february rides

[maillotpois]

. . . Yay fat bikes!

SheFly

Indeed! We regularly see fat bikes while snowshoeing in Tahoe and when the kid (in Boston) and I visited Mom (in Maine) last week, we saw demos of fat bikes at LL Bean, which was really cool!!

[azfiddle]

Most of the rest of the US seems to be locked into blizzards and other forms of miserable cold weather, but since it is mostly avoiding southern Arizona, we were able to complete another 200k brevet (actually 210k) yesterday. It seems to be getting a little easier- or maybe it was just a nice day, so I felt like this one was about 95% fun and only about 5% misery. That 5% was mostly in 4 miles headed uphill into the wind, from mile 98 to mile 102. Otherwise, it was a very enjoyable ride with my husband and two friends.

[salsabike]

Most of the rest of the US seems to be locked into blizzards and other forms of miserable cold weather, but since it is mostly avoiding southern Arizona, we were able to complete another 200k brevet (actually 210k) yesterday. It seems to be getting a little easier- or maybe it was just a nice day, so I felt like this one was about 95% fun and only about 5% misery. That 5% was mostly in 4 miles headed uphill into the wind, from mile 98 to mile 102. Otherwise, it was a very enjoyable ride with my husband and two friends.

It's usually at the end when you get that--isn't that so? Glad to hear someone had a nice ride.

[azfiddle]

Thanks Salsabike. We also had another 3 miles from mile 126.5-129 that were uphill into the wind, but nicer pavement and it didn't feel too bad. It was that feeling of heading back to the barn....

[Owlie]

Just commuting miles for me (52). I might see if I can take the road bike out tomorrow, but homework calls.

[rebeccaC]

azfiddle...thinking I'm going to read about a 300k that you're preparing for any day now *S*

Started the month doing a mountain route, did a Palm Springs Ca century in the middle of the month and ended it with a ride into the Santa Monica Mountains. The photos start with Pepperdine University at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon road which is where I headed into the mountains and then up Piuma Canyon road and back down to PCH. 68 miles, temps in the high 60’s and just an enjoyable days outing.




























and back to my neighborhood...

[salsabike]

Smashing, RebeccaC! You sure you don't want to go into adventure photography? Your pictures are REALLY wonderful.

[azfiddle]

Beautiful Rebecca!
I know that road from several years of going to a music festival near there (sadly, it no longer happens) - the Summer Solstice Festival.

[rebeccaC]

thanks for the comments!!!

salsabike...i like the career i have ....but also just being creative in other ways!!

azfiddle...there are still some summer solstice and spring equinox celebrations in the malibu area, it is malibu

mary wright, wife of frank lloyd's grandson, has both on a ranch on piuma road.

[azfiddle]

Rebecca, this was a weekend festival of traditional music organized by the Southern California Traditional Music Society. The festival had an amazing diversity of traditional music, dance and craft workshops, evening concerts and jam sessions of all sorts. Sadly, the long-time organizer succumbed to cancer, and although they tried to keep it going for a couple years, it eventually folded. It was such a great experience and really jump-started my fiddle playing.

[rebeccaC]

The folk arts seem like they would be a good combination with the landscape/nature of those mountains. I’ll always feel a good connection to that area because of my rides, hikes….and photography, images that can bring a connection to a good memory even for others who we are sometimes not even unaware of….

[MarieV]

Rebecca, absolutely beautiful photos! They remind me how much I loved "winters" in San Diego during my childhood, when the hills and valleys would get so green because of the the rain. The mountain ranges also remind me of the McDowell Mountains near North Scottsdale the few weeks in January and February when the rain would turn them into that same beautiful shade of pine green.

Salsabike, that carving is amazing! DH and I did the Maltby-Granite Falls 100K on Valentine's Day, but I don't remember seeing that sculpture. My FD was acting up on that ride, and I dropped my chain at least 5-6 times, so I'm not surprised I missed it. We decided to do a new ride the following weekend and did the Woodinville-Granite Falls 100K, which was awful. Not only did it start with that long climb on the Woodinville-Duvall Rd., which I always hate on RSVP, but so much of the ride was on busy highways with a lot of cement trucks. I wish we had just done Maltby-Granite Falls again. In any case, I'm halfway done with my first P-12. Considering the horrible winter weather the rest of country is enduring, we in the PNW are so lucky with our unusually mild and sunny winter this year.