A Tale of Two Rides

 

I am an old-guy biker and so occasionally someone will ask me how much longer I intend to ride. It is a fair question and one I ask myself now and again. I’ve pretty much settled on the idea that I will ride until reverse gear gives out. That is a concern as I have had aging knees for half my lifetime. When I was 35 my orthopedic surgeon told me he would replace my knees by the time I was 55 if I didn’t quit playing basketball. I wept. Then I took steps to fix the problem on my own by ceasing my city league playing and not playing anymore pickup ball. But I kept running with the teams I coached and as many CVHS Alumni games as I was in town for.

The main thing I did was to ride my bike to work three to five days a week at 11 to 14 miles each way depending on the route I chose for the day that added up to 120 miles a week plus recreational rides like taking my birthday off and riding at least as many miles as I was old. I have Cindy to thank for her insightful suggestion. Thanks, love! The company moved our office from Pasadena to Alhambra and that ended my bike commuting but other forms of exercise took over though once my Lauren grew out of youth basketball. Life got busy with other pursuits and regular exercise waned. My knees recently started complaining daily even though, or because of it, I was walking with Ollie between three and five miles three of four days a week.

I dusted off my bicycle, got it going again, had the gears tuned up and started riding a few times a week around the Rose Bowl and have worked up to 15 miles on any given ride, occasionally popping up out of the bowl to add some hill work. Then I added a nice set of knee supports with more a thoughtful design than my old neoprene braces. It has been as close to a miracle as I will claim for myself. I am busy extending the life of reverse gear.

I decided to ride a bike trail I hadn’t ridden since some long-ago birthday ride, the San Gabriel River Bike Trail. My goal was to take a little break from my routine rides to help keep my interest up and extend myself to an 18-mile ride. I thought I would show up at the Sante Fe Dame Recreation area close to their opening, pay for the parking, then peddle around to find the start of the bike trail. My GPS took me to what ended up being the back gate into the park. Shit. I drove around and found the line into the park. I am unfamiliar with this park but was okay with waiting in line until I came around a corner and saw the line heading off into the horizon. I pulled a quick 180 and hunted for a marked entrance to the bike trail.

I ended up driving right by the place the GPS aimed me for and came upon the Whittier Narrows Recreation area, parked and rode around a bit to warm up, and headed back the way I’d come. I found the ‘marked’ entrance at a ‘nature center’, a pocket park of sorts. I rode through, found a sign pointing the way to the bike trail which is loosely packed dirt and not great for my road tires. I found the entry – it was locked. Shit.

I decided to ride by the seat of my pants and using the tried-and-true method of dead-reckoning found a way onto the trail. The marine layer was still in effect and I couldn’t see the mountains for reference and took a guess as to which way would take me back to the Sante Fe Dam. Ten miles later I was proved correct and was looking up at the back side of the dam. By the time I returned to the car I had exceeded my 18-mile goal by two miles and learned a couple of lessons for the day – don’t bother with the Sante Fe Dam until school starts back up and then on a weekday and always verify the GPS.

I haven’t quite gotten to the point where my bicycling is second nature so those rides have not leant themselves too much in the way of introspection. There is a lot going on for me to keep the cycle going without crashing – skinny little wheels that can’t be over corrected, keeping the legs pumping, eyes out for obstructions, worry over speeding cars while sharing the road with them, etc.

It is different for me while riding the motorcycle. Even though vigilant to all the obstructions and cagers on the road, a part of my brain can work through an issue I’m facing or return to that thing I’m thinking about without much effort when the circumstances of the ride allow for it.

I haven’t been riding much lately due in part to several of the people I have enjoyed riding with moving away from riding and on to other pursuits. One of riders from our group decided on a ride for July 4^th. We were to meet for breakfast and then ride the Angeles Crest Highway west to east, ending at Highway 138 around Victorville in the southern end of the Mojave Desert. I’ve done the ride before and it is a twisty-lover’s paradise. But cooler heads prevailed and we decided to avoid the 120 degrees heat we would have ridden into. Greg and the love of his life stayed around the coast for a little ride and I took an early solo run up the Angeles Forest Highway, down the Sierra Highway, and finished up the loop on the 14 freeway to home.

Wind therapy. There was little traffic to worry about and I could take the twisties at my leisure. I let my subconscious work through a couple of nagging issues to the point I that I now have a path forward I am at peace with. The path stretches through the year and likely into 2025 so I am well prepared for course changes as things arise. With my reverse gear improving I should be able to take a ride or two to effect acceptable course corrections without jeopardizing my long-range goal.

Find your center, work to maintain it, and don’t hesitate to invite others to help.

Keep the iron side up,

Jerry ‘Shakespeare’ White.