The Elements

No I have not given up on the blog and no I have not been too busy... I just have not known what to talk about. Don't worry K-Bark in Utah a Utah blog will be coming up soon... I got some thoughts to share about the Bee Hive state!

I emailed this to my homie Frisbee Boy earlier today and decided it was bloggable material so here you go.... After having lunch with Frisbee Boy yesterday I was reminded that I need to be riding as much as possible… if I am going to drag my butt across Iowa in late July (www.RAGBRAI.org). Working at my Roseville office today I went out for an early morning ride from the crib. It was a good training ride for Iowa.

I slept in until 4:40, did 45 minutes of stretching, and started to put on my gear. You know it's cold this time of year in NorCal so need layers and need the tights! Plus, got to strap on the pink I-Pod, the bike shoes, the gloves, the sun glasses, the helmet, the watch, etc.... I hit the pavement at 5:45, touch of fog in the air, and headed toward the bike path. I rode through the hard streets of G'bay. Gated communities and fancy cars known as Granite Bay. I do like the Bay. Nice neighborhoods, nice cars, nice, nice, nice.... The ride was going fine as the sun started to lighten a little as I drove by the gates of GBCC.

The fog continued, and got worse, which caused my glasses to start to fog up. I made it the bike path in just under 30 minutes. I felt safer on the path as it was foggy and people would be rushing off to work. I thus was happy to be on the path for a nice easy ride! Everything was going fine though until I went under a little underpass on the bike path… which was full of water. I saw it at the last second, maybe could have slowed down, but decided to just blast through. My left leg was soaked.

I kept riding and the fog was building. By the time I got to Hazel, which is where I turned around, it was pretty foggy and water was starting to drip off my helmet. This was an hour into the ride. I had a sweat inside and mist outside.

About that time I passed a number of ducks. One mommy duck, with her babies, must have felt threatened as she lashed out at my leg to try and peck me. I instinctively lifted my foot off the pedal and avoided the peck. I passed another pack of ducks and was more careful to go all the way to the side of the bike path!

Near downtown Folsom I went through a corner with some loose dirt and felt my tires slide but I didn’t go down. Luckily I was riding my normal slow pace. Any faster I may have gone down!? I thought to myself how dangerous biking is. I was there on a bike path and there were hazards to bikes there. Makes no sense!

I continued on my way with fogged up glasses, water dripping, sweat building inside, and still a wet left foot! I got back to the flooded underpass and smartly slowed down… but not enough. Got drenched again… and this time my right foot was down. What a MORON!

I kept on rolling, off the bike path, back through the Bay, through the line of cars waiting to turn to the Bay's high school. It was like a who's who of nice cars: Escolade, Escolade, BMW, Lexus, etc... and those were probably the kid's cars! I weaved my way through the traffic on down to my crib on the wrong side of the tracks! Certainly not the Bay!

By the time I got home the fog was so thick it was like a drizzle. Glasses were completely wet, helmet dripping, sweating inside my thick shirt, and light layer of water all over me. Reminded me of that day at Ragbrai, in 2000, when it rained much of the day! I rode for just under 2 hours today and only got 28 miles in but I think that is my pace these days. I only stopped for two minutes at Hazel and one or two stop lights. Otherwise just steady riding for two hours.

All things considered it was a great way to start a day... and I still got my hoops game tonight!

peace out.