Weekend Rides: June 21-22

Hello All,

Sorry for the delayed posting. I was having some technical difficulties with my computer, then I was out of town for the next 2 weeks. Here is the posting I attempted to create 3 weeks ago!

Weekend Rides: June 21-22

I am happy to report that I have enjoyed another 2 days of great rides - thanks to my local bike club, the Cycling Connection. I have been riding my bike for over 4 years, but usually I was riding with "Club Brent." This particular club consisted of my sister's husband, Brent, my UCR buddy, Cynthia, her husband Jose (aka Vino), PainFreak (aka little Mike), and Big Mike. This was our core crew, but sometimes we'd have others like Scott (my City of Ontario buddy) and last year we had another Ontarion (is that a word?) Amy. Amy was a marathoner who decided she wanted to complete a century ride. Last summer Club Brent helped her train. (I think she probably hears Brent's booming voice shouting, "Hammer, Amy, Hammer!" in her ears.) Last year we also had Romeo and Khai with us quite a bit. Now our Club Brent has stalled. Our founder and trainer and all-around crazy man Brent has moved to Sunnyvale. Cynthia and Jose experienced 2 horrific crashes recently and are currently taking a break from cycling. Amy gave up the bike to train for another marathon. Khai up and got married, which seemed to put a damper on his cycling (ah, young love!). And Romeo's been nursing a sore knee.What to do without my regular crew? I've been riding with Big Mike (the nicest guy on 2 wheels) and on occasion another Ontarion, John. But really, I don't want to be a cycling pest and bug them too much. So I started going on the regular club rides. And guess, what? THEY ARE THE BOMB! I've been having some of the funnest, best rides of my life these last 2 weekends. Saturday, I joined the club for their regualr "long Grind" ride. This is a 33-mile ride containing one butt-kicker of a climb up Padua, then a very fun downhill (I hit 40+ mph on this yesterday), some nice flats through our local communities of Claremont, Upland, and Rancho Cucamonga, then 2 more steep little climbs to keep the climbing legs humming. It was super fun. Here's a photo of my buddy, Scott. Scott is a good friend and an all-around sweetheart (as are most cyclists).

On Sunday, I did the "Vault" ride with the club and had another super fun ride. I met some more really people (especially Laura and Liesel) and hope to have more opportunities to ride with them again. If you want to learn more about this club or see the ride descriptions, go to http://www.cyclingconnection.org/.

Back to RAGBRAI news: In preparation for hot and humid Iowa, I have a new type of cycling shoe. Last year I wore my high performance road shoes - which absolutely killed my feet when walking (and we did a lot of walking through the small towns) and - more alarmingly - put my left big toe to sleep for literally months! This year, my tootsies shall be cool and comfortable thanks to my Keen cycling sandals. They are very easy to walk in, have lots of air ventilation, and are waterproof (should I find any bodies of water in Iowa). Here's a photo of my new favorite cycling accessory.

It will be interesting to see what kind of crazy zebra tan I will have at the end of my trip!

Okay, I will sign off. The next posting you will see will be from my actual trip. Love to all. Keep safe and be happy (or at the very least, content).