Let's eat and go!

I felt a little hungry this morning, so we cooked.  He did sunny side up well-done, I did zucchini salad with cabbage, onion, and sliced plum.  And a cup of coffee, one slice of whole wheat bread.

I like to have something sweet, so I added Strawberry Jam to finish the half of the bread slice.

It's going to be a very hot day.  So we started biking about 11:00 am.  Today we were going to ride steadily for 45 min.  I wanted to change the song in my mind to ride with a little faster speed, so I chose this for new song.

Time, Average Speed,  Max Speed, and Distance.

When we came back.  The temperature was 93 F at noon.  Gosh, it's 108F now at 3:20 pm!
I tried keeping a steady cadence, and made sure to stop at every stop sign on the road weather a car was coming soon or not.  At the beginning I stumbled while starting again, because my left foot couldn't reach on the pedal soon enough, but later I got better.

When I came back home, I noticed that I sweated a lot.  Had a glass of water.  And made squeezed orange and cranberry juice mix to have.  I needed it!

Next time I can up my cadence a little like this.  I love the young energy!

I wish I could have found it at the beginning of my bike life.

I totally had no idea how to train myself to be a long distance biker.  And I had no chart.  I got advice to have resting time, but how much or how often I didn't know and even didn't think about either.  

Today I found this interesting training plan
 "Beginner's Training Plan From 0 to 30 miles in 14 Weeks."
It sounds great, if I can do it.  

I decided to jump into the middle of the plan.  Hope it will work for us.

Good bicycling is like Cha-no-yu, tea ceremony?!

It's Sunday, today, so we decided to ride only on our community roads this morning.  I got the point, we need to find our senior biking way.  We'd better avoid riding in crowded roads or trails.

Yesterday we learned so many things that I wanted to try biking better as much as I can.
One particular thing was stopping at every stop sign and dropping one foot on the ground, and start again.  That was a very important and necessary practice for me.

And for that, I was struggling away to find a good sequence.  

1. Changing gear to small number on right hand, which has to be done quite a bit before the stop line. (because of my age and physical ability)

2. Showing a turning right hand signal, or turning left hand signal, following checking behind.

3. Using both hands to stop, immediately move pedal to be ready for starting .

4. Check four directions and start.

Busy, busy, busy...  I couldn't do it well in the beginning.  I forget this, and that...  And finally I could do a little better. 

Only I couldn't look at the driver's eyes yet. 
 Distance:

Average speed:

Max Speed:

Trip Time:

Because we didn't feel like eating we just had some water before riding; we were really hungry and tired when we got back home.

First I cooked and we ate.
Home baked 100% whole wheat bread, home garden grown zucchini sliced and chopped cabbage saute with topping of shredded Emmentaler cheese.  Diluted Cranberry Cherry Juice Drink with Another Juice 100% vitamin C from Ocean Spray.

And a cup of coffee with milk,  two glasses of water.

Then, we both felt very tired and stiff.  So we did recorded TV exercise "Sit and be Fit" which is lightly using all over the body muscles.  Finally our body were relaxed.

Plums on our tree are getting mature which have anti aging benefit.  So I will eat some and keep riding. :-)

Bicycle class, my friend told me, we went.

The most important thing that we learned:

Bicyclists don’t have to ride in bike lanes, or even stay to the right.
In general, California law calls on cyclists to stay to the right and use bike lanes when available, but cyclists can ride elsewhere if they find it safer to do so.
Specifically cyclists can ride in the left part of a lane to make a left turn or on the left side of a multi-lane, one-way street.
They can move into the middle of the lane to avoid obstacles — including when cars are parked along the curb, because motorists often open car doors and can knock cyclists down.
Bicyclists also can move away from the right side of the lane near intersections where motorists might want to make right turns in front of them.--- If I knew it, I could have avoided the situation I wrote about yesterday.

And checking behind often is necessary:
     before the hand sign to turn, and before actual turning.
And make eye contact to the driver as possible --- For these I need more practice.

The county bicycle coalition certified teachers gave us free 4 hours class in the room and outside to explain the situations.  

That was very nice we both thought.  We spent the valuable education time.  --- In addition we learned that the city of Sonoma changed the law recently so bicyclists are not allowed to ride on the sidewalk anymore.

All the attendees got free gifts, it's very nice.

The more riding, the more scaring.

Maybe that's a good thing.  The first city road biking was fun, because I didn't know what's going on really.  I was only looking at front mostly.  Not knowing is very scary!  And somehow on that day I was lucky;  everything went well smoothly.

The second city road biking, that was exciting too for long ride.  But since then I've been worrying about on city roads.  When I checked, the most common car-bike collisions, I found the reason why I'm worrying. 

Right Hook:  A car passes a cyclist on the left and turns right into the bike's path.
When I was going to across the W Napa St. from 5th St., two cars continuously speeded up and sharply cut in front of me riding and turned right on W Napa St., I was shocked but I didn't realized how I was in danger at that times, so I didn't get panic at all.  Thank God.

Since then I started to hate riding in the city.  I'm old, I don't need to face to danger.
In spite of long hours planning, I lost my desire to do another adventure.  In stead of that we should do trail riding, but the nice long trails are in another city.  It will take more time to drive, because we have something to do later.

So we just quickly decided today's riding plan, and hit the road.

For our the last city road ride connecting to 3 bike paths
We parked at the Depot Park free parking lot, and rode the west side of Sonoma bike path first and u-turned to ride toward 2nd St.E and turned right on 2nd St. E to get to Nathanson Preserve Bike Trail  again and we u-turned at the end because we were going back all the way to Andrieux St. to turn left, but we went passed it, because that side of the same street is called France St, so we u-turned again to get there, from Andrieux left turned on 3rd St W and finally we got onto Fryer Creek Bike Trail which is my favorite.  We u-turned at the end too.
I took a picture in the middle of the trail when we were coming back.  Near the big tree there was yellow berry shrub, I have no idea what that is.

You can see why I love this trail from this picture.

On the way back, we took Broadway the first time, which has a bike lane, he heard so we tried it.
In spite of nice long bike lane, there were many cars parked on the lane so I couldn't bear to ride on the street.  In Sonoma cyclists are allowed to ride on the sidewalk we read, so I did.
When we got back to the parking, the speedometer showed Distance only a little over 8 miles, so biking around there including Vallejo Home, Veterans memorial Building, and Police office to ride up to 10 miles.  Yes, we did.
     Distance:

  Average Speed: 

Max Speed: 

Time:  

I feel it's a time to re-think about our goal.  For safe, fun and healthy riding for us senior people who don't have physical strength specially. 

The hurdle of 15 mile is hard to jump over.

Maybe because of this hot weather, it's very hard to renew the riding record over15 miles recently.  Even 10 miles riding made us tired, not just after finishing, a couple of hours later the fatigue really gets us.

So I promise to myself if I ride, I will ride at least 10 miles every time.  Or I won't ride, just rest completely.

Yesterday we had a nice rest.  Watched movie, watched exciting mountain bike movie on You tube.  And thinking about all kinds of possible place to go biking, trying to make plans... etc.

Today we rode in our neighborhood long.  We came back for restroom and water, and went back on the road.  Tried to pedal the same cadence, tried to start and stop the right way as much as possible.  Tried to watch for cars that might pass me.

Start and Stop is very important, but I still couldn't get the smart looking way.  I will work for it.

Today's records:  Distance, Time, Average Speed, and Max Speed.

I was going to go out again, but Mr. WhP said "no".  ??  Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, I made a tomorrow's plan.  

The movie "Breaking away" was fun to listen to; it used familiar opera arias, and classical music as the background.  And also it was fun to look at the young riders' very fast pedaling.  The story was cute.

We also enjoyed this mountain bikers' video.  The scene where the bikers were eating Italian spaghetti was stuck on my brain so hard that I had to cook and eat today after our biking. 

The 2nd City Road Bike via Fryer Creek Path, Sonoma

"If you want to practice for city road biking, you only can do that on city roads."  His words pushed my back unexpectedly for him.  " Let's go!"  We've been thinking and checking the road on Internet.  I chose the most comfortable way for me. 

Riding on Arnold Dr to Leveroni Rd was not so bad, most of the drivers were courteous luckily, and as I planned I stopped to prepare for crossing Leveroni Rd to the Fryer Creek Path.  That was a beautiful trail, we loved it.  He took a picture for me.

After turning right on Andrieux St, we heading to 1st St and we got off our bikes and used a crosswalk to get on 1st St which felt much more comfortable.  Then we went to the post office to mail a letter.

Back on 1st St down to Andrieux St, we turned right on 5th St to Safeway.  That was nice riding.  After we got a cup of yogurt, we headed North on 5th St, all the way to Verano Ave.  A little up slope was fine, then along the street we turned left, at the end of Verano Ave just before Arnold Dr was quite an up slope, but we did well.  We walked across the Arnold to the other side, and went back.

Coming back on Arnold was scarey, drivers were driving way faster than they allow, and street was full of broken glass bits and some broken tiles, very dirty.  We wondered why this side has more trouble than other side.

Anyway we came back safely.  I was excited but exhausted more.  I was happy for what we have done together.  But I felt that was enough for road biking for a while.  

Total distance:  9.69 miles

Average speed: 8.5 mph

Trip time: 1 hour 7 minutes

We sweat a lot.  The watermelon was great to cool us off.

Then we needed some protein.  Chicken and egg with vegetable on rice.

+ some black olives. 

When we left for biking, we didn't eat anything just a cup of coffee and water.  Maybe that's why we needed something sweet, so had some ice cream and some bing cherries to calm inflammation.

Our feet, thighs and arms are getting heavy and painful, so we did some stretch, and it seemed very soothing.

I guess we need to take a shower, but a little later.  It is so hot.

Let's clean out our brains! - 10 miles+ biking

Couldn't decide the 2nd road bike plan.  Sitting for hours made my brain blurry.  Suddenly got urge for pedaling!

Unfortunately afternoon wind started already, it was quite scary to be blown by nasty and gusty wind.  Today I wanted to bike at least 10 miles, and also wanted to try keeping cadence 70 as long as possible by changing gears when necessary.  And wanted to try pedaling slowly.

Our speedometer doesn't show cadence, so I checked this song.  It's almost 70 beats per minute.  I sang while pedaling.  When my song got slowly, I noticed that I needed to change the gear, so I did.

I rode 11 miles in an hour 13 minutes.  My brain was so happy, completely emptied out.
While I was riding, maybe old leaf dropped in between my eye glasses and my right eye, I was scared if it was an insect, but after blowing a couple times it had gone.  So it must have been a brown leaf.  

I started wondering if I should get closed sunglasses.  

After that long ride, I wanted to have corn soup so I cooked with some vegetables.  Served with sliced Camembert cheese.  

That was yummy.  Ate up left over scones.  We're heavy scone eaters!

Legs' muscles are ready, but...

After the big event for us finished yesterday, we were still excited for a while.  I even planned another road bike plan in the city which has a little trouble so that we might not. 

Anyway "Today we should have a rest!" Mr WhP said this morning.  So I said, "just our neighborhood as much as you like for you, and as I like for me."

Turned out he came back a few minutes later than me.  Surprisingly we both felt, our legs got stronger!  I was surprised very much how easy to ride the slope without slowing down.  Of course my speed is still less than 10 miles per hour yet.  

But my brain, arms, eyes are tired veeeery much from yesterday.  So..
32 minutes ride was just right.

average speed 8.5 miles/hour was great.

total distance 4.77 miles were disappointing a little bit.

I should have looked at the total distance number carefully and ride a little more to 5.00 miles.  Maybe it doesn't matter. 

I baked sweet scones for ourselves.  With California raisins and American manufactured Swiss Chocolate, I cut in small pieces a little to blend in. 

Came out Yummy! yumm...  "I need carbohydrate!"
"Let's have the scones with Swiss cheese!"

My debut city bike ride!

Finally I decided to break through another new experience.  Road bike in the City of Sonoma.


I lightly warmed up at parking lot.  Got on the Sonoma bike Trail. "Wow, many walkers and bikers, baby strollers!"  As I promised to myself if I felt not sure, I will get off the bicycle, I pulled my bike and walked the intersection with city road.  Finally got into 2nd St.  Trucks and cars were passing by, but strangely I was OK.

The Trail which I wanted to bike through was near by at the end of 2nd St., but I was confused by the sign of the trail and turned right on MacArthur st., luckily found a nice street, Austin so I was going to turn around.  Then I missed to turn right again.  My brain was dot, dot, dot.....  At those times Mr. WhP was puzzling behind me.  I pushed him to go ahead of me.

The Nathanson Creek Preserve was the nice paved trail;  I enjoyed the moment at the car free zone for a while. Then,  we biked on the very nice bike lane until the end, and turned around.  
Here's a nice bike lane around there. 

Turned right on Denmark St. to bike all the way to 7th St., turned left to good old familiar Lovall Valley Rd, but I didn't want to get on the Sonoma bike path soon, so I turned left on 4th St. E and turned right on E Spain st.  We turned right on 2nd St E back, took the bike path for a short time, then turned on 1st st. E down to the entrance of the parking lot.

I felt that I could ride more, but I knew our old age never can tell the truth.  Our fatigue will come after very heavily, and it did on us later.

Trip Distance: 6.4 miles, it's not bad.

Average Speed: 

Trip Time: About 1 hour,  this is the right amount of time for the first road bike trip.

Felt that I could climb another little mountain.  Yay!

Bought Speedometers.

Yesterday my odometer in smartphone stopped during my biking because my battery died, which is my fault.  So I took his record because I'm sure that I biked a little more than he did yesterday.

Today our speedometers were delivered, so he put them on.  And we biked with them.

My speedometer showed: 
Total distance: 10.405 miles

Average Speed 9.4miles/hr

Smartphone's odometer shows: 9.93 miles/ 8.8 miles per hour

His Speedometer shows distance:  10.528 miles 

His average Speed:  10.1 miles/hr















His smartphone's odometer shows:  9.85 miles/ 8.9 miles per hour

I like the speedometer hooked on the bicycle.  This is so cool.  You can see your speed all the time, and total distance is showing too, so I can ride until enough miles added.  Today I wanted to bike more than 10 miles and I did.  It felt very fun and I was satisfied.

Tomorrow we're going to try my first time road biking a little bit, I've already gotten nervous even though I was the one who has checked and checked and planned the route.  Well, just try every mountain a little by little...

P. S.  Mr WhP thinks more about this Speedometer on his comment below.  

I painted my helmet.

I love my bicycle color so much that I'm very happy just to grip the handle.  When I tried to buy a similar color of helmet, I had no luck.  The helmet is so important that I gave up, and bought the white one.

Today I got an urge to paint my helmet with the same color as my bicycle, so I did.

I used my acrylic paints, cerulean blue hue, light green permanent, and titanium white.

It came out very similar to my bicycle!

Even though we both were exhausted today, but I suddenly got energy to ride with my newly painted helmet, so we did. 

I tried pedaling the same cadence by adjusting the gear.  With singing  a song in my mind which has the tempo of a march,  90 rpm I guess.

He is just enjoying his ride, except struggling the heavy wind of late afternoon.