Clean Air...

As you may have guessed from the decreased activity, work has kept me busy lately.  However, it hasn't kept me from riding, which brings up the topic of our recent weather.  It's not the cold or the snowy days that bother me....it's the period in between the weather systems.  During these times home heaters are cranking, cars are idling at stop lights and grinding the sand and salt laid down to keep the roads clean, and cold heavy air sits stagnant in the valleys.  Otherwise known as an inversion. 

This means that all those pollutants and particulates get trapped in the valley air and it quickly becomes unhealthy.

Notice you couldn't even see across the valley through the haze as recently as 2 days ago! 

Fortunately, when we get a weather system moving through the area, the winds pick up and the inversion is broken, filling our little valley back up with clean air! 

So the question is, when the burn code turns to red and air quality is bad....do you still get out there and ride (or exercise in general) or stay home and "protect" your health?  I clearly vote for the ride.  I figure I'd rather breath a little suspect air than ride the couch (and car) and add my personal pollution to the mix.  In fact perhaps if a few more people took this approach the air wouldn't be quite so bad. 

So get out and enjoy the clean air and blue skies!

Rain!?....Run!?....Ride!?

What is this stuff falling from the sky?  Seems like something from an episode of Portlandia.  Although, now that I think about it, I remember this stuff from my years growing up in the Midwest as well....RAIN!

Sooo...I'm pretty sure this is Mother Nature's revenge for me deciding to sit on the couch yesterday evening (and convincing wifey to do the same), rather than going for the scheduled run.  I had seen the weather forecast for some rain, but we all know how bad the local weathermen are at getting that call right in Reno.  Anyhow, at sometime in the 6ish am hour wifey, myself, and dog headed out the door for a few miles of fun.  The sprinkle started by the time we hit the end of the block and 2/3 of a mile later at the start of the singletrack it was a "refreshing" (a.k.a. cold and stinging) rain.  Surprisingly, we actually saw at least 3 other runners and one walker out on the trail! 

After returning home, it was hot showers for all (well, ok a towel down for dog), a quick round of smoothies, and digging out the rain gear for the ride in.  Another lovely bicycle commute in the morning!  Thankfully, the Xtracycle has fenders so it really was a pleasant ride.  The colors are popping all over with the recent cooler weather so I tried to stop and take a few photos.

A little rain always seems to bring the color out!

Sorry this one is fuzzy....those bright red maples still make it worth it.

So don't let a little water and cooler temperatures dim your riding prospects, sometime these off beat rides are more fun than the multitude of "perfect" commuting days we get here in Reno!

Long weekend.....Tahoe, Wings, Running, Riding, Food, Hiking.....I'm beat!

Ok, we all just had a nice long weekend.  Wifey and I decided to seize the time and wring out ever single thing we could!  We started out "camping" up at Tahoe....it's "camping" because while we were in the truck camper, we were parked in our friends driveway.  Technically, it's still camping.

I neglected to take the camera on this portion of the trip so you'll have to take my word for it.  We were also just down the street from Sugar Pine campground, so we took advantage of their trail system to get in a nice little run on some of the single track out to Lost Lake.

We came back to Reno Friday night and did absolutely nothing.....So Saturday the marathon of fun was re-kicked off at the Wing Festival!

The plaza a Harah's that you can't even walk a bike across to get to the bike racks...stupid!

At least Harah's has bike racks.....

Wing Fest was well attended and there were some good wings!

On to Craft Beer and Wine....Wing fest definitely needs to work on the beer they served!

For the record, both beers aren't mine.....one is wifey's and is just a prop for the picture!

Brilliant placement of construction signs, causing you to ride straight into a narrow lane of traffic.

More brilliant use of bike lanes for construction warnings.

Party at the friends house.

Their sick new grill that provided much food!

Desert!  Which you can eat tons of if you ride your bike to the party!

Hiking on the Tahoe rim Trail.

Views!

More views with flowers!

Are you riding or are you training?

My riding style (and choice of bikes) is definitely geared toward just riding for everyday life.  Recently, a friend asked me if I ever did any training rides.  I told him I hadn't for quite a while (like years).  So this morning on the way to work I managed to get in a train(ing) ride.  I don't think this was what he meant though!

On the up side, my bike is really fun to ride through the corners....  I guess you could say it corners like it's on rails!  Oh, man I really have to stop.  This post is just getting farther and farther off track.  Ok, seriously I'm done.

Things you find on a bike ride.

You notice things when you ride a bike that you just wouldn't if you were driving along in a car.  I'm not saying it's a good thing all the time.  Usually, it's the bad stuff....like how much broken glass is out there or the volume of litter.  There are some things however, that do pique your interest as to how exactly such an item came to be in such a location.  This morning it was this:

Yep, a single tube sock.  Just one, laying there in the middle of the path.  How does one come to lose a single sock at this location and just continue on without noticing?  I mean it does require removing the shoe to lose this right?....and then not noticing you are no longer in possession of said sock when the shoe goes back on!?

Now I realize they may have opted for a bare foot hike at some point, but still...don't you secure the socks in the shoe or a pocket before continuing the stroll?  I mean you might want them later.  Or perhaps if your homeless you are carrying laundry.  Maybe you're even doing laundry in the river of all things....but then you'd think you have a vested interest in keeping the clean socks. (Please note I did not inspect this item closely enough to determine if it was clean or not!)

Either way, you see weird stuff when your out riding....there's no doubt about it!