Variety is the spice of life

I decide to do a ride I hadn't done since I switched to a recumbent: Lytle Creek Road.
Starting out is fairly easy:

No Mud slides today:

I was going to turn around at the campground, but I was feeling ,So I pushed one. it was worth it:

But all things must end:

nice hidden spring:

and I said hello to my friends:

and they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, but what about a video:

Sunday, I did another ride I hadn't done in a while:



It like more fun than just taking the rail trail. Although I need to stop making so many videos

video Killed the bicycle Star

The Rev Kieth Yamamoto approached me as I was leaving church a couple of week ago.
"Jana" he said "have you ever thought about getting a video camera? Id like you to shoot a video of your ride into the church"
And thus a seed was born. I've been working overtime, and put the money to good use by purchasing a Vholdr contourHD camcorder. Most of my friends have GoPro heros, but I went with the VHoldR for couple of reasons. First, the Vholdr is bit more compact. yes I know, I ride a recumbent (the uber-geeky bike), but hey aero counts! The VHoldr also uses a rechargeable battery vs the Go Pro AAA's (gotta be green), and the Vholdr came with editing software(a plus for an editing newbie).
Well, the editing software uses an old verison of Java and SQLite it won't run with modern software! arrgh! Rather spend a couple of hours futzing with my classpath, I downloaded a free copy of videopad Viola! Video editing
Now on to Saturday:

I started out with Camcorder in my bag. The SD card it ships with (another plus for Vholdr: it comes with SD card, whereas GoPro makes you go buy one)will only record 2 hours in standard mode, so we'll have to rely on stills:

From 6-19-2010

From 6-19-2010

From 6-19-2010

I went up to Lytle Creek Road. I had a litte bit of June Gloom going back:

From 6-19-2010

when I got back to the coffee shop: I put the Vholr on my helmet and took off:

I did take a little break with Brent and Mike:

and did some errands on the way home:

Sunday, I decided to do a challenging ride:


Since I had been shooting snippets and editing them together, I tried the HD mode:

pretty good, eh?
I shot some more on the way home:

just what I need - another expensive hobby!

2 rides, one day

I went down to see the RAAM start today
I started off in San Juan Capistrano:

From 6-12-2010

I cruised by the mission church

I was going to take the bike path to San Clemente, but there was a nice construction crane parked on it. so I took the main highway
I met my buds there, Tony and Glenn:

and Ron

Ron is a slow rider, and he lives in San Francisco, so i held back. Granted this was interesting, if frustrating on my Part
Nice Ocean view:

we eventually got to the end of Camp Pendleton:

and what we came for: The start of Race across America, or RAAM:

I wandered around the oceanside pier

and found Chris and Isabella:

Yes, they do go across America:

I found my friend Bernie

as well as my friend Dana:

I also have a facebook friend who is racing, but I forgot about until I glanced at the Racers and saw him. That's being human
I don't think he's doing RAAM:

I did get a souvenir before heading back:

I cam back through Pendleton, but without Ron. Enjoyed being able to open it up, and the traffic was very light. Almost like a different ride
You don't see this sign everyday:

a lot of the time, you are on the old Us 101:

I thought this was a neat contrast between the old 101 and the new 5:

and I did find some swallows. The new had reported that the swallows had nested at a Country Club this year.

a long day, but a pleasant one, and a chance to ind luge my Walter Mitty-ish Fantasies, what else could you ask for?

riding in the valley

I decided to do a little ride out to the San Fernando valley Today. since the route was only 30 and I wanted to do 60, i did some pre -ride exploring. Specifically, I want down to the Metro Orange line bike path,
But First I went by the airport:

I finally got to the trail. it's an old railroad that's now a busway and bike path:


I got to the end of the path at the 170 freeway and turned around, I spotted an old ranchero:

This self storage place looks like a stadium:

I then went by the Encino Veldrome:


Crossed over the LA river:

before arriving at Bent up:

Dana and his buddies are going to ride in the race across America this year:

we actually managed to stay together this time and I didn't get lost


we had a regroup before heading back Dana decided to go back on Sherman Way - it was even worse than Roscoe - should have stay with the original plan and done Victory:

once we got back , we looked at stuff, Glenn tried a new trike:

and Willie tried out a Velomobile:

I tried several trikes, including the one Glenn was sitting on. Now, to rob a bank or two... I tried a Greenspeed X5, a Cattrike Expidition, and a Ice Adventure,. I liked the ICE and Cattrike best.
another neat thing about bent up is the history, This is an old Ryan Vanguard from the 80's:

and old Burley from the 2000's. Both companies no longer make recumebents

and there was the shop patronage. Chirs got a t-shirt, and I got a Jersey: