In the Foot Steps of Mom

Just finished buying the train tickets for the big European family vacation. The trip is all planned and paid for except for one nights lodging. Now off to the next big adventure. In the picture on the bottom, the guy with the sunglasses is my old friend Bob S. The little person in the middle of the picture is my oldest daughter when she was about 18 months give or take a few sound asleep at the top of Mt Lassen. The good looking guy in the picture on the top is me with my oldest daughter on a hike to the top of Mt Lassen.



This picture is me 30 years later still a good looking guy with no hair. The little person on my back is the our Granddaughter also very cute. Now for the next moving on project.

I checked the Lassen National Park website yesterday and they hope to have the road plowed to my favorite campground by mid July. They had 170 - 190% of average snowfall this year. So by early August I think it will be time for the Granddaughter to follow in her moms footsteps and make that climb up Mt Lassen. As grandparents we now have 2 baby carriers. One is a present for Mr H's B-day. But this one is for me. Oh it has a great sun shade. WB found it at a garage sale for only $20.00 such a deal. I do think for the hike the honor of carrying will go to Mr H. What does Mrs H think?? I can carry water and maybe a diaper or two. I will need to work on WB to get her in shape. Did the hike about five years ago. WB made to the tip so I know it can be done.

I did break WB's rule I have now posted pictures of people. Oh well. No names.

Enough for now off on a short bike ride to see if the legs still work after the Dais Double.

#291

Number 291 will be a significant number from now on. I can now check off the Davis Double from my to do list. Being just two weeks short of another decade under the belt, ie sixty. I finished the Davis Double 205.49 miles by bike computer 203 by the Davis Bike club map.

Now for a short run down of the day. Mile 0 -23. The forecast was for rain but when I got out of bed at 3:45 am I could see the stars. Started the ride 5:15 am. Started out fine dark, cold and did not go hard. At about mile 10 this lady hooks up and starts to follow. I asked her if she had done a double century before, oh yes many. She was not in a hurry and liked my pace doing about 17 mph. She had a rather Hippy look so I asked her what she did. Oh, I live in Burbank and make movies. Funny I never saw you on the red carpet with Mary Hart. Did not see her after the first rest stop at mile 23.

Mile 24 - 45.5 feeling good finished first short climb.

Mile 46 - 64 still feeling good climbed Cardiac hill not a bad climb did not even hit the set limits on my HR monitor.

Mile 65 - 95.4 feeling like crap. Feet starting to hurt. Not so sure this is a good idea. Still have that big climb up Cobb mountain. Will take a nice break at the rest stop at mile 95.4.

Mile 96 to 104.5 the big climb is over. Actually passed people on the way up about two miles of 10% grade and four of 4 to 9%. Wish I had one more lower gear. Being at this rest stop feels so good. Potato chips and Fritoes never tasted so good. Rest stop theme was a Hawaiian paradise. It's cloudy and about fifty degrees putting on warm clothes again for the desent. As I got ready to start out again the rest stop lady said only one more mile to the top of the hill. YUCK.

Mile 105.6 - 117.2 and lunch. Great down hills after that last mile of climb. Topped out at just over 40 mph coming down beats the 4 mph going up. Lunch was great good conversation with some kid working on his PHD in Chemistry at UC Davis and his Girl (friend) from Santa Rosa. They were perky and not tired. My legs and feet feel like, well they hurt.

Mile 117.3 - 139.8 Resurrection Hill complete, last big climb done. Starting to come back to life I guess they named the hill correctly. Saw the couple from lunch at this stop. They did not look resurrected the young lady was happy to see it is all down hill to the next rest stop. Never saw them again I think I will go over to the Bikepedler here in town the girl works there and see if they made it.

Mile 139.9 - 162.8 great down hill only one little climb. Starting to feel better passing people again.

Mile 162.9 - 181.1 Tail wind yeah. Going 20 mph on the flat. Cache Creek Casino lots of cars hope not too many drunks.

Mile 181.2 - 196 Starting to get dark. Turned on my lights again. Not much light but hope the cars can see me. Missed a turn but thanks to the tandem behind me they whistled and pointed out my mistake and got me back on course.

Mile 196.2 to 203. Last rest stop at 196.2 rubbed my feet, finished off the Citomax and got on the bike to finish in the dark. At last Davis and street lights Pulled in at 9:13 pm fifteen hours and fifty eight minutes after starting. I did it!!

After getting my tee-shirt as proof I finished. Changed into real shoes and hit the Restroom. While standing at those guy fixtures I told the guy next to me it feels great to finally stop. He said this is just like what Jim Fix the runner said. "What do running and hitting your head against the wall have in common?" "It feels so good when you stop."

Thanks to my daughter in Sacramento had a great couple of beers and a good pasta dinner.

By for now. Tomorrow in the foot steps of mom.

Enough Toys

The Granddaughter is coming over for a visit on Monday. She and her mom are staying over night. Mom has to work so Grandpa and Grandma are taking care of the baby. I decided that I should get out all of the play structures, toys, etc and make sure we have enough to keep her entertained. As you can see from the photo I think we are ready. Since the baby is just short of seven months old I feel the play structures will not get much use this visit. But hope to try out the baby jogger and maybe the swing. Might even play in the tee pee a bit. And by the way it is not quite all the toys. I think there is another swing in the garage.
Good final long training ride yesterday for the Davis Double. One hundred and thirty one miles.
Off for a short ride.

Bike Cleaning Day

As you can see today was take the bike apart and clean. Things went very well. The chain various other parts were cleaned in Orange Degreaser using the poor mans parts washer. Which is an old coffee can. Which the parts are put in the bottom, covered with the Orange Degreaser and set on top of the Washing machines while doing a load of laundry. The vibration of the washing machine going through it's various cycles does a great job of removing all the old dirt grease etc. After working for about 2.5 hours getting the bike all shiny it was time to put it back together. All went well until assembling the rear derailler. The pulleys have to be put in correctly or it does not shift well. As you can guess the first try the pulleys were not in correctly. One was turned backwards. No worry just remove the bolt and turn it around. While lessening the bolt the hex stripped out. No worry I can get that tight again. Famous last words. Could not get the bolt tight. No worry hop in the car and buy and new bolt. At the bike store, that is a Campy derailler, correct. Yes, we don't have that bolt. Could sell you a new derailler $150.00 plus $25 to install. Or order the bolt 2 - 3 weeks delivery. I decided call around. Went home fixed a sandwich wanted a beer but decided to open the phone book. Called Santa Rosa Cyclery. Guy that answered said this is the best shop in town bring the bike down let's have a look. Must have driven, ridden by this place 100 times. Took about 20 minutes to find. It was behind, youngest daughters favorite Mexican restaurants. Took the bike into this hole in the wall place. Mechanic looked at the problem took the old bolt out said that would have fallen out soon. Great, do you have Campy deraillers. No, oh great no bolt no bike. He brings out this plastic box labeled derailler parts. After 30 seconds out comes the perfect bolt. Not a Campy bolt but a bolt. Five minutes later fixed as good as new and only $5.00. Asked how much to do new bar tape. Ten bucks if you have the tape. I said I do give me 15 mins and I will be back. Needless to say my bike is now outfitted with Specialized Bar Phat tape nice gell filled stuff my oldest daughter got me last year for B-day. And I have a new favorite bike store. Good prices on tires.

Life if Good again

Training and house prices

Training for the Davis Double has been going well. Rode from Santa Rosa to Sacramento on Friday May 5, 2006. A total of 127.59 miles from my front door to my daughters front door. Went well, but I must say about mile 80 I was not sure the double was a good idea. But a short break, cliff bar, some water an on to Davis where my daughter had a great sandwich waiting. A short rest there and the sandwich kicked in about mile 105 and it was OK the rest of the way. Short ride Saturday 25 miles. My legs were shot. Sunday off day under the Oaks at SRJC fun time bought some plants and have the observatory schedule for the observatory in Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park.

Speaking of house prices on my way home Saturday rode by this house about 1.5 miles from home. Great little 903 square feet home for only $599,950.00, wow. My house in a Subdivision with a great school I did not feel would fetch that kind of money. Will be interesting to see how long it takes to sell.

Good ride today 51 miles felt strong. Legs still not there 100% but maybe 85%. One more long training ride Friday shooting for around 130 - 150 miles and short rides and rest until the double.

Enough for now. Tomatoes are planted along with the new plants I purchased at SRJC.

Good Dirt

The garden is now planted. What I use to do in one day I spread over three. It did include a lot of trimming filling the green bin. I now have an 06 garden in progress. Planted beans, (bush), beets, and corn. Have tried to raise corn in Ca. Over the last 36 years and must say the corn we raised in Iowa on the farm has been the best. But, I am giving it one more try. Need to plant my tomatoes yet. My daughter in Sac got us tomatoes at UC Davis Picnic day.

After a stop at the bike store this am for a final new seat adjustment my ride went well. Was a little worried when the young gal with several interesting tattoos needed a little help in remembering which way tightens a bolt and which way makes it looser. But I must say she did a fine job in making the final small adjustments. My backside was much happier this ride than two days ago when I thought I might return the new seat.

With that done tomorrow is the ride to Sac. Should be double last weeks long ride. But did experiment with food on today's ride. Cliff power shot (chocolate) was quite tasty and gave a nice burst of go power. Gartoade seemed to hold off the old leg cramps. So with an early start and not too hot it should be a good ride. Nice pace, use the HR monitor to keep the ticker in line and hopefully I make it. I hope WB let's me borrow the cell phone.

And if I make it pick up my tomatoes.

Enough for now. Will report on how the ride went.

Old vs. New

As you can tell by the old bike seat it was time for a new one. Well my training log said I should do 31 miles today. But thinking more is better after 45 miles I decided to ride to the bike shop and buy a new seat. Check it out. Silicon Gel pads cuts outs so things don't go numb. Still needs some adjusting but tomorrows ride will tell if if was worth the money. Oh more money spent.




Came back to do a little yard work after a nice lunch. Trimmed the bushes around the yard. As you can tell from the photo power tools maybe aren't my thing. I think it is time for some safety training from my Son-in-law. I don't believe he has cut the power cord while trimming away. Thank goodness for the dry weather and leather gloves. Not even a tingle as the 120 volts stopped flowing.


Not much else to report today. Gas is up $44.01 for 14.4 gallons. MDT went down again I hope they make there earnings only 23 more days until earnings release.

Off to watch Deal or No Deal.