded valley in the south west foothills of Mt. Diablo. The air was cool and a little too humid, but the sun momentarily squeezed a few rays between the peaks of the highest ridges on the east and the morning fog, stunning me into stopping my pre-ride jog and ignoring the T-shirt sticking to my back, long enough to breath a prayer of gratitude for the heavenly gift I had just been handed.

I spent a significant amount of time on Saturday traversing the roads of Mt. Diablo with Vince and Reza, including over 40 total miles, once to the top, back to the bottom, and once again to the ranger station (1/2 way up), where I had to let my comrades finish the ride while I returned home for Ella's 5th birthday party.

The effects of that ride, have pursued me through the weekend, so on Sunday at church when Dave K. requested a MTB ride Monday (Memorial Day) morning, I was quick to oblige with conditions - it has to be easy, and fun.

Fun it was. I made the mistake of inviting Schweikert, so the easy part was consumed by our mutual and hopefully never terminal competitive nature. It was not as easy as I had planned.
I found myself following him up numerous hills that the others had the good sense not to climb.

The majority of the fun, however, came from the dozen-plus times that the creek crosses the trail and the the obvious obligation to traverse. I've ridden this trail before, and the result is always the same. The first few times you ride through the water, it is with caution and a faint hope of staying dry. However, within a very short time you get very wet, and the entire basis for caution - a dry ride home - is no longer viable. Caution inevitably gives way to testosterone.

The ride ended well with all but Pastor Brent taking their hand at riding as fast as possible over a small drop off, where if done right, one can suspend body, soul, and spirit between the heaven and the earth for various lengths of time and with varying results. Today the results were fabulous, and all riders returned to the trucks under their own power, astride their bikes. (It does not always have to be that way)

Great ride guys.
Photo credit goes to Schweickert's mobile phone.
Yes that is me watching Terra Firma shrink into the distance.

First time...

Yikes,
And to think it wasn't that long ago that I didn't even want a computer.
Now I'm posting my thoughts so that all the world can see.

This Blog - as they call it - will start out as my attempt to record my weekly rides on my bike.
It may end up as that also. However, I have no idea how long I will write here, or if I will stay on subject.

It is late tonight, actually midnight as I type this sentence - OK 12:01 now.
So... I will write about Saturday's ride some other time, as I need to go to bed to be ready for tomorrow's ride at 7:00 am. I hope to get a half hour of jogging in first which means being at the trail at 6:30, and out of the house at 6:10.

Later.