Cycling Foodie

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… makes for refreshing cycling!

Welcoming the much, much needed rain!

The rain is almost here!

I made it home just in time to enjoy the sweet, gentle rain from inside. Although, when properly attired, I do enjoy cycling in a gentle rain. It’s refreshing!

This weather has me wanting to make a spicy seafood stew and some homemade bread. Mmm … doesn’t that sound good? I’ve got the base for the stew started and some focaccia dough rising.

The stew is a simplified version of this cioppino recipe.

Enjoy your Sunday! I hope you have the chance to ride and/or relax today.

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I rode just shy of 100 miles this weekend: 64 miles on Saturday and 30 something today. The original plan for today was to do another 60 or more miles, but my cycling partner had one flat and 3 blowouts. So that cut today’s ride a bit short, but made it a more intense ride.

Stopping to fix a flat ...

Yesterday I made pizza dough and today pizza. Everything was entirely from scratch: the crust, spicy turkey sausage, and the tomato fennel sauce.

Homemade From Scratch!

Blogging from the phone is fun, but it is also kind of a pain. So hard to see on this tiny screen!

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What happened to September?

The past few months have been a time for transition and adjustment. In spite of all of it, I am still getting some good cycling in, although it never seems to be enough. Foxy’s Fall Century was last weekend and it was AWESOME. We even got rained on!

Daylight hours are getting too short too fast, so after work rides are pretty much out now, but I’ve been loading up with lights and heading out in the morning a few days a week.

Only time for a quick blog tonight, but hopefully I’ll be able to get back to it soon. Happy cycling!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ~ Albert Einstein

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I can say conclusively that I did not get enough cycling in this summer. But, I did get a really nice short ride in Friday morning before work …

A spot of color along F Street in Davis

I rode twice on Saturday … an early morning ride and a later afternoon ride … for a total of about 30 or so miles …

And Sunday I got to ride with a couple of girlfriends out to Winters and back, then I took on another loop around Davis solo for a total of 62 miles …

Oat Fruit Bar was good but my favorite is still the Oat Cake!

Yogurt, Bananas, & Candied Pecans (oh, so so sweet), but gluten free (sans the granola, of course!)

I sure love this bike!

I do have to get some serious training in because I’ve got to get ready for the Foxy’s Fall Century in less than 3 weeks.

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Whoa … I can do this from my phone?! Blogging just got a lot more accessible!

Check out my "new" commuter bike.

With a bit of TLC, she will be a classic beauty. I will feel like a real Davisian (Davisite?) doing my daily work commute by bike.

It was a lovely day today for a quick ride to Winter and back. Total for the day close to 50.

Icy cold, refreshing,, and spicy!

Now, how do I rotate this pic?

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Summer of 2015 isn’t quite over yet, but in some ways it feels like it was over before it even started. For various reasons, I have hardly cycled at all. Summer 2015 brought with it lots of pain, stress, and difficult decisions, but the best one I made is to move back to Davis.

Buh-bye 45+ minute morning commute and sometimes even an hour or more commute heading back to Sacramento.

Hello 10 minute commute … and that’s “rush hour” in Davis.

Once I get settled a bit I will be bike commuting. This has been a multi-phase move as I unexpectedly had to move before September 1st, which would have been a nice thing to know before I signed a September lease. Aah, this too shall pass. The upside to this is that I have been staying with a lovely family in Davis in a beautiful home, complete with a sweet cat and darling Beagle.

As Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.”

The goal is to focus on the positive.

I've been getting some nice sunrise walks in in the morning...

I’ve even been able to get a couple of pre-work rides in!

Morning ride, out on Road 29

Oh how I love to start my day with a beautiful sunrise!

And there’s always the Wednesday Night Market in Davis …

Beautiful, Mouth-Watering Heirloom Tomatoes

Here’s wishing you a deliciously beautiful day!

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I recently participated in the Tour of Napa Valley ride hosted by the Eagle Cycling Club.

As you probably know, much of Northern California has been ablaze recently. Oh, heck, if you look at a map, much of the Northwest is on fire!

Source: http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/smoke-western-wildfires

Needless to say, we were a little worried about the air. I wore my trusty Buff, which was helpful, but the air was pretty bad on the Valley floor. We opted for the flat ride, thinking that it would be better to take it a little easier with all the funk in the air.

Tour of Napa Valley, August 2015

It was a fun ride and the food was great! The rest stop had loads of fresh fruit (the peaches and nectarines were sublime!).

After the ride, we decided to take the scenic route home, up over the hills where the more challenging routes were. Wouldn’t you know that the air was much, much better up there? Woulda’ shoulda’ coulda’ done the hillier ride. Live and learn. That’s OK. The easy ride left us with a little time to stop at one winery on the way back, taste some wine, and the time and energy for a nice dinner.

I haven’t had the chance to download pictures yet, but hope to soon. It’s been a crazy month … yeah, who am I kidding? It’s been a crazy year. I hope to be back to blogging regularly again soon!

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I’ve been able to get a few good rides and even a little hiking in lately.

Post work ride to Winters, off Putah Creek Road

Pre-work ride, along the Sacramento River

How I miss cycling these roads every morning ...

... and every evening.

I even got to hike in Auburn recently!

All this exercise makes me …

Smile!

I’m not sure if it’s allergies or I picked up a bit of a cold, but I was feeling a bit funky yesterday. I’m hoping I feel up to lots of cycling this weekend. I’m thinking it’s just allergies because Wednesday night I rode out to Winters and it was crazy windy*. Of all of the rides to forget to take The Buff … It might look a little funky, and if it’s hot out, it is a little uncomfortable, but it sure does help with allergy prevention. Oh, and keeping bugs off my face.

* The headwind on the way out was brutal, but the tailwind on the way back … oh, yes!

OK, enough blah blah blah, must get to work.

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Celebrate your independence and give thanks to all of those who have made today possible.

I celebrated today by taking a nice long ride with a friend. We met at Discovery Park and rode the American River Trail all the way to Beal’s Point in Folsom. My final distance was just over 80 miles and according to my Garmin, I burned 3,500 calories.

I do not think I took a single picture on today’s ride!

I am glad that we started fairly early and we were able to get out of Discovery Park before things got too … festive? … There were lots of inattentive pedestrians meandering along the bike trail … some of them taking up the whole width of the trail. There were lots of folks barbequing, partying, and gearing up for tonight’s fireworks. I hope you get to see them – Sacramento does a great show.

Here’s wishing you all a happy and safe Independence Day!

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Guess who I got to ride alongside of today on the American River Trail?

Oh, just about all of the teams for the 2015 Amgen Tour of California. They’re out spinning their legs today, gearing up for Stage 1 of the men’s race, which is tomorrow in Sacramento.

Yep. I got to ride with each team for about 2-3 seconds as they zipped past me. Some of the teams were very polite and called out, “On your left.” I really appreciated that.

Like I said, not to brag, or anything, but now  I can say that I’ve ridden with most of the 2015 Amgen guys. Although, I am sad that I didn’t get to ride with Team Sky. They were already headed back the other way, so we passed right pretty close to Discovery Park.

Happy cycling! Here’s wishing all the guys on all the teams an exciting and safe Tour of California!