Watching My Speed

Sometime this year, this traffic-calming device was installed on College Ave. at the corner of Green and College right at Oakmont Outdoor School. It's easy to pick up speed after crossing the train tracks because of the downhill slope. Every time I drive by, I try to keep it to 24 mph or so, because if you are over 25 mph, this sign says "SLOW DOWN".  That is, I try to keep it under 25 unless I'm riding my bike. I've gotten up to 16 mph on two wheels.  Now, there is a corresponding sign on the other side of College, and when I'm riding my bike, the fastest I've been clocked at was 9 mph, and that was the day I was in a real hurry. Usually I'm about 6 mph puffing up the hill.

Cool Bike Rack

If you ride your bike to Claremont Optometry on Foothill, you have this cute rack to hitch your wheels to.

Rounds Burgers

Friday afternoon in photos

H had the car - umpiring the SCIAC softball tournament in Redlands, so I rode my bike up to Claremont Craft Ales.

Food Truck Friday featured the Rounds Burgers truck. I have been wanting to try this new eatery in south Claremont, so I thought I'd start with the truck.

Veggie Burger and a pint of Roble'd 

(not pictured: my dinner buddies Edris and Bob)

The burger was pretty good, but very loose and a little difficult to eat. The bun was pretty good. The fries were just ordinary, but they came with garlic aioli sauce (or other sauces of your choice).

Aftermath: I couldn't finish

I was not the only one who rode their bike ...

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Day 27 - Clutter Cleanse: My college statistics text. If I haven't used it in over 30 years, chances are great (about 100%) that I won't. Donated.

Labor Day

Twenty seven years ago, I was in labor. How fitting. Happy birthday to my firstborn, L! Since we were unable to help her celebrate in Oregon this year (having recently celebrated her marriage there), we decided to celebrate her here at home. This is what we did.

After getting breakfast burritos at Alberto's and coffee, we took off down the 57 towards Costa Mesa with bikes on the rack. See how light the traffic was on this holiday morning?

Knowing a bit about where we had biked last June, we could make better plans for our trip. First we parked in a little park near Estancia High School and rode our bikes over to the Santa Ana River toward the ocean and Huntington Beach. The good thing about this plan is that the parking is free. The other good thing about this plan (and this is the really good thing) is that the first part of the ride is against the ocean breezes, and the return trip is with the breeze.  Again, we rode 22 miles, and this way was much better.

We stopped for a bit and watched the waves, the surfers and the beautiful blue sky.

Here are two kites that look like parasailers.

Part of the bike ride involved trying to find this park that has a big cement dome made to look moon-like. We could not get to the park on bikes because I was way too tired at that point, and my little tushy was complaining. However, we did manage to find the park with the GPS after we got back to the car so that I could see the wonder of the moon. Here it is, in all its glory. It's something, huh?

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate the day I first became a mom.

Random Friday Photo

I just liked the way these trikes looked, all lined up and ready for preschool action!

Pacific Electric Inland Empire Trail

Yesterday my private string students gave a recital which you can read about in Motifs in Music, my music blog.

As a celebration of my students' successes, we decided to take a bike ride and headed east out of Claremont on the Pacific Electric Inland Empire Trail. The trail has an inauspicious start at the east end of 1st Street near Claremont Blvd.

Our plan of attack is to ride until we are halfway tired and then return.  This is the second time we've taken this basically flat trail, and we set off at a good pace, noticing that we were riding with the wind.  After 25 minutes we reached the bridge that crosses over Foothill past Grove Ave. in Upland.  That seemed a good enough half-way point for us, so we turned around and noticed that the wind had picked up just a little...40 minutes later we made it back to the start of the trail.

I didn't realize what a workout it was until I pedaled into our driveway and then enjoyed sitting on the couch for the rest of the evening.  I sure slept well after that!

Look carefully, and you can see the where the trail begins

The bridge crossing Foothill Blvd in Upland

The only map we saw along the way

Click on Google maps for directions, then bicycle, and the trails are highlighted

One In, One Out

One bike in, one bike out. Sold this cute little Peugeot today to a grad student from CGU. She's from Thailand and will be studying political science. I had to lower the seat almost all the way for her, but she seemed very happy with her purchase. (And I didn't buy anything from her!)

Oh, yes, check out my new website on the left - Van Ryswyk Studio....Send me your violin and viola students!

Craigslist Warning!

This weekend we were cleaning out a bit, and Hal put together a cabinet we've been storing in the basement, so I put it for sale on craigslist. Two nice young men came to buy the cabinet, and when they opened up the trunk of their pickup, out popped a bicycle....and to make a long story short, I am the happy owner of a nearly new bike for a good price!

Now, when I list my old bike on craigslist, I wonder what I'll get in return.......