Sunday was my last CAT2 Lifecycle training ride.  We just rode on the flats to Tiburon for lunch at Guyama’s.  Which we will never go to again.  They took issue with us dropping by with forty people and not calling them.  Beau was afraid to call in and make a big group order because we only had nine RSVP’s and I think that was the right decision.  So they forced us to sit in a area by the kitchen and we were only able to order off of a drastically abbreviated banquet menu with only three entrees which, of course, contained nothing for me to eat at all.  The lack of vegan options didn’t bother me at all because that happens from time to time and I was mentally prepared to make a lunch out of guacamole which is what I did.  But not giving us the full menu was completely uncalled for and being pissed off about a group of forty was ridiculous given that the restaurant holds hundreds and it’s at the ferry stop in Tiburon so large groups of people showing up all at once has to be a regular occurrence.    We had a good time but I was feeling a little queasy from my tortilla chip and margarita lunch by the time we left.  I’ve always been iffy on going there every year for our celebration lunch anyway and we will absolutely never go there again.  Their food is only OK but the way they treated us was all shades of wrong and we’re not going to give them the opportunity to do that again.

Buz and Grady.  Grady’s healing up but it’s gonna take a very long time.  He’s got a great attitude and that’s gonna help. 

Me, Buz, and Grady:

Thomas:

Super cute Richard:

Pics from the restaurant:

We brought Richard back to San Francisco with us which was fun.  We dropped him off and then dropped my bike off and went to the grocery store.  I noted naked people in the Castro which seems to be a thing now.  Sadly, it’s rarely the people you want to be naked who are in fact naked. 

We had Nathan and Daniel over for dinner and that was fun.  We went to bed early.  I was beat!  It had been a long ass day.

Bike Mileage:

Today 20.1 Week to date 248.0 Month to date 1,085.3 Year to date 3,394.6 To Goal 4,605.4 Over (Under) plan 128.8 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (427.0) Rolling Year 28,078.5 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,900.1

Friday I came down Market into work and went home for lunch but then skipped riding after work and just headed home on Market as I was feeling tired.  I fed the dogs dinner and waited on Mr. Poe and we went out to dinner when he got home.  We went to Osaka Sushi and I loved it long time. 

Saturday I got up early for my different spokes ride out to Pt Reyes Lighthouse.  I’ve had this ride on the calendar three or four times this season and every week it rained or I was sick or something like that.  But I figures Memorial Day weekend what could go wrong??  Cue ominous music.  My friends Peter and Tim joined me and we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and made our way to Pt Reyes Station and then headed out to the lighthouse.  I took a bunch of pics in Inverness:

I can find tons of pics of this Dacha on the internets but nothing about it.  It’s fabulous:

We continued on our way to the lighthouse.  It’s such a pretty ride but it got a little drizzly in points:

The lighthouse:

The view from the viewing platform:

Peter and Tim:

Me:

We headed back to Pt Reyes Station and had lunch.  That’s when the trouble started.  It was warm and kind of moist when we got to Pt. Reyes Station but the temperature started dropping and the sky started looking more and more ominous.  It rained on us the whole way back to San Francisco.  I had to go slower than I normally would because the descents were all slippery and awful and my hands were numb and I was having trouble working the gears on my bikes.  I limped my way back to San Francisco and showered and sat in the hot tub for 20 minutes before I had feeling back in my hands and feet.  It was awful.  Nobody got hurt which is always a good thing but this turned out to be hands down the worst ride of the season because of the horrible, horrible weather.  Here’s hoping we don’t get rain on the Lifecycle.

Bike Mileage:

Today 121.0 Week to date 227.9 Month to date 1,065.2 Year to date 3,374.5 To Goal 4,625.5 Over (Under) plan 130.7 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (325.9) Rolling Year 28,179.6 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,880.0

Thursday I came down Market into work and headed home for lunch.  The new dog arrangement is working well and nobody’s even complaining about it anymore.  My study is already noticeably less disgusting and everybody’s being much better behaved.  I went for a nice ride after work.  I headed off down Columbus to Stockton and noted that the scaffolds are down from the spires of Sts. Peter and Paul’s.  Hello gorgeous!:

I continued on Stockton to North Point to Van Ness to Francisco to Laguna to Bay to Cervantes to Marina and into the Presidio.  I stopped at Crissy Field for a pic of the Golden Gate Bridge:

The Lifecycle sent me a gift certificate to thank me for all the ride leading and I headed over to Sports Basement and got a new jersey with it that I’m going to wear on day 1.  It will remind me of how much fun I had training this year. I headed up to Lincoln and made my way over to Immigrant Point where I stopped for pics:

Me:

I came out of the Presidio at the 15th Ave gate and took Lake to 8th and into Golden Gate Park.  I went past the Music Concourse and then got on MLK and came out of the park at 9th and took that to Judah to 7th into Laguna Honda.  I stopped for a pic of Laguna Honda hospital.  It always reminds me of the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous:

I continued on Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  After dinner I walked the dogs and made another upside-down cake.  We still had a bunch of berries left over that one of Mr. Poe’s student’s had given him and I had to use them right away because ripe raspberries will turn on you faster than a republican senior when you tell them you’re gonna replace Medicare with a voucher program (zing!).  So I made a raspberry and blueberry upside-down cake and it turned out really well.  All of the blueberry juice made the topping very dark but rest assured it wasn’t burned at all:

Here’s what it looked like cut:

After I was done cooking I cleaned up and went to bed.  It had been a very long day.

Bike Mileage:

Today 23.2 Week to date 92.9 Month to date 930.2 Year to date 3,239.5 To Goal 4,760.5 Over (Under) plan 39.5 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (396.9) Rolling Year 28,108.6 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,745.0

I came down Market into work on Wednesday morning but it started raining around 10AM it rained for several hours so I took Muni home for lunch.  I’ve had to make the very unpopular decision to start crating the boys again when we’re gone and Mimi is going to be kept in Mr. Poe’s bathroom until we get the situation we’re not discussing under control.  As I told my Mom, and she agreed, if my home is going to reek of urine I’m going to be very old and it’s going to be mine.  Everybody was a little upset over the new living arrangements but I think in the long run it’s gonna work out a lot better for everyone.

After work I headed off 2nd to Howard to 8th to Bryant and into REI.  I had bought a tire last week for my Cannondale and they told me to come back this week because it would be on sale and I could get a price adjustment.  I ended up getting $20 back which is money I can be spending on candy!  I got on Brannon into Potrero and stopped for some pics of pretty San Francisco General Hospital.  They’re building a new building on the campus so it’s a little torn up but I love the older buildings.  They’re so fabulously detailed:

Fabulous brick work:

Gorgeous stonework:

I liked this pretty Victorian on Potrero at 24th:

I loved the mural:

I love this recent mural at Florida and 24th:

I continued on 24th to Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Monterey into Santa Clara and stopped for pics of pretty Saint Francis Wood:

Me:

I continued on Santa Clara to Portola to Claremont to Dewey to Laguna Honda into 7th to Irving to 9th and into Golden Gate Park.  I took MLK to Stow Lake and stopped for some pics.  Pretty:

I headed over to JFK where I ran into my pal Roger and we gossiped for a while.  Then I took JFK to Stanyan to Page to Scott to Duboce to Castro to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  The dogs were massively apologetic but I’m afraid they’re gonna have to get used to their new digs.  After dinner we all went for a walk and then I baked this lovely coffee cake for work tomorrow.  I’ve been passive-aggressively encouraging people at work to pledge me for the Lifecycle by  bringing in lots of baked goods for people who have pledged me.  One of Mr. Poe’s students had brought him in blackberries so I put them into a coffee cake with walnuts and a couple of handfulls of butterscotch chips to cut the sweetness.  It turned out very well:

We went to bed pretty early.  It was a long day.

Bike Mileage:

Today 18.6 Week to date 69.7 Month to date 907.0 Year to date 3,216.3 To Goal 4,783.7 Over (Under) plan 38.2 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (394.6) Rolling Year 28,110.9 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,721.8

I worked from home on Tuesday morning.  There were some lingering dog mess issues that we aren’t talking about and I didn’t want to leave them for too long.  In the afternoon Buz and I ran a training ride out to Tiburon.  John Hersey showed up and we ended up having a lot of fun.  The weather was a huge improvement from last week.  Here’s everybody in Tiburon:

About half of the riders headed back a to San Francisco and the rest of us made our way to Belvedere Island which was totally fabulous and really fun:

We headed back to San Francisco and I got a couple of pics from the Golden Gate Bridge:

I said goodbye to the riders at the bridge and made my way over to Immigrant Point.  It was such a beautiful afternoon:

Me:

I headed over to Golden Gate Park and then up 7th Avenue to Laguna Honda and then took Portola to Twin Peaks and up to the viewing platform.  Perfect:

They already have the pink triangle up for Pride:

Sutro Tower:

I went home had dinner and we went to bed.  I was beat but it was a fabulous day!

Monday I stayed off of the bike to rest.  I needed it.  I came down on Muni in the morning and then went and visited with Mr. Chris over lunch.  I headed home a little early because I didn’t want to leave the dogs for too long but still I got home to find a whole lot of mess that took about an hour to clean up.  It was awful.  Let’s never speak of it again.  Once I regained my composure and had several glasses of wine, I started tinkering in the kitchen and made this lovely upside down apple cake.  I used the pineapple upside down cake recipe from the most recent version on the Joy of Cooking.  It’s very different from the version in the 1981 version in that you don’t have to beat the egg whites separately and fold them in.  I’ve been avoiding making those kind of cakes because I only have one mixing bowl for my standing mixer and I’m not a big fan of the hand mixer and the potential mess that can make.  Anyway. here’s what it looked like when it was done.  Delicious:

Mr. Poe came home and we had dinner and went to bed early.  It had been a very tedious day.

Sunday was the last of the CAT2 training rides for the Lifecycle.  We did Marshall Wall which is a 95 mile ride that is extremely challenging.  I rode there and back so I got a little more than a century out of it.  It was quite a day.  I left the house at 5:30AM and didn’t get home until almost 8:00PM.  Which is fourteen and a half hours if you’re counting.  I’m happy this is the last of the rides because I don’t know how many more days that long I could handle.  A lot of the usual riders and ride leaders were on the two day Jonathan Pon ride so my friends David and Larry helped me lead a small group that had apparently been left behind.  I swept all day and I had a great time.  This has been a challenging season for me to be a TRL on the CAT2 Sundays and I was really happy, privileged, and honored to be riding with Jean and Rick most the day.  Those guys are the best!

I got some pics before we started.  This is super cute Richard:

Mr heroes, Rick and Jean in Nicasio:

I got a couple of pics of Nicasio Reservoir and the pretty farms around it:

Me:

I saw these goats at the bottom of Marshall wall.  One of her babies had jumped the fence and she was fretting about it.  I managed to shoo the baby into the neighbors yard which wasn’t ideal but I figured he wouldn’t get hit by a car:

The view from near the top of Marshall Wall:

Rick:

He made it! 

Jean took a tumble on the way down to Marshall.  He had quite a bit of road rash but was otherwise OK.  He got back on his bike and continued.  Bolinas Bay was very choppy because of all the high winds:

We had lunch in Point Reyes Station.  Whale of a Deli was out of burritos when I got there which made me very sad so I went to go see what the offerings were like at the Palace Market.  They had burritos too but were out of rice.  I got one and made both Mr. Poe and Buz proud of me by successfully negotiating a lower price for it.  And it was very good.  They use pico de gallo instead of Salsa and I thought it was delicious.  I’m looking forward to trying it again on Saturday.  Take that, Whale of a Deli!

I made it home a little before 8PM and had dinner with Mr. Poe and David.  I stuffed myself full of food, took a quick shower, and then went to bed.  I was completely, utterly exhausted.

Bike Mileage:

Today 102.8 Week to date 274.1 Month to date 837.3 Year to date 3,146.6 To Goal 4,853.4 Over (Under) plan 34.3 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (338.0) Rolling Year 28,167.5 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,652.1

Friday I spent the day off the bike to rest up for the weekend.  I came down on Muni in the morning and then visited Mr. Chris and David after work which was lots of fun.  I get so little time off of the bike this time of year it’s nice to have a night off.

Saturday I did an EPIC ride with Different Spokes.  The routing was San Francisco – Mill Valley – Alpine Lake – Fairfax – Alpine Lake – Mill Valley – San Francisco.  That means Mount Tam twice.  David Gaus had a genius idea to post just one climb of Mount Tam leaving a little later than my ride and joining us in Fairfax so a bunch of riders joined us halfway through.  It was a great day and I felt pretty strong and performed well.  I was terrified of the descents because they’re very steep and winding.  Grady went down on those roads a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t want any of that.  Eek! 

I had two riders with me when I left San Francisco.  We headed over the bridge and Sausalito was gorgeous.  Sausalito is definitely prettiest in the morning before it’s mobbed with tourists:

Then we headed into Mill Valley.  This is Old Mill park:

Then it was lots of climbing to the top of Mr. Tam.  It was cool but the views were perfect:

Bart and Tim:

Bart:

Me:

Pretty Alpine Lake:

We headed down to Fairfax and had a snack and David showed up with riders from San Francisco.  Wanderson was with them which is always a treat.  We climbed back up to Alpine Lake:

Alpine Dam.  Eek!:

Wanderson grabbing the goods.  They’re real and they’re spectacular:

We started climbing again and headed up to Ridgecrest.  Which was very, very pretty:

Then we headed back to Mill Valley.  We stopped by Cafe Del Soul for lunch.  Deee-licious. 

Then we headed back to the bridge.  We stopped for a few pics before heading back to San Francisco:

Then I headed home.  David was staying with for a couple of days for rides and we had a nice dinner and went to bed early.  It was a long, fabulous day.

Bike Mileage:

Today 75.1 Week to date 171.3 Month to date 734.5 Year to date 3,043.8 To Goal 4,956.2 Over (Under) plan (46.6) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (326.4) Rolling Year 28,179.1 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,549.3

The weather was pretty much gorgeous all day on Thursday.  I’m hoping we’ve finally seen the last of the rain this year.  I got a few pics as I headed home for lunch.  This is the glorious Phelan building which doesn’t take a bad pic:

This sculpture is relatively recent to Civic Center.  Very, very pretty.  I’m not sure how long it’s gonna stay but I approve.  The sculpture was apparently originally part of Burning Man and is from an artist named Karen Cusolito.  You can visit her website here. 

After work I headed down Sutter and saw this building between Steiner and Pierce.  It looks like it’s a church now but originally was built for the Knights Templar.  The masons, not the crusaders, of course.  Although it’s tempting to think that they they had the Ark of the Covenant hidden away in there it’s more likely that it was a ping pong table.  Ark or no ark it’s a gorgeous building:

I continued on Sutter to Scott.  This is Pine Street at Scott.  Victorianilicious:

Me:

I took Scott to Washington to Arguello to Lake.  I stopped in Seacliff for a pic of some of the pretty houses:

I continued on Lake to Camino Del Mar up to the Palace of the Legion of Honor.  Pax Jerusalemme looked gorgeous in the late afternoon sun.  It’s by artist mark Di Suvero and you can read more about him here. 

the Palace of the Legion of Honor:

I headed down to 34th to Balboa and down to the ocean.  This is Sutro Heights:

The beach was windy but beautiful:

Cliff House:

I took the Great Highway and went into Golden Gate Park at JFK.  I took that to the Panhandle to Stanyan to Page to Scott to Duboce to Castro to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  After dinner I took the dogs for a walk in the Castro and then we went home and went to bed.  Long day.

Bike Mileage:

Today 24.5 Week to date 96.2 Month to date 659.4 Year to date 2,968.7 To Goal 5,031.3 Over (Under) plan (77.9) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (394.5) Rolling Year 28,111.0 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,474.2

Wednesday the weather finally cleared up.  It’s about time.  It was soaking wet when I left the house but it dried out as the morning progressed and it was gorgeous by noon.  I grabbed my Cannondale when I was home for lunch and stopped by REI to get it a new rear tire.  After work I headed off Sutter and stopped at Buchanan for a pic of pretty Japantown:

I continued on Sutter to Fillmore to Clay to Spruce to Washington to Arguello to Lake to 8th and into Golden Gate Park.  I headed over to the Music Concourse and stopped for pics.  The De Young:

The California Academy of Sciences:

Me:

I headed over to MLK and came out of the park at 9th and took it to Irving to 7th into Laguna Honda to Dewey to Claremont to Portola to Santa Clara.  I stopped for a couple of pics of pretty Saint Francis Wood:

I continued on Santa Clara into Montery and stopped at Valdez for a pic looking south towards City College:

I continued on Monterey to San Jose to Duncan to Valencia to 18th to Eureka to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  I had some work to get done and stayed up way past my bedtime until 10PM.

Bike Mileage:

Today 25.9 Week to date 71.7 Month to date 634.9 Year to date 2,944.2 To Goal 5,055.8 Over (Under) plan (80.5) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,311.1) Rolling Year 6,923.7 Since Inception 10/1/07 31,449.7