Another Beautiful Morning Ride...

Click on photo to enlarge

Peggy at 8:10 this morning on the Alpine Pedal Path, the last leg of our 20 mile ride around the lake.

We left home before 6 A.M. but stopped a bunch of times, once for coffee, and many more to take in the scenery of this beautiful mountain valley we live in.

We got home about 8:30 making this the longest it's taken us yet. Our fastest time riding it together was 1 1/2 hours, and I rode it once in just under an hour on my road bike (when I was in my 40s). Peggy and I both enjoy lollygagging, we're just not in a hurry, so our bike rides are more than exercise, for us they're pleasure cruises not time trials.

So when I write about how long our rides take, it's not because we're trying to improve upon that time, I'm just attempting to give you an idea of how long it takes to ride 20 miles at a leisurely pace. At our pace, riding that distance isn't a grueling experience, it's more like an enjoyable walk in the park.

The worst part is the initial conditioning of the butt to the bicycle seat!
And don't attempt this ride if you've just come up for the day from sea-level!!

It takes weeks or months for a persons lung capacity to expand enough to do even moderately strenuous exercise at nearly 7,000 feet. Over the years, four visiting friends have tried to make that ride that with me. Two of them made it---both physically fit males much younger than I---and swore they'd never do it again. All of them could have easily done it at sea-level.

I finally realized that no matter how great of shape you are in, you can't come up for the weekend and expect to make that ride and have it be an enjoyable experience, you'll get way too winded very early in the ride.

Peggy just now reminded me that, during the Xeriscape Garden Tour Wrap Party, we won two tickets (for us and our bikes) on the scenic chair lift to the top of Snow Summit. The tickets expire in September so I guess we better use them soon. A short distance from the top of the chairlift is Skyline Drive, a gravel forest road, that runs miles along the ridge overlooking the San Bernardino Valley. Skyline Drive connects to more miles of dirt roads and trails leading in all directions. Peggy and I have ridden back to the valley from there down Mill Creek Road before, and our daughter Jamie and I rode it once too. It's much more hilly and challenging than the ride around the lake but it's exhilarating and scenic to the extreme. So, in the near future, when Peggy and I make the ride again, I'll try and remember to take my camera, with the SD card installed. ;~)

Anyhow, right now, the garden is calling, so maybe I'll post more later on.

Have a good day all.

PS

I realize it probably bothers some people that I add to or edit my posts for some time after they initially appear. But this is a journal of sorts, and I don't always have time to complete each entry at one sitting, and I apologize for that.

Just be aware that many of the posts may not be complete for about 24 hours or so, as time allows, events progress, and my thoughts come back to the day or the subject.

I've noticed when I make more than one or two posts in a day, most people don't read the earlier ones anyway. Who has the time? So I've just taken to expanding my entries until I feel it's time to move on to something else.

Jim ;~)