Riding in Celebration!

A close friend of mine, George Crocker, called last night and asked if I wanted to head out for a ride on the bike trail this morning.  I immediately accepted his offer, and committed to riding for a couple of hours following a fast morning group ride that meets Wednesday mornings at 6am.  I am fairly new to the Wednesday morning group, meaning I have been doing them for around 4 months, while the majority of the local dads in the neighborhood have been doing them rain or shine, year around for a couple of years now.  This was my first Wednesday back after a couple of weeks off, while Melissa and I did some adventuring during the week, including going up to Camp Tuolumne Trails in Groveland, our top location choice for our wedding next year.  In addition, we moved from our pool house, and now I am about 10 minutes further from the roll out point, meaning I had to compensate on the alarm clock, so when the drum roll began, I can honestly say I contemplated just sleeping in until George and I were set to ride at 7:30.  In the end I was happy I joined the fellas, and caught up on the local cycling news, including Christian Vande Velde winning the Cycling Pro Challenge in Colorado, read more here, in a story by Fred Dreier, a pal of George and I, who rounded out the third team captain for Santa Cruz Slug Swimming in 03-04.

The Wednesday morning ride is just at 14 miles, but the pace makes up for the short distance as the small group usually finishes in just over a half hour.  I managed to grab a quick snack at Whole Foods, by thanks of a gift card courtesy of about 10 moms who have been training for a local triathlon and put together a group that I helped develop stroke technique, more to come on their performances on September 9^th.

I then headed back out to meet up with George, and retrace my tracks, this time heading up to end of the trail, finishing a Beals Point on Folsom Lake.  I felt terrible forgetting that today is his golden birthday, as he made mention to it, not wanting to draw attention to the fact.  I remember him telling me as we all went up to a swimming hole a few weekends back, but I laughed as I told him that with new age technology, we find ourselves offloading dates, and numbers, and waiting to be reminded by daily notifications.  George has a great sense of humor, and we reminisced about our swimming days, and how we are supposed to be a little more “responsible” now, whatever that means.

I returned home to find Melissa packing up her belongings for her first overnight commute to Berkeley where she has class today and tomorrow.  She has packed a pannier, a bag that mounts on the side of a rack on her bike, and backpack, that she quickly learned will be replaced by the other pannier, as she is not only a bit unbalanced, but wearing a backpack and riding feels like you are giving a child a piggy back while sitting on a softball.  I quickly consumed my favorite post ride recovery shake of banana, almond milk and butter, chocolate syrup (the high-fructose free stuff, and hemp protein power… I finished it off today, time for another Trader Joes trip).

Following a quick recovery, I assisted Melissa in navigating the city streets, as we road on a new piece of the Northern bike trail, connecting in downtown Sacramento, where we quickly had to concentrate on dodging traffic, and pedestrians, reminiscent of the South America days, minus of course the bike chasing dogs.

A sandwich, a commitment to the next two days substitute teaching in a High School classroom, and a bit of rest before heading to the pool for some fun with the swimmers…. home, and happy to be out of the hot sun rays, while I catch up on some email and wind down after a great Wednesday.

Total Ride Stats:

87 miles, 5:05 ride time

Nice gesture:

Woman let me go in front of her at Whole Foods as I was holding 9 items, including 2 glass jars- this is what I get for refusing to get a basket and telling myself I will only get what I can carry.