ventura | Ocean Air Cycles

Low Tide

Yesterday was starting off pretty normal, the task list was more than a day could hold, but the plan as always was to bite off as much as possible. One thing I was not giving up was my regularly scheduled errands ride around own. With all the short stops I can usually get it all done in the same amount of time as the car, and the bike is just a hell of a lot more fun.

The skies went gray for the first time in few days and the fog was rolling in on the coast. With temps in the 50’s it was crisp, but still pretty perfect to ride and barely break a sweat. Everything was going pretty close to routine, and I decided to swing by the beach on my way home.

The tide was super low and dropping fast. I knew this was going to happen, but not so early in the day. This was a perfect chance to seize the moment, do something not on the schedule and grab back 30 minutes of pure fun, and yes you can almost see the idea forming in my mind above.

And so the diversion started, I figured it would just be a quick toodle on the sand. It turned out I had over a mile of beach for an out and back. Even with 20lbs in the panniers the 38mm tires did just fine on the hard packed sand. I found a few small pieces of green beach glass, crossed paths with dogs and their owners reveling in the extra playground space, and had a fantastic time

As always, getting there by bike is highly recommended, and always make a little time for the detours, you will never regret it!

New Bike Lanes

My bicycle has been the primary mode of transportation around town for about 5 years now. One of the biggest hurdles getting other folks to jump on board has been the fear of riding in traffic. In the last few years though the city of Ventura has been making great strides. There are well marked bike routes that will get you to most parts of town. In the past the routes were a mix of neighborhood streets and bike lanes on the main arteries. The challenge was in navigating the jumble, often ending up on heavily trafficked 4 lane roads with the bike lane you were in just sort of disappearing. As part of our seasonal repaving, and thus re striping, I am really stoked to see new connecting stretches showing up every week now. The latest is on a stretch that I ride all the time, and used to be a sprint to get past.

I had long since given up trying to count the times that cars would pinch me to the curb right underneath the share the road sign. Thank you to the City for fixing this stretch. Hopefully it fuels the ever-increasing number of people I see choosing the bike over their car for getting around town.

Happy Friday! DO not forget to play outside this weekend!

Chilly

The week’ s first break came this afternoon, and we took the scenic route home.

It was gorgeous out, howling wind and cold, and she did not care. It was perfect.

Commitment

There is nothing like a monetary commitment, skin in the game, to keep you focused on the target. Aside from the myriad of bureaucratic and general business expenses there are the specific costs, engineering, prototypes, testing etc. Each new cost is another step to the center of the ring. Today I signed up for my first Expo, Philly Bike Expo October 27 & 28 to be exact. The check is in the envelope and on the way, locked in, I need to get busy so I have something to show.

My post office rides seem to always fall on stormy days. Today is supposed to be a rain day according to the weather man, but it looks like a miss. I am not sure there is going to be any rain this year, the hills never turned green and things are all brown and crispy before spring has even shown up. It is going to be an interesting year in the coastal desert, where easy access to fresh water is often taken for granted.

It was good to get outside for a break though, and a quick trip to roll past the ocean.

As a side note, I am loving the new/old pedals. I need to get a deeper set of half clips fabbed up, but outside of that, they are sublime for riding around town, even in Birkenstocks.

Making Time to Ride

Just for fun. Today was too nice outside not to go for a ride, not errands, just a ride for the sake of riding. A recent saddle acquisition motivates me to take out the Eisentraut. What a fun riding bike. The tire clearance is the only limitation that bike imposes, the rest is up to the motor. I have a set of vintage NOS Specialized Touring tires on it at the moment, labeled 32mm, but measure at 23mm. Not sure if it is the overstated tire size trend of the era, or dyslexia. For super skinny tires they ride pretty well.

I was out for a few hours, and about 30 miles before the wind came up too bad. I shot more video than pictures on this ride. Something else I will be teaching myself as part of the Ocean Air Cycles project. Some of it actually came out OK. I learned that video takes a different level of planning than pictures. Lots of scouting and thinking about timing and angles of view, and how to get it done solo. Next up is post production, I will see what is usable and hopefully have a short movie by next week.