To Davis, Too much to Drink and a hurt back

Oh man, what a ride we had on Saturday. We did critical mass on Friday night and rode around for an hour or so. At the end we decided to meet at Peets Coffee at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. I rolled up first and got some caffine in me, Danny followed and then our friend AJ. We left around 9:00 a.m. and averaged about 19 mph for the 20 mile ride. We got into Davis and headed to Crepeville for some breakfast.........Danny's back started giving him problems so we decided to walk a couple of miles to a store to get tigerbalm (and yes the label assured us there was no tiger parts in it). Now, smelling like an old man we walked back to town to have a beer. By this time Danny was in noticible pain, we encouraged him to drink a large (quart) of beer. AJ and I did the same just to encourage him..hehe..........Danny was at a point of not being able to function so we whipped out AJ's iPhone and found the nearest, and most available massuese to see if something could be done. While Danny was being worked on. AJ and I proceeded to a local pub to pass time. After quite a few Anchor Steams AJ and I were obviously drunk........probably not amusing to Danny........They told Danny he had a torn muscle in his back and that he should even attempt to make the ride home. Danny called his wife and we left him at a local Coffee shop and began our drunken fixed gear ride home..........For some reason AJ and I thought it might be funny to screw around and try tricks on our bikes, which after less than a mile, two crashes (1 each), we realized was pretty stupid...............We sobered up fairly quickly though, and made it home just fine. Moral of the story is...........hell, I don't know, other than to not drink and ride, don't ride with a hurt back, and be careful always!

-DUG

First Officially Sanctioned Aids Lifecycle Training Ride

Ok, yes, I took this image off of the web, it's not us from the ride. We met 3 folks from Sacramento who are either doing the ride this year or have done it in the past. It was quite cold at Natomas Oaks Park at 9:00am and the car full of gangster looking folks was odd, but we were pumped to do a good ride. Because it's an "official" ride we had a trained trainer with us who was required to read rules, show us hand signals, etc..........Formalities I know, but it didn't bother us. So we hit the road at about 9:30 on what was to be a 30 mile ride. After about 2 miles Danny and I realized that we wanted to go farther and faster than what was going to be the norm and so we said our good byes and shot ahead. We did our normal ride into old Fair Oaks and nestled into our favorite cafe. Funny how you can build up quite the appetite as we both had 2 orders of a breakfast sandwich special, 1 sticky bun and a large coffee.......We took it easy on the ride back and stopped off at a friends house for some lumpia and pumpkin cookies, then rode back into town. Was a fun ride, Danny learned that he should eat something before we leave or he'll run out of energy and hate life for the last couple of miles. I look forward to the next ride...........and maybe I'll get some bike related gifts from Santa??

Doug

Frost Bitten Commuter

This Summer I committed to commute to work for as long as forever. With the rise of gas prices, pollution and needing exercise while being close to nature, it made total sense to me. Even on the hottest day of Summer here in Sacramento I was not about to drive!

I live on the corner of 25th and C st. in midtown Sacto, just 5 blocks from the midtown entrance of one of the best bike trails in California. My commute to work takes me about 3o minutes and is about 98% on the bike trail all the way to the front doors to the Java City Coffee Roasting Facility. This picture of my bike and my trusty skateboarding helmet was taking inside the roasting facility a few months ago. I couldn't help but take some pictures of my two favorite worlds together; Coffee and cycling. I get tons of crap for wearing that pink Protec helmet, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Back to my commitment to commuting to work on my bike every day... Today was one of the COLDEST days I have ever experienced on my commute. Must have been in the low 30's!!! I am not equipped to ride in such cold weather. The rain I am ready for, but not freezing weather! You can bet that I will be doing some thrift store shopping for some warm clothes! A ski mask would be perf! As long as it fits under my Bad Ass Protec helmet, I'm set!

-dannygoot

NUMBER ONE

AH HA! Here is t he very first blog for our ride to help fight aids! Here are the two weapons that we will be taking to the front line with us.

DANNY'S - 1968 Raleigh Super Course custom fixed conversion but you can call her FRECKLES! This bike is one of my biggest scores, besides finding my wife Jenney! I bought this bike in August '08 for my birthday from a friend for $80. The only changes I made to this ride was the wheels. Everything else is fully original! I am riding this *fixed gear conversion* with a 52 tooth chainring and a 18 tooth cog. She is a nice Rootbeer Brown with custom painted Gold **lugs**. I commute to work everyday on my Raleigh for a total of 16 miles a day. My homeskillet Dug and I try to ride every about 50-60 miles every weekend, rain or shine!

DUG'S - 1971 Peugeot U-08 is my conversion....25" or 64.5cm frame. Cheap(er) Alex 450 rims, Sugino Cranks, Brooks Seat, Riser stem, Soma Urban Pursuit Bars, and Shimano 600 Aero pedals are not original. I ride every day to work, and sometimes I ride along side my daughter to school just to add a few miles to the day.......I end up with about 10-12 miles a day. I ride with Danny on the weekends to get closer to the 100 miles a week that I want.........It's a blast!





*A fixed-gear bicycle or fixed wheel bicycle, is a bicycle without the ability to coast. The sprocket is screwed directly on to the hub and there is no freewheel mechanism.*

**Lugged steel frame construction is a method of building bicycle frames using steel tubing and sockets called lugs. For most of the history of the bicycle, steel has been the material of choice for high-quality bicycle frames (though its dominance has waned in the last two decades). Likewise lugged construction has been the preferred means of assembling a steel frame, and retains this status among builders of high-quality steel frames.**