The Long And Winding Road

I am a city cyclist. I ride an upright, city bike. I wear city clothes.

Me in my normal habitat.

City streets are my paths and I share them with city drivers. Recreational riding is not a part of my regular life and until this week, I have not, since college, owned a bike you could easily put on a car rack. My usual ride? Café to grocery shopping to preschool to dry cleaner.... So when my husband told me about the San Francisco Randonneurs' Fall Populaire ride, I was initially disinterested. Riding all day just to see how far I can go does not appeal to my taste, nor does riding for 24 hours in a row! When he said it was a shorter ride than they usually do, just 71 miles, and not going over Mt. Tam, I found myself listening. There were enough parts and a great Raleigh frame in the garage to make me a sturdy touring bike for the ride and James and I are always looking for things to do together.

In three days, Hubbie the Bike Man put together a touring bike for me with an early 80's Raleigh Pursuit steel frame as its base (and may I say, it ROCKS!).

The Hasselhoff knows where to wait.

The fact that I was going to be riding on drops was a bit frightening for me. I have many physical injuries that make riding problematic- Spinal injuries (at C3 & 7, T4, L4-5), partial paralysis in both my arms, damaged sternocostal joints, recent wrist surgery and 4 surgeries on my right knee that have left my right quads visibly smaller and weaker than my left. It has taken years to regain the strength and co-ordination necessary to ride on the level that I do everyday, and the key has been riding upright, not on drops. Amazingly, by the end of the ride, my only pain was in my neck and I know that at least half of that was caused by my helmet. I was so surprised.

The day of the ride came (the key to getting me to do it? Don't give me time to think about it too much) and James and I met up with Meli and our friends Eric and Sean at the Golden Gate Bridge with the rest of the brevet riders (it was the last time we saw them : )

Instructions. Way too early for instructions.

Our first challenge was getting to the top of the hill just north of Fairfax. When I drive up that mountain, I always look at the cyclists puffing up to the top and find myself greatfull that I am not one of them. Not today! The guys all scooted up to the top. Meli and me? We were less speedy, and I know for certain that I was less graceful! There were several stops made on the way up, but we didn't have to push (a claim I can not make on other hills) and Eric had grapes waiting for us at the top.

Top o' the hill (#1)

We took the Cross Marin Trail through Samuel P. Taylor park. 3 road touring bikes and a 40 year old mixte on gravel- no wipeouts, no flats!

Cross Marin conversations.

We glided into Point Reyes around 1:30 PM and fell to finding lunch immediately. I'll let Meli tell you where she headed first (although you can probably guess : ). A little food and a few minutes out of the saddle and we were all good to go (after a bathroom stop).

We are a happy crew!

From Point Reyes we headed toward Nicasio to ride around the reservoir (there is still water in it!). Yet another climb, but this was right after lunch so we were good. I was talking to Eric as we rode along, and didn't notice we had lost Meli. I decided to stop and wait for her because I did not see her behind us, which meant she was pretty far back. When she caught up a few minutes later it turned out she had been stung by a bee!

Meli gets stung and I take pictures!

The bike gods must love us because this was our only disaster of the day. No flats, no injuries, no bad moods- just a great ride! The ride back toward San Francisco was challenging because we were getting tired and we were way behind the rest of the riders. By the time we hit the Golden Gate Bridge, the wind was literally howling through the girders and all of us got thrown off our bikes or completely stopped in our tracks by the wind coming around the towers!!

OMG! Windy!

We did not make a single check point on time and arrived back in San Francisco 3 hours after everyone else! We were the definition of DFL!! We could not have been more pleased!

Team DFL? Team Caboose? We need a name!

We may be slow, we may come in last, we may be the "lanterne rouge" but we ROCK! I have always thought that a ride that long was beyond me, that I could never make the hills. Bicycling has shown me two things- I am way stronger, physically, than I knew and that the best people out there are on bicycles! Because of this, I was smiling at the beginning,

8:30 AM & I am wearing a helmet!

and I was still smiling 74 miles and 10 hours later!

6:30 PM Still smiling, still wearing the damn helmet : )

Don't think you could do this? Try! You have nothing to lose! Meli's version of the ride coming soon!

New Disclosure Rules

From the AP. This will certainly effect many out there. I am glad that this is being addressed because it is important to know where your information is coming from and bloggers have more responsibility for keeping our blogs clean than we sometimes realize.-

FTC: Bloggers must disclose payments for reviews

(AP) – 4 hours ago

PHILADELPHIA — The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.

It is the first time since 1980 that the commission has revised its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials, and the first time the rules have covered bloggers.

But the commission stopped short Monday of specifying how bloggers must disclose any conflicts of interest.

The FTC said its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final guidelines, which had been expected. Penalties include up to $11,000 in fines per violation.

The rules take effect Dec. 1.

We Made It!

More later. For now, this picture of me and Meli at the almost 75 mile mark! Still friends and all pieces still intact : )

Black & White Saturday

Wish Us Luck!

Well, my friends, Meli and I need your good thoughts with us... we are about to experience a grave challenge. We are going to ride from San Francisco to Point Reyes and back.

71 miles.



We were both beat after riding to Fairfax and back over the Summer. Will we survive to blog another day? Or will we succumb to the comforts of Point Reyes' many B&B's and spend the night there with beer and oysters?

Pray for us, my friends. We need it!

TGIF!!

There are no excuses now...

Commuters by ramjetgr

Here Comes The Rain Again

San Francisco is finally having Summer. It will last for the month of October, if we are lucky. Then the fun starts- rainy season! All of us face rain challenges differently. Last year was the first year I have deliberately chosen to ride in the rain and by far the greatest challenge was what to wear.




I didn't take it too seriously to be honest. I tried true rain gear, and for heavy rain it worked to keep the rain out, but it sure keeps the sweat in. I figured out pretty quick the best thing to do was limit my exposure by making sure my trips were as short as possible.



After a while, I decided to dump the strict rain gear and just go with quick dry for days when the rain wasn't too heavy. My nylon skirt and nylons proved to really do the trick as they dry in minutes. My regular old rain boots work fine for pedaling.



Some days I had to wrap myself up like a giant rubber Christmas gift.


Sometimes I just got caught in it unprepared. Not a big deal.

This is not a comprehensive report on how to deal with rain, just my silly take on it. How do you do it? Do you hang it up when the clouds get dark or do you hit the road, hermetically sealed against the elements? I know that this year my greatest challenge will be how to ride with Declan on the back- how do I keep him dry enough to not be cold? how do I keep him entertained enough to not whine the whole way home?