Dauphin

Amgen Tour of California coming through Auburn

2010-05-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

Got a chance to snap a few pics of the tour coming through.

Weekend in Yosemite

2010-04-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

There's no such thing as a bad trip to Yosemite. This was my first visit in nearly two years...I will not let that much time pass again.

In the years I've been visiting Yosemite, this is my first bobcat encounter!

This fellow was stalking something...not sure what...

Looking up the sheer cliffs from Curry Village

An early morning view of Half Dome

On the way to Nevada Falls...

First view of Nevada Falls

Stellar's Jay or Mountain Jay

Looking out toward Yosemite Falls

Still some snow to negotiate...looking up the cliff side almost to Nevada Falls

Nevada Falls

Another view of Nevada Falls

Vernal Falls

Looking down from the top of Nevada Falls

looking out across the valley from Nevada Falls

Someone left an orange peel for this little fellow. (Not me...I don't feed the wildlife)

Half Dome in the evening.

Sunday morning at Mirror Lake

Flowers along the road exiting the park.

Just Like Starting Over

2010-04-08T19:35:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you need to wipe the board clean and start anew. Sometimes that is the best for all involved.

Take a hike!

2010-03-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

Great advice! We headed down to the American River via Stagecoach trail and found lots of great thing to snap photos of!

Looking out on the American River Canyon.

The American River.

No Hands Bridge.

The Foreshill Bridge.

Buttercups!

Snakeheads!

Poppies!

Mountain biker coming up!

Another mountain biker heading up.

Not sure what these are.

Poppy up close!

Coming up for air...

2010-03-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Pressure and fatigue can seem endless at times and we all need that little break to relieve that pressure. Even riding my bike, which I love, can be a pain at times..just trying to get ready and get out there. Yesterday when I got home from work my daughters had our dog Dusty on the leash and wanted to go to the park. When they asked me if I wanted to go, my first inclination was to say no because I was so tired from my work day. Instead of heading in to relax, I said that I would go with them. Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days we have had in a very long time. It was around 6pm and the temperatures were in the high sixties and the late afternoon shadows made the greens, greener and the blues, bluer. Off to the park we went and had a really nice stroll with our dog. I'm very glad that I went with them. I'm not much of a photograper...but I liked these that I took from yesterday.

Deserve's got nothin to do with it.

2010-03-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you get what you deserve.

No G.T.O.s here...but lots of goats!

2010-03-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

For those of you who missed #goatfest this morning on Twitter, a celebration inspired by #morebikes, here are a few photos of my efficient eating machines...

Two of the best ever...

2010-03-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

I have a habit of getting so wrapped up with things that I need to do in my daily life that I many times miss out on things that can really reduce the stress level. In addition to my cats and my goats..I have two really wonderful dogs. Dogs are interesting creatures. Many times I wish people were more like dogs. They always seem to be happy to see you and they don't give a damn what you look like, whether you're old or young, skinny or fat... They just want to visit and show you they care about you. I have two girl dogs that are really sweet. Idgie, my Norwegian Elkhound is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known. She came to me from a breeder who simply gave her away. For some reason, they de-barked her so she sounds like she is coughing when she talks. She's very skittish when it comes to loud noises and throw herself at the door to come in the house when she gets frightened. She's basically just a friendly, sweet puppy.

My other dog is Dusty and she's a mixed breed that probably has some husky or elkhound in there somewhere. She's bigger than Idgie but just as sweet. We've had her for years, but she still acts just like a puppy. She runs and jumps and gets all excited when anyone comes home. This one has a full bark and isn't afraid to use it when strangers drive up to the house. She also helps me get the goats back in the pasture should they venture into the backyard, which they do from time to time. She never hurts them, but they take off like rockets when she comes running. I usually give her a short haircut in the summer and boy is that a pain. She has three different types of fur and my clippers take a beating when I have to trim her.

Idgie and Dusty are great family dogs....and I have found myself spending more time with them lately. Like I said, dogs are interesting creatures. They love you even if you sometimes take them for granted. I'm going to try and not do that as much from now on.

Auburn to Foresthill Ride

2010-03-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

I woke Saturday around 7:00am and by 7:40 was dressed and on the road for what I thought might eventually work into a 100+ mile ride. Weather was crisp and sunny with temperatures in the 40's with an expected high of 62. This would be the first long ride with major climbing using my compact 50/34 and 11-28 cassette combination. From Auburn I followed the route of the annual Auburn Century by heading up toward Colfax which is about a twenty mile section with about 2600 feet of climbing. Along the way, I began riding with a nice woman named Jana who it turns out is moving to Auburn from the Bay Area. We rode together all the way to Colfax where we stopped and had a coffee at Starbucks. It turns out that she knows Lorri Lee Lown of Velogirls fame! That was cool and it was nice meeting her. From Colfax she was heading back down the hill and I decided to continue on toward Iowa Hill Rd and the hill that kills. I was not sure how I could handle it without my trusty triple but I planned to give it a go anyway.

This was the first time I have tried this climb this early in the year and everything was extremely green from the recent rains.

At the bottom of the descent is a bridge that spans the American River.

And on the other side....1.75 miles of climbing torture...

I had to stop about a mile up the hill due to tightness in my lower back. Other than that, I managed to keep a slow enough pace that my breathing and my legs could handle the grade albeit with some tacking back and forth in places. I figure I'm nearly 56 years old and about 20 lbs heavier than I should be so that's acceptable.

Once you finally reach the top of this monster the climbing continues and is very deceptive. For the 1.8 miles up you've just climbed 1400 ft with several grades of 18 to 20%. The average grade on this hill is 13.5%. It's pretty much crazy in my opinion, but I keep going back to it. Once at the top you have some nice scenery to look at without worrying about toppling over!

It was at this point that I began to feel a little bit strange. My legs began to feel really weak and something just wasn't right. I found myself stopping several times because I just could not keep going. I'm not sure what it was, but I felt really bad and wasn't sure how I would make it in if things didn't improve. I finally made it to Sugar Pine reservoir at about mile 36 and felt like I could lay down and go to sleep I was just incredibly weak. The strange thing is, I was not the least bit cold or hot.

After awhile I decided to try and push on to Foresthill Rd which was another four or five miles. That would have been the point where, had I felt good, I would continue the climb up to Robinson Flat before returning to Foresthill and on into Auburn. That would have put me over 100 miles for the day, but there was no way I was going to be able to do that. I must have stopped five or six times. I just couldn't go far without having to stop and rest my legs felt so weak. I thought if I could just make it to Foresthill Rd, I could turn right and it would be pretty much down hill into the town of Foresthill and I could stop and rest in a restaurant or coffee shop. I finally made the turn on to Foresthill Rd around 4pm and started descending toward town.

Even going down hill at speeds up to thirty five mph I still had to stop twice to rest before finally pulling in to town. I found a Subway and went in and got some food and a two Cokes. The food made me feel better for a bit, but then I suddenly began to shiver with chills that steadily got worse. I thought for a minute there I was going to shake my teeth out of my head and I got very cold. About that time I realized I had no cell phone service where I was and the girl behind the counter allowed me to call my daughter from their phone. My daughter drove up and picked me and the bike up and I had the heater going full blast in the car for several minutes before I stopped shivering. Upon arriving home, I immediately got undressed and tried to nap for a bit and began to feel better. Click the link to see the route map with the various elevations.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/36783

My century ride turned out to be 53 miles and 7600 ft of climbing instead of the 100+ and 12,000 ft I was planning on. It started out great and ended rather shakily.

Palm Trees

2010-02-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Since I was a little kid, I've always liked palm trees. I once had dreams of becoming an archaeologist or perhaps a paleontologist (all kids love dinosaurs). Lots of palm trees in the desert and of course the dinosaurs were always depicted among palms. We also only lived about a six hour drive away from Florida's redneck Riviera, so I got to see plenty of palm trees in those days. Like a lot of kids my age, my father served in WWII. In his case, he was with the Marines at Guam and Iwo Jima. Lots of palm trees on South Pacific islands. Nevertheless, I never really expected to live near palm trees. As fate would have it, seventeen years ago I moved to Northern California from my native Georgia. Guess what? Palm trees galore. Most commonly found here are Mexican fan palms which can grow up to one hundred feet tall. I've actually planted four of them in the yard and one of them is already about thirty feet tall. I've had better luck with the palm trees than I've had with my second favorite tree which is the Italian Cypress. I like to call them my "EYE"-talian trees. The two I have left are still alive but they have not thrived. Lots of cypress trees around Northern California too. Lots of skunks and mosquitoes in Northern California too, which is something I never expected. Life is full of the unexpected though, isn't it?

Keep it simple...stupid.

2010-02-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

As I start to write this..another phone call from someone else who wants something. I've reached the point of dreading the next phone call so much that I pretty much deliberately let calls go directly into voicemail. Pressure and stress are interesting in that many times, at least in my case, they are self generated and accumulated. I used to think of my life as a cluttered desk at work. No matter how much of the work you try to do, the pile on the desk gets bigger and bigger. It gets so high that you just want to shove it all off in one fell swoop..all into the trash...and start over fresh, trying not to make the same decisions and mistakes that led to the huge pile in the first place. It's like your life can become the two car garage that can barely accomodate a bicycle because of all of the junk and trash that you've accumulated. Clearing it out and making it neat, clean, and functional again becomes such a daunting task that you begin to try and ignore it and hope that it goes away. It's like being overweight. Imagine walking around with a pair of 20 lb weights all day long and then each day picking up an even heavier set to carry around. At some point, the weight begins to affect you knees, your back, your feet, your entire body feels as if the force of gravity had doubled or tripled. Every inch of you screams out for release and rejuvenation. You think, "If I can just hold out a little bit longer, things will get better.", but they seem to get more difficult instead. The older I get, the more I yearn for simplification and peace of mind. I yearn for calm and the absence of anger and confrontation. I often wonder how I've allowed my life to become so encumbered and complicated. Too many people and too many things to worry about. Not enough time in the day, the week, the month, the rest of life to sort it all out it seems. What would it be like to be able to sit down...write it all out...arrange it all...sort it out...deal with it? Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking. Another phone call...great. I don't like phones much right now.

Remembering Spider

2010-02-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

Watching the Vancouver Olympics reminded me of the story of Spider Sabich. It turns out that one of my long time customers was best friends with him when they were growing up and they even learned to ski together. Some of you may remember the story. It was interesting to read this story and get the perspective from someone who knew the man.

An Ideal Life

Saisir le jour!

2010-02-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

I thought the forecast was for a break in the rain, but things looked "iffy" as I took off on what I thought would be about a 30 mile ride. As I began the ride I could tell immediately that I felt physically stronger and more comfortable than I have since falling on the treadmill last week. Perhaps it was the wonderful massage I had yesterday afternoon. In any case, I decided to add some major climbing to today's ride and headed up what I knew would be a difficult hill. Fawn Hill Rd looks like it is going straight up...especially when you aren't sure how you can pedal to the top of it. One section features a 20% grade. After conquering that one, I continued on in a light drizzle toward Baxter Grade, Ridge Rd, Indian Hill Rd, and an added challenge, Old Foresthill Rd. Even though portions of the 43 miles were challenging, I never felt as if I couldn't continue and felt strong for most of the ride. It would have been nice to have had company on this ride, but I enjoyed it going solo. We are very blessed to have such wonderful roads to ride and such year round accommodating weather conditions!

Way too fast...

2010-02-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

Seems like yesterday that I took the picture of my daughter sitting in her rocking chair. Turns out it was more like 19 years ago and she has grown up a bit since then. I still see that cute little girl when I look at her, though.

Appreciate the small things...

2010-02-18T06:17:00.000-08:00

I've never really figured it out, but Thursdays have always been the day that I feel the most fatigued. In the 21 years that I have been in the "gym" business, it's also been the lightest attendance day for our customers, so there must be something to "Thursday-itis". It's on one of these "tired" Thursday mornings that I am very thankful for some of the small things that make the days (especially the early hours) more enjoyable. One of my customers has switched from attending my lunchtime spin classes to attending the 5:30am & 7:30am sessions. She told me that she was doing so partly to enable others to attend the midday sessions (which are typically full) and that she would be able to finish her workout earlier in the day. Imagine that. A thoughtful person. Not only that, but she brings me coffee when she comes in! That really helps since Der Bagelmeister next door sometimes drops the coffee ball when I need him most! Perhaps I should create a Member of the Month award...and Karen (that's her name, btw) would be the first winner! In any case, I appreciate her kindness.

What a way to start!!!

2010-02-17T07:12:00.000-08:00

To prevent the possibility of having a power outtage cause me to miss my alarm clock, I long ago started using the alarm feature on my cell phone instead of a traditional clock. The only time that system has failed me is if I have neglected to charge the phone properly or if I have inadvertantly left it in silent mode. I find telephones annoying and long ago became a fan of silent mode. Unfortunately, last night I forgot to switch back to regular mode and slept through my alarm! Got to the gym 15 minutes late and had to profusely apologize to the customers waiting to get inside...oh well...it happens. Hopefully the rest of the day will be better!

Be careful what you ask for..you might get the opposite..

2010-02-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

..For some reason, I neglected to charge the rechargeable batteries this morning and was left without a fresh one for my wireless microphone right as spin class was to begin. I think fatigue is getting the better of me. I managed to connect the back up microphone in time to salvage most of the class, but I was never really in to it. I hope they managed to get a good workout in any case.

One flip of the hourglass...

2010-02-16T06:55:00.001-08:00

After the uproar of Sunday night...and resulting two hours of sleep, Monday was pretty much a waste of time and should have been cancelled. Time, of course, marches on and we do what we have to do. Sometimes it is difficult remain positive when there is so much negative reinforcement. I guess you can only control what you can control. Today is Fat Tuesday and while it does not refer to my midsection, it sure seems to be the pefect description of how I am feeling at the moment...One of my customers asked me if I was growing a beard and then proceeded to tell me that it was awfully white! I think if it were completely white, I might like it. As it is...it is a bit too salt and pepper for my taste...and I think today it will be gone. I could sure use some positive news today...something good to happen would be really nice right about now.

Saturday ride February 13th, 2010

2010-02-13T23:33:00.000-08:00

After sleeping past noon, I decided to take ride in the sunshine...hoping to do my usual hill climbing course. After making it up Baxter Grade and the fast descent down Mt. Vernon Rd, I climbed to the top of Ridge Rd in Newcastle. The pictures don't do justice as usual to the nice weather conditions. From Newcastle I headed into Penryn and the Trailhead Cycling Cafe for quick coffee. From there it was back home, bypassing Indian HIll due to time constraints. Not a bad day...after all...it was on a bike!

Out like a light...

2010-02-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

After watching a bit of the Olympics opening ceremonies from Vancouver....I finally hit the sack around 1am which is way past my normal bedtime of 10pm, but hey, it was Friday night and there was no need to wake early on Saturday. The next thing I know, I'm waking to sunshine coming through the window of the bedroom at quarter past noon! As I stare out of the window now...it's 59/15 degrees and sunny....Gotta ride!

long week comes to an end...

2010-02-13T00:32:00.000-08:00

This was a tough week...nearly eight months into our austerity program is really beginning to drag me down physically.
I managed to step on to a moving treadmill this week and had myself thrown into an elliptical machine. By the end of the week, my neck and shoulder are really bothering me..

long cold lonely winter

2009-12-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Heavy snow overnight...had a limb fall on the edge of the front porch...no power at the gym until around 8am...