I DID IT!

Yesterday, I *finally* rode up Paseo Ranchero without stopping. Surprised myself because I thought I'd be too tired at the end of my ride.

This time, my ride was the following: Paseo Ranchero south to Telegraph, Telegraph west to the shopping center (turn around), Telegraph east to Medical Center Dr, Medical Center drive south to Olympic Pky, Olympic Pky to E. Palomar (turn around), Olympic Pky to Heritage, Heritage north which brought me to my nemisis hill.

When I arrived at the hill, I just shifted to the lowest gear and kept pedaling. It was a slow climb, but at least I didn't stop. I was pretty proud of myself at the top.

Another fun thing about yesterday's ride was going west on Olympic Pky near Otay Ranch HS. I had a bit of a tail wind and tried cranking up my speed. If my bike computer is accurate, it said I topped out at 37.6 mph! Not sure if I want to try that again though. Bad things could happen.

Off roading with TC

Took TC out biking last Saturday. She has a 6 speed mountain bike (20" wheels) so when we go out, I take my mountain bike. She wanted to bike to Voyager Park near Rancho Del Rey Middle School. When we got to the park, we rode down to the biggest gazebo that overlooks Telegraph. We found a gravel path that leads down to Telegraph and decided to ride it down. It was pretty steep, so I made sure she kept her hands on her brakes. Even so, she "fishtailed" a bit.

As we neared the bottom, we saw a trail that ran to the west. I wasn't sure if TC would be adventurous enough to take it, so we just made our way down to the sidewalk. Once at the sidewalk though, TC asked if we could go back and take the trail. So we rode the trail and she really enjoyed it. She tipped to the left once into some bushes, but was OK. A little dirt on the left handlebar grip and her jeans was all. Some of the inclines were a little steep so she walked them up. Once we made it to Paseo Ranchero, she wanted to take the same trail back. So we did. There was a big rock on the trail that we named "Steve".

When we got back to the gravel path, we noticed the trail continued east. After taking a break, we took the trail east. It was a pretty easy ride until the end. That's where the trail took a steep decline to the street corner. I took the lead to make sure TC could slow down into me if needed. When we got down to Telegraph, we continued east on the sidewalk to La Media. We then crossed Telegraph and went west on the jogging trail that is on the southside of Telegraph. That took us all the way back to Paseo Rancheo. We crossed Telegraph and walked the bikes up my "favorite" incline that I have yet to master. We then rode back home.

It was a good day and I think TC is now more receptive to taking her bike on the trails. I'm going to see if she'll be up to doing the canyon trail near our house the next time we go out.

Getting exercise via MTB

So I mentioned to a friend/neighbor yesterday morning that I was going to go biking. She said she'd love to join me so she rode her mountain bike to my house. I figured it wouldn't be quite fair to use my road bike, so I used my mountain bike.

I told her I usually do about 10 mi but she said she'd like to do 15 mi. OK then.
We started with my normal Olympic route, but instead of tackling the Paseo Ranchero hill, we added miles by heading west on E. Palomar, then north on Medical Center Dr, west on Telegraph, north on Paseo Del Rey, and finally east on E. H st.

I took my pace down a notch or two but was pretty impressed with the way she kept pedalling up the inclines. I had to wait for her a couple of times at the top of the hill, but she still kept going. Unfortunately, her bike chain slipped a few times which caused her to stop briefly.

It was a nice change of pace for a ride. I think I may now need to invest in a pair of bike shorts.