Day 6 of #ridingeverydayinNovember, Montezuma Grade

After a hard weekend of bike racing duty, it was time to start wandering homeward.  Instead of a 17 hour drive in one day, Dave and I are taking 4 days to return, and planning to do a bit of riding along the way.

Today Dave talked me into riding UP Montezuma Grade. Chris and Karin would be joining us. It was easier than I thought it would be, but of course I was the last dog on the hill. I've biked down the hill many times, today was the first time I'd bike up it.

 We started off with breakfast at a room with a view.

 We started off around 10:30 AM, it was already in the mid 80's

 We started from Borrego Springs, the first couple miles were just slightly uphill.

The Red Ocotillo  was still hanging on to a few blooms.

 After a gentle climb for a few miles, it was time to begin climbing more seriously.

 It wasn't long before we could see why the Race Across America folks call this the "Glass Elevator"

I took time to take in the sights that I miss when descending at 50 mph

click on the photo to see full screen and be able to read the text

About 7 miles in I took a side trip of about 100 yds at Culp Valley to  scope out this sign.

 After nearly 3 hours of pedaling, I reached the top of the hill.  No Strava records would be set today.
The others would already be back down to Borrego Springs by the time I summited.

 What had taken 3 hours to climb was covered in about 20 minutes on the way back down.

Today's stats:
24.9 miles

3607 ft (in 12.5 miles!)

I'll toss in these two photos from our drive over to San Diego after the ride.

The Salton Sea from Mt Laguna

A nice sunset as we approached San Diego

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ...........25................0..................0.......................0............25
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
Nov............72..............0......................0......................0............72
YTD...... 2239.............0...................83.......................0..........2382

3642 ft

Day 5 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

Today was the 5th day of the #ridingeverydayinNovember challenge. I notice that is 56 degrees and raining at home. That doesn't bother me a bit, I'm in Borrego Springs and it is 91 degrees and sunny!

Dave and I played tourists today and rode our bikes out to see the metal sculptures.  It was reminiscent of Burning Man to see these rusting sculptures scattered across the desert.

After dodging the wild animals we went on a ride about, taking random roads in the Borrego Springs area.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ...........14................0..................0.......................0............14
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
Nov............57..............0......................0......................0............57
YTD...... 2284.............0...................83.......................0..........2357

Day 4 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

Today was day number 4 of #ridingeverydayinNovember. Dave and I are in Borrego Springs supporting Barry Dickson, Karin S. Weller, and Chris Davies as they join other cycling luminaries in challenging the 24 World Championship Time Trial.  I got on the bike this morning to do some testing of our communication system.  I got a whopping 8 miles.  I might have biked a few more miles, but there were critters to take photos of.

It's been a great day.  Barry is currently 1st place in his division, holding a 23.3 mph average, and covering 108 miles.  Chris and Karin are riding a tandem, and are in second place in their division, covering 90 miles with a 20 mph average.

It reached 89 degrees this afternoon, and is currently 51 and calm at 10:53 PM.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ...........8................0..................0.......................0.............8
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
Nov............43..............0......................0......................0............43
YTD...... 2270.............0...................83.......................0..........2343

Day 3 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

Today is the 3rd day of the #ridingeverydayinNovember challenge.  The challenge today for me was trying to find time to ride bike AND drive 1100 miles.  The weather was beautiful this morning as I rode  short 4 miles before sunrise.  It was 44 degrees, and dead calm. There where some wisps of fog in the low spots. Mt Hood was silhouetted against the lightening skyline.  What a day to not have a camera or phone along.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ...........4................0..................0.......................0.............4
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
Nov............35..............0......................0......................0............35
YTD...... 2262.............0...................83.......................0..........2335

Day 2 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

Today is day 2 of #ridingeverydayinNovember and remarkably for this season, it was also the second dry day this month!

I started off with a 1 mile ride for a maple bar.

I rode back out to Graham Oaks Park to look around.  There seemed to be a school group of around 20 out on the path today.  Very polite, most said "hi" as they passed, they all called out "passing" or "on your left" as they neared pedestrians, and one even stopped as I was putting my phone(camera) back in my pack to ask if I was ok.

The oak trees that were planted to recreate a native oak prairie don't mature until well after 100 years. I won't be around to see this park come into full splendor, but it's nice to know that in this fast paced world and ever increasing population, that places like this are being saved from urbanization.

10 miles.  Not many, but I've got a lot on my plate today, and it does mean I've bike more in the last two days than I did in all of last month.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ..........10................0..................0.......................0............10
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
Nov............31..............0......................0......................0............31
YTD...... 2258.............0...................83.......................0..........2331

Day 1 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

Today was day 1 of #ridingeverydayinNovember, a challenge I first laid down 3 years ago.  As of tonight there are 75 people scattered around the world who've accepted the challenge. It will be challenging, and fun!

My ride today was in two parts.  I started off in Seattle this morning by loading my fixed gear bike up and driving to McMinnville, Oregon (210 miles) to join my mother and her brothers for a monthly lunch.  It rained for about the first 170 miles.  By the time I got to McMinnville it was mostly sunny and dry.  Score!  I had time to ride 2 miles before lunch.

Following lunch I drove back to Wilsonville, dropped my ballot off, then hopped on the fixie and went for a spin.

The sky was mostly blue, the roads were dry,  the temperature was warm (enough) but the wind was noticeable for this out of shape guy.  I rode with no destination in mind.

Along Boone's Ferry Rd, stopped to take a phone call

Riding through Xerox's corporate site

I rode across Coffee Creek and noticed this little guy.

A nutria enjoying the sunshine too

I rode a new to me trail though  Graham Oaks Park. It had a few sign boards informing us about the native American's use of the area.  Acorns were a valuable food source, and this sculpture tied right in with the history lesson.

The Missoula Floods scoured some of this area down to bed rock.

click on the photo to view full size and be able to read the print

It was an unexpectedly nice day.  With all the driving and family obligations I didn't get much time to ride. But I almost rode as many miles today as I rode all last month, so I'll call it a win!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ..........21................0..................0.......................0............21
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
Nov............21..............0......................0......................0............21
YTD...... 2248.............0...................83.......................0..........2321

Scoping out a route

With the rainy season coming soon, I decided I needed to find a route close to home that could be safely biked in the dark rainy days ahead. I've frittered away the nice weather, and now will have to ride in the rain and cold..........because.

I started off with a dual purpose, to reconnoiter a route, and to accept a challenge laid out by a friend who challenged us all to post fall colors (being tired of all the political banter).

Within a mile I had my first subjects.

The trees continued the show as I continued through town.

The photo stops were taking some of my time, and this was supposed to be training (sort of) so I pedaled for a bit.  I was on the fixed gear, and my 23 mile route had 940 ft of climbing.  Not a lot by any standards, but enough to be quite noticeable on out of shape legs and a fixed gear bike.

 As I got a little farther down the route I found some more trees worth snapping a photo of, fortuitous in that I needed a bit of a breather!

The blue sky was giving way to a high cloud cover, in advance of some stormy weather predicted over the next few days. The trees didn't get the boost from the sun's illumination, but still didn't look too bad.

I continued on around my loop, pushing pretty hard at times.  I finished up by 4PM.  I'll tweak the route a bit to avoid the crossing traffic in Wilsonville, but the rest of the route will do nicely.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ..........23................0..................0.......................0............23
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
YTD...... 2227.............0...................83.......................0..........2300

Errands

I rode the fixed gear bike on a few errands today.  Rental car reservations, banking, and donuts!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ...........6................0..................0.......................0............,6
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0....................0......................0...........100
Oct..............6...............0....................0......................0.............6
YTD...... 2204.............0..................83.......................0..........2287