Back to weekly rides

Well, it was great having the time off in January and riding a bunch, but now it seems that we are back to our once a week rides.  The shop has been way too busy for February.  Anyway, last Monday Claire and I rode with A1 and Melinda.  We were on tandems and we did the Dillon Beach loop.  It has been a while since Claire and I had done this loop.  It used to be a weekly ritual, or so it seemed.  The wind was in the totally opposite direction as usual, so it was interesting riding out Fallon-Two Rock Road and being pushed along.  A1 and Melinda were real troopers as usual.

Yesterday Claire and I went out to Occidental for breakfast at Howard Station and started our ride from there.  As we left Occidental, it was drizzling pretty good, and we were both wondering if the ride was such a good idea.  Eventually it stopped drizzling and there were actually patches of sunshine as we rode along.  We had planned on doing the Old Caz loop which is the first race of the Grasshopper Series.  Claire was the person that first introduced me to Old Cazadero Road years and years ago.  Since we hadn't ridden all week, we tried to just take it easy, but climbing up Duncan Road and then Old Caz, it is hard to take it easy without falling over.  We were on our Ibis tandem.  I had put some Paul Retro Brakes on the bike a while back, and those are the coolest looking brakes, but they don't slow you down very well.  That made for some interesting descending of Old Caz.  Claire and I both thought about Rich and Paula and how much they would enjoy that ride.  When we got back to Duncans Mills for the second time, we stopped for some coffee at Gold Coast Coffee Company and noticed that some weather was moving in, so we chose to just head back Bohemian Highway instead of going out to Willow Creek Road.  It was a good choice since it started pouring rain about 2 minutes from the finish for us.  Here is a link to the loop.  I forgot to start my Garmin right away, so it starts down by Camp Meeker.  Oh yea, when we crossed Austin Creek at the bottom of Old Caz, the water was only up to my shins.  Being the gentleman that I am, I pushed the tandem across the creek with Claire sitting on the back so only one of us had to get our feet wet.