Monday, October 27, 2008

Strike Three

I've been trying to ride on of my permanent routes. I tried last August- it was too hot, I tried in April, too windy.
So I tried again last weekend.
I made it to Riverside just fine. got A payday, and then went down to Corona, and had a pre-package latte. I then road back up to Rancho.
And there the tail starts...
The next leg was to Azusa. The wind wasn't that bad, but going under the 57 Freeway, I had another blowout, which was aggravating. Thankfully, I was only a mile away from Incycle in San dimas.
I made to to the control in Azusa ok, and was soon pedaling back east. Things went well until I got hit by a car turning left in LaVerne.
While I didn't lose consciousness, the rest was a blur, between the spectators(which were nice enough to call the police and fire) and the Fire department, which insisted i was only bruised and sprained.
I called Tom and Mary Lou, who came and took me to San Antonio hospital. Their RX; a radial head fracture, with a splint that goes from the base of my fingers to my shoulder(maybe why I took so long to post). no bike for a couple of months
So, who know where my Journey will take me next? Maybe that Super Randonnuse medal isn't meant for me. I'm still trying to figure that out.
FHS,
Jana

Monday, October 13, 2008

Is your hero a zero?






One of my hobbies is writing creative fiction. Recently,I started doing some research with an eye toward describing the early years of my hometown,, Cape Girardeau, MO.
Cape Girardeau was founded in 1793 By Louis Lorimer. And you would think he would be Hero, right? Except when you get investigating and found that before was in Missouri, he was lived in Ohio and was known as Pierre Loramie. Ol' Pierre did a number of unamerican things about 10 year before he came to Cape, like kidnap Daniel Boone(There was a war on), had a Couple of unpleasant encounters with another legendary American, George Rogers Clark, and probably was friendly with some folks that would become big "foes" of America in the War of 1812: Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet.
But at the same time, his Nephew. George Drouillard, was a big help of Mr. Clark's brother's big trip with Mr. Lewis.
So what to do? I'm big believer in the power of dreams. And heros. But at times, we sometimes place blinders on our dreams, or don't want to see our hero besmirched. History is written by the victors, as witnessed by the Cape floodwall murals - No Tecumesh - He apparently walked from Metropolis, IL to Cape on crutches - or George Drouillard- You would think that they would merit a panel.
and related to present - You may have noticed that I've blogged previously on the most people think that most cyclist are racers - Well there's more than that to the two wheel world - Although I think I've finally got my friends at church used to me showing up on my Rouibaix on Sunday mornings. And yes, not all of us are going to march in lockstep to the polling place in a month and vote for John McCain and proposition 8. or the versa.

Which is why I like it there - wider nets catch more fish.
So, remember that not everybody has the same dreams or ideas or history as you. who knows, maybe they'll fit you better than yours . :)
FHS,
Jana

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Shirt, shoes, problems?











This is a diffcult one for me to write.
When I fell on my last post, not only did I give a good case of road rash, but I but a good size blister on my thumb that popped. So I spent the lat two weeks getting healed up.
And I really wanted to do a brevet today. But the forecast was for strong winds and I didn't do a another suffer fest. So when Laura Armstrong offered me her ticket for the Riverside Bicycle Clubs Inland Express, I decided to do that.
Of course, the winds didn't show up. Maybe next weekend.
I drove down to Riverside. and since I was still debating between the 100 and the 50, I got there early. I decided to do the 50, which left some extra time to explore. I found a neat statute of Juan Bautista DeAnza and turned around when I got to the 60 freeway.
we started out the 50 mile ride with a little prayer. I got dropped by club mates almost immediately. I guess I got spoiled by the time I spent in Pennsylvania. We would have 30 folks show to do a 50 miler every Saturday, and we would stay together and regrouo, even though we varied in pace from 18 to 13 mph.
Anyway back to the ride! once I decided that I wasn't going to do the "racer" game (how does one "win" a century anyway?), I decided to start taking pictures! more fun!
This song exemplifies my approach to riding (Yes, I like Hillbilly music)
The route was a wander through the city of Riverside. Things went fine until I went over the line, so to speak into Grand Terrace. We were supposed to make several turns before we go to Barton Road, So when I got Barton , I turned left, oops!
once I realized I had made a wrong turn, I started heading north, since I knew the next section was on the northern section of the Santa Ana river trail. I didn't make to the river trail., but i did get back on track.
I pedaled down the river trail , got passed by some folks on ATV's, and stopped to take a picture of an egret without falling! Unfortunately, the bird flew away.
I got off the river trail ,and found that someone had rearranged all the route arrows. I climbed up through the Mt. Roubioux neighborhood, and headed back to the start:
So maybe I need to do this:

since it is 5 o'clock.
somewhere
.
FHS ,
Jana