All posts by Mike

Definitely warm enough to find snakes on West Old LaHonda. And lizards. And rabbits.

I wasn’t sure how Tuesday morning was going to go, since I didn’t sleep really well the previous night. Too hot. Too much on my mind. Too concerned about needing to get to sleep, which keeps you from getting to sleep. Hate that! In fact, when the alarm went off, I didn’t even hear it, due to fan noise. But at 7am, 10 minutes late, I looked over and… uh-oh, better get going. Funny thing is, getting up late we still started out the garage two minutes early. Weird thing, that.

76 when we left, so not too bad… yet. Just myself, Kevin (kid) and George, although we did see quite a few more cyclists than usual, probably people switching from afternoon rides to morning, to avoid the heat. The heat didn’t seem to bother me much though, as I finally got under 30 minutes today, and over 1000 VAM (meters climbed per hour). Did it solo too; George was zonked from a hard “morning” ride, and Kevin is still having some knee issues.

Lots of wildlife out there; before hitting Kings we saw a deer trying desperately to get through a chain-link fence (that doesn’t work, by the way), rabbits, lizards, and, as you can see in the photos, a King Snake on West Old LaHonda. This guy definitely would have been run over by a cyclist had we not moved him out of the way. A bit further up a baby rattlesnake, unfortunately previously squished (dead). Looking forward to Thursday’s ride, which might not be quite so hot but still allow us to ride without leg warmers.

All the things she does at the shop; how does she keep it together? Yesterday’s stress relief

Click on photo for video
https://www.facebook.com/ChainReactionBicycles/videos/10156715067809234/

That’s supposed to be an embedded video, showing how Becky manages to “cool off” after a long & hot day at the shop. Becky’s the person pulling things together at the Chain Reaction Bicycles, and not at all behind the scenes. She’s the go-to person for anything involving the special Project One Trek bikes, with people traveling miles to see her, probably more than anything because she’s got a way with colors. I’m not even allowed into the conversation- she thinks I’m not even qualified to choose a bottle cage color. Unfortunately, she’s probably right.

She also knows more gearing options than most “experts” coming into the store, said “experts” who typically refuse to take what she says for an answer because she’s a girl. They’ll walk over to me and ask the same question, and I tell them, Becky’s got it down, why are you talking to me? She knows the part numbers and has the connections to make things happen.

And she’s the first person you see if you’re looking to work for us.  And she puts together our outstanding apparel selection… shoes, shorts, jerseys, jackets, socks… if you want to see the ultimate, “greatest hits” selection of socks, check out our sock wall.

But most of all she tries, as much as it’s possible, to keep my life a bit less stressful. Probably because, since she lives under the same roof with me (she’s my daughter, by the way), it makes it less stressful when she sees me at home. Then she can spend her effort being stressed out over her cat, who sometimes doesn’t realize it’s his job to return home from his vermin-hunting duties before Becky does.

So if you come across Becky and she’s looking a bit stressed, it could be because I’ve piled a zillion too many things on her plate, or it could be that it’s been too long since she’s been out getting sprayed along with the sunflowers.