The Fit Nation

https://ift.tt/wymRIKU Our usual ride leader is off on a cruise so I’m pinch-hitting for a couple of weeks. I led a ride out to the end of Redwood Retreat Road and back. When it’s a larger group and some are faster than others, it can be a bit more like being a mother hen making sure no one gets left behind. But there were a total of seven of us of similar riding ability so it made it easy. This is one of my favorite rides, with beautiful scenery and challenging but not too difficult hills. Heading up Redwood Retreat Road Some Alpacas at a farm along the way. I called out to them gently to get them to look at the camera but the black one seemed annoyed at me disturbing his lunch and walked away The vineyards of the Fernwood Cellar winery

https://ift.tt/lE3ywcW Yesterday I took my recumbent to the Northeast along the Coyote Creek Trail, going as far as Capital Expressway in San Jose. The weather was quite nice, although it is still hazy from the wildfires up around the Oregon border. Afterwards I headed over to the West side to finish up a pleasant forty mile ride. A nice “meditation in motion” session. A pretty meadow in Hellyer Park towards the north end of the ride Passing Metcalf Park on the way back View From the top of East Dunne Ave. The Diablo range is usually pretty clearly visible from hear but you can see the haze blocking it

https://ift.tt/PsO8VyY Yesterday my group rode to the Southwest, first on rural roads up in the foothills then on the beautiful bike paths in Gilroy. y I rode my non-electric road bike (Specialized Sirrus, the closest thing I have to a “normal” bike). I hadn’t taken it with with this group for a while and wanted to see how I kept up with them on it. I did ok and it was fun, but it was challenging, I was a bit tired afterwards. The fog was just lifting as I left home, the rest of the ride was sunny but still cool. There is some smoke coming down from the wildfire in Oregon near Port Orford, but the air wasn’t bad. Some friends are up there helping out their Aunt, who has a ranch, make sure her critters are safe. We wish them well! An alpaca on a ranch on Burchell road West of Gilroy

https://ift.tt/24uCskf Vance Walker recently was the top finisher at the American Ninja Warrior finals, beating 7 other incredible athletes. He was only one of three people in 15 seasons to win the prize for finishing stage 4 in a fast enough time. His story is recounted here . I have been a fan of the show for all the seasons: Not only does it showcase amazingly talented athletes, but it gives background clips on the competitors. These are often moving stories of overcoming adversity, and Vance is no exception. As a child he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and doctors doubted he would ever walk, let alone participate in sports. At 18 he has proven them wrong. He has to diligently stretch before competing because of residual effects of his condition. But he has not let that stop him. https://www.tvinsider.com/1104895/american-ninja-warrior-winner-vance-walker-cerebral-palsy/

https://ift.tt/ePBodj8 My group met at the Mendoza Ranch entrance to Harvey Bear County Park east of Gilroy. Only five of us showed, I think the cold foggy early morning scared the others off. But that burned off after about the first half hour and it turned out beautiful. We road various roads in the hills then finished up with an out and back on Coyote Lake Road. This was fairly long for me, almost 4 hours total, but very enjoyable. I rode my Vado electric assist upright because my recumbent doesn’t do as well in the hills. Foggy At The Start The Sun Broke Through As We Approached The End Of Gilroy Hot Springs Road Nice View on Canada Road Nice Ranch At The End Of Canada Road It is a Nice Ride Out Jamison Road But There is A Stinger of a Climb At The End Nice View Of Coyote Lake

https://ift.tt/oHG6ZVs Last January I treated myself to a 70th birthday present of a new seat for my recumbent. Unfortunately due to supply-chain issues, it ended up back-ordered, and I just got it. This seat is potentially more comfortable because it can recline more. It also should be more aerodynamic. The main purpose of the new seat is comfort, not aerodynamics, so I’ll get good use out of it. But being a retired engineer, my inner nerd was curious about the potential speed advantage. The seat on the left was the original seat, called the “recurve”. The one on the right is called the “Euromesh”. There is a limit to reclining on the recurve because it makes the front stick up too far and whack into the back of your legs. This is not an issue on the Euromesh because of its shape. The two are shown side by side with the standard incline. You can see there is lots more room to lower the Euromesh. I tried out the new seat with it reclined a few more inches than the recurve. I did a ...

https://ift.tt/lTfR3sb I’ve recovered from my SI joint injury enough that I can now pedal standing up for longer periods. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it, it is a good workout and relaxing. So I took my Vado upright over to the Coyote Creek trail. Near the paved trail, there are a lot of off-road sections, used mainly by equestrians and walkers, but also great for off-road biking. The paths are well-packed with few ruts, perfect for my low technical ability. I spent a pleasant hour over there on a nice morning. Looking East Towards the Foothills and Anderson Dam

https://ift.tt/CFHmrOB Yesterday my Tuesday group did what I thought was going to be a flat ride so I took my recumbent. I had just put a new rear cluster on it which shifts better but does not have as low of a gear for climbing. Then I heard we’d be adding a loop that includes climbing the steep front side of Malech Road to the route. Oops! It turned out fine, I just had to work a little harder going up that climb, heart rate reaching 144. And I’m glad I did because it took us past the new Coyote Ridge open space preserve , also called Máyyan ‘Ooyákma in the language of the indigenous people of the area. From the website: “Máyyan ‘Ooyákma (pronounced  My-yahn Oiy-yahkmah ) directly translates to Coyote Ridge in the Chochenyo language. Chochenyo is the language stewarded by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, whose members trace their ancestry to the Indigenous Peoples, or aboriginal inhabitants, of this region. The Open Space Authority is partnering with the M...

https://ift.tt/1wQSdom If the California Tourism Board sees this they’ll probably shut down my blog, but it’s true that it’s not always sunny in California. We’ve had several days of mostly overcast weather. Usually, when we get morning fog it burns off by the end of my ride, but lately, the fog has pretty much lingered all day. The photos below were taken late morning towards the end of a two-hour ride. No complaints, though, after the heat of summer, the temperatures have been nice and cool. Morgan Hill actually averages about 275 days of sunshine a year, or about 3 out of 4 days, which is not too bad. I remember when we lived in Boulder, Colorado they bragged they had 300 days of sunshine a year. We became a little dubious of that claim after 3 years there. Some days, especially in the fall when a condition called “upslope” happened, it could be gloomy all day with the sun just weakly peaking through. We suspected those days were counted towards the 300. Even so, there was mostly p...

https://ift.tt/VCa64Ni After my upper body workout, I went for a 45-minute local ride yesterday, a peaceful outing. The fog was just burning off leaving some nice cloud formations. Fog Remnants Over El Toro El Toro From a More Rural Spot

https://ift.tt/gdNLIWX www.Amazon.com/books Recently I read Nick Klingensmith’s story Through The Fire: The story of the 4-time cancer survivor, type-1 diabetic, and recovering alcoholic who became an obstacle course racer and defied it all . Nick is a serious amateur obstacle course racer who has done multiple “trifectas” (completing all three distances offered in Spartan racing). This is an amazing story of illness and recovery. Nick survived several bouts of cancer, including recurring thyroid cancer, and is also a type 1 diabetic. His story of overcoming adversities from his early life, plus these illnesses, as well as recovering from alcoholism is very inspiring. Nothing can keep him down. The story intertwines flashbacks to the past with current racing challenges in a fascinating way.