Hi tech plunge

Dedi got me a Garmin GPS unit for my bike hoping perhaps that this will get me home sooner on some of my misguided rides. I gave it a try yesterday and though it kept me getting lost, must admit I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the high-tech features.


After the ride I was able to download the entire 47 mile route onto google earth (video mode) with every bump and turn captured. On top of this I've got a record of my cadence, heart rate, speed, incline, and altitude at every point. What to do with all the information?


Hopefully I can stay focused on the ride and let go of the temptation to go into analysis mode.


I did manage to take a nice shot along the way. Got a few penalty points for letting my heart rate drop to down to Zone 0 (whatever that means) , but what the heck, it was a beautiful sunny day.

Fort Myers Sunshine

Just got back from a Christmas holiday in sunny Fort Myers. Had a great visit with Mom and Dad as well as with Susie, Eric,and their two wonderful boys! Not to mention a nice relaxing break on Estero island...

One memorable experience occured when Brenna and I were swimming in the gulf. I looked out and about 20 feet away I saw a dolphin swimming by. Sweet. It swam around us for about 5 minutes before heading away...

I also got in a few hundred kilometers of bike riding in. The conditions were perfect but the Fort Myers community is not quite used to sharing their busy roads with little bicycles. I did find some nice routes but was forced to ride the sidewalks across many less friendly sections...

We arrived back home on Thursday and were greated by fog, clouds and snow cover. Today though the sun is out and it should warm up to 5 deg C (about 40 F)...
Cheers, Dave

Girls with Nana...
Nana and Kiki
Out on the dock near sunset
Strolling the beach...


Not sure what was so funny...
Solo ride out to Captiva Island...



Kid snuggle time

Eric in a classic pose

Susu

Makin Lemonade

It's bee a rough few weeks and I needed a good ride. So I dressed up warmly and headed towards Montreux. Though the rain has subsided, the cold BISE (Northerly wind) is back.
And Montreux is to the North. So rather than fight the wind, I turned around and headed towards Geneva. This was a fun fast ride ...mostly a cross wind but towards the end I had nice 20km/hour tail wind. I tooled around Geneva a bit but soon started to feel the cold working through my slightly damp attire. Got a nice chicken Caesar salad at McDonald's for a meager 9.90 CHF (yes, Switzerland is expensive on the McDonald's scale) and then took the warm train back! Best part is that I was able to stuff my bike under the train seat and didn't have to pay to the bike transport fee.

Mount Diablo

Got two good rides in with Don and Andrea during a trip to California last week. Our 2nd ride took us up Mount Diablo with Andrea's brother in law Bob. Bob is a veteran Mount Diablo climber and  I enjoyed his rolling commentary of every hill, bump and turn along the way.

Here we are halfway up...


A happy Dave after the final summit. A bit of a climb for the last 200 meters...

And finally here's a shot of a very cold Don and Andrea halfway down! I thought the weather was perfect, but both claimed they've never been colder. This is what too much time in California will do to you!

Interesting observation...

We are often stopped by strangers when we are out walking our dogs. I've noticed that the most common question asked by adults is "What breed are they?" However when children come up, their question is almost invariably, "What are their names?"

Says something about how our perspectives change.

Cheers, Dave