Claire and I decided to go out for a mountain bike ride this afternoon, and by sheer coincidence, we ran into A2 and Jimmy Neutron.  We all decided to ride together.  The weather was perfect.  We ended up riding for over 3 hours and do almost the whole perimeter of the park.  We got back to the bus at right around sunset.  It was great to see Jimmy Neutron out on his mountain bike.  This was our first ride with him if you don’t count the downhilling at Northstar this summer.  Everybody managed to stay upright the entire ride.  A2 was out sporting his new Sedi shoes and Frog pedals.  He was a bunny hopping fool.  Here is a link to the ride.  

I went out for a run around the neighborhood today while Claire walked.  I took my Garmin with me to see how it would work.  I think that running through all the trees threw it for a loop since it ended up saying that I only ran around 6 miles in a little over an hour.  I know there were plenty of hills and all, but I wasn’t running that slow.  I checked the map that it came up with afterwards and there were some pieces missing, probably during the times that it had trouble with the satellites.  We did some secret stuff on the run, and I did a lot of looping back and forth to check up on Claire, so the map is pretty haywire.  I felt great.  Maybe a little cold at the end, but no aches and pains.  Here is a link to the loop.

Well, our intentions were noble.  Claire and I hopped on our bikes with Mathilda in the trailer behind me.  We headed out on our favorite loop out Westside Road, etc.  About 6 miles into it, my left pedal broke.  Nothing catastrophic, but just a little snap as the pedal body separated from the spindle.  I have been waiting for this to happen since they are a pair of inexpensive clipless pedals that I have probably overused.  The rest of the way home I just had to concentrate on keeping the pedal together and everything was just fine.  When we got back home I ran into the house and grabbed another left pedal which I had sitting around.  Claire didn’t feel like going out any further, so I decided to go ride over Sweetwater.  When I got part way up the hill outside Rio Nido, my right pedal decided to break.  I turned around there deciding that it just wasn’t in the cards for me.  Here is a link to my ride.  

I rode the rollers for an hour and a half the other day.  I am always surprised how fast the time goes by.  I remember when I was younger that a half an hour seemed like torture, but now the time just flies by.  I made a workout playlist for my iPod which I have listed below.  I ended with a average heart rate of 158. 

Well, I feel bad since I went out with A1 and A2 on Nov. 22 and didn’t write anything about it.  We went out on a mountain bike ride in Annadel at 7 in the morning which is quite cold.  It was great to be out there and I showed the two of them a couple of new trails.  A1 had his Garmin along and he sent me this link.  We ended up going about 20 miles in two hours.  My average heart rate was almost 170. 

I am up in Oregon visiting my family for a couple of days.  I got out this morning for a great run around the area.  I ended up running 11 miles.  It was drizzling most of the time, and there was one downpour for just a couple of minutes, but my smile was my umbrella.  My calf hurt pretty good, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

Claire and I went out yesterday and did a 20 mile ride out of Duncans Mills.  We rode the Ibis Cousin-it tandem with some cross tires on it. I had the chance to use A1’s Garmin computer which was fun.  We ended up with 1800 feet of climbing.  Where was the loop you ask?  We headed up Moscow Road and then turned on Bohemian Hwy. towards Occidental.  We took a little side trip out of Camp Meeker to add a short 20% grade to test out the Garmin.  We took Bitner out of Occidental and then hit Coleman Valley before turning left on Willow Creek.  We jumped off the road and headed through Willow Creek State Park and rode the ridge and down the steep hill out of the park and back to the car.  We only had one little incident off road, and that was where we hit a little sink hole and the front wheel of the tandem dropped down about 8 inches or so.  Claire flew forward into my back, but everyone was okay.

Since it rained most of the day, I decided to go down the basement and ride the rollers for an hour.  I also decided to make my first youtube video.  I kept it to 46 seconds.  The roller ride was for an hour.  

It has been a busy, busy summer, and I am happy to say that things are winding down.  The Furnace Creek 508 didn’t go as planned, and our rider ended up dropping out at the top of Towne’s Pass.  It was a tough decision, but stomach problems prevailed.  That is the main reason for any rider dropping out.  That was the second time that Claire and I had to witness our rider making that decision at that exact location.  

Well, we are down here in Valencia the night before the Furnace Creek 508.  It has been 14 years since I rode this event.  When I rode the event, there were around 30 people doing the solo race, this year there are 84 people.  Our friend Debbie is ready, and we are excited about crewing for her.  The race starts at 7 a.m. and Debbie is on her own for the first 24 miles.  After that we will be leap frogging all day taking care of her.