Outdoor Travel Geek

Category: random riding

  • the anthem

    Recently I added a new bike to my stable. I’ve been looking at full suspension 29ers for a while. When I rode the Slickrock trail earlier this year, I had rented a Giant Trance 29er, and I found I liked it a lot. I had ridden the same bike at a Giant demo day about…

  • cardiac (arrest?)

    I’ve been kinda lazy this month. It’s pretty obvious how lazy I’ve been from my workout calendar on MapMyRide. It was very sparse for the month. Aside from a few hikes and one short run I haven’t really gotten any exercise. That’s definitely not a good thing when I have a century ride in a…

  • auburn test ride

    This weekend Specialized Bicycles had a demo day at my favorite trail network, the Auburn Confluence recreational area. Even though it’s my favorite trail network, I haven’t been out there in a while, mostly because I haven’t been mountain biking much lately. So it was nice spending the day out there with Geo and Kiefer.…

  • synaptic response

    synaptic response

    Synaptic response?! What kind of weird title is that? Well, they seem to say that a lot in Star Trek, which I have been watching a bit of on Amazon Prime lately. But actually this post is in response to riding my new bike, a Cannondale Synapse. The new bike. A Cannondale Synapse. When it…

  • stolen cycle

    I didn’t notice until this morning when I was about to leave for work that my bike was missing. (There are usually two bikes on this rack.) I looked around the house and found that the side door was open. I never use that door, it’s always locked. And the sliding door in my sunroom…

  • ride railroaded

    The plan sounded easy enough. Drive to Elk Grove then ride south along the river on the levee roads, grab lunch in the old historical Chinese community of Locke, cross one of the drawbridges and then ride back to Elk Grove on the other side of the river. Forty nine miles of completely flat roads–it…

  • fall riding to folsom

    Growing up in San Francisco I didn’t really experience autumn. In San Francisco the climate doesn’t change much between seasons, and I remember most of the trees (of which there weren’t all that many) being evergreen. So I didn’t really experience colorful autumns until I moved to the Davis/Sacramento area. Out here there are tons…

  • seoul search

    The weather has been quite incredible lately, it’s kind of hard to believe that it’s November. I for one would like to take advantage of the awesome weather to get a little bit more riding in, before it gets cold and rainy. Today I rode with Fan– he’s been wanting to ride for a while,…

  • birthday suit biking

    This Saturday Trek bicycles had a bike demo day at Granite Bay. These demo days are pretty fun, especially the ones at Granite Bay. The trails are relatively easy at Granite Bay, so more people can come out and ride, and there’s plenty of things to do at Granite Bay so it’s nice to spend…

  • neglected hobbies

    ,

    Today was a fun filled day. I suppose what made it really fun was the variety of activities. I guess I have a wide variety of hobbies, and lately they’ve been somewhat neglected. Lately I’ve been pretty lazy, preferring to lie on my couch and watch stuff on Amazon Prime or lie in bed reading…

  • cyclic revelation

    In the last couple of weeks I’ve had a chest x-ray, an EKG test, an echo-cardiogram, a holter monitor test and a cardiac stress test. Thankfully, all of them turned out with great results, so it seems that everything is okay. The cardiac stress test ironically relieved a lot of stress for me and made…

  • parkway revisited

    The American River Parkway is probably the place where I really discovered my love for road biking. I used to bike there pretty often in the summer, but in the last couple of years I hadn’t ridden out there much, preferring to ride west from Davis towards Winters instead. This year though, I’ve been riding…

  • face plant

    According to Urban Dictionary, a face plant is when you fall such that you land directly on your face. Up until today, I never would’ve thought that it was physically possible to face plant. I mean, if you were falling, you’d try to break your fall somehow, you’d stick out your hands or something, right? Well…

  • the seven P’s plus one

    There’s an old British army adage that’s called the Seven Ps. The seven Ps stand for Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. I guess the seven Ps are useful for both battle and bicycling. To those seven Ps I will add one more. Pasta. What does pasta have to do with getting ready for…

  • bye bye bianchi

    Since I bought my Specialized Tricross my Bianchi has been sitting in my garage gathering dust. I decided it was time to sell my trusty old steed. It’s been my trusty bicycle for the last three years, and with it I had cycled over four thousand miles. As I looked at the bicycle I thought…