Down To The Crit

Was sitting around this morning, basking in an after-bran flakes glow, thing about going on a bike ride. On the TV (TB, as I been known to call it.) they showed the El Cajon Gran Prix Bike Race, so I decided to go down and take a look.

So I did.

Along the way I saw what I call the "Jesus truck", parked on the overpass near the Kingdom Hall near Grossmont High school. I wonder if they parked it there so the freeway drivers can see it and become enlightened, or because it's free parking. I wonder what the Witnesses think of it.

Click the images to visit my zooomr page and see size large, some are quite nice!
Some, not so much...

And it's got a big brother, as it were!

I made my way into the bowels of El Cajon, over to where the crit was circling the library are, sort of. The boys were zooming around.

I realized that, to ME, racing is not all that interesting if one doesn't know anyone IN the race, and we don't have Phil and Paul announcing it. Not to mention Bobke!

I headed over Ballantyne St., saw some new construction, thought the pipes looking interesting.

Couldnt' figure out the two-into-one, till later I figured some sort of vault would do it.

The Forester Creek Improvement Project in Santee is coming along. The paving is in, mostly, and the bridge is sorta open to local traffic, scofflaw bicycles, at least!

What city does this building belong to?

Rode through the gorge. Very nice ride, what with the heavy overcast. Nice and cool!

What's with this bike lane graffiti on Jackson Drive? Who can read it, it's facing the wrong way! And what does it mean?

And lastly, a duck in a tree at Lake Murray.

The ride totaled out at around 26 miles.

Did I mention I found a dime?

That makes around 46 miles for the week, total on the two bikes.

Friday Evening

Rode the bike two days this week, and managed 20 miles. No worries.

The BIG NEWS IS: The COW IS GONE!!

The day after I took the picture, Ms. Cow was gone. How serendipitous (seren·dipi·tous) that I took the picture the day I did!

Death On Wheels

More whining about other cyclists riding, since I am perfect.

Study this picture...

Baltimore and Fletcher Parkway Hosted on Zooomr

What do we see?

We see ME waiting in line to turn today, in my vehicle. In purple.

We see a BICYCLIST also waiting to turn, not taking the lane, but sitting INSIDE the cars.

So the signal turns green, the cyclist takes off, following through the turn on the INSIDE of the turning cars. I'm thinking, this whole time since I saw him sitting there, where's he going to go after the turn?

Well, we find out. Everyone has to stop so he can cut across two lanes of traffic (going uphill) to gain the safety of the bike lane.

On the other hand, being nearly perfect, my STRATEGY is to take the turning lane, the OUTSIDE turning lane, and swing wide so the car can pass INSIDE of me, but still in their lane. I can do this because the opposing traffic doesn't turn. In the case of opposing traffic turning, I would just take the turning lane until my turn was completed. It just works out nicely at this particular light.

LATER: That's not REALLLY me in the pic, I just edited an image from Microsoft Live Local to represent the scene. But you knew that...

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Tomorrow I think I will ride. I oiled the chain on the Jamis, adjusted the rubbing brake shoe (had to file a ridge off!), and charged the battery a little bit.

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I am quite bummed at some awful news I have been hearing. If you read the Fat Cyclist blog, then you know about that. At work one of the fellow's wife is pretty ill also. I hope everything turns out OK, and wish them all the strength to deal with it all.

When I hear about this stuff it makes my complaints seem like pretty small potatoes...

Shut up and ride!

LATER: What I meant was, I should just shut up and ride!

NMRTW

Not Much Riding This Week, for a variety of reasons. A minor non-life-threatening-but-intensely-irritating medical problem is causing me to drive more than usual.

Anyway, here's the cow I may have mentioned the other day:

2007April24miscRESIZED 001 Hosted on Zooomr

While I took THIS picture from/through the window of the vehicle, it EXACTLY duplicates the view I had of said cow from the saddle of the bike the other day. So my journalistic integrity can NOT be questioned! So THERE!

Bike Lanes

Ran across this picture on the Bike Lane Diary blog, linked to the Spacing Wire blog.

457978718_49eebc33da_b Hosted on Zooomr

Why is that guy riding on the sidewalk?

And in the comments I saw this link to a cartoon on Takethetooker which is hilarious, if you ride a bike.

Remember this pic I posted back August of last year?



What do YOU think about cars parking in the bike lane?

Baptism

What a day to ignore Mr. John "I founded the Weather Channel" Coleman's prediction of rain!

I rode the Jamis today, and "baby blue" got wet for the first time on the way home. Now he (she?) is all dirty and wet! Jamis and Schwinn can sit out there in the garage and commiserate.

Mr. Odometer says 44.15 miles commuting miles this week.

Here's a link to a local band you may remember, if you lived in the San Diego area in the sixties:

Sandi and the Accents. I rode in the elevator with Sandi when they were on TV-8 Dancetime when we of the Young Nobles Cotillion were visiting.

Grocery Day

It's Grocery Day here, so I didn't ride today. I DID put $40.00 worth of gas in the vehicle. Did not fill it. YOU already know this, but I only fill up once every couple months, soooo....sticker shock!

Muppet (see the Urban Dictionary, especially definition #3, if you dare, rated "R") of the yesterday was the couple who crossed the street RIGHT in front of me without looking, especially the female half of said couple. The guy kinda looked at me with sort of shrug, like, "What can I say?"

Here is a photo of the latest incarnation of Steve the L.'s fabulous Eddy Merckx. You remember, the $25.00 bike... Check out my zooomr page for several more, including closups. Click on the image, you know the drill!

Columns

Turned out that the stats I did last Saturday are the stats for the week. A round about way of saying I didn't ride Sunday. Heck, I didn't even leave the house!

'Ever, I DID ride to work this morning. At lunch I read this article by Logan Jenkins in the awful San Diego UT (Onion-Tribunal) titled Wheels Of Fortune. It talks about bicyclists and drivers and the unfortunate interactions they sometimes have, and it talks about that three-foot passing law I mentioned the other month. I STILL haven't made that hinged yardstick with the nail on the end...

Oiled the chains today, and made a nifty-keeno form to keep track of chain-oilings. On a spreadsheet. Because I'm too lazy to use a ruler.

Ducks Redux

Did a classic Dam Ride this morning. Left around 7ish.

I truly need to keep an eye on the helmet mirror. I was tootling along Fletcher Parkway when I TOTALLY startled by a guy wishing me a good morning as he passed me at great speed, his messenger bag flapping in his wake. Interestingly, even though he was traveling at GREAT SPEED, I caught him, and nearly caught him, and pretty nearly caught him, at the next four stop lights.

THEY haven't paved along Prospect in Santee yet, but it look pretty well ready. It will be interesting to see where the bike path, I mean multi-use path, will go when completed.

I runner on Father Serra Multi-Use Path VERY NEARLY spit on me as I passed him with a cheery "Good morning." I wagged my finger (the pointer, what are you thinking?) at him and said, "Almost got me!!" He apologized, my wagging finger having done its job.

Baby ducks at Lake Murray!

And...THERE'S number six!

Be sure to click on the pictures to see the larger images and get the full slimy green goodness!

Earlier I saw a lady riding her blue bike while her little dog walked on a leash. At the duck viewing spot I talked to a her about the ducks, and asked if her doggie was tired as her little doggie was riding in the bike basket. She said that was a dangerous part of the path, what with all the squirrels and geese. Hey, was she talking about ME?!?

Followed some pony-tailed brunette on a fitness-type bike around the lake. She was moving along at 15 mph, a bit gangly-looking. It was really too crowded for 15 mph, and several times I had to slow or stop because of pedestrian traffic, but she pretty much dived right through the narrowest gap.

Ride Stats:

Distance -- 22.09 miles
First Hour Distance -- 13.3 miles
Riding Time -- 1 hour 45 minutes 3 seconds

Weekly Stats, So Far:

Jamis -- 40.47 miles
Schwinn -- 22.09 miles

Poppies!!

Very overcast this Easter morning. Chance of sprinkles predicted.

I took a chance, went for a ride.

Along Bancroft at the base of Mt. Helix I stopped and took awful pictures of flowers:

My favorite of the group.

You can click on the pics to vist my zooomr page and see the awfulness in all its glory! Do it!

I wandered around El Cajon and eventually made my way to Prospect Ave. in Santee and settled in on a Dam Ride.

A dog on a leash (a LONG leash) lunged at me near the dam. I yelled, "YEAH, THAT'S A GOOD IDEA!" I don't know what it means, either. Maybe, "Please don't taunt the dynamite monkey"

After a pit stop at the interpretive center to eat a granola bar, I climb up Jackson Drive in the 24/24 combination. I found that at the top of the hill I had completely forgotten about the dog thing.

Some kind of Easter thing going on at the lake. Loud Xtian Rock music. At the light on Lake Murray and Kiowa a couple on bikes that I had passed earlier caught me. As the light didn't seem to want to change, I rolled over and pushed the button. They said "Thanks", and we chatted about the weather a bit. The light changed, they took off and said "Bye".

I made it home ok.

Ride Stats

Distance -- 26.20 miles
Riding Time -- 2 hours 9 minutes
One Hour Distance -- 12.5 miles

Weekly Stats

Schwinn -- 84 miles
Jamis -- 0 miles

Odometer -- 6,275 miles

Saturday, Saturday

Did something a little different this morning. I kind of wandered around a bit, going around behind Grossmont High School and eventually coming DOWN the hill in El Cajon on Hillsmont Drive. After going down only ONE dead end. Hillsmont, you will remember, is blocked so cars cannot go through, but bicycles can. Coolness.

Found one of those wheel things for putting under patio flower pots. It was lying the big ol' field on the other side of the fence from the bike path in Santee, near the cement plant. Since the gate to the field was open, I went in there and TOOK it! Yikes!

The little different stuff started when I got to Big Rock Park. I turned LEFT, instead of right, and went UP THE DIRT ROAD! Adventure!

But first I had to take picture of cloudy Cowles Mountain, and re-secure the load.

I rode up the dirt road, just like back in the sixties, except now I had a granny gear (well, I used the 24/24 combination(Hey, that's 1 to 1!!)) instead of the two-speed Bendix on the Schwinn Stingray. but I'm still riding a Schwinn!

I heard running water and saw this little streamlet

Then I saw this little pond.

Click on the image to visit my zooomr page and see the beer bottle in the pond...

The road got narrower as I proceeded up the canyon. High above I see, sort of, Grossmont College. Well, not really, but I knew it was there.

The trail head is at the end of Lake Murray Blvd. I don't think I've ever been on this part of it before. Now I can say I've cycled the whole Boulevard!

Finally you can see the wheeled thing I was talking about.

Touring bikes is for touring!

I made it all the way home without it falling off!

A little drizzle fell for a few minutes, but I got home OK, you will be glad to know.

Ride Stats:

Distance -- 18.36
Riding Time -- 1 hour 36 minutes

Odometer -- 6,249

Check out Mountain Bike Bill's page, with pics, on mountain biking in the area of Cowles Mountain/Pyles Peak.

Cloudy Friday

It's totally overcast this morning, it's "June Gloom", in April!
Totally excellent day for a ride!

Did a classic Dam Ride.

Did not have any incidents with vehicles!

Did the Jackson Drive hill in the 36-24 combination.
Which is TOTALLY not granny!

I was almost wheezing like a smoker at the top of the hill.

RIDE STATS:

Distance -- 22.18 miles (35.58 km)
First Hour -- 13 miles (a teensy bit more than 20.53 km/h)
Total Ride Time -- 1 hour 44 minutes 27 seconds
Ride Average Speed -- 12.75 mph (20.53 km/h)

Odometer Reading -- 6,231 miles

Tuesday Morning

FORCED myself awake this morning, went for a bike ride at some dawn-before-the-sun time. Every one is heading off to work, I'm just riding my bike like a loafer.

I dropped off a book at the library, then just moseyed on over to Eucalyptus Park. Turned around there, headed back up the hill and over to Grossmont High School. Turning on to Murry Drive I nearly got whacked by a car, but what else is new? After a loud "EXCUSE ME!", I proceeded on my way.

Went around the rim on over to Fletcher Parkway, then headed west, eventually on Navajo Road. Made my way to the lake, went around it, headed home.

No sweat.

Well, some.

At the one hour mark I had gone 12 miles.

The whole ride was 17.22 miles in 1 hour 21 minutes.

The odometer reading is 6,208.

It was probably 6,191 this morning, to start the week.

One more day of radiation.

No Fooling

I may not have ridden yesterday, but I DID oil the chain in preparation for today!

I rode down to the Dam. It wasn't TOO chilly, but I did wear the helmet hat with the ear flaps. Very toasty! The glove liners went on, too. One of them has a hole on the big finger. Very tacky.

I forgot the Headsweat, so I had to go back into the house to get it. I knew it would warm up after a while, and I would need it.

I also wore the obnoxiously yellow jacket.

The entire ride went very well, albeit slowly.

Down on Cuyamaca Street I saw this van with a Schneider Cams decal on the back. In fact, there were THREE!

Clicky the pics to visit my zooomr and see all sizes, etc.

I remember lusting for a Schneider decal, they were so cool. Not realizing, of course, that one needed actually to INSTALL said cam in one's vehicle to derive any benefit of coolness, unless one's goal was to be a poser. I don't think "poser" had been invented yet, though.

After I took the photo, when i rode past the van the driver was looking out the window at me...so much for stealth photos!! I said "How's it going?", he said "OK."

Eventually I made my way to the Forester Creek project. It's coming along, but it sure seems to be taking a long time.

Looking to the east-ish we see the bridge is completed, for some time now, actually, and the curbs are coming along.

Looking to the west-ish we see stakes. Lots of stakes. And no curbs, yet. Well, this stuff takes time, I guess.

It was surprisingly chilly going through The Gorge on the bike path. I managed to say "Good morning" to nearly everyone I passed, to avoide scaring them. Most of them jumped to the side of the path when I spoke. I was riding around 10 mph, so I wasn't, like, ZOOOMING passed them. Maybe I need playing cards in the spokes so they hear me coming...

Took off the warm stuff at the bottom of Jackson Drive hill, but left on the jacket. Did the hill in granny gear.

Passed around the lake, no problems, no animals, no hordes of kids on bikes, just lot s of runner and others enjoying the sun.

Statistics:

First hour -- 10 miles

Total ride -- 22 miles

Weekly total -- 22 miles