Things haven’t gone exactly to plan, but I have been riding my bike a lot. Not huge miles, but the miles I have in me at this time. Yesterday I rode east to check out a VW TDI wagon I’d seen on the internet and then just kind of meandered my way north up towards Rancho Santa Fe.
The riding in North County is great. Not close to as great as it “used to be”, but still wonderful. It is never boring.
I ran into my old Wheaties/Schwinn team mate, Shaun Wallace a couple days ago on the coast at a coffeeshop. He is always great to catch up with. My friend, Pat Lemieux, is staying out east at the Olympic Training Center with his girlfriend, Gwen Jorgensen. They just flew back from New Zealand. They had been down in New Zealand and Australia since January. Gwen has a triathlon in Mission Bay in a couple weeks, so they are here for a while. I hope to get out the to go for a ride with him.
My shoulder is doing okay I guess. It is way too slow progress for me. I’ve been trying to mimic my PT movements, but my mind seems to have lost some of them, so I’m sort of making up some. Riding it’s okay, so that is a good thing. The sleep is way hit or miss, so that is always a concern.
The internet was down up at the house, so I rode down to the town of La Jolla to post this. It is so nice to be able to go gaze at the ocean in the morning. Makes you realize that everything is moving at all times and that a person is such a small part of the world that we shouldn’t be so worried about our personal problems so much. It is a great way to start out the day.
I’m riding up the coast with Don and Sue today. I think Elfin Forest. It’s another 70 or so miles, so I’ll end up with close to 80 by the time I climb the 1000 feet back up to their house to suit up to ride. That’s about all I have right now.
Here’s a photo from the Wheaties/Schwinn days. I think we took it up in Vancouver at the Gastown races. Shaun is sitting below me on the right.
Riding around Rancho is great. This is where they used to built Masi bicycles back in the 80’s.
The waves are pretty big this morning in La Jolla.
Yesterday I had to do a little gravel riding to get back to the coast from Black Mtn. Road.
My shoulder didn’t like this climb much.
This is Torrey Pines. I climb it at least once each day.
Can’t leave here without eating sushi. We’ll see how that holds up on the ride today.
I was just out in LA area visiting my daughter, hiking only, no riding. South from there Palos Verdes looked to be nice and cycling friendly. Always makes me wonder when I visit, why I do not live in California as I always enjoy the natural beauty and the seemingly go with the flow attitude. In your opinion, from what you know and have experienced, if one were to seek a location; where is most appealing for overall road and MTB riding, active natural lifestyle? PS-I always enjoy your posts and be well.
Mike-I’m not sure. There are a ton of cool places throughout the country for riding both on and off road. San Diego area is for sure one. North of S.F. is super too. I’m not too big on LA, but riding around Palos Verdes is very scenic. Austin Texas has great MTB, but the road riding is a little congested. North Carolina is wonderful. Many places there fit the list. Even upper Wisconsin around Cable is good. The winters are cold and long, but the skiing is great. When it finally does get warm, the road riding is superb and there are 100’s of miles of off road trails. Plus, it is super hot at 80, which makes for a wonderful summer. I try to get to all these places at least once a year.
Hey Steve, I see you riding no helmet and earbuds on gravel … oh what will the ninnies have to say about that!
Anyway, what’s on your playlist while you ride? Podcasts? Death metal? Do tell…
The Chief https://www.facebook.com/michel.vaarten?fref=ts holding a bottle of Jack!