Beautiful Earth

Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of Tierra Bella (translated from Spanish means Beautiful Earth), a lovely bike tour by the folks at ACTC that sells out every year. Each year since 2005, The Boyfriend and I have done this ride (he the 100 mile and I, the 100k) as it symbolizes the beginning of bike tour season and because it's a well organized tour, full of scenic views, good food, and good fun. The night before, I ran into Elaine from work and her husband and made witty remarks with the volunteers at the early registration desk of which I can not repeat. Alas, this year, Mother Nature chose to cry most of the day and neither of us did the tour. I was sad though I did get this year's jersey and will wear it proudly soon. The photo of me is from last year's tour. I know, from reading blogs, that some cyclists braved the elements and did the ride.

Meanwhile, come Sunday morning, as Yahoo weather informed me, it was a day of "abundant sunshine." I wonder if Yahoo weather will ever have a "nonabundant sunshine day." At a rather early hour, at least for a Sunday, The Boyfriend telephoned, too enthusiastic for the hour in my opinion, suggesting we do Sand Hill Road and Canada Road because it was such a beautiful day. All I knew was that my heat was on, it was breezy outside, I had no food in the house and it sure felt nice staying in bed. Once again, I contemplated firing him as my Boyfriend. Still, I got it together, thanks to a Power Gel in the pantry and met up with him at his place where I proceeded to give him some lip for a good 10 minutes or so at which point he was probably considering firing me as his girlfriend. I had another Power Gel and we rolled off to a delightful ride of nearly 30 miles despite the breezy conditions and somewhat chilly air. I managed to do 12.4 mph average. The Boyfriend looked very nice on his big bike. Back at home, after shopping at the supermarket and flirting with men who buy broccoli, I concocted a wonderful dish, that is, raspberry banana pineapple flavored soybean (aka silken tofu) yoghurt. Darn delicious. No doubt The Boyfriend will gag when he reads this post. Til next time.....

I tought I taw a putty tat, i did, i did!

The boyfriend, a friend of his and I biked along Coyote Creek Trail to Henry Coe except I didn't make it all the way to the top on account of the gale winds, okay so they weren't exactly that forceful and I'm a wuss with dinky muscles but I try, you know. I watched The Boyfriend climb a hill. He's very smooth and graceful. Anyway, on the way back, I saw a wild turkey, 2 quail scurrying on the bike trail and then, I saw it, dashing across the road. Well, you see, at first, I said, "My what a rather large cat." The size of a medium dog. Wait a minute. And then I said, "Oh my, a mountain lion." Wow. Much like you see in the photo above. I leave you with this. Which one of those furry beasts above is more threatening to you? And yes, one of them lives with me. As well as another one. Scary, eh.

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Okay, great song, wrong road. Finally, The Boyfriend gave me copies of the photos taken when we biked Sierra Road several weeks ago. This is one tough ride for me, at least. Naturally The Boyfriend sailed up to the top -- see him there in the photo, or at least I think that's him. I was my usual slow pokey self wondering if my dinky muscles would get me up. I did, I did, though with numerous short breaks. The descent on the other side is an absolute thrill and worth the strain of Sierra.

A Bit of the Big Apple

I loved New York City! It was a whirlwind weekend but The Boyfriend and I managed to accomplish that which we planned to do. See, there's me in front of the library. We also took the Staten Island ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty from afar as well as the city itself. Some other things we did included visiting Times Square, Central Park and the World Trade Center site (being there made me cry). Side note: My mom, while born at Angel Island in SF, grew up in New Jersey and used to commute to her job in NYC. And yes, a chauffeur was waiting at the airport with a sign for The Boyfriend and I got to ride in a limo! While descending into SFO, a 747 flew parallel to us. It was amazing. Our pilot let us know that he knew about it to the relief of those wondering. Apparently, from time to time, planes fly parallel to land at SFO.