cycling in Walnut Creek, CA

back in March I was in Walnut Creek, CA for a business trip. I was able to stay through the weekend and do an epic road ride thanks to my good friend http://robinsonww.com/Chris Robinson. He hooked me up with a very nice demo bike and two amazing queue sheets. I didn't have an odometer but by our rough calculations I rode 120+ miles and 7,500+ ft of elevation. I guess you can get away with that kind of a ride when you literally have nothing else to do that day.

Well, I saved the queue sheet and I'm headed back there next week for another business trip. This time I'll be bringing the break away. Here are a few pics of what I saw last time

cycling in Dallas

I had an opportunity to do some riding in Dallas area back in July. Despite being 95+ degrees and humid, it was nice to ride in a new area. It was also the maiden voyage for my break away so I was doubly excited.

The bike was a bit tricky to pack but it made it without incident. Assembly was easy. The first Dallas ride was a Tuesday night crit put on by these guys: http://www.blogger.com/Tuesday%20Crit

I got there with plenty of time to warm up and check out the course. About as standard as a crit course could possibly be. If you find yourself in Dallas and want a good Tuesday evening workout, I suggest giving this one a shot. No primes so the group stays together until the finish usually.

On Wednesday I tried to find this group: Mirage Apparently they meet somewhere other than White Rock so I didn't make it to their start. I did find a triathlon group doing intervals through White Rock so I jumped in with them and did some butt kickin' efforts before calling it a night.

If you're in Dallas area and want a nice place to ride without the effort of joining a group ride, check out White Rock. Lots of people ride there and there is very little car traffic due to all the cyclists.

some shops make you feel unwanted

I'm traveling for business this week and I decided to stop into a shop that I had called upon many times in my former life but had never had the opportunity to visit. I guess today I figured out why they didn't sell our product very effectively.

When I go into a bike shop, I don't want to be badgered by sales people, but at the same time I don't want to get a disinterested hello as if my presence was an inconvenience. Sure, they may be able to tell right away that I am nothing more than a tire kicker, but what else do they have to do? Continue sitting on their thumbs?

Enough about my shop blast. My secondary mission was to inquire about good club/training rides in the area since I will be back very soon with my bike in tow and hopefully will be able to jump on some of the rides. At least the shop was able to offer some advice on rides. I'll be sure to post details about those rides when I visit again.

finding a direction

I created this blog a while ago but never really knew what I wanted to do with it. Well, I've decided to document the places I travel to and the cycling opportunities that one can find in these locations.

Since I travel a lot for business, I invested in a break away bike to travel with. Previously I've relied on the generosity of previous associates but I really prefer to have my own equipment. The break away has allowed me to experience cycling in even more locations and at no recurring cost (minus the initial purchase of course). I've raced crits in Dallas, climbed glacier roads in Montana, and I plan to do a lot more in the future.

I hope you enjoy the highlights and find the information useful!