Completely Personal...

A goodly number of my children and their families were here in the valley yesterday for one reason or another. And we invited them all to be here with us for dinner (11 adults and four children).

All I can say is what joy I have to see all my children doing well and loving their own families. There is no greater joy.

On a cycling note, and as I posted before, I had x-rays taken, from head to hip, just to make sure I did not break anything from my crash. Apparently I did not. The doctor says no broken bones. I am, however, now very black and blue on my left side where I landed during the spill. And my neck and upper back are still very stiff.

My wife and I did go out cycling yesterday morning. We didn't get out until around 7:30. The temperature was 87 when we left and 93 when we got home. We only went a little over 12 miles. And no, I was not on the bike. I was on the trike. It was nice being back on the trike, and, maybe, the two weeks or so of two-wheeling helped. I didn't feel too winded and was able to keep up with a 14 to 16 mph pace (although our average overall was between 12 and 13 mph).

When I am completely healed (in that, it does not hurt to lay on my left side), I will entertain riding the bike again. I don't want to do so before the pain is all gone... just in case I fall on that side again...!

And the Doctor Said: "No more monkeys jumping on the bed..."

I went to the doctor's today to have the bumps, bruises, scrapes, and pains checked out. He didn't think that anything was broken, but sent me across the street to the local imaging center to have a full set of x-rays taken -- from my head on down to my hips. He should know by sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, he told me to take it easy and keep the weight off of my hip.

And he definitely said NO cycling for the next little while.

In the Tucson Desert

No, I didn't fall off a cliff on my trike. Between my last post and this one, my wife and I have become grandparents twice again -- a handsome little boy and a beautiful little girl. And there was my daughter's graduation from nursing school at the U of A. And assorted many other things.

Last February, while my wife and daughter attended a baby shower for our daughter-in-law there in Tucson, my daughter's husband and I went out for a 30+ mile ride around east Tucson (up and around by Saguaro National Monument). Here's the map:


My son-in-law thought that we would be going for about 20 miles, but we miscalculated and ended up going over 30. Even for February, it was a tad bit warm.

I think some of the hills would have been easier on a bike. You just can't stand up and pedal on the trike.

Say It Ain't So...!!

I went cycling this afternoon for about 10 miles. I had planned on using some of that winter weather gear I had bought. But stepping outside, into the sunshine, I immediately peeled off most of it. It was crystal clear and over 65 degrees. In fact, with my wind vest on, it was actually hot.

I am a native Arizonan. I grew up in Scottsdale and remember seasons. Both the winter and summer seasons seem to be getting shorter. Hopefully this last week of morning temperatures in the 20's isn't over, and we are just having a short warming spell. I'm not ready for summer yet...!

It will still be in the 30's or 40's in the mornings for a while, but may get up into the 70's during the day! Guess we'll just have to ride in the mornings this week and wait for the sun to be going down thereafter to ride when we are back to work.

Winter Cycling

It is early Christmas evening. We are all sitting around recovering from dinner. It's in the 50's outside and has been overcast and raining most of the day.

Last Saturday is the day I volunteered to take a group of older Scouts (14 to 18 years old) out on a 30 mile ride. It was a simple ride up through Papago Park (by the east side of the Phoenix Zoo) and then north and east to the Indian Bend Wash bike trail. My wife could not come with us, but my oldest son decided to brave the cold and come along.

And it was chilly. I had wanted to leave a little later in the morning, around 9 am. However I was told one of the boys had to be back home by 11 am for another activity. So we all showed up around 6:30 am in our Church's parking lot only to find out that that boy didn't show up! The Scout leaders said they'd make sure he heard about this...

When we left my house it was 33 degrees. But with our 10 to 12 mph "ride generated" wind chill, it was colder. My son and I had gone out on a short ride the day before just to see how "bad" it would be (temperature-wise). After that short ride, I headed off to the bike shop to pick up a balaclava (looks like a police SWAT mask -- just a slot for your eyes) and some arm warmers.

On Saturday morning, I had on a long-sleeve t-shirt, a bright yellow short-sleeve jersey, a wind breaker vest, and a long-sleeve, hooded sweater, along with my bike gloves and a pair of cloth cloves on over them. I also wore long pants. It was still somewhat cool (especially my finger tips and, even though it was covered, my nose).

We were off and cycling. One of the boys decided to whoop and holler as we went along and we had to continually remind him that people were sleeping and to be quiet (read that as, "BE QUIET! Or the support vehicle will pick you up and take you home!"). One other boy kept yelling, "Merry Christmas!" to everyone he saw... that wasn't that bad though... most responded with a "Merry Christmas" back. (Interestingly enough, at the top of the ride at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale, we saw "Santa" walking his dogs... a jolly old individual with a white beard and red and white Santa hat and little round spectacles; he most merrily responded "Merry Christmas!" to our "Merry Christmas!")

We rested for a few minutes up at the park and then headed back home on the bike path. We were on the trail about four hours. What was really amazing was that most of the boys were riding those single-speed, tiny- wheeled trick bikes. But they kept up and, being young Scouts, were not that worn out at the end of the ride. The leaders did well too (though some tended to lag behind on the ride...).

After the ride, I went out and got some long-fingered riding gloves. I want to try them out, but it has been raining here the past couple of days, and I have also come down with a bad cold (right after the very cold ride). My wife says we are not going until I feel better. My oldest son and my number two son, who is visiting from Minnesota, both want to go with us on an extended ride; we'll probably go this coming Saturday or sometime over the New Year's week.

Life Changes

It's finally cooling down a bit here. We were out for a 12-mile short run yesterday morning. It's hard to get up early on weekdays, and our weekends are sometimes filled with family activities and the like, so it has been hard to get out on Saturdays as well.

We have been pre-occupied with family of late as well. We have two more grand children on the way. That's good news. And one of our older sons is getting a divorce. That's not so good news. But life goes on.

We plan on getting out this coming Saturday for a longer ride (hopefully it will be over 30 miles). We both need to get in a little better shape after the summer drought of bike riding (due to the heat) before the Tour de Tucson at the end of next month. Even though we will only be doing the 35-mile portion of the 109 miles, there will be more ups and downs along the route than we have on our current routes, so we figure that if we can get up to 50 miles on the almost flat, we should be able to handle the "gentle" ups and downs of the 35-mile ride in Tucson.

Saturday, Early

We went out again yesterday (Saturday) just before 6am. We headed up to Tempe Town Lake and from there north on College to wind our way along the canal that is just east of the zoo. It's the same route we took last time (it's about 20 miles). However, this time, it was MUCH cooler. We even had to wear our windbreakers until we got to the ASU campus. Those mini-hills were still a climb, but I think we did much better this time (Karen at least stayed on her bike this time and I didn't have to stop half way up).

I did have to change a flat on Karen's bike the night before. We must have hit something sharp during our shorter, weekday morning rides. We were still waiting on the word from Performance that they had bought tire liners (Tuffys) for us (they lost Karen's other ones when they traded out her wheels for new ones). I finally bought some and put the front one when I changed the front tire. Her back tire still doesn't have one, but does have a puncture resistant tube. I'll need to take that out and put a tuffy and regular tube in (she feels that the puncture resistant tubes create too much drag on the road).

I had an awful time getting her front tire off. And even with Nathan's help (our eldest, machanically minded son), we had an awful time getting it on. The tire fits the rim very snuggly.

Back in the saddle...

Over the past two weeks, we have been back on the roads in the morning. Friday we went on a short 12 mile ride, and this morning we went on a 20+ mile ride. We started around 7am and took a new route north of the boat landing at Tempe Town Lake. The route goes up College to Marigold, and from there it goes along a canal and is on the east side of the Phoenix Zoo in Papago Park. We cut the ride somewhat short due to the heat (it was reaching 90° and the high humidity was not helping at all). We got to McDowell road, cut west to the Galvin Parkway and from there took an asphalt path through Papago Park down to Van Buren. We took Van Buren east. It curves south and turns into Mill Avenue. From there we were back to Tempe Town Lake and then ASU and then home. It was a nice change with some small (though very steep) hills and some sharp curves.

I have been asked to lead a group of Explorer and Varsity Scouts on a 50 mile ride in December. We'll be following a number of the paths we have already trod through Indian Bend wash and Papago Park. It should be interesting. Although I probably should have a support vehicle ready in case some of the Scouts (or more to the point, Scout leaders) "give out" during the ride... ;-))

We returned our one tire pump to Performance Bike. They were kind enough to give us credit for it. We picked up a higher end pump from them instead (with the exchange I had a $10 out-of-pocket cost). It works much better on my wife's bike, but still refuses to work with the tubes on my trike. The main problem is with the puncture resistant tube on the trike's rear wheel. Either the Presta value stem is too long somehow or is too big in diameter. I was having some problems with my front wheels as well (even though they are not puncture resistant tubes). I am still considering getting tubes with Schrader values and drilling out my wheel rims to accommodate them.

Karen still has not decided whether she is doing the 35-mile portion of the Tour de Tucson with me or going for the 67-mile portion. We will need to be signing up soon.