March 28th Rides

Since I haven't felt real comfortable doing the club, I punked it:eek:
Instead of go up the hill, I went on down baseline and into downtown claremont:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0407.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0408.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0409.jpg
I then got on the pacific electric trial:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0410.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0411.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0412.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0413.jpg

We did a 33 mile ride today, some good hills too-- but I got too exhausted at the end. We had a great workout and a beautiful day anyway though! I guess I am still in semi-poor "winter" conditioning. :o

Well, I thought I was commuting to work, but when I got there, my friend (who I work for) was ready to head to the bike shop to get her new bike! Gotta say, my lbs is the best. They gave her (and her dbf) great deals, and made many part substitutions to get the perfect comfortable fit.

It ended up taking all day, so I never did make it to "work". We walked the dogs, then took the new bike out for a spin.

My friend did really well on her maiden voyage. She's definitely more coordinated than I was starting out, and didn't seem to have much trouble with traffic or the hill. I can tell she's afraid of speed, so we kept it easy. It brought back so many memories of my first road bike.

So, I did my commute, plus an extra few miles of new bike love. Perfection.

So here I sit, in a hotel in Lone Pine CA, in the heart of the Owens Valley (one of my favorite places to go just to get away.) Spent the day MTBing in the Alabama Hills all by my lonesome... with a camera.

http://home.earthlink.net/~zahava.s/images/alabama1.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~l.segal/images/alabama2.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~tzvia/images/alabama4.jpg

The weather is perfect-by the time I got the gear on at the trailhead, it was about 70f, and it climbed to about 75f- with a light cool breeze from the west, off the high Sierras. I had to fight hoards of black gnats- great swirling balls of the little beasts- near all the rock formations. They forced me back from more than one spot that I wanted to stop and take a photo from. I cycled back to the truck and found the 'OFF' which only helped a little. Those little beasts don't care that they are supposed to be repelled by Deet, maybe they did not read the instructions? Oh well, they seemed to retreat as the day progressed and I got back to my tooling around. Great day.

Well, Fredwina, as you know ... today was a beautiful day for me, because the PINK club jerseys came in! :D But it was also a beautiful day because ... well, it was a beautiful day. ;) Perfect weather.

I did the Solvang Century two weeks ago and three climbing rides the week before to prepare ... for a total of 12,000 feet in an 8 day period. I am so proud of myself that I was able to do all of that, which is more than I have ever put my body through ... but my body was SO done after that and needed an extended recovery. Then I got sick, so today was my first day where I felt like I was really BACK. And it felt so good! I did the intermediate club ride (didn't think I was ready for the 12% grade ... though, in retrospect, I probably would have been fine). But it was even more fun to do the intermediate ride, because I KILLED it! I did it faster than I've ever done it (17.2 pace) and beat everyone up Benson. This is the first time I've ever beaten any group of people up any hill ever! I even had to sprint at the end to keep my lead, but I succeeded. :)

So, today was a BEAUTIFUL day for me in the world of cycling. :D

The weather here was gray and misty but I HAD to get out on my new bike! It's an Aegis T2 pro. 22.5 fast miles. Felt really good!

http://nicole.thomas14.home.comcast....gis_0024-2.jpg

http://nicole.thomas14.home.comcast....gis_0026-2.jpg

Yes, Jiffer I'm aware you're tickled pink
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0414.jpg
also find this neat garden/ memorial to the are wine making at Vineyard and Rochester:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0417.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0416.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0418.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sc...0/100_0419.jpg
here's about the lady that was the subject of the last bust :) http://www.chaffey.org/community/cuc...survivors.html

Love all the photos - thanks for sharing:)

Rainy day here - so no ride. Maybe tomorrow:)

CA