AGOURA HILLS, CALIFORNIA This is Phil’s Cookie Fondo. As I write this I have a fresh huge chocolate chip cookie on my hotel’s nightstand that I will never eat. But this was a bike ride with the Chocolate Chip and Sugar Cookie routes today. Tomorrow is the main event and will have the Double Fudge […]
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA Sometime this week I had a dumb idea. Or three. Ride Palomar. Ride Baldy. Ride the Hillclimb World Championships. On three consecutive days. If I was serious about putting up a good time I would not have ridden Palomar Mountain and Mount Baldy the day before the championships. Those climbs take everything […]
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA I was warned. In reading John Summerson’s book, The Complete Guide to Climbing (by bike), he wrote that this was the toughest climb in southern California (not sure what is tougher up north). At 13 miles it was the equivalent of the Col du Tourmalet (France). I read a little about the profile […]
PAUMA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA So much of this ride did not go to plan. I began yesterday afternoon at Jax Bicycles in Murrieta. They were very helpful while letting me pump up my deflated tires from the flight. I got a suggestion to bike from there to Palomar but didn’t really like the way it looked […]
HOLLIDAYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA Yesterday was a day of riding solo. My one attempt at riding in a group had a brief discussion that I initiated. “Where’s your group from?” (To the Old Men on Bikes) “Bedford County” “Well you know these roads. Have you ridden over Locke Mountain?” “No” End of discussion. It was going nowhere. […]
STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA A Tale of Five Segments First, they had plenty of bibs “I Ride For…” at the start. I had made one ahead of time for Bethany and added one for Kristi Wallace and Kayla Bracken. I was the only one I saw wearing a bib and no one asked me about my […]
AUSTIN, TEXAS I began the day at Bicycle World in Austin. Here is one thing to know when visiting Austin: There is no such thing as a free lunch and there is no such thing as free parking. Well, maybe that’s two things. I found a parking lot next to Bicycle World with very imposing […]
Other years I have listed my 10 most memorable rides. I thought I would do it differently this time and not concentrate on rides but experiences. Most American Looking Foreigner – On the ferry from Gertau to Beckenreid, I met a 30ish woman. She was wearing a Specialized (American Co.) kit. She was on a […]
COOKSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA My fundraising for the Keystone Country MS-150 in July bagged me an unexpected bonus: Entry in the Cook Forest River Ride. Disaster struck as I went to get dressed. I grabbed the only clean bib shorts I had and discovered they were the ones with knee covers. It was chilly but not enough […]
HOLLIDAYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA It rained overnight and was very gray at rollout. But it wasn’t raining. I was hopeful we would stay dry. I lined up and they pulled the 100-rider rope right behind me. I was in the first group. But last. As we started out I moved closer and closer to the front and […]
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