Best of San Diego?

Well, well...if you are visiting my blog for the very first time after seeing the mention in San Diego Magazine, welcome!

I think there's been a mistake. Or someone is messing with me.

In case you missed it, the August issue of the aforementioned San Diego Magazine (and this is a reputable magazine, mind you) has listed this very blog among its Best of San Diego highlights for the month. And what exactly is it best of, you say?

Best Cycling Porn


That's right. I know. It sounds weird, but it means they think I've got drool-worthy bike pics.

In any event, I'm hugely flattered and honored that this little blog would get picked for 'Best of' anything. I never dreamed in a million years that this blog would gain any recognition whatsoever. I'd like to know what writer, editor, or intern selected my blog for the list. I'd like to buy that person a beer, or a coffee, or a gallon of gas. No, probably not the gas. I'm supposed to be advocating bike commuting here. And never mind that they cribbed my Twitter bio for half the write-up. It's all good.

I get props for all the "caress-me hipstamatic pics" of my bike. Again, flattered. I don't even feel like I've posted that many photos of my bike. Especially recently. But let's get this right. My photo app of choice is Camera+, not Hipstamatic. Though that's a cool app, too.

I'm getting long winded here, but in light of this honor that has been bestowed upon me, I am going to make an extra effort to live up to this cycling porn title. My goal is to post a new photo every day this week. After that, all bets are off.

To get things started, here is Monday's cycling porn of the day:

Rules of the road

Sunday afternoon the kids rode their bikes to the park. I explained to them that bikes really belonged on the road (even though it was OK for kids to ride on the sidewalk) so they wanted to give it a shot. This was my first primer with them on the rules of the road: stay to the right, stop at the stop signs, and a brief introduction to hand signals for turning. Other than cross-traffic at the intersection, I don't think we came near a single moving car (that's for mommy when she reads this).

I need to work on the training wheels situation. It's killing me that they are not past that, yet.

Earlier in the day we had fun on this bike rack.

Oh, yeah, I have a blog

Almost forgot again that I have a blog. I had drafted a post back in May, but I never finished it, so it won't see the light of day. Basically it was a reminder that May was National Bike Month, including Bike to Work Day. I hope you celebrated appropriately.

I bike commuted on Bike to Work Day. There were more people out on their bikes that morning, which is always a treat. I followed this guy for awhile and then we traded the lead a couple times before I turned off at my office.

It was my first commute on new Schwalbe (rhymes with Alba) Marathon tires I got for the San Diego Century ride, which was the very next day. It turned out to be my fastest commute to work, but I'm not sure it was the superior rolling resistance of the tires or the adrenalin of playing "I'm not really trying to race you, but I sorta am" with the fellow pictured above. I didn't even stop at any of the sponsored pit stops this year. I was running a few minutes behind and I just wanted to get to work.

In a wise decision not to tire myself out for the 66 mile ride the next day, I arranged to get a ride home with my in-laws. I want to devote an entire post to the San Diego Century ride, so I'll save that for another day (hopefully soon).

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I don't want to quit just yet, though...

I do want to mention that I took a test ride of a Globe Live 2. Globe, for those unaware, is a spinoff brand of Specialized that "specializes" (see what I did there?) in urban bikes. It's like the Scion to Toyota except Specialized bikes are not as boring as Toyota cars are and the Globe bikes did not originate as funky cars sold in the Japanese market. Anyway, you get my drift.

photo credit: Globe Bikes

The Live (I think it's pronounced like "give" - short i, not "hive" - long i) is a nice town bike with a sturdy integrated front cargo basket/rack.

The "2" is the mid-level trim and comes equipped with a Shimano Nexus 8-speed internal gear hub instead of a traditional derailleur gear mechanism. Shifting is provided by a twist-grip shifter. This is a nice drivetrain, especially for new cyclists. Simple, wide gear range, and you can even shift at a stop. It was with this ease-of-use in mind that I was looking at this bike. It has a nice upright position and cool extras, too, like color-matched fenders, a bell and a double-leg kickstand. I thought it would make a nice bike for my wife. So far, she's not really interested, but that has nothing to do with this specific bike.

The mixte frame is sweet looking, too. That's the one I wanted. For her.

photo credit: Flickr/shebicycles

San Diego Sixty-six-tury

I have signed up for my first organized long distance bike ride, the San Diego Century, on May 21. I would like to complete an actual century this year, but this event is not going to be the time. I will be riding the 66-mile route. The full 103-mile route has got some climbing that I doubt that I can prepare for in a little over a month.

Other than my sporadic 30 mile round trip bike commutes, I've thus far managed two training rides. The first was to be about 34 miles in it's entirety, but between a hot day, a late start, and a general lack of fitness, I had to call in the broom wagon after only 23 miles completed. That was a little disheartening (especially since the ride was on part of the course route) but a successful 28 mile ride this past weekend has restored a modicum of confidence.