Today I went with some other people from the BARC (Bicycling Advocates of Rancho Cordova) group on a bike ride to check out the Folsom city bike trails. There are over 32 miles of beautiful paved trails throughout the city of Folsom. This trail system is used by cyclists, walkers and joggers. All the trails I saw today were spectacular. There were many wooden bridges that crossed over the creeks. One of the most interesting wooden bridges was a really long one that wound its way through the lush wooded areas of native oaks and vegetation.  Here is a picture of part of it from the bike trail map.

There was also a large Bike/Pedestrian Overcrossing that was put in last year that went over a major street. In other parts of the trail we would instead go underneath the streets to keep riding uninterrupted. Very nice! We only have seen one third of these bike trails here so we will be coming back again to explore the rest another time.

Odometer Miles: 1515

After returning to the good ol USA, I was able to take advantage of the great San Diego weather and my increased fitness. I had my record Optibike day of 54 miles in two rides. I finally discovered how much work it is to pedal on hills with the red light flashing! In addition, I entered my second 5K walk of the year. This was a much smaller walk with a few folks from our community. Only 22 participants. With the exception of my wife and me, all were runners. My wife and I walked and she passed me right before the finish line, which put me in last place. However, I finished in the top 22 and was the top male walker! The previous 5K walk in Louisville, Kentucky over Memorial Day Weekend, I was first place. So, I went from first to last, but still love it! I have had several rides last weekend and this week, many times twice a day. In addition, I am still walking on my treadmill desk, eating better, and seeing a trainer for Power Plate training. Here is a picture of Laura, who is my personal trainer for Power Plate and me at the gym. I had just completed a bike ride, so I am sporting my biking shorts and Optibike shirt!

This last week I?ve been back to commuting to work each day on my Optibike. The highs have been in the upper 90?s and even low 100?s. Mornings haven?t been too bad but we have had some especially hot days this last week so riding home at the end of the day has been exhilarating! I?ve been riding around at lunch time too and its been plenty warm then as well. Keeping plenty of water with me for the rides. Its not even the hottest time of summer yet!

A few days ago I came across another snake while riding along a road with no real bike lane. Here is a picture of it. Can you identify the type?

I think it had been trying to cross the road but some vehicle decided to put an end to that idea. At least it didn?t smell bad like the flat skunks I see around here all the time. I usually don?t make a habit of picking up skunks for photo opportunities so don?t be expecting one of them any time soon.

Odometer Miles: 1470

After missing my Optibike while on vacation I was finally able to get back and ride it. So my wife and I decided we would go on a trip out to Folsom Lake for the day and ride along the west side of it. It was a beautiful day for a ride. As it turned out our plans didn?t work out the way we wanted them to. On the way driving out there we stopped our car to grab some sub sandwiches to eat out on the lake and we noticed that our tire was going flat on the car. I checked it and a big giant screw had made its way right into the center of the tires tread. I was able to fill it up with air enough to make it to a local service center in Folsom. So we ended up changing our plans and left the car there in Folsom. While it was getting repaired we took off on our bikes and explored some of the bike paths around the old Folsom area and surrounding vicinity. All in all it was an enjoyable ride and we were able to explore some very interesting trails and sights. We?ll be planning another day to go to the lake.

At the Folsom Nissan dealership I spotted this all-electric Nissan Leaf car that was available for demo rides. As a former GM EV1 electric car driver and a current electric Optibike rider I just had to check it out. So we took it out for a spin. Here is a picture of it at the lot where it gets charged. 

It was a nice car with a smooth ride and I can see myself owning another electric car again. Go green and check one out if you get a chance.

Odometer: 1431 miles

Our family was in New York City for two days last week on our way to our vacation in Norway. In the morning, I walked about 8 miles. In the middle of the walk, I called Coach Traci to check in and to get some pointers if I decided to rent a bike later that day. As I told Traci, the morning was so beautiful and the park so lively that I found myself a few times with a few tears forming in my eyes and goose bumps on my arms. I was so thankful for the great day and that I was able to be more physically active to enjoy the day. Central Park seems like a magical place! One of the events that really touched me was when I made it up to the north end of the park on the edge of Harlem, there was a group of moms and their toddler children singing, dancing, and playing musical chairs on blankets. I was tempted to stop and join the fun, but I decided to proceed with my walk. Eventually the weather clouded up some, but I took the picture shown here with my phone camera showing a fountain, small lake, and boathouse in the background.

After the walk, I asked my wife and two sons if they were interested in renting bikes for a ride around the park. We took the 6 or 7 mile loop without the aid of an Optibike motor. With about 2 miles left, the skies opened up and it POURED buckets of cold rain. At first, it was a bit refreshing then we just got soaked. We finished the ride soaking wet, but we all agreed that the rain added to our great memories of our day in the park. Friday night, we walked to dinner, the theater (to see Jersey Boys), down to Times Square, and back.

On Saturday, we took a walking tour of several other neighborhoods… Greenwich Village, Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street, Ground Zero, and others. That afternoon, we headed to Newark airport for our flight to Norway. More on Norway later…

 

This last weekend my wife and I volunteered for the 8th annual Rex Ride. All proceeds for this event go to the American River Parkway Foundation http://arpf.org/ which coordinates the efforts of hundreds of volunteers who contribute thousands of work hours to maintaining and improving the Parkway throughout the year.   This was my second year with the event which I first learned about last year when my company had asked for volunteers to help out with it. This year we had about 16 of our employees come to help out with setup, registration, handing out t-shirts and other items for the registered riders and then cleaning up the site after the event.  After my first shift I was able to go on the ride with my Optibike. Participants were able to ride as much or as little of the 60-mile route along the American River bike trail as they wished. I would estimate there were probably more than 200 riders there.  I started with a full charge on my bike and ran most of the time in economy mode.  At one of the rest stops I had someone come up to me and ask me ?exactly what is in that thing??. I apparently had passed him up earlier on the trail and he just knew there had to be something special about my bike to be able to do that. So I educated him about what was ?under the hood?. Nobody seemed to be upset about me using an electric bike. After all, it wasn?t a race event.  Many people at the rest stops had questions about it as well so I was able to inform them about what this machine was and what great fun it was to ride. I did have great ride. My wife made it 10 miles on her Cannondale. I did about 28 miles on the Optibike along the trail so far that day. And it was not even noon yet.

When I came back we were able to enjoy a great lunch BBQ.  I parked my bike in the temporary bike racks we had setup earlier that morning. Here is a picture of my Optibike among dozens of other bikes that had already returned from the ride.

After the BBQ, the second shift had to be finished so I helped with the cleanup. My wife took her bike home on the car we had used to bring them in earlier that morning. I decided to ride back home on the Optibike so I could finish going back up further on the American River Bike trail. I was able to finally check out areas of that trail that I hadn?t seen yet. When I arrived home after that long day I noticed that I had traveled a total of 42.5 miles with most of it being along the bike trail. The longest ride I have done so far on a single charge. I was drained and so was my battery.

Odometer 1334 miles

Thanks to Coach Traci and Jim Turner, I was able to go for a ride in Boulder on June 2. It was my first ride since my surgeries. All of the folks at Optibike were great! I toured the new facility, met most of the people there, and then proceeded on a ride with Traci and Jim. Of course, Traci and Jim kicked my butt. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. It was amazingly beautiful scenery and great company. Since I returned home from a that trip, I have ridden almost every day. I am only riding about 12-15 miles a day on average, but glad to get back on the bike. I am still walking a lot on my treadmill desk, working out on a Power Plate at the gym, but the bike is SO MUCH MORE FUN! If I didn’t have the motivation to get back on the bike, I don’t think I could have ever had this great start. I leave town tomorrow for over 2 weeks, so I’ll be back to walking and riding those boring bikes in the gyms until I return to San Diego.

I visited the doctor on Thursday and I have lost 75 pounds since this thing started! On my doctor’s scale, I started at 270 and now weigh 195. I haven’t been this weight since the end of college back in 1979! I have been off all prescription drugs for almost 2 months. My blood pressure at the doctor’s office was 116/72, my fasting blood sugar was 81, and my Hemoglobin A1C was 5.0. All other readings were great as well. Since I have been off the medication for long enough and have a 5.0 A1C, my doctor said that I no longer have diabetes. He wrote on my report… A+++! My goal for this whole contest was 40 pounds. I had no clue that I could possibly lose this much weight this fast. As I am well aware, the hard part is ahead of me. Losing the weight is one thing, but keeping it off it even more difficult. It seems amazing to me that my BMI still classifies me as obese, but I hope to get to “slightly overweight” by next March.  My pants have gone from a fairly tight elastic waist band of 46″ to size 38″. I tried to find a blazer for church this morning and they are all so ridiculously large on me now that I had to go without a blazer. Shirt size has gone from 3XL to Large. I have become a frequent fashion shopper at Wal-Mart!