The Itinerant Cyclist

The Wife is ready for some more relaxed times on the bikes. We usually like to take one long cycling tour each year, but circumstances have gotten in the way the past couple of years. When touring we go at a nice, easy pace and know when to pull in and call it a day. No need to push ourselves past our limits. Besides longer multi-day tours we used to take short, two or three day trips around the Bay Area. ‘Used to’ is the operative phrase. Have not done it much since the infamous drenchings of 2004. The following two tours caused The Wife to enjoin me to not plan any more of these trips:

• Valentines/President’s Day trip to Napa valley. We left with the weather forecast calling for a storm coming in the following week. We discussed cancelling/altering, but went ahead with plans for a bike trip. We monitored the weather forecasts all day Saturday and Sunday, weather folks kept moving up arrival time of the storm, but still we were supposed to be home long before the anticipated arrival. Then, early Monday morning the skies opened. We ended up riding to the ferry terminal in Vallejo in rain that was falling at rates up to 2″/hour. The Wife did not like it, not at all.
• Fall trip to Santa Cruz area. Again, we left with a forecast for rain after the weekend. We no sooner got settled on the Santa Cruz side when the skies opened. We waited out the brunt of the storm, returning on Sunday in light drizzle and heavy overcast.

In between these two trips we had a nice trip to Half Moon Bay for a wedding (see photo). Among items I carried in the panniers was a nice wool suit and dress shoes. Definitely a bit different than your usual tour. Despite the pleasant experience, the bad experiences shut down the planning of other short tours in the area for the past three years.

I am hoping that with some down time from training and racing that we can once again plan a nice, easy weekend cycle tour in the area. I have a few options I am mulling over, but no firm plan of action .. yet.

In the meantime, the only planned ride at this time is the Lighthouse Century out of San Luis Obispo. We have done this before, a pleasant ride along the central coast that we can combine with a visit to The Wife’s parents. The mother-in-law wants to try the metric version of that ride, so I got her a registration this week. If the weather cooperates could be a lot of fun.