Saturday, March 28, 2009

back to the future!

I've been debating what to do,lately, Ive been gaining weight and getting the blues(no, not the hockey team)
I was sitting at home, and realize that A lot of time I eat too much when I'm depressed. So that lead me to why I'm depressed.
A large part of that Saturday morning ride is more of a race than is to my liking, at least the longer versions. And i;ve been trying to do the long Steady distances sho I can get ack to where I was before I moved out here.
So I decided to punk the ride 0 that is do my own thing, but but meet before and after.
I went out Baseline to Mountain in Claremont before heading back through Claremont village:


but there was still snow on Mt Baldy:
From 3-28-2009

The PET looks a bit different in Upland:
From 3-28-2009

These agave's are impressive:
From 3-28-2009

From 3-28-2009

Agave is used to make a beverage:

before I knew it, I was back enjoying good company:
From 3-28-2009

riding back Home, I decided to check out the monument to Cucamonga's vitcitural history:
From 3-28-2009

From 3-28-2009

From 3-28-2009

From 3-28-2009

here's a good link
So mining the past is good way to get the future on track . Probably will do it again. Should I go out to Universal City and get the DeLorean. Why? I already workon Telstar Drive:

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Non-competeive, but driven?


This is some thing I meant to write about, but didn't quite work it in yesterday.
One thing I've seem to be noticed to that we seem to be in culture of competition - if you don't finish first - you might as not show up. I realize that some people are ok with that - but to me, I tend not to that, Maybe I've dealt with too many unreasonable deadlines in my career, but I find that if you don't want me to show, mention "race"
But at the same time, I know what I want to do, and do to tend to get focused on goals. I was thinking about this today,as I finally got back to idea to become an internet bazillionaire with my ideas for Christian websites after my accident.
Only except I couldn't get past a Hibernate error. and I thought I found the solution before my accident. So switched gears a little bit. (I think I recall where I found the answer)
And you may have noticed that I've gotten a little porkier since my accident too, usually long slow distance is the way to do it, but Saturday is usually the only day I've got available to me to do it (although I've found by riding my bike to church I can kill two birds with one stone) and if you been on the Saturday grind - well it ain't LSD.
And that where the tobymac video comes in. I like the way it speaks about how we are called to "be in the world, but not of it"
and that where I'm at. How do get God's ideas and my goals for my life done, but still do the public welfare stuff to pay those bills (until the IPO (right!)) and not po' my friend at the coffee shop. Plus, I'm battling the blues a little bit.
I think Found some answers, but I have to who they will fit into my daly walk
FHS
Jana

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Saturday, March 21, 2009

Breakout


I decided to do some thing differnt
I got invited to a Recumbent only ride along the Santa Ana River trail. It was mainly organized as a Cruzbike gathering, but Steve Albano and I tagged along
From 3-21-2009

Myself, Tomm, Steve, Mark, and ?
We were soon on out way to the beach:
From 3-21-2009

we took a break by Honda Center:
From 3-21-2009

Before we knew we were at the beach. I decided to have heuvos rancheros
From 3-21-2009

From 3-21-2009

We were talking during lunch and all agreed we liked doing than doing "training rides" with "serious" roadies, so We started making plans to do it again
I found with my new jersey, I could take pictures while riding. cool!
From 3-21-2009

From 3-21-2009

We stopped and took a picture of all the Cruzbikes:
From 3-21-2009

I decided to make a metric century out of the day (62 miles, or 100 Kilometers). Unfortunately, I ran into one of those "serious" roadies. I had committed an unpardonable sin a fat lady had passed him on a "training ride" with a la-z-boy (or is it la-z-girl)oh the shame! Maybe I should bring along an ego inflation pump.
This has actually motivated me. while I enjoy hangout with my buddies from the bicycle club, I don't enjoy do the ride. I'm going to try something different on the club ride on Saturday,that will hopefully allow me to enjoy the ride and company. Is this where the Cowgirl rides away? We'll see.
FHS,
Jana

Saturday, March 14, 2009

That Bike -life Balance



Not work -life? well maybe biking is work!
I wanted to do to a 50mile ride some time this weekend. Only problem is that I usualy do it on Saturday, but I had agreed to do the Social Ride at bent up cycles today. Si I decided to get an early start yesterday. It was actually nice and quiet. The only problem was that I was trying to avoid schools. and couldn't quite do it. I made it out to Summit and Sierra, before turning around. I decided to do some climbing practice , and check one of my permanent routes. I went up to the water tank at the top of Citrus, and decided to do Lytle Creek road. However my rear Derailleur is in need of adjustment, and it shifted into spokes (oh no!)
But I found out that they had finished Cherry/ Coyote Canyon to Lytle Creek road. I freaked some motorist out by passing them on Cherry (yes, you exceed a 35 speed limit on a bicycle). I wasn't sure if wanted to do the trail again, so went back on Banyan and lemon. I'm getting good enough that I can start on hill, now I f I can get the speed thing down... I went across 16, down Campus and back home with 37 miles.
I guess I could have done 50, but wanted to go ahead and get my errands done of Friday.
I noticed the economic slowdown, as there was line to recycle my bottles, and souplantion was empty. Wal mart was busy, as was Victoria Gardens, where I stopped to buy an Atlas of Oregon (or is it Orygun?), since I'm thinking about taking a trip there this summer.
Speaking of that , I next went to REI to spend my dividend. The parking lot was empty, but that was primarily beacuse there used to be a Circuit City and Drexel Furniture store in the Shopping Center. while there I got a Camp chair, a light, and some bike food for 75 cents! Frugral!
I next went to Sears, in search of the Elusive Digital TV Convertor. Mope, and not at Target (Sears: Empty, Target: Ok, but not as busy as Walmart) Then to Albertson's (empty) before heading home.
Then out To Van Nuys today. A nice social ride. It took a while to get gone, but were soon on our way:


there's always one odd ball:

we had to avoid a soccer tournament at balboa park:

We ran into a another "bent rider.

The piece of paper on his water bottle is a poster for a stolen bike. I you get a deal that's too good to be true on Burley Canto, Talk to me, or better yet, these guys.
Dana Liebermann, the owner of Carbent and Bentup, showed up:


We then crossed the Los Angeles River at one place where it isn't channelized:


Eventually, we made it back to the shop:


I noticed that Dana had done a trike trip near Astoria, so I asked Him about it. I then told him about the Brevet series in Southern Utah. Andres worked on my bike,and since I had $25 to spend for recommending someone else to them, I bought a jersey with pockets on the Front, and I was soon my way back out the semi-desert. Only I got lost in Van Nuys trying to find La tuna canyon.
met goals: no! had fun: yes! do it again: absolutely!
FHS,
Jana

Saturday, March 07, 2009

The Bollards of death


I faced a decision today. Do I do the Three club ride in Redlands or stay local and do the Grind ride. I really wanted to do the three club ride, but decided I had too much to do this weekend (which is why I'm writing an entry in my blog)
so I did the usual ride, but U=i did the Rail trail first. I was having a little bit of a problem of getting through the bollards (or so I thought) so I took a picture to see how close I was coming to hitting them:
From 3-7-2009

I turned out the picture helped out as far confidence! So I went up to Summit and the 15 . pretty day:
From 3-7-2009

Then I did the club ride, it was interesting! It seemed like a doing a little better, so I went up padua. I almost made it to the top before the gang came down. I tried to follow them down, but couldn't. (helps to put it in the big ring). I was debating going Benson, but decided to take it up San Antonio. Since I was pretty much doing my own ride, might as well please myself.
I did take some shortcuts, but it's much more prettier my way! And that more why I ride. The gang seem a little off.
And I got plenty of "different bike" comments. Like, couldn'y you find a normal bike to ride. eew, she's a geek. must... step.... away.. Yes I'm Challenging Daria
I'm reminded of one of the character quotes "it's ok to be different, as long as we're all different in the same way"
so, will I be different in the same way? Ha! I do like riding the bent, and I do like the roubaix(if I'm ever able to get it fixed). As you may guess, I've never been one to follow conventions (this explains how may non-competitive personality got mixed up with this "activity" dude, go "race" yourself! )
But it's a happy day above ground. Maybe I should go to a garden party instead:


Until next week
FHS
Jana

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Watching Hockey with the air conditioning on.....

Well, that's what I'm doing right now.
It is strange , that in the Lenten season, which we here in North America associate with weather appropriate for Hockey outside.
But I'm the land of the endless summer, and got back interested in Hockey when I broke my elbow.
And things are different. unlike in Saint Louis, we have two teams, the Ducks and the Kings . I initially liked the Ducks better, as they have a couple of player from the Blues "Glory Days", Chris Pronger and Bret Hedican.
I always viewed the kings as being perennial also-rans, but found that I actually like them better - it seems that have a younger team that ready to go places, where the ducks seem to have a lot of veterans. I remember when Mike Keenan assembled his "hall of Gimps" (my dad's term) line up in 1995 or so(Wayne Greztky, Grant Fuhr, Charlie Huddy, etc). I Thought they would do great, and my dad thought they would increase ben-gay sales. My dad was right.
But some thing never change . The King's opponents? The Chicago Blackhawks (boo!!)
and now back to bicycling
I''m begging to think that buying recumbents is a virus. One of my friends, Steve. was having problems with back pain, so he test rode mine. This week he bought one.
From 2-28-2009

we even got the club president , Tom, on it. His comment "get me off before I buy one":
From 2-28-2009

So we took off on the club ride. I did until we go to the light at Beryl, and i could get started on the hill. I tried the old downhill on the driveway and then turned uphill. no dice.
Steve and I were both worried about the climb on Benson. we agreed to wait for each other, and we both made it:
From 2-28-2009

From 2-28-2009

I almost ran into a curb on sapphire, and did another hike. But I made it back, and Steve bought me a coffee.
I was feeling so good, I decided to do my "age in miles" ride. I headed out baseline again, and got nailed by the light on Beryl. again.
So I decided to go up Beryl and then double back on 19th:
From 2-28-2009

Wound up with about 5 extra miles (will that mean 5 extra years? I hope so!) I noticed my knees hurt, so I moved my seat up some and made it more upright.
Since the sun is coming out early, I decided to ride to church. I did some extra miles by doing the rail trail. I actually worked up enough courage to pedal past the Bollards(from some reason , the scare me more on a 'bent). The light at beryl stayed green , and I made it there with plenty of time.
Coming home ., I was going to do the section of the Pacific Electric Trail in Montclair and Upland. I was going Monet Vista at 30 mph, thinking I had finally got the high speed handling down. I got to the trail,and noticed that they had made no curb cut. Bad planners!
So I rode down 9th street. reminding myself of Mark Twain's quote about bicycles and hills it goes something like he thought the road was perfectly flat until he tried his bicycle on it and it reminded him that It was uphill.
I was going to stop and get my Train pass for the month. but I realized I was late for my family phone call. I got on the Upland section of the PT. better bollards, but more painful curb cuts, and got lucky and go the light to turn to get on vineyard - rather than going to bear gulch park and doing a u turn.
The final score - Hawks 4, Kings 2. Maybe next year!