I’m finally registered for the Lifecycle in June and would mightily appreciate it if you would sponsor me:

Sponsor Joseph  

Thanks in advance!

It was supposed to rain this morning but it didn’t so I rode out to Kissimmee and back, about forty miles in total.  I visited both the northern and southern shores of lake Tohopekaliga which I can’t pronounce, but my mom assures me that the locals call it lake Toho anyway.

I’m back to San Francisco tomorrow and I hear it’s been raining since I left.  Looking forward to the city, not the rain.  Here’s a couple of pictures of the family:

I had a great day on the bike today.  I went out to lake Kissimmee and back, about 80 miles.  The weather held up and there wasn’t a lot of traffic on any of the roads I was on.  Dad’s old bike is holding up pretty well and I had lots of fun.  The part of Lake Kissimmee state park that you can ride a road bike on is nowhere near the actual lake, but luckily there was a tower so I wasn’t disappointed.  It’s supposed to rain tomorrow but I’m hoping I can squeeze in a short ride, and then I go back to San Francisco on Wednesday.  I’m looking forward to my training ride on Sunday!

It’s supposed to rain later and my arms are still a little sore from the handlebars on my Dad’s old bike, so I stuck to areas near there home today.  I found an enormous Disney nature preserve, ironically located behind the wal mart, where there was a long road to ride on and beautiful wildlife to see.

Evidently, this preserve is part of the central florida watershed that drains south into lake Okeechobee.  It’s beautiful.  I imagine all of central florida used to look like this:

I’m guessing this bird is a vulture but a graceful vulture none the less.

I’m hoping to ride a little longer tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Greetings from Orlando!

I’m in florida visiting my parents in retirement paradise.  I’ve been out riding my dad’s old bike.  It’s a dura ace triathalon bike from 1992.  Fantastic bike fifteen years ago.  Today, not so much.  It has there crazy aerobars that look like they were inspired by a viking funeral and the shifters are on top of them which is a terrible place to put shifters.  And the seat–  well let’s not mention the seat.  My mom has a matching one which is in a litle better condition.  I spent quite a bit of time cleaning them both on Friday and then yesterday I ran her bike to the bike shop for new rim tape and new handlebar tape.  Mom initially qinced when I explained to her that she needed $35 handlebar tape, but when I got the bike back last night and she saw how nice and thick and cushiony it was she stopped complaining.

I seem to find better riding every time I come to Orlando.  The smell coming off the orange groves is amazing, but they’re slowly being replaced by crappy development after crappy development, and since the developers seem to rule the roost here, it’s development first, infrastructure later which means there aren’t a lot of roads to ride on and traffic can be pretty heavy.  But I found some great riding yesterday around Dundee although I forgot sunscreen and got charred.  Picture above taken by an actual redneck clad in camoulflage pants and flip flops who was on his way to swill beer and fish at the boat dock I took a break at.  It’s going to rain later and my arms are a little sore from the handlebars on Dad’s bike, so I’m just going to ride a little. 

It was a gorgeous day for the Tiburon Loop for our ALC training ride today. It was warm and sunny which was unexpected since yesterday the news said it might rain. I was towards the front of the pack today and everybody seemed to be doing pretty well. I hung out at the top of Camino Alto and a couple of the newer riders were so excited to finally get to the top! Good for them. I think I’ve finally found the perfect ride food for me:  Kashi’s GoLean crunch.  It tastes kind of halfway between popcorn and granola and has a whopping 9g of protein per serving which gave me tons and tons of energy late in the day.  And it tastes pretty good too which is a bonus.  Here’s Bob Katz and I at Mike’s Bikes in Sausalito.



Saturday was even nicer. It was almost hot! I rode around the city and tried to stay out of trouble. Jeff took a couple of pictures but I look like such a Chauncy in all of them they aren’t ending up on my blog. I mean I have my standards. I’m off to Florida to visit my parents on Wednesday and I’ll be there for a week. I’m hoping to get on my dad’s old bike and do a little riding. Stay tuned.

We’ve gotten a lot of rain, but it finally broke today and we had a beautiful Lifecycle training ride. My buddy Wilfredo joined me and we rode much of the day together.



Here he is looking a little perplexed:



Our fearless leader Ben was a little sore from a 120 mile ride yesterday. Yet he’s still a lot faster than me:



Michael (pictured with Ben) swept the first half of the ride. I was at my corner pointing again this week. People not on our training ride recognized me from last week and told me to be careful lest people think I was “working”. Only in Marin do people think the guy on the $2000 bike is riff raff…



Russ also showed up for our ride as well. He’s written a fabulous book about the ride and it’s a must read and I’m in it! And flattering things are said!

Sunday

We had a great training ride out to Tiburon today. Everybody did really well and we were all done by 2 which was unexpected. Here’s Ben and I at the end:

I spent a big chunk of the day pointing out a turn so new riders wouldn’t miss it.

Here are some of the riders coming down Tiburon boulevard:

The Queen Mary 2 was coming under the golden gate bridge at 3 today so the headlands, the bridge, and the presidio were CRAWLING with people which made biking very dangerous but everybody was very alert and we didn’t have any problems. Next week is Tiburon again and I’m looking forward to that.

Saturday

Saturday Jeff and I went to visit Nathan at his place on Nob Hill. He’d just gotten an enormous new television that one presumes can be seen from space. Here’s Jeff and Daniel both looking extra adorable:

And here’s Nathan who looks like he’s cooking up a plot against someone for some reason:

Then we went to the Asian Art Museum to see a Japanese basket exhibit which was very beautiful. They were all contemporary pieces and I don’t believe that any of them were ever used but instead were produced as works of art. The craftsmanship was very intricate. Here’s a pic of Jeff on the grand staircase, waiting for his grand entrance:

I made it from the financial district out to city college on my bike last night in a record setting 30 minutes!  I hit every green light but I’m pretty fast these days.  My class is slowly getting harder but that’s not suprising.  Jeff and I are going to the asian art museum tomorrow and then I have another training ride on Sunday.  Can’t wait!