Downed Tree

A few days ago a huge thunderstorm passed through. The large Bottle Tree right behind our condo was knocked down by it. The tree was about 50' tall and will be missed.

Prescott

On our last couple of trips to Prescott we rode our Brompton on the Peavine/Iron King trails. They're both old railroad grades that were converted to trails. The Bromptons handled the dirt trails very well.

Ross's Brompton on the Peavine Trail next to Watson Lake.

Ross's Brompton just off the Peavine Trail. This is a staged picture - no riding the Brompton on the rocks!

Water Sports

We recently tired stand-up paddle boarding on Tempe Town Lake. They rent the boards and other watercraft there. It was actually pretty easy and we had a good time!

Our Oru kayaks on the beach at Saguaro Lake.

Both of us in our Oru kayaks at the Butcher Jones beach area on Saguaro Lake. A nice lady on shore used Ross's iPhone to take this picture.

Reno/Sacramento/Lake Tahoe Trip 2

In Sacramento there's a bike path that runs over 30 miles along the American River. We spent 2 days riding most of the path in both directions. This picture was taken just off the path along the river.

The American River is a popular for rafting/tubing.

Our assembled Oru kayaks on the beach at Lake Tahoe.

The Lake Tahoe shoreline from Ross's kayak. The water is crystal clear!

Panoramic photo of Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe.

Reno/Sacramento/Lake Tahoe Trip 1

In July we took a 1 1/2 week trip to Reno, Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.

Cool thunderstorm we saw between Las Vegas and Reno.

Our Bromptons on the path in Reno that runs next to the Truckee River.

Plaque commemorating the Donner Party at a park on the east end of Donner Lake. We rode our bikes along the lake as well as took a self guided walking tour of the nearby town of Truckee.

The memorial containing the plaque mentioned above.

Prescott

Riding the Peavine and Iron King trails yesterday on our Bromptons.

Grand Canyon

We were at the Grand Canyon yesterday. We rode part way out on the Hermit Road. Them we took a drive east viewing the canyon.

Prescott

Kayaking on Watson Lake in our Oru kayaks today.

Cruise 3

Karen at the free soft serve ice cream bar. The real ice cream cones weren't quite that big (hahaha).

Huge Mexican flag in Ensenada.

Cruise 2

Ross rode to the top of a steep hill outside of Avalon. Here's a panoramic picture he took at the viewing area. He was the only bicycle up there. Everyone else was in rented golf carts, the main form of transportation on the island.

Ross and buffalo outside one of the golf cart rental businesses.

Karen and the buffalo.

This guy turned on the water fountain and the bird drank from it!

Cruise 1

We went on a 4 night cruise in March to celebrate our wedding 31st anniversary. We were on the Sapphire Princess and had this itinerary:

Day 1: Left LA (San Pedro)

Day 2: Catalina Island

Day 3: At sea

Day 4: Ensenada, Mexico

Day 5: Back in LA

Our favorite part was our time in Catalina. We rented bikes and rode around the area of Avalon, the main town on Catalina.

Our cabin. We had a balcony room - nice!

The outdoor theater. They'd show movies here at night. The deck chairs were arranged to see the screen and they handed out blankets (it got chilly at night) and had popcorn, cookies and other snacks available during the movie.

One of the main activities aboard ship.

The Sapphire Princess docked in Ensenada, Mexico.

New Bike

It's been quite a while since we updated the blog! Things were very hectic and confused for several months after Ross's mother died. They've settled down so now we have some time to post here again.

The bicycle fleet has changed yet again. It now consists of the following:

Brompton folding bike (Ross)

Brompton folding bike (Karen)

Bike Friday tandem bike (both)

Bianchi Pista FG/SS (fixed gear/single speed) bike (Ross)

Catrike Trail recumbent trike (Karen)

We also still have a recumbent Karen was using that we're going to sell. She fell off it a couple of times and it really scared her. That's why we got the Catrike recumbent trike. We'll post some pictures down the road.

Since the Catrike and tandem take up most of the room in our shed we had to find somewhere to store the Pista. Here's the solution:

Practical and stylish!

Marlene Goldman 1933 - 2013 RIP

Very sad news to report. Ross's mother passed away on Christmas Day 2013. She died in her bed at her home. It came as a total shock as she hadn't been sick. She was, in fact, out shopping the night before. Karen, Ross's sister Lee and Ross drove to Detroit and had her funeral there so she could be buried next to her husband, Ross and Lee's father. The weather was absolutely miserable making a sad time even more trying.

We're late in posting this because the last few weeks have been totally consumed with starting the process of settling her estate. There was a tremendous amount of work to do. Things have only settled down in the last couple of days. That's the main reason we're in Tucson this weekend. We simply needed to get away for a short time.

Tucson

We're in Tucson for the weekend and went on a group bike ride today. It was hosted by MetroGnome Music & Cycle To Go. They're the new Brompton dealer in Tucson. There were maybe 8 or 9 Bromptons and a couple of "regular" bikes. The destination was a food truck roundup. After getting food everyone ate together on the top of a small hill in the nearby park. We met several new people and had a really good time!

Karen on her Brompton during the ride.

The food truck roundup.

Brompton

I got a new Brompton so Karen got my old one as a replacement for her Dahon Mariner which we're going to sell. Nothing wrong with a hand-me-down Brompton!

New Bike

State Bicycles fixie with flip flop hub. I'm running it single speed.

Today's Bike Ride

On the Brompton and trike in Scottsdale on the multi-use path taking a lunch break at Subway.

Before and After

This "before" picture shocked me! I found it last night while looking at some old pictures. Karen took it at Smuggler's Den campground while I was on top of our 5th wheel for some reason. It was taken in 2007.

New Bike!

One week ago Sunday we bought a new bike! It's a used Bike Friday Traveler XL tandem. We'd been looking for a quality tandem ever since selling the junky one we had a while ago. We even considered buying something new but the prices were way out of our budget. We bought this one from an outdoor equipment consignment shop in north Phoenix and paid about half of what a new one would have cost.

The bike was in basically good shape but I did some work on it to get it into tip top shape. The biggest thing I did was put new tires on it. The original Primo slicks were shot and had even begun to rot on the sides. I replaced them with Schwalbe Marathons. I have those on my Brompton and have been very satisfied with them. I also had to replace one brake cable so far and I adjusted the 3 speed SRAM DualDrive hub and the derailleur. We're now quite happy with the ride and performance.

While looking for a tandem we concentrated our search on a Bike Friday because they can be taken apart for travel. A few days ago we went to Tucson on an overnight trip and took the tandem with us. When broken apart it fits nicely in our Nissan Versa. Besides the first times when we were still trying to figure out everything we can take it apart in about 20 minutes and put it together in about 25 minutes. Not something we'd want to do on a daily basis but reasonable for a trip.

Grand Canyon 3

Grand Canyon view.

Ross, Karen and Lee at Hermit's Rest.

View near Hermit's Rest.