Wednesday, February 1, 2012: During my last ride, I pinched my front tube on a rock in the road and ended up with a flat. Since that tube already had two patches I decided to discard the tube and start over with a new tube (spare tube to carry with me). After driving to the Canyon Creek Bike Shop in Roseburg to retrieve the tube. I ended up with a purchase of three tubes plus two new tires to have on hand for the next tire change. Now, with a spare tube, I feel secure enough to go biking again. I hate the idea of patching a punctured tube while on a ride especially with the air temperature is barely 50 and the clouds are thick and looking like rain. So I took myself on my first ride in the Sutherlin, Oregon area. I did not study any maps before hand but knew which road would take be to the historic town of Oakland and started that direction. After wandering around Oakland I rode west hoping the road would turn south and join another road for a loop back into Sutherlin. It was great riding, temperature was perfect for a rider with a long sleeved jersey and vest plus leg warmers. I continued to make my turns hoping my choices would take me back to Sutherlin. I rounded a treed curve and came upon the Rochester Covered Bridge over the Calapooya River. What a treat. I had to stop to take a photo. You can get an aerial view here. The ride was not quite as log as I had hoped so I toured parts of Sutherlin to add a few miles. You can see the route here.

Monday, February 6, 2012: I've been riding as many routes around Sutherlin Oregon to learn the area before leaving this week. Several routes took me along the North Umpqua River, the second largest river in Oregon. This rural riding is my favorite. The country side is full of small farms and horse ranches. We learned last week that the veterinarian we took Annie spent most of her time caring for horses and there are plenty of them around this area. Many of the routes pass through the historic town of Oakland. My bike is parked in front of Tolly's restaurant which is a famous landmark in Oakland and one enjoyed by everyone in the area. Tolly's is in the process of changing owners so not currently open or we would have visited for a meal. Click either photo for another view.

participate in everything so I was on the football team, track team, band, in a play and several clubs. I'm mentioning all this because today I began a ride into the countryside around Lodi but was feeling so good I extended my ride. I ended up in Linden. The old school office is STILL the office today (top photo). I also found the Linden house where my family lived those two years. Click the photo for another view of the house. The ride turned out to be 40 miles and burned 2000 calories. That would have been a wonderful addition to my calorie counting and weight reduction except my Mother had a coupon for Baskin Robins. It stated a second sundae for 99¢ after buying the first sundae. Mom wanted an Oreo sundae because she learned today was the 100 year anniversary for the Oreo cookie. I chose the Reese's peanut butter cup sundae, 1220 calories ... YIKES! Oh well, I didn't eat that brown stuff (peanut butter) in the bottom of the cup.

It was a great riding day with little wind and temperatures in the low 70s. Today was the first day of riding without wearing tights or a long sleeve jersey. Here is a link to the ride description and map.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012: We are parked near Coursegold, California in the Park Sierra Escapee RV park. Coursegold is in the foothills above 2000 feet in the Sierra foothills east of Fresno. Park Sierra is one of the best parks of the Escapee parks, its only problem (for us) is that it is in the state of California. California has great geography and weather but far too crowded and one of the worst taxed states. The laugh is even though they have income tax, sales tax, property tax, city and county taxes, they STILL miss-manage the money so badly, they can't pay the bills. They are about to close many of the state parks and the fee to visit a state park is so high, few can afford to visit. This is the state where we managed six national forest campgrounds where campers were happy to pay $22/day for nothing but a fire ring, table and dirt to pitch a tent. This was so much lower than a state park fee, the Californian's thought it a bargain. Anyway, we love Park Sierra and it seems to be an excellent place to spend the month of March and part of April. You can view our location here, we are on the right. You can see the open space to the right in the photo and behind our location is a ravine with the Coursegold Creek deep enough for Morgan to take a swim. The park is only 8 miles from the Coarsegold Post Office but it is a tough 8 miles compared to the flat riding around Lodi. The hills around the park are steep, two lanes and a very small shoulder. Today was my first ride in the area. I was not surprised by the steep climbs and descents but I was surprised by the heavy traffic on the back roads. Click the post office to see the Coarsegold Market and, even better, the Frosty next door.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012: It does rain in Oregon and I don't choose to ride in the rain when I can ride the trainer. I have rain gear but I hate getting water and road grime all over the bike so today was one of those days. My son, Ben, loaned me the trainer while I decide if I like it. I use to ride rollers which require balancing as if your are riding the road. I liked rollers but they are bulky and not a portable at this little trainer. I ride with my bluetooth headset listing to "riding music". Today it was "The Who" and I especially like "The Music Must Change", absolutely great for motivating hard trainer riding. The towel is to catch the sweat which pours off my face while riding. Under the towel is my smart phone acting as an MP3 player broadcasting the music over bluetooth so I don't have any wires connecting my headset to the phone. I can increase or decrease pedal pressure by shifting to a higher or lower gear. I rode for an hour today which is equal (in my opinion) to two hours of road riding since there is NO coasting. I plan to add a temporary shelf to the handlebars to hold a small fan to blow on me while I'm riding. It was only about 55 today but the sweat still pours. The one thing I'm missing is a record of the riding on my computer. I tried moving the computer transmitter to the rear wheel but it would not work, just too far from the computer.

Saturday, May 26, 2012: This is a big day for Sutherlin, Oregon and for me, it's the day of the Umpqua Ultimate Bike Ride. You can see the route by clicking the photo or for an even better view, click here, to see the route along with elevation change. If you drag your pointer along the elevation graphic, you'll see the direction of the ride along the route on the map graphic. I signed up for the longest route, a metric century (65 miles in this case), so it wasn't a threat with the distance since I've not been spending as much time on the bike as I should. What was a threat was the weather, it has been raining all week but the promised forecast was for "partly cloudy" today with a high of 67, perfect cycling weather. However, the rain woke us at 5:40 am and it continued to rain until 7am and looked threatening. I hate riding my bike in the rain because that gets sand and other road crud all over the bike. However, it wasn't raining at the start of the ride but threatening. I removed one water bottle and stuck my rain jacket in the bottle cage instead. When you click that photo, you'll see that I carried my rain pants in my back pocket. Fortunately, I didn't have to use either.

The photo on the left is the last rest stop and one for the long route riders only. The lady in charge of the stop had fruit and cookies ... yes another cranberry cookie for me. She also had watermelon, so I told her the story of one of my first long rides when I was eleven living in Ontario, California. She said she moved here eight years ago from Burbank, California so knew where Ontario was. I told her my buddy, Peter and I took off one Saturday with no plans but a bike ride. We ended up riding into Los Angeles (35 miles, 70 miles round trip), the only way we knew where we were was because we had seen pictures of the Los Angeles City Hall on the TV. We turned around and started back but neither of us had any water and very little money so we were dehydrated and hungry. On the return ride we came across an outdoor fruit stand, pooled our money and bought a whole watermelon for fifty cents. That saved the both of us from dehydration and hunger until we got home. I told her I doubted that our parents knew where we were and I doubt either of us got permission to ride that day. She said, "I was a different time then." Behind this photo is a photo of rural residents curious of all the strange bicycle riders.

I ride for T-shirts, this one came with the ride. Click the photo to see the signs we followed today. The purple arrow is for the long route. The course was well marked. To tell the truth, there is something about riding which is "spiritual" for me. Spiritual meaning "uplifting", "devotional", "inspiring", "reliable" (I'd have to think more about it to come up with other examples), surely anyone who spends time seeking personal goals in sports, such as running, swimming, hiking, and other aerobic sports know what I'm talking about. Perhaps the lady in white knows what I mean when she exclaimed, "I love this sport". It has been that way for me since I was eleven and has saved my spirit many times during personal trials. Today was especially good for me. I rode better/stronger than I have in a long time through some of the most scenic country in the USA in perfect weather. It all added up to an "Ah-Ha" moment for me. I can't wait for the next ride.

Friday, June 29, 2012: Today was my third two hour ride in the last three days. So I've been riding too hard and today I could feel the weakness in my legs. It was excellent weather for riding, overcast and low 70s. My route today included some climbing around the rural road northeast of Oakland, Oregon with the ride beginning in Sutherlin. This route took me past the Mildred Kanipe Memorial Park, a good place to get water on a hot day or just stop to relax and watch the wildlife. For some reason the park is full of exotic birds such as this Peacock perched in the tree as I rode by today. The Marsh Anne Landing Winery is also on this route but I didn't stop for a sample. I would be dripping sweat all over their beautiful tasting room. Even with weakness in my legs, the ride was a good one with very little traffic, great views of the Oregon countryside, some challenging ascending and thrilling descending. This would be a good route for a daily workout once my leg strength has caught up.