Tiburon Loop, China Camp and French Fries

Has it really been so long since I have written a blog post?
Could be because Jerry and I were off the tandem for quite some time. I did ride some while not writing, but not much.

But now we are gearing up to ride from New York to Washington DC at the end of September, so the training is going to have to get serious. We are doing the Climate Ride (www.climateride.org in case anyone wants to donate...) which raises funds for a whole host of non profits. Jerry and I have picked Earthjustice, a non-profit law firm that has done pro bono work for a large number of environmental groups, and World Bicycle Relief, which builds and supplies bikes to developing countries, seriously changing lives.

My back went out a couple of weeks ago, but we have managed to do some riding, and the riding has actually helped a good bit. When I'm on the bike I don't feel any pain. It's so wonderful. The back is slowly getting better, and I'm convinced riding is helping.

Our last couple of rides have been around Tiburon, but today we decided to ride out from the house and cycle China Camp, a beautiful park quite close to our house. It has some hills, but nothing hideous. I had found that pushing hard to climb was aggravating my back, but today was no problem. We rode fast and strong, though only a little more than 20 miles.

We plan to ramp up our mileage the next couple of days. Tomorrow, we are heading for Cottage Grove, OR. There is a small airport right next to an inn, so we've booked a room and will be able to cycle on over. It's around 25 miles from Eugene, so one plan is to hop on the tandem and ride to Eugene for lunch. It's fairly flat, so 50 miles should not be a problem.

Along with ramping up the miles, it's time to ramp up my healthy eating. Along with not getting much exercise, I have been eating lots of not great for me food: a terrible combination. I have been having a love affair of late with extra crisp french fries. I believe in everything in moderation, but I've gone really over the top with fries. So, while I have no plans to cut them out of my life, they are going to have to seriously become a once in a while, not twice a week, food.

To try to make up for my unhealthy eating, I've been keeping the house well-stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables. Today is the day I would normally go to the Farmer's Market for lots of organic produce, but alas, it is July 4, and the Marin County Fair is in full swing. I assume there is not market today, and even if there was, I'm steering clear of that area.

We did do some pretty spectacular eating and drinking for our anniversary, which was June 23. For the last two years I've been out of town for our anniversary, so we decided to make this year special. We had dinner where we got married, and spent the night at the Inn at Occidental, where we spent our wedding night. We also visited some wonderful Russian River wineries, did some tasting and brought home some lovely wines.

The winery where we got married has changed hands, so the food is no longer Greek, but it was okay. We got a charcuterie plate to share, and honestly, we could have stopped with that, But dinner came next. For the life of me I can't remember what I had. So while I remember I enjoyed it, it was seriously not that memorable. I have stronger memories of our wedding dinner. Desserts didn't interest us-- they were mostly chocolate, which I don't eat-- so we passed on it. I did have coffee, which was also pretty unmemorable. Not strong enough for me.

We are going to go out to lunch today, and I will do my best to steer clear of fries. Wish me luck.