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

Fog Rides and wet cold clothes

Friday's ride to work was 12 miles of pure fog and a balmy 39 degrees........It was interesting to say the least. When your light only shines 5-10 feet ahead of you and there's fog on top of that, you don't see the bumps and piles of leaves until you are right on them.....it was actually fun, my bike is quite responsive despite the longer wheel base that French frames have (apparently roads in france are quite bumpy so French frames tend to be softer rides). There's a storm coming, I have a test for work, and my home life is hecticly turned around so I don't see a ride this weekend happening............I'm going to try and find time though........

Here's an article on French frames........http://sheldonbrown.com/kunich.html

doug

2 guys, 2 blogs, 2 cold son of a b@#%es

I know, silly of me to post my hipster pack to show you how I carry my stuff, but I rode with backpacks for 5 years and can tell you that messenger bags are waaaaay more comfortable......So I pack all my stuff in this Timbuk2 bag and love how much it fits.

So on to the title of my blog............I'm hoping we don't confuse folks since we are each posting a blog every day, hopefully we'll remember to sign it, but today Danny didn't (shame on you my friend, hehe) so we'll try and update daily and if folks are reading, come back, check in, comment, tell us to f-off, whatever!! .......

My ride this morning was cooooollllddddddd, like Danny I don't have warm weather clothing and therefore froze my family jewels off. I only rode a couple of miles so it wasn't terrible, but I'm hoping Santa brings me a scarf and some more long underwear, oh, and socks............I grew up in Colorado and have never really felt too cold, but as I get older I'm finding that my feet get colder (I am 6'7" and my feet are a long ways away from things so maybe that's the problem?). Other than the cold, I don't have much to add about riding..........I look forward to each time I hop on my bike and can't wait to get in a long ride in a week or so...........

Rawk!
Doug