Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sad News, Fish Hatchery Ride

So first off, I just read a horrible email about "Lino Gastaldello, the man behind the relaunch of the historic Italian racing bike marque Wilier Triestina, was killed this morning after being hit head-on by a car while he was out on his customary Saturday morning cycle ride (road.cc pedal powered)." I am sure a lot of people I know were out today on their customary Saturday ride, so this hits very close to home. Next year I will be riding a Wilier bike and I will ride and remember this man. I thought this was important to mention, so please be careful when you are out on your bikes and remember to enjoy each day and be happy with living in the moment.

After reading this email, I feel guilty to even think about complaining. Things have been a bit rough for me over the last few days with some serious stomach issues that have really yet to be explained. All I know is that I am continuing to take an absurd amount of natural healing aids and over the counter medicines in hopes that this pain in my stomach will go away!!!! I managed to get a good sleep last night, so I woke up on the right foot and was ready to get out on the bike. Being the typical athlete, I was to make up for lost times, so I told Sandra to be prepared for a long day in the saddle. I should have said a long day in her chamois because things seemed to keep happening on our ride that were preventing us from riding continuously. It all began with me having two flats, which left us with no tubes. So we decided to do a quick patch work and head to the nearest bike shop. I chose to take Sandra and Ann down Ramon which is probably the sketchiest road in Palm Springs, but it seemed like the most direct route and I knew there was a bike shop at the end of it. So I proceeded down Ramon road with the girls on my wheel trying to go as fast as I could and get this horrible section over with. I was drafting off of some cars and it seemed OK, until eventually I had no car in front of me and I was continuing to try and pull at 36km/hr with a head wind, that didn't work so well. In the end, we got a new tire, new tubes and Sandra and I were set to head out west on Hwy 111 towards the Fish Hatchery. Ann decided to turn back and head toward home, I think she had enough and wasn't feeling on top of her game today. So smooth sailing, Sandra and I got headed in the right direction and we were stoked to be riding again until boom, we were hit with some SERIOUS head winds. Lets just say we rode out for about 1.5 hr at 18km/hr and came back in 20min at 56 km/hr hahahaha It was insane!!!! The best part was Sandra getting sand in her eye and saying we have to turn back. Good thing I was riding with just water in my bottles today and was able to flush it out! Oh man, I am sitting here laughing just thinking about what people passing us at 120km/hr were thinking. "What are those idiots doing on the side of the road, and why would they be out when there are wind warnings in effect, oh and what is that blonde girl doing to the red head????" So the ride ended up being awesome after all of that. The fish hatchery had such a beautiful scenic backdrop that looked like it was out of a movie. The mountains were covered in SNOW, which is just insane to see here. The weather in Palm Springs has been so unbelievably strange this past week, so much rain and apparently so much snow. I thought I was in the desert???? The ride ended up being 4.5 hours long and we ended having to get Ann to pick us up an hour away from my house, because I might have got Sandra and I lost and it might have taken us an extra 30 minutes to get ourselves back on track and it might have been getting late and dark, so we might have been kinda screwed :) Good thing Ann saved the day! Well I might be feeling a little tired right now, so I think it is best to say Good night.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for prying the sand out of my eye with your fingernail Leah. Feels good as new, except there's this fuzzy spot in my vision. No worries though. The other eye is still good.

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