Day 232: A Beautiful Day Full of Flats

When I woke up this morning I was feeling a bit groggy after one of the few good nights of sleep that I’ve had lately. I’ve had too many things going on to make me sleep tight, so to speak. So while still feeling groggy, I panned across the room to where my mountain bike lives while drying out by the fireplace, and that’s when I noticed that I had a flat tire. Uugh. It must have been a very slow leak since it took all night to go flat.

I got the first call today from a buddy at about 10:00 am, and he wanted to ride with me today. I told him that I had a little bit of bike maintenance to do before heading out for a ride. So we planned on meeting at noon down at WTB. I thought that would be plenty of time to fix my flat tire, and to do a few basic things before leaving for the ride.

I really like the new ETRTO standard that WTB is using, but that said, I had a hell of a time getting the tire to seat in the bead of the rim. I’m sure that’s by design, and probably a very good idea. I ended up using some soapy water to lubricate the bead and that worked, but it took five previous attempts to get the tire seated. I really like their new system, and it’s designed for being run with tubeless tires, so I’d rather have it be tight, than not.

We rode up Railroad Grade to the West Point Inn where we stood around for a while in order to take in the great views that were out there today. There were big waves in the Potato Patch channel, and really high winds on the mountain, so the cumulous clouds were ripping right by us. So close that we could have seemingly reached out and touched them.

We continued on up the mountain from there. We had planned to head over to the other side so that we could check out the lake levels after the storms. As we were approaching the summit’s paved road I began to feel that feeling that one only gets when their tire is going flat! Geezus, I just fixed this tire/tube before I left today. In repairing the flat this morning I did all of the requisite things including, checking for anything that had penetrated the tire, spoke penetration, and rim imperfections, and I found nothing. So was this another legitimate flat? It’s doubtful.

My buddy “B” and I wrangled with one issue after another while fixing the flat. First of all, my pump unexpectedly froze up, and then the C02 cartridge that "B" had wasn't really working. We then pulled the tube out and replaced it with a new one, and then used his last cartridge. We were down to one last chance. We were finally able to get enough air into the tire for me to try to make the descent home. Since we were both out of spare tubes and inflation devices, neither one of us were willing to risk heading over to the other side of the mountain. So back down the mountain we went, cutting our ride a bit short.

I may have had 20 pounds of air in my tire, and I was ten miles from home, so I needed to ride very, very carefully on my way home so that I didn’t pinch flat or peel the tire off of the rim. I was really worried that I’d be walking down the mountain today, doing what I call the "walk of shame." It’s a distinction that’s given to those that haven't been prepared for their rides. ;-) Oops. I thought that I had what I needed with me.

With the help of “B,” I was able to ride down the mountain semi-safely. The tire was distorting on every corner, and I feared that it would roll off of the rim. That’s kind of disastrous while in the middle of a corner, and surely a mandatory crash. I made it back home, and now I’m going to go inspect the tire, tube, rim, and rim tape, so that I can figure out what happened. 'll then toss my pump into the garbage where it clearly belongs. Actually, it's aluminum, so it will go into the recycling.

A late lunch with “B” at Taco Joes repaired my exacerbation from the day’s flats. Thanks for the ride “B.” Next time I’ll bring the CO2.

I caught a glimpse of who I suspected was "E. B." while riding my 10 year old Mikkelsen home. I need to show him that bike someday since it was my first foray into big-wheeled bikes, and he's a huge fan of them.

Distance: 18.66 miles
Calories burned: 1,506
Time: 2:18:16 hours
Elevation gain: 2,307 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22889838

Day 231: Bioniconic Dude!

Plans changed for me so many times today. The only two things that happened as planned were two business calls during the morning, and fortunately both of those involved colleagues that are also friends. I like mixing business with pleasure, as opposed to following the old rule against that sort of comingling.

I was sidetracked after my second call by some random issues that needed to be addressed ASAP, so I sucked it up, and dealt with them one by one. During all of this I was pinged by a buddy of mine from WTB. He said that there was a ride being randomly planned around some traveling visitors from Keyesville, CA. That’s the home of the Keyesville Classic. They are traveling reps for Bionicon Bikes and were here for the day with a dozen bikes, two killer dogs (Tucker wo's older and a bit shy, and a little Jack Russell Terrier that’s a tripod, and he had no trouble getting around, nor tugging a Frisbee from my hands!), and a van with a trailer full of bikes in tow. Ah, what a life!

Somewhere along the way I became the ride leader, meaning, I was showing people trails that they’d never ridden before, including showing them to my local “bros.” There were five of us, and we had fun traveling the back roads of Mill Valley up to the road that is just above Diaz Ridge. That was a good test of everyone’s legs, and a great way to warm up for the rest of the ride.

From there we blasted down to Diaz Ridge’s south fire road entrance. We had a lot of fun from there while making our way back to WTB where they hosed off bikes, and we took photos before I parted ways with them in order to do another lap up the mountain. Yes, another lap up the mountain. I just hadn’t done enough of a ride for R2R, and the rains had yet to start, so I decided to head back up the hill. I’m glad that I did.

I ran into someone that I’ve ridden with before. He rides a Niner bike and he’s pretty fit, so we ended up riding up the hill together. We ended talking about our businesses, as well as the new Apple iPad (terrible name), and the future of different development platforms. As I’ve said before, some of the best thinking happens while pedaling; at least mine does.

In the end it was a fun and productive day that brought me inspiration and hope for the future.

Distance: 16.75miles
Calories burned: 2,383
Time: 1:46:50 hours
Elevation gain: 3,677 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22889838

Day 230: My Knee and Tugboat's Tooth

Today proved that rest, lots of stretching, and Ibuprofen, can make the difference for me from one day to another. I was truly worried after yesterday’s episode with my knee. It all but buckled in the morning, and then it was tight and feeling like it was ready go south at any moment for the rest of the day. Uugh. The good news for me is that while my knee felt a little bit weaker than normal today, all in all I was able to ride at my normal speed. Phew!

And now we can move onto the next ailment that's affecting my small family. This one isn’t mine, but it is a real problem for Tugboat. I’ve known about the issue for a while now. He has an abscessed Carnassials tooth. That’s a big word for a guy that never studied canine biology. Apparently these are like super molars that even have three roots per tooth!

Since there is no visible fracture to the tooth, we tried treating it aggressively with antibiotics. That had some positive effect initially, but then the swelling in his face came right back. This is a real bummer for Tugboat since he’ll now be undergoing surgery next week to remove the tooth and its root system. It’s apparently an invasive surgery. Poor guy, and poor me, as I’m a terrible worry-wart for my four-legged friends.

You can see the nice big lump below his left eye. The good news is that he seems to be in no pain. What a champ.

I’ve been really surprised by how early the fruit trees are beginning to bloom. I even found some Irises blooming about a third of the way up on Mount Tamalpais. It’s been a pretty common thing over the past 4-5 years. I wonder why? The early blooming season seems to be happening to fruit trees and bulbs more than anything else.

I did one of my normal rides today after thinking that I was going to be rained on. I was forced to ride during the afternoon since I was at the veterinarian's office this morning. That said, I got lucky today and only had rain soak me during the last 10 minutes of my ride. Yahoo! That made me happy. Riding in the rain has been hard for me this year, so any day that I get away with staying relatively dry is a huge deal to me. ;-)

Distance: 17.63 miles
Calories burned: 1,456
Time: 1:43:20 hours
Elevation gain: 2,829 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23945605

Day 229: Taking it Easy with a Grumpy Knee

I was doing something really mundane this morning, like reaching down to pick up my shoes, when my knee barked at me with intensity. I felt like I was one hair away from a real disaster for R2R. I regained my footing and then did some extra stretching and took some Advil in hope that it would loosen things up around the joint.

I waited as long as I could to go for my ride, but eventually I had to go out to ride due to meetings and errands that had to be done today. So I took my road bike out for a spin in order to test things out. My knee continued to feel a bit tight, and like the wrong move in any direction would cause me pain, or worse.

I ended up barely climbing today, and backing way off of my normal pace. I iced my knee when I got home and hoped to maybe do another short ride later in order to keep my weekly mileage up to snuff. When I left later it was clear to me that I needed to get off the bike. So I did.

Tonight I’m going to do more icing and take more Advil. I hope to be back to normal tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Distance: 10.03 miles
Calories burned: 549
Time: 0:44:55 hours
Elevation gain: 291 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23890627

Day 228: One Year and One Day

I had a great day today. I was reflecting as I do on my rides, and today I was thinking back to one year and one day ago. It was February 1st 2009, and I had been waiting very patiently for “N” to come home. As much as it was horrible living with her during the recent years of her alcohol abuse, I still deeply loved and cared for her.

In preparing for her return, I did everything that I was told by my therapist, and the counselors from her rehab facility. I even did what that I had learned through Al-anon meetings. I did my best to do what they said to do, and without question. I also did things to the house that I thought would make “N” happy. So, to the best of my ability I created a very “sober living environment” for her.

As I drove out to Serenity Knolls, I was holding onto the last remaining bit of hope that I had for our marriage. In Al-anon, as well as in Partners in Recovery, they drill into you that you should never lose hope. That said, and given that I was already so damaged by the past few years, it was really difficult for me to lift my chin off the ground, and then to support it with hope. Somehow I did just that, but only to have it squashed in the end.

The drive home was long and quiet. I feared to say anything that might somehow rock the boat. I didn’t want to create any fear or anxiety in her that would potentially lead to her return to drinking. I know now that there’s nothing that I can say or do to make someone drink. That’s their choice, and not mine. I didn’t fully understand that at the time, so I was still being really cautious in interacting with her.

Having “N” back with me, if one could have even called it that, was nothing like I had hoped for. In fact it was even more demoralizing than before. I’d been ignored during the years leading up to this point, and now in her post-rehab return home, she couldn’t have been colder or more distant. She carried an anger towards me that was uexplainable. Adding to that form of insulting behavior was the seemingly superficial closeness that she now had for people she'd known for less than two months. They got her attention, and I received none. I felt then, and still do, like she threw the baby out with the bath water.

I had held our lives together for so long, and with very little help from her, so when I received the cold-shoulder it was incredibly painful and insulting. She quite literally shunned me. It was truly surreal, unfortunate, and completely unnecessary.

I’ve learned a lot through this mess, but I wish that I never had to learn any of it, and that things simply could have played out differently. So today I look back with very bittersweet thoughts about my marriage, and all that has gone on during the past year. I can say this; I do know that I'm in a better place now than I was then, both physically and mentally. That's the good news.

I remain hopeful that I'll find happiness in a loving, thoughtful, and caring relationship, but dating again sounds like one big hornet's nest, and all people of my age seem to be carrying baggage from previous crappy relationships. Yippee, this sure sounds fun!

Distance: 18.33 miles
Calories burned: 1,952
Time: 1:58:37 hours
Elevation gain: 3,059 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22889838

Day 227: Lunch Time Riding to Muir Beach

Today’s ride was a bit unexpected, and it came to be within minutes of beginning the plan. I had been up really early, 4:15 am, working with my team of developers in India, and by 10:00 am i had decided that it was time for a nap (I'm 45 years old, give me a break!). It’s hard to balance sleep patterns when working with other countries overnight, and with the rest of the crap that I've had going on in my life, a nap felt great! I deserved one. ;~)

Almost as soon as I woke from my nap, I got an Instant Message from “F” stating that he was ready to ride. I scurried around the house gathering my cycling clothing and grabbing coffee when I could. I had twenty minutes to get to our agreed upon starting point. Yahoo! I like riding with "F" so sucking it up was fine by me in order to get there on time.

We met at WTB and then made our way out on our road bikes. “F” had mentioned heading over to Muir Beach, and I was game for that route. We took the back roads over to Highway One and then used it to get over Diaz Ridge and on to Muir Beach. We did a pretty fast descent into Muir Beach, and I think that we both overcooked at least one corner, but we came out unscathed anyway. Skinny tires, during winter conditions, can be sketchy at times.

We rode on through Franks Valley before turning upwards after reaching the gates to Muir Woods. We stayed together on the climb and I was surprised once again that I could do so without feeling pressed in any way. I remember the last time that I did the same route with “F,” and not only did I fall off the back on that day, but I was really hurting. Tonight, and as I sit here writing, I feel like I did medium sort of ride in terms of pace and distance. What a radical change. While the distance is actually pretty low, it's still great for a lunch ride.

So thanks to “F.” I had a good ride, and we were able to catch up on work related issues, etc. It’s great to be working with a bicycle company since they understand doing things like Riding to Recovery. They’ve been very supportive, although I’m not certain that the entire company knows precisely what I’m doing. They do know that I’m riding every day, and they can all get behind that idea.

Thanks for the ride today “F,” and for your ongoing support of my efforts. Testing my fitness, while doing the Chicken Ride, sounds like a great spring time plan. I’m in, and will lead you out anytime that I’m able.

Taking photos while riding with friends that are, a) fast riders, and b) time constrained, is tough. I don’t get to stop in order to leisurely take photos, so todays were taken while I walked Tugboat back and forth to Whole Foods. Seeing the mountain every day while I walk Tugs warms my heart. It’s our “backyard” and it’s beautiful.

Distance: 15.87 miles
Calories burned: 1,102
Time: 1:15:41 hours
Elevation gain: 1,454 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23755654

Day 226: Great Weather to Ride with Happy People

Today’s weather was wonderful for a change. I’ve been harping a lot about the weather and how it’s been rough out there, but today was a great reminder for me that better weather is on its way. I look forward to doing longer rides again, and without being soaking wet, or chilled to the bone.

I rode with dozens of riders today, and they all seemed to be in a great mood and happy as can be to be outside with the sun soaking into their bodies. I’ve heard person after person say that they’ve been yearning for the sun. I heard one young woman today say that she was literally thinking about moving south of Marin where the sun shines more regularly. Whenever I, or anyone else, complain about our weather I’m always reminded of my in-laws that live in Kalamazoo, MI. Ouch! That sort of cold weather must be really hard to endure. It’s no wonder that my mother-in-law tries to cram as many outdoor activities in during the summer months.

Like I said, it seemed as though everyone on the mountain was happy today. People were talking to each other and one guy even yelled exuberantly at me as I passed him just above Hoo Koo E Koo. At about the same point a rider passed me, which doesn’t happen often these days, but he was clearly on a mission. I decided to track him a bit by upping my speed. I was already perplexed by a guy that was riding pretty fast in front of me, because he looked way out of shape. It was really weird. Anyway, I decided to now track the new guy, and that meant dusting the other guy… Yahoo, I sure felt good today, and there’s no doubt that’s it was due to the sun.

For about a mile I could only stay in contact with the rider, but then I noticed that he was slipping back. I had changed nothing in terms of my effort, and my heart rate and legs were feeling completely in check. As I finally approached him, and passed, I said that he should use WTB NanoRaptor tires on his 29er, and that they’d make him faster. ;-) He laughed, and then agreed. I moved onward knowing that this young racer had blown up on the hill and was trying to do his own form of recovery now. He ended up showing me the torn casing on his tubeless and now "tubed" tire.

He came over to me once that we were up at the inn. There were dozens of people there on their bikes. Hikers were everywhere too. Anyway, he came up and said, “John, right?” As it turned out I had met this guy some time ago, and when I was riding my OX Brand Bike. He’s a real 29er fan, and he was riding a two-season old SuperFly, with a tubeless wheelset (One was tubeless, see the photo). We talked for a while. He rides for a really cool vegan cycling team, and I may consider going back to being a vegan IF I can get my act together. Cooking solo is hard enough. Add going vegan to the mix and it’s almost cruel. I’ll ask “F” how he does it. He mentioned brown rice, beans, kale, etc., so maybe he can remind me of what it’s like to cook vegan.

“F” invited me to join him on a trip down to Muir Beach via the Coastal Trail, but I had planned to head to the very top of Mount Tam today, and I wanted to make good on doing more climbing. So we parted ways there, and I continued up to the top where I was greeted by another dozen or so cyclists, as well as the imposing Sheriff’s truck that was parked prominently where cars aren’t supposed to be parked. Was that on purpose? Maybe.

I rode over to where I know that there’s almost always a great view on a sunny day. I made a point of taking a photo of the grand view, and I did so for my neighbor “J.” She’s been reading my blog, and has mentioned that the photos with big skies are inspiring. Well this one is for you “J.” The view across Mount Tam to the lakes, and beyond to West Marin, are breathtaking and I never get tired of them, which is why I live here.

Distance: 17.20 miles
Calories burned: 2,511
Time: 1:49:40 hours
Elevation gain: 4,720 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23681892