Dark Is the Winter

Haven’t been able to ride much lately. It has been raining a lot, and when it wasn’t raining, I was working. Sunday I ventured a ride. Not much of it, just up and down Foothill Expressway, dreaming of the spring and my next climb of OLH. Maybe this year I can break the 20 minutes.

Sunny Weekend

Yes, they do exist! The sunny winter weekends! This one was particularly nice, albeit freezing cold. I skipped the Saturday ride (too lazy) but got to see the huge bunch of Spectrum riders on my way back from the gym. And today, Sunday, I dismissed the tiredness of the guy that has been working (on Saturday) until 4 AM in favor of a short ride up and down Foothill. It was fun. Continue reading

Long Time No See

Wow! It’s been a really long time since I last went on a ride! It’s California winter, right now. In case you haven’t read “Guns, Germs and Steel”, this means it’s raining incessantly, and has been doing so since I started my new job, beginning of december. New gym has new classes, and if I am lucky, I’ll be able to do some of the spinning there. They are very proud of their instructors and equipment, and I fear I have been scared by last year’s fall too badly to go in the rain again. Continue reading

Bad Weather

New job, and the ardent desire to test the new route – but rain will prevent me and I’ll have to drive, much to my displeasure. This means a new chapter in my life is starting, and as usual things are going to be a little chaotic in the beginning. I’ll have to move out of this place, too, and soon. I am already looking at new sites, and finally I’ll make the step and move to the city again. Continue reading

Maui for Bikers

I am always surprised at how biker friendly Maui has become. There are the almost ubiquitous bike lanes, the only ones I know that have explicit ‘Yield’ signs for cars turning right. The average speed limit is absurdly low (20 in towns, 45 on the fastest highway you can share) and some of the rides are really worth your money. Take the Hana coast ride, for instance, with its world class views (and the hidden 7000 ft ascent). Continue reading

Haleakala Ride

Was it worth it? Going up Haleakala in one day, 10,000 ft ascent from sea level, from the ocean to the top of the world? Well, depends… It was a dream of mine, one of the most famous descents in the world, an adventure like no other. From a biking perspective, it was less of an achievement than I thought it would be. Every time I do Old La Honda I am humbled; this time, I wasn’t. Continue reading

Rain

Looks like the chill of fall has given way to the rain of winter. It has been dark and cloudy all week, now, and I stopped riding to work entirely for the moment. Who knows when it’ll get nice again. I am leaving work and will be commuting twice as far, now. Instead of a half hour, it’s going to be more like a full hour to get there. I won’t be able to do that every day; there must be a life besides work and biking somewhere! Continue reading

Completed Spectrum

Finally, I made it all the way through Spectrum! Well, kinda… I was getting cold at the meeting point, so I decided to start on my own and to let me get caught up. I had started to doubt they keep to the route, so it was to no surprise that I hadn’t seen them all the way to Canada. But I was pretty sure that I had taken the usual route: Continue reading

YAF - Yet Another Flat

Guess what? On Saturday morning, of all days, I get hit by a tack on the bike lane. She was hiding on the smooth surface of Foothill while I was riding back to catch up (or down?) with Spectrum. At first, it didn’t sound bad: she hit me while I was staring to the side, and all I heard was a repeated whacking, as if a leaf had been caught in the brakes. Continue reading

Fall in Full Swing - New Clothes Needed!

Today we had an annual rite in this little humble abode: we turned on the furnace for the first time this year. It is officially cold! Gone are the days of easy slumber and bare feet on the stone floors, gone are the lazy evenings at the pool, and gone are the bike rides in nothing but skinsuit. Now it’s time for new gear!