Friday May 05, 2006

Spring is finally here! The rain has finally stopped here in the SF Bay Area, and I've been able to ride my bike in on a much more regular basis.  Flowers are blooming along the bay shore trail like crazy - it's beautiful!  Shoreline park is a bird sanctuary, so it's cool to see lots of different species hanging out in the very large park.  Today, I saw some pheasants and tons of geese.  The geese today were quite puffed up and were hissing as we approached, because they have lots of baby goslings!  Last week I saw an egret that had caught a rodent, and a pair of burrow owls just hanging out.  I knew the burrow owls the moment I saw them, after years of listening to the Dead Milkmen's "Stuart".

With the dry weather I was also finally able to get out on my mountain bike this week.  WOW!  Mountain biking is much harder than road biking.  I went down to Los Gatos with a few other mountain bikers & road up St Joeseph's hill.  It was so hard, with my heart rate constantly spiking into the high 180s, but I did it!  Now I can't wait to get out on my mountain bike again - soon!

At this point, though, I just want to make sure I am in shape to do the American Lung Association's ride at the end of this month. I know I *can* do it, but I want to do it without hurting myself again!

Monday May 30, 2005

Bike for Breath a huge success!

Wow!  It's done!  We started out bright and early leaving the hotel parking lot at 7:15 AM to register and pick up our jersey's and t-shirts.  After a quick rendevous at the car, we were off by 7:40 AM to start our 65-mile ride!  Here's me and Danek Duvall getting started.

It was a cool and incredibly windy day.  I didn't see the sunlight until well after noon.  This was the longest bike ride I've ever been on, and I'm quite happy with myself that I was able to finish in 6 hours and 8 minutes (including rest stops).  It was an amazing ride in a beautiful part of California.  My team, Team Salty Dawgs, were the number one fundraisers.  I should've gotten a picture of us with the trophy, but after the ride I was a bit tired and just thinking about eating lunch. 

Happily, I wasn't too sore or too tired, until I got out of the car after the long drive home.  Then I discovered I had tendinitis in my knee *ouch*.  But after only hobbling around for a couple of days, I'm already feeling much better.  I'd like to get back in the saddle again, but will be passing on road bikes for awhile and get back to my mountain biking. :-)

More pictures can be found on my website.

Monday May 23, 2005

Training continues!!! I did 45 miles on Saturday and another 13 on Sunday.  Not as much riding as I was hoping to get in this weekend, but it was hot and I got hungry :-)    I'm going to have to do some serious climbing on Saturday as well as just sitting in the saddle a long time.  I figure that the 65-mile bike ride will take me about 5.5 hours, perhaps more, depending on how hot it is.  I will finish the ride - it means a lot to my mother, and a lot to me.  The Bike4Breath group has been very supportive, too.  It should be a ton of fun - the Salty Dawgs ride on Saturday! Argh, matey! 

watch this space for ride photos...
(2005-05-23 18:01:26.0) Permalink Comments [0]

Monday May 16, 2005

Sun's employees are amazingly generous! I am currently raising funds for the Bike4Breath's 2 Rock Ride (I'm doing 65-miles!) and I am just amazed at how incredibly generous Sun employees are.  Even in these tight times, not one person I've asked for a donation has said no.  And I've just been flabbergasted at just how giving each person is. Wow!!

I did two training rides this weekend.  First was just starting from home, going to the Alpine Inn, down to Sun Menlo Park, and home again - *whew*.  Yesterday, I went to Hecker Pass in Gilroy, started out at Fortino Winery, then road all around through that beautiful area, winding through Morgan Hill and getting back to Fortino just in time to pick up a couple of bottles of their wonderful Zinfandel. 

I did just about 60 miles this weekend.  I have to somehow work this up to 65-miles in one ride in the next two weeks. Yikes!
(2005-05-16 13:18:56.0) Permalink Comments [0]

Tuesday April 26, 2005

First game of the season - a win! So, I'm too busy this summer to actually commit to any softball team as a full time player, but I am a sub on two teams.  Last night was my first time playing with the Menlo Park 'Freaks', and besides being very cold outside, it was an excellent game.  My fielding didn't totally suck, and I actually got a hit *and* got on base *and* progressed a runner (instead of one of us getting out).  Pretty amazing.  All the same, I need to get to a batting cage if I'm going to play anymore!  My hitting was ... well... subpar.  Fortunately, this was a really cool team to play with and everyone was very supportive.  That's critical for me, because I'm not a serious player (obviously) so I'm only playing to have fun, and fun it definitely was.  We won, 18-10. Yippee!

Other than softball, I've been riding my bike a lot.  Just rode it 5 days in a row, at least 20 miles on each day.  I need to get close to 60 before the big Bike 4 Breath ride at the end of May.
(2005-04-26 16:14:20.0) Permalink Comments [0]

Tuesday February 08, 2005

Trail Etiquette

So, I was riding on St. Joeseph's hill this weekend, and as I was about to overtake a couple of walkers, I called out the standard "On your left!"  Well, the walkers didn't move and continued to take up the majority of the trail.  I was afraid I'd clip one of them as I passed, so I called out again and slowed down.  Yet, as I got closer, neither of the walkers had moved, so this time I yelled out "On your left!"  One of the walkers turned to me and shouted, "We heard you the first time!"

Hmmpf.  In case it's not obvious, faster users of a trail  not only announce their presence as a courtesy, but also for everybody's safety.

Still, had a great ride.  It was much more difficult than it should've been, which means I need to get out more.