🔥 Change of plans: I'm definitely NOT driving all the way up to the Crater Lake Century, which is still slated to take place on August 18, 2018. This was going to be my first big road trip since Katie and I took our underutilized (but awesome) Sprinter cargo van on a camping & cycling journey through Nevada and Utah in 2010. That's a long time to go between multi-state road trips, so my sadness and disappointment feel pretty profound at the moment. I shall limit my whining about this predicament because the reason for the cancellation of this trip—at least in its original form—is that California and Oregon are on fire. Firefighters are risking their lives, some people are losing their lives, and many people are losing their homes to these blazes. 

When the fires initially broke out, I thought I would shift my focus from cycling to relief efforts along the way. But the Red Cross refused my application to volunteer because my home address is too far from where they need help. I've also canceled my lame ($0 raised) goFundMe campaign intended to supplement my own contributions to help assist fire victims. Now, instead of hands-on volunteering and direct relief fund distribution, I'm reverting to our usual means of helping: making a donation, which I encourage everyone to do. The Red Cross will direct the funds exactly to where you want them to go.
✚ American Red Cross 

The smoke in Oregon at the site of the planned "century" ride is just the icing on the disaster-cake of a trip this was starting to look like. My northbound route to Oregon, mostly using coastal California Highway 101, has a couple fires near/around it (Mendocino Complex). And my southbound return path along Interstate 5 with a planned detour to Sequoia National Park has its own set of fires still burning, as shown on the fire incident map below. Maybe August 2018 is not the best time for a big road trip? Sometimes I have a hard time giving things up, and this is no exception. I'm looking for a compromise—finding new places to ride that aren't covered in smoke—but we'll still have to play this by ear.

Meanwhile, back home on the ranch, we're still in the thick of a Caribbean-style hot & humid weather pattern that is so unlike the California weather I once knew. The LOW barely got below 80°F last night, but as they say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." OK, no whining about this or the "running toilet issue" one of our tenants brought up yesterday. (I  do wish our tenants were at least as handy as I am.) 
Right. Repeat after me, "I'm all about gratitude." I'm alive and well. My family is alive and well. Our house is not burning, and I installed a mini-split air conditioner (yes, on my very own!) a couple years ago so Katie and I slept comfortably last night. I hope you did, too. 
​🍀

Earlier this year, a friend visiting from Colorado to enjoy the Belgian Waffle Ride with me mentioned that the Crater Lake Century is on his bucket list but he couldn't do it this year because of a schedule conflict. After seeing Crater Lake several times from commercial flights overhead, I've wanted to get there to see it up close, so I added that ride to my list. Now that I've retired and turning 60 this year, I don't delay my bucket list items. Whether or not you share lanes with distracted and irrational drivers, you never know when your number is up, so why wait?

Sometimes my timing isn't so good. Like when I asked my wife to marry me. Bad timing, wrong approach. But hey, we're still together, married, happy and in love almost 42 years after our first date on August 19, 1976. 

Well, it looks like my timing on "which year to ride the Crater Lake Century" could not be worse. I got an email a few days ago from Zach Gilmour (the ride organizer and owner of Zach's Bikes) explaining how the ride could potentially be canceled due to fire hazards and air quality. For me, it's not just the fires near Crater Lake that are a factor. You see, I'm DRIVING up there (leaving San Diego on the 13th) and planning to do some rides along the way. I plan to take a somewhat coastal route on the way there, then an inland path on the way back. And guess what...there are quite a few fires along the way, all in various stages of growth or containment. As I type this, the Mendocino Complex fire has just become the second-largest in California history. The Carr/Redding fire has destroyed so much and killed so many, but the air might be clear enough for me to stick to my camping plans in areas like Shasta Lake because it's already 45% contained and I'm not going to be in that area until August 19th.  

Suffice to say I'm rethinking my ride plans. I have limited time (need to be in Santa Barbara for a family wedding by the 24th), but I have resources. I have money, a big-ass Sprinter cargo van, and plans to go near some pretty devastated areas. My heart compels me to look into ways I might be able to directly help victims of the fires. Most people have insurance, but most people also have totally inadequate savings to help them through tough times, like when they're waiting for the insurance company to shell out some money. Maybe a stranger showing up in their burned-out neighborhood with food, drinks, and a little cash to help them through the day might be a sight for sore, smoke-singed eyes? I don't know. I like to leave a positive emotional footprint, and that's more important than how many miles I ride on this trip. We'll see how this unfolds. 

After a brief remodeling detour to Marina del Rey, I got back to San Diego in time for a remarkably unprofitable poker game last night. Penniless but free, I've finally posted photos I took of last weekend's SoCal bike racing scene. The weather was perfect. The photos are not, as I explain below.

San Diego Bicycle Club "SDBC" was well-represented at SDBC's Barrio Logan Grand Prix "BLGP" on Saturday. I was happy to donate $500 in cash prizes c/o CyclingSalvation.com to all the Junior race winners. Saturday was my first day using a new camera I bought a couple days prior. I stupidly assumed it could take good sports photos on the "auto" setting thanks to new, high-ISO sensor technology. That was a BAD NERD assumption. Lesson learned. I still need to use high shutter speeds (≤ 0.002 seconds) in the shutter-priority "Tv" mode. I was in the Barrio all day and missed only one podium.  It wasn't until I got home and saw the pictures on the computer that I learned the ugly camera mode lesson. I did my best to sharpen and enhance the photos, and I hope some of the racers will enjoy viewing and saving their favorites. 
Here (▼below▼​) is the link to the 2018 Barrio Logan Grand Prix photos on Flickr:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmaSzJpm

Both the Barrio Logan and Dana Point races included a 60+ category, which means "I couldah been a contendah." But I know better. I'm old, and fortunately I'm slow for my age (palmarès: 0). Also, I've never had any interest in experiencing a fifth concussion. Even as a spectator without a speck of riding all day, I was tired after a long day of fresh air and cold beer down in the Barrio. (Uh, did I mention how old I am?) So I slept in on Sunday then drove up to Dana Point after breakfast to find a cappuccino and watch some bike racing.

​I was excited to see the Dana Point Grand Prix "DPGP" because I had never been to it before. I obviously arrived long after the racing had started. It wasn't my intention to be there the whole day like I do for SDBC's criterium in San Diego. I just wanted to see some of the racing and test my new camera (the amazing Canon EOS 80D) using a more appropriate setting. 

Sunday's photos did come out better than Saturday's did, but I'll never be good enough to take photography on as a "day job." The bright sun allowed me to use shutter speeds shorter than a thousandth of a second, which resulted in many "less blurry pictures" compared to those I took all day on Saturday. But—being the senile old fart I am—I screwed up all the finish line photos of the women's pro/1/2 race because I had temporarily set the shutter speed much slower (for lower ISO, greater depth of field on some comparatively "still" shots) and forgot to dial up the shutter speed again for the final lap. Argh! Sorry, ladies!

SDBC once again had great representation in the races at Dana Point, with our Dutch club member, 747 pilot, and YouTube Star Jasper Verkuijl taking 2nd place in his Cat-2 heat (just ahead of former SDBC racer Juan Cisneros). When SDBC's race team manager Wells Wang encouraged Jasper to try his legs in the pro/1/2 race before flying back to Europe, Jasper registered and took 9th place in that race! (Congrats, Jasper & team!)
Here (▼below▼) is the link to my Dana Point Grand Prix "limited set" of photos on Flickr:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmhkSkJZ
Here's a link to more DPGP race photos and podium results. 

​The field for the women's race was amazing. SDBC's women's team had the privilege of racing with Coryn Rivera, a local (but world-famous!) pro racer from Team Sunweb. The surprise victory went to 16-year-old Megan Jastrab, pulling off an upset on Junior gearing! (Ah, youth!)

You're welcomed to use and share any of my photos linked above. If you'd like a photo without the watermark to use in your own publication, contact me (Dan) here and I'll email it to you after doing a little "post-production" enhancement, which is hard to take time to do on all of these. 

There's always good fun, food & drink...and plenty of spectator room at these races, so if you haven't been to one already, look them up and mark your calendar for next year. In the meantime, happy riding! I hope to see you out on the road.

This coming weekend (April 28th & 29th) presents two of the finest road racing events in Southern California...the Barrio Logan Grand Prix (BLGP) in San Diego, then the Dana Point Grand Prix (DPGP) in—you guessed it—Dana Point. These criteriums "crits" bring the local racing scene back onto hard concrete and asphalt after the epic Belgian Waffle Ride (BWR) dragged about a thousand racers on and off the road all over northern San Diego County two weeks ago. 
▶ BWR photos on Flickr here. ◀

I participated in the BWR wafer RIDE. Some people race it with all their might, but it is called a "ride" and I can't really say I raced it. My purpose was to finish it with no crashes and no cramping. I enjoyed the rest stops and scenery. I feared for my noggin during the sandy, rocky, off-road portions because this one day presented more dirt-riding than I've done in the nine years since I almost killed myself in a mountain biking accident in 2009. I wasn't on a mountain bike in the Belgian Waffle Ride, but my Specialized Diverge—with its stock, chubby 38 mm tires and subtle suspension in the seatpost and steerer—made the dirty journey possible without destroying my 60-year-old back. I was so glad to get back on solid pavement after every dirt section, and I'm relieved I survived the ride unscathed. It was quite an experience, but that's now checked off my bucket list. (Next: Crater Lake Century this summer!)

If I was a capable, strong bike racer unafraid of experiencing a fifth concussion, I would participate in the great races this coming weekend: BLGP on Saturday and DPGP on Sunday. They both have a 60+ category, which you cannot say about every amateur road racing event. Since I'm slow and crits are dangerous, I'll take photos and watch instead of race. As a big San Diego Bicycle Club (SDBC) supporter, I've been photographing the BLGP for years. I've also been providing prizes for winners of the Juniors racers. I'm a fan of road bike racing across the board, but I'm especially supportive of women and children who want to participate. As things are in the USA, support for their racing dreams is nominal at best. 

This will be my first time ever going to watch the DPGP and I'm excited to see it. Dana Point is a beautiful community, and our YouTube celebrity SDBC member from The Netherlands, Jasper Verkuijl (who also happens to be a Boeing 747 pilot for KLM) will be working with SDBC's amazing elite team to try to pull off a win. 

Look for photos posted here from both races by this time next week. I hope to see you out there!

Once upon a time I raised several thousand dollars for a charity in the name of my late, great friend Steven Flack who was suffering from leukemia. I was younger then. I was on Facebook then with hundreds of friends...some of them real friends and family. I was still working, so I had those business contacts, too. I had more energy for everything, including fundraising.  

Boy, have times changed. Now I can't stomach the idea of asking friends and family to donate. Since I'm officially retired (early, I guess, since I turn 60 this year), I don't feel right asking people —who are still working hard to make ends meet—to help me with a charity drive associated with a race I'm doing April 15th.

BUT, if you've found your way to this blog post (perhaps with my help?) and have some spare change for a tax-deductible donation to a charity called the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), please consider making a donation today. They can't accept donations related to this event after April 14, 2018. As of this writing I have raised $0.00! I'll match any and all donations made by April 10
LINK to Pledge Page:
https://www.PledgeReg.com/2559/cyclingsalvation
            T HANK YOU!
​ 

Bike Radar published an article today about another church of cycling. It's not the one I've visited and written about near Lake Como in Italy. In keeping with our "Spring Classics" location on the calendar, this one is in Belgium. Read more here:
https://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/roeselares-cycling-museum-51996/www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/roeselares-cycling-museum-51996/
​
​Meanwhile, back here in San Diego, spring weather is finally arriving. This will hopefully make my final attempt at fitness more enjoyable as we head for the Belgian Waffle Ride in North County San Diego on April 15th. 

Several years ago a fairly competitive friend of mine was urging me to get into Strava. I was less than enthusiastic about the idea. I was perfectly happy with my miles being tracked for me on Garmin Connect. I didn't need the world to know where/when I ride or how much slower I'm getting with age. But I'm starting to use Strava regularly now. There is a [faint] social aspect to it, which I guess is healthy and potentially [mildly] entertaining. But more importantly—as my drive to tackle long and challenging rides fades with age—I find that Strava is a good little whip to make me do the miles I should be doing. With others seeing WHETHER I'm riding or not, it's almost like having a coach egg me on to get some miles in.

I say "should be doing" because I've signed up to complete (not race) the Belgian Waffle Ride's "Wafer" this year after hearing for years how "fun" the BWR is. Just to complete this all-terrain ride, I need to ramp up my game a good bit. One way of doing that is to have a modest circle of other cyclists observe what I'm up to on the bike. The Strava segments that get posted by the time my bike's Garmin GPS gets within range of our home's Wi-Fi network fortunately don't include the sound of my whining for the last 24 miles of my 54-mile ride yesterday. The segment just shows that I did it. For a 60+ rider who's way out of shape...that's a START. 

From this start I need to keep going. If I do a 50-60 mile ride three times a week, my cycling fitness should improve dramatically. But I need some patting on my fat, sweaty head to keep me going, and that's where Strava's KUDOS come in. Just a few kudos go a long way. Maybe I should get my non-cycling wife a Strava account so she can give me kudos for every ride. She does politely ask how my ride was every time. When I say, "cold, long, painful," her sympathy and conversation doesn't add one thumbs-up to my kudos...but I do appreciate it. 

As I start to get to know Strava better I'll tinker around with its features and maybe even upgrade to Premium someday. This morning I discovered that I can post pictures from my PC, so I've added a couple here. 
https://www.strava.com/athletes/61596/posts/1293829
I don't know why these don't show up on by profile background, but I can't quite pretend to care about that yet. I'm on Strava. I'm trying to ride more. One mile at a time. 

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! To show some respect for the centuries of endurance against oppression, harassment and abuse by people of color in America and elsewhere, I'm NOT going to whine about this rotten cold bringing me down. Instead—in addition to saying THANK YOU DOCTOR KING—I'm going to briefly celebrate the escape from winter I made to Borrego Springs with SDBC's racing team this past weekend. 

Writing two blog entries in the span of a week is VERY rare for me, so there must be a big reason for this follow-up to my "whining about winter" entry just last week. Indeed. I found summer again in Borrego Springs! No base layer. No chilly wet jersey. Just great summer riding with a bunch of younger and stronger SDBC racers. I was there to provide "SAG" support and take some photos, but I got to ride on Friday, which was good fun. I used a few cameras and only got the pictures off of my own camera. You can see those photos here. 

Everyone I met during the camp was really nice. The men & women all seem to have a good time together, and this camp is meant to help them practice working together on and off the road. I suspect they'll be a formidable force on the racing circuit this year. I'd like to thank them for letting me be part of the camp, and I'd like to wish them all a fun, safe and very successful racing season. 
​         www.CyclingSalvation.com

Riding a bike is cheaper than a therapist and more fun than a gym. As all serious cyclists know, riding a bike is a great mood-lifter, especially during rides lasting 2 hours or more, where the endorphins really kick in. This cool gray winter day, I am in serious need of endorphin therapy. 

I like snow. I enjoy snow skiing. But when there's not any snow around, I really don't have any use for gray skies and cold weather. I moved from Chicago to San Diego over 30 years ago to bask in the legendary SoCal sunshine. That's what makes days like today a little disappointing. That's what makes winter in San Diego a little disappointing. I guess I didn't do my homework on the weather before moving here.

Subtropical ≠ Tropical. Apparently I prefer tropical. Tropical lifts my mood. Subtropical summers are awesome but I don't like subtropical winters, where—like today—the high temperature of the day might creep slightly above the 50s (F), or above 15°C for those who live in countries that have adopted modern measurement systems. Our  visit to South Africa brought us a brief exposure to SUMMER (and a near-death elephant encounter) last month, but we're all back home in the northern hemisphere now...thankful for the rain (FINALLY), but not loving the mudslides or the cold. 

I know, anyone living in sub-freezing weather right now would think, "Jeez, what a weenie. Such a wimp." (Or worse.) I deserve it. I know I should appreciate what we have, but EVERY winter I automatically start thinking of warmer places to move to. My wife won't hear of it, so here I must remain. 

Too bad, big baby. Time to bundle up and ride. Yes, I have cycling clothing that makes riding in 60°F weather perfectly bearable, but I'd still rather be riding in short sleeves with no base layer and sweating in some HEAT & SUNSHINE. Too bad. Suck it up. I'm riding right after lunch. And I'm going to LOVE  it, right? Right!