Ride Report 8/19

32 miles on the Trek

I stayed up until 3:30am reading Ten Points by Bill Strickland (HIGHLY recommended reading), so I get up later than planned and don't leave for my ride until a little after 11am. I do the north trail to Elverta and back, but loop west to Discovery Park then through Old Sacramento to Broadway and home to add a few miles to the route. On the way out, instead of taking 2nd Ave west to 21st St north I turn north on 34th St, which is normally my return route. I am not used to taking this route backward, so I don't cut across to Alhambra in time and end up making a couple U-turns and probably reinforcing a few drivers' opinions about bicycles being unpredictable and flighty. When I get sorted out, an entire family on bikes passes me going the wrong way in traffic. Great example there, dad.

On the access from C and 21st Sts, a fire truck is parked on the path next to an extinguished grass fire, presumably from one of the many homeless campsites set up along the trails. Luckily, the burned area is relatively small, and the fumes are not unbearable. Today is a long slow ride, so I concentrate on my form (bend those elbows! keep that back straight! drop those shoulders!) and cadence and keep my speed 13-15mph for the entire ride.

On the path in Rio Linda, I pass two Sacramento Sheriff and one Twin Rivers PD cars. The officers are talking to a couple walking their dogs. I don't bother introducing myself because I don't talk to the dayshift deputies that often and, at best, I am a voice on the other side of the phone/radio to them. Plus, thanks to budget cutbacks, the fact that two units responded to this event means it was something serious, since there are probably 3 units total to cover this district. I later learn the call was an alleged attempted rape and I vow to take my pepper spray with me from now on when I ride solo.

After a quick break at the trail end, I head back south. A bodybuilder on a small bike yells "You can do it!" as he passes me headed north. A little further, I see a man pulling up his pants while coming out of a culvert. I have ranted to my co-workers enough about "where are the homeless people going to the bathroom" that now I have my answer. Only the man is clearly not a typical transient on a bicycle. He is dressed well, wearing a helmet, and not carrying his life's belongings on his bike. He becomes Mountain Bike Pooper to me (although I suppose he may have just been taking a pee), but he loses me when he squirts through a red light. I'm not sure what I would have said to him, anyway. Right after I lose sight of him, I have to decide how to pass two young men on (of course) BMX bikes, each riding in the center of one lane but both headed south. Since one of them is subjecting me to a view of his entire ass crack, passing them is a priority. I ride between them and past them as fast as I can to save my sanity.

I take a quick break at Discovery Park. When I head south toward Old Sacramento, I see some sort of plant matter stuck to my front wheel. My fears of a thorn seem to be substantiated when it stays there mile after mile (and after the boardwalk). I risk the wrath of the tour train conductor by riding on the asphalt right next to the train tracks rather than on the cobblestones. The conductor(s) and I have a nodding acquaintance thanks to my nearly killing myself on the hybrid to maintain a 17-18mph speed to outpace the train along the Sacramento river bike path stretch. A week or so later, I was riding north next to the train tracks and got a "naughty naughty" finger shake from one of the conductors who felt I was riding too close to the tracks.

It is hot outside and I have not been drinking enough. The light headwind has dried out my contacts so that 8th St looks like 88th St when I pass the street sign. On 2nd Ave, I pass three girls on their bikes. While I am happy to see they are all wearing helmets, they are riding the wrong way and the 30 seconds of their conversation that I overhear makes me glad I never ever have to be a teenager again. By some miracle, there is no thorn in the front tire when I check it at my front gate. Maybe my flat jinx has been cured with a new bike?