#1 My European bicycle tour has gotten off to an inauspicious start. With the help of two good friends, I got my large bicycle box, another slightly smaller box, myself, and two carry-ons up to LAX in plenty of time for the song and dance routine that the TSA puts you through and to board Norwegian Air's 787 Dreamliner. "Dream" would be the key word here. Things were going well as I boarded a pretty full plane and got a seat next to a comely Norwegian girl. I noticed the little hi-tech screen in front of me had a good selection of movies. Then we backed away from the gate. After maybe 200 yards, I began chewing some gum in order...

The Epitome of a Pilgrimage We departed Lisboa, Portugal on June 2. Malena Serrato, Letitia Sokoll, Ursula Misaraca, Pauline Stehley and myself, Dolores Wells on mountain bikes that weighed somewhere between 50 to 500 pounds. It was downhill all the way out of Lisboa on cobblestone roads to the river. We had bike paths past the Oceanario and were literally on The Way. We had signage to follow along The Way. It was a great day and a great start. The first day was dry and warm and we weren’t aware that we were about to meet the first of many Knights in Shining Armor or Angels on the trail. We stayed in Vila Franca de Xira. The next day I was...

It’s July 11, 2013,  and I’m sitting in a room with 11 other riders in Lourdes, France listening to three Trek Travel guides giving a briefing on today’s ride up Col d’ Soulor and Col d’Aubisque.  Col d’ Soulor is the first of eight climbs up mountains in the Pyrenees, Alpes and Provence where the Tour de France is won and lost.  They are the very essence of the world’s most grueling sporting event. The mountain ascents of the Tour have made and broken champions and the so-called out-of-category climbs are the worst. Tom on Alpe d'Huez Why am I sitting here waiting to ride up the first of eight mountains that have 10% plus grades and how did I get...

Can I start out by telling you about my Harleys, Vincent HRD, Kawaski and Honda Gold Wing? No? Alright, how about my Caterpillar career? How about my other careers like Melles Griot and Tri City hospital? No on all? How about my Jag restorations into show cars? No? For the last time John, this is about bicycles so get on it. OK. My first bike (our, I shared it with my twin brother) was a 1932 (est) brand unknown, with 20 inch wheels with one piece tires. The punctures were fixed by inserting rubber glue soaked rubber bands into the tire with a special gun. The excess bunch of rubber bands sticking out of the tire was then burned off....

What a great re-cap from Wade but I thought there were a few details worth mention. Seven riders left the parking lot at a chilly 8:00AM following our fearless, dressed in layers, impromptu leader, Bill the Adventurer. For a promised casual 100 miler the pace started out brisk but welcome as we all needed to warm our bones. But that all changed when we hit the Valley Center climb and Ursula put the hammer down and put us all in our climbing places. And while true (Wade put it so eloquently) I was not the first to the top, more like dead last, I would have been fine had I not been singled...

The detailed report. The start was surprisingly uneventful.  A quick photo and then Bill led us out with Ursula, Sean, Anthony Sc., Nerius, Steve, and me trailing. Steve, Nerius, Bill, Ursula, Wade, Anthony, Sean We were all bundled up, with Nerius wearing some bib tights with a slightly disturbing hole in the back. But I gave him a pass on that because he was nice enough to lend me his extra set of toe warmers.   We headed out of Escondido full of confidence with Sean and Ursula helping Bill with the pulls.  By the time we reached the top of Valley Center Parkway all of us were starting to get a little warm. Ursula was first to the top showing no sense of...

Someone once asked me “How many bikes have you had?” After some thought, I came up with this answer. I have owned numerous bikes throughout the years. And that is a lot of years, mind you. I can almost remember a red tricycle (along with a little a red rubber truck with yellow rubber wheels, but that’s another story), but the first bicycle I can recall was a red bike. My brother Victor and I both got one for Christmas. The problem back then was boys bikes were usually red and girls bikes were blue. I know this sounds mixed up but that is how it was back then….at least as I recall anyway. Anyway, I wanted a blue bike. There...

Saturday April 30th. “Ride to Camacho’s” put on by the Ramona Fun Riders was just that. It is a century from Santa Ysabel to El Centro and ending at Camacho’s restaurant. There were 9 in our group and I talked to about 5 more NC3 members.  We had head and cross winds for at least 75% of the ride.  A few of us had dermabrasions thanks to the blowing sands.  The ride started with Apple Pie and coffee in Santa Ysabel and Dudleys Bakery sandwiches for lunch with Mexican food at the end.  My idea of a good "ride to eat" event. There were buses waiting to take us back and Mayflower moving vans to carefully transport our bikes....