birthday weekend!
As part of my birthday weekend, Peter took me on a couple of rides that
I'd wanted to go on. They were really fun, and I learned a lot in addition
to getting on his bike again. :)
Lexington Resevoir
The first ride we took was on Saturday, April 29, around the Lexington
Resevoir, off of Hwy 17 in Los Gatos, CA. The requisite pictures: the resevoir, me at the resevoir, and Peter (and the bike). From Peter's house, it was about a 20 minute
freeway ride down to the resevoir, and we spent a while driving around the
whole thing, slowly. It was pretty gravelly in places (especially the
spot we chose to stop at, oops), but other than that, the road seemed pretty
good. It was a gorgeous day, and a gorgeous bike ride.
Half Moon Bay
When we woke up on Sunday, April 30 (my birthday!), Peter asked what I
wanted to do that day. My immediate reaction: go to the ocean! I hadn't
been up to Half Moon Bay in a while, and Peter had never been, so we hopped
on the bike once more. Again, requisite pictures: Peter going down to the beach, me on the beach, the beach. This was an interesting drive, because both of us ended
up with weird physical turmoil. It's about 30 miles up Hwy 280 and then
10 miles west on Hwy 92 from San Jose to Half Moon Bay, and the terrain
varies widely from open highway driving to narrow mountain passes. By
the time we got home, Peter was complaining about numb hands (probably
caused from too-tight gloves and tension while driving), and my neck
was killing me (for some reason, my neck is occasioanlly incapable of
supporting the weight of my helmet. Dunno.). But we had a wonderful time,
despite that, and we both enjoyed the ride.
steps towards improvement
I recently re-joined the Short Bikers List,
in the hopes that it'll help motivate me to practice more. This weekend,
I'm also going to have Peter drive my bike to his place; I'm incredibly
intimiated by the busy street I live on, and he lives in a relatively
low-traveled area in suburbia. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate,
and I won't be stuck at work all day, so that I can practice. :)
