A cycling hiatus

I'm leaving for a grand adventure on Saturday! A group of us are going to fly to Seattle, drive up to Canada, and just keep on driving, until we get to the Northern part of Vancouver island (Telegraph Cove), where we will meet our guides. From there, we paddle in kayaks over to some small island about 15 miles away and set up our tents, etc for a week or so. Every day we'll be out on the water watching for whales, dolphins, bald eagles, and countless other sites. Somewhere in there we'll pack up all our stuff and move to another island for a few days before heading back.





The photos are from the guides' website and they got them from folks who have paddled with them before.


























Amazing, no?














Wow! Those killer whales are very very close! I'll take lots of pictures (I hope), and report back soon.

Before I go, though, I'm teaching 5 cycling classes, housesitting for a friend, and trying to get my house, self, and cats ready before I leave. It takes a long time to pack when I spend more time worrying about whether I have the right stuff than I do actually packing.

Calling a spade a spade

I recently received this update from Equality California stating that the Attorney General (I thought it was the legislative analyst's office that did this sort of thing, but whatever) just re-worded what Californians will read on the November ballot. I really like that the summary buys in to the culture of fear that we've come to know and love: if you vote yes, California will lose tens of millions of dollars -- which is probably true. The counties that are offering licenses for everyone are making more money now, of course. But think of the hotels, and caterers, and venues, and bands . . . the whole of the wedding industry bringing revenue into the state.

The only thing the summary is missing, if you want all honesty, is something about how we need this law because we're scared of gay people and we're running out of people to hate. It's not really pc to be racist, we've accomplished a subtly to sexism that no one really knows it's going on, but this! We can use the sacred, religious-based, institution of marriage as a pretense to our hatred. It's brilliant!

"Proposition 8
ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.
INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.

Although the changes to the proposed amendment are subject to legal challenge, this summary accurately describes what the proposition will do. Prop. 8 would eliminate a constitutional right guaranteed to same-gender couples and would decrease revenues coming in to the state from marriages between same-gender couples."

I sort of see why people who hold babies want babies

Although, when she came in and pooped on my rug, I remembered why, when I hold babies, I really only want to hold them and snorgle their little faces, not actually have them.

Speaking of babies -- I got a photo of my nephew the other day. It's probably rated PG-13 (for nudity), though, so make sure your little ones are out of the room.















Maybe one day he'll grow some eyebrows.

The cats were not impressed with the pup, but Melis did not come by with her big dog, so they had that much less adjusting to do. Poor things.

Sunday's ride to Winters was fun and fast and a bit shorter than I'd thought. But it was a lovely day, and Jana kicked it up a notch for a couple miles before the causeway (because she can). We had a good ride and got home before the wind really got going.



























Today starts Jill B Nimble training with an orientation meeting so we can all get acquainted. I'm looking forward to it. Encouraging people to ride, and making sure they have safe rides is right up my alley.

It's baaaack.

We're back to smoky skies, covered up sunrises and sets, and yicky breathing conditions. I signed up with Sacramento's "Spare the Air" alerts to get emails when the air quality hits "Unhealthy" (or maybe "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups"), and I haven't been getting them. A good sign, I thought.
No. I just found all the emails in my "spam" folder.

Date	AQI	CONDITION	POLLUTANT
Wed 7/23	124	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Ozone
Thu 7/24	119	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Ozone

I'm not sure if you're going to be able to see the info above, but basically, right now we're at 124, which is the 'Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" level. I looked at July 8th, though, and we were nearly 200, so I guess it's not all bad.
Okay, no. It IS all bad. All of it. But the fires are down from 2093 to less than 30 in Northern California, so that's good news, even if the air is bad.

Here's a post-spinning (around 6:30 a.m.) photo this morning:
If you click on it, it will enlarge, and you can see a little better.

I was hoping to fit a ride in this weekend before I go to the third and final wedding I'm attending this summer. I guess I better get up early.

Bah.

Sunday's ride

West Sac to Cardiac

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Clear Skies!

I got back into town on Sunday to find a valley that was not choked with smoke and smog. It's not like the air is ever good here, but it was so nice to be able to see more than a mile ahead of me and to be able to breathe without pain. I guess it took a few weeks of horrid smoke for us to appreciate our air quality, such as it is.

So Sunday -- back to it. An NCAC/spinning/Jill B Nimble friend and I are going to ride from West Sac to Winters, up to the Monticello Dam and back. You've seen photos of all this before because it's my basic route to do when I want to ride a lot of miles, but I don't want to drive anywhere to do it. Should be around 70-80 miles depending on how we're feeling. And how much the dreaded causeway is looming over our heads, making us feel like we have an interminable ride home.

The map is posted just after this post, and I'll try to remember my camera on Sunday.

Tomorrow, though, is a day for the dogs. Emily is coming with her new puppy. Melis is coming with her not-so-new big dog, Murphy. There will be outdoor grilling, weeding, house projects, and some cleaning, and who knows what else. It's going to be a big day.

Here's the pup:
And here's the big dog:






Wish us all luck -- especially my poor kitties.

Evening ride

I didn't take any photos on last night's ride, but went out after a "Killer Abs" class for a spin on the bike trail. I looked up a photo on-line -- here it is:


How tough are we??

Okay -- that's not really the bike trail we were on. Probably my riding buddy's bike would have been okay on the dirt, but I would have been literally on the dirt. My bike likes roads -- smooth and paved.

Here's a shot of the bike trail we were on -- my guess is that this is over by Lake Natoma -- a gorgeous part of the trail to ride, and a great place to be at sunrise.

It's fun to ride with someone new, and it got me more excited for the coaching venture I'm about to undertake (I went with a woman from the team I'll be coaching). Next week starts a 10-week training program for mostly beginner, and all-women cyclists to get ready for Sacramento's Princess Promenade ride in October. I'm coaching for a fun group called Jill B Nimble. We have a small team so far, and all women are welcome -- no matter your riding ability -- so sign up, bring your friends, and have a ball!

I ran into a friend from NCAC yesterday (we work in the same building and every so often we cross paths) who said he's giving his bike a break. I guess after logging all those miles, he has other stuff in his life that needs attention. I suppose that's true for me too, but I've gotten so good at ignoring it. So it goes. Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow.

The morning sun is shining

Like a red rubber ball.

This isn't the greatest photo -- taken with my cell phone at 6.35 this morning -- but it gives you an idea of how smoky it is 'round these parts.

Smoky Skies

The air in the valley during summer is usually rather poor. But with the thousands of fires burning in California, and the valley's natural ability to trap heat and air, it's ten times as bad as usual. These pictures don't really capture it, but this is a view of Sacramento on my way to Trader Joes yesterday.

I guess no more biking for a few days.

Phew

My "stupendously busy" (did I really say that?) work days are over, and now I'm packing my days with other things. A couple of weeks ago, I spent the night up in Lakeport, got up with the sun, shoved my tent in my trunk and hopped on my bike. The night before I'd spent with some old friends drinking wine and eating stuffed eggplant (it tastes better than it sounds), and having uncomfortable conversations. I was happy to be going for a ride, and a little disappointed that I didn't turn on the news that night. As it turns out, the Northern California inferno had started the day before and the smoke started off bad and got worse. The farther I went south, the worse it got. But it's a circle (the essence of a lake, really), so once I got about half way around, it didn't make sense to go back.

When I started out, I realized I'd forgotten my music, so I was looking at 70 miles of being alone with my thoughts. A dangerous proposition. Luckily, though, the evening was so uncomfortable that I'd forgotten to ask for some breakfast I could bring with me, I just found solace in my tent, and tried to sleep.



Sunrise was lovely, and all the more colorful for the thick, smoky haze.

When I got up (5 hours later -- ouch!), I was just interested in packing up and hitting the road in time to see the sunrise, but after about 10 miles, I remembered that I hadn't eaten. Then again at 11 miles, 12, 13 . . . and pretty soon, I was just thinking about how I hadn't eaten, that it was 6.30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, that I was in between one tiny town and another tiny town, and that no rational convenience store guy who was probably suffering from a pretty serious hangover from some seriously cheap beer would be up to sell some sweaty, wheezing cyclist a clif bar. But at least I didn't have to think about my life and the state of the world.




This may seem comically obvious, but the sun rises pretty fast. I had envisioned having this gorgeous sunrise-ride where it would be cool and quiet and the only sounds would be those morning birds and the water lapping at the shore. First, the 'sunrise' part of the ride lasted only about 15 minutes. Second, it gets hot remarkably fast around these parts. And third, there's not really a road that circumnavigates (that's a GRE word) the lake -- so for parts of the ride, I had lovely views of mobile home parks, pink flamingos, and a remarkable amount of construction.

Perhaps some of you have heard of the Konocti Casino? No? Konocti Resort and Spa? No? Well, here's a photo of the spa:


Konocti Harbor? I had heard of all these things. What I did not know about was Mount Konocti -- the [inactive] volcano. Yeah -- that's a 4299 ft mountain.

That photo of the mountain is not mine -- from across the lake, I couldn't see the mountain due to the smoke. And while I was climbing it, I wasn't thinking about taking a friggin' picture. When I got home, I was telling an NCAC buddy about the ride, and he said, "So you went up that hill?" And suddenly I remembered that one of the hardest hills on NCAC '07 was around the lake -- the hill is shaped like a V -- you go straight down, so fast you can barely see what's coming, but whoooo-boy -- what's coming is a hill that goes straight up. It's not very long, but it's steep. I had to get off my bike with about 10 yards to go because it was too steep. I guess I need to do some more hill training.





The day got warm, and the hills kept coming, and my tummy kept grumbling. Not to worry, however. I got to South Lake or the city of Clearlake or something and it was late enough in the morning that I knew there had to be something to eat. Suddenly I saw a big sign at the stop light coming up, and more and more people.





And here -- a food-desert Oasis:

Okay, okay. I wasn't desperate enough to eat at McDonalds. Across the parking lot, there was a Ray's Food Place. At least that's what I thought it said. I didn't get a photo, but in retrospect, I think it was actually called, "Ray's Rude Place." What a bunch of punks. But those punks had bananas and bagels and ice for my water bottles.

The rest of the ride was painful due to the smoke, but it was also rather gorgeous and I was happy to be out there.

There were a lot of these 'check your speed' mechanisms, and it took me about 15 tries, but I got a photo of one as it was getting my speed -- considering I had to slow down, get my camera out, and take the picture, I must have been cruising along pretty good to register 21 mph.


I didn't realize I was just going to whine about this ride. It was actually pretty good. Just a rough weekend all around.