In the beginning

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I suppose I should let everyone know how I got into this thing in the first place. It actually started when I retired almost two and a half years ago. At the time I was working my butt off all day at something I hated (my job) and then would come home and work my butt off the rest of the day at something that I loved (coaching a Pony Division baseball team and running the Belmont/Redwood Shores Pony/Colt Baseball League). Once I retired I had more time to coach and run the league with maybe even some time left over to try and get in shape. (My doctor told me I was twenty pounds overweight which I knew already since my pot gut has been gaining on me more and more over the last tens years or so). I might even read a book or two and start working on my baseball card collection again. (I still haven’t started this doing this one!)

I was too old and injured to play softball or baseball anymore having had four knee surgeries and now two recently diagnosed herniated discs in my spine. Running was also out of the question in light of the above. Walking takes too damn long and so really the only exercise left for me was cycling if I wanted to get out and get some fresh air. With this in mind I went out and spent $500 on a 2013, $700 (it was on sale!) Raleigh trail bike at Talbots. Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to turn into some bicycle nerd guy with the tight fitting shorts and shirt and futurist looking helmet (that would come later) but I did buy a water bottle accessory! I put on some old sweatpants and shorts (my family’s favorite look) an old shirt, some old tennis shoes, an old pair of cheap gardening gloves from which were cut the right thumb portion so that I could use my cell phone to time my ride and a helmet I found in our garage that was once either Ryan’s or Jennifer’s and I was set. (see pic) I began a bicycle riding log to keep track of my progress on January 28, 2014.

The first two days I tried riding from our house to Skyline drive, going south and rode 45 minutes each day. I then turned to Sawyer Camp Trail (SCT from here on) and rode 8 miles the first day. On February 10, I rode 11 miles and proceeded to strain my left groin. I tried to ride the next day with Jennifer and couldn’t last more than 5 miles. So much for my riding career! I nursed that groin injury for over a year. I can’t remember how it happened but a fellow coach and friend, Phil Lee and I got together and started to ride the SCT. This time I was going to go about my riding intelligently (rather than with incredible ignorance like the last time) and so started out slowly at 4 miles per ride, three times per week. By August 24, Phil and I were riding to Skyline College and back (20 miles round trip) every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The SCT and the Crystal Springs Trail (CST from here on) which make up most of the route to the college, are two beautiful trails along the Crystal Springs reservoir and involve some steep hills along the way so it is a challenging ride.

Phil and I continue to ride the SCT and CST together about three times per week but I’ve had to add additional riding partners since December of last year and I’ll tell you why eventually but I’m getting ahead of the story here. Some time in December of 2015 I got a call from an old high school friend of mine, advising that he and his wife were coming to the Bay Area and were wondering if we would be available for a visit. Kevin and Lisa ended up staying at our house for a couple of days after the Christmas holiday and the rest is history!

When Kevin found out I was riding he told me about the trip that he and Lisa were going to take. Kevin’s plan was to retire at the end of the school year in June and then embark upon a bicycle ride across the United States. Lisa was going to “accompany” him by car, driving the same route, setting up campsites along the way and would essentially be Kevin’s “backup” in the event something happened to him. Lisa and Kevin are both teachers so Lisa was going to be taking a sabbatical in order to make this trip with Kevin. What happened next is a bit fuzzy in my memory as to how it came about, but in any event, Kevin either suggested that I join him on his trip or I asked him if I could do so. I’m pretty sure he asked me to join him as this trip is really nothing I would have ever thought of doing on my own. At this point, Lisa was still intending to join us in her capacity as a “life preserver” of sorts.

As Kevin and I discussed the trip over the phone after he and Lisa returned to their home in Reston, Virginia, it became more and more evident that this was something I was actually going to do. Kevin suggested that I start telling as many people about the trip as possible so that it would be more and more difficult to back out of it. (This tactic really worked as now I would suffer insurmountable humiliation if I don’t make the ride!) If you think this a crazy thing to do at the age of 64, then join the club. I’ll give you my twin sister Jill’s phone number as she and her husband Gary are apparently setting up a betting pool as to how long it will take for me to either back out on the trip or have something happen along the way before finishing the trip. (Thanks for the support!)

It turns out that the only reason Lisa was going to make this trip was to make sure that Kevin wouldn't end up in a ditch along side some country road in Iowa somewhere, so, as soon as Lisa was sure I was on board, she backed out entirely. (Smart move on Lisa's part. Can you imagine the boredom of driving ahead every day for 99 days, setting up camp and then waiting for the rest of the day for the two senior citizens to finally show up on their bicycles?) Now I suppose it will be my responsibility to look out for the "old guy" since Kevin is about a year and a half older than I.

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Photos

The Old Me
Note the snipped thumb finger on gardening glove for phone use