Wife Sue and I had a tandem cycling trip to Portugal that was hosted by Santana Tandem Adventures.  The trip had us river cruising down the Douro River; starting in Porto.  We’ve been on over a dozen Santana trips and the river cruises are always our favorites.  No packing/unpacking with plenty of ride options, culture and fellow tandem couples.  We met our Kansas City tandeming friends on the trip along with approximately 120 fellow cruisers/bikers.  Over the years, Santana has adapted to more ebikes and fewer tandems; with the ratio now about 60:40.  Years back, there were only a couple single bikes and all tandems.   We really enjoyed Portugal; the weather was brisk in the mornings (50’s) and would...

I took a short September vacation in California and Oregon this year. The idea was to take my time to visit old friends and to cycle here and there as my whims dictated. It turned our well, except for one particular ride around San Francisco Bay. This ride could be named “One Nut, One Flat and Two Bridges”. I stayed a few days in Berkeley with an old friend. One can’t ride across the Bay Bridge so it was necessary to take BART to the Embarcadero, bikes are welcome on all but the first car. I got on and was immediately offered senior seating across from the bike rack so I suppose I am showing my age these days. I...

Over the first weekend of October Howard Garfinkel and Bill Heidler went up beyond L.A. and did some riding in Central CA. We found beautiful weather (for the most part), over 100 miles of roads with no traffic lights or stop signs, elevations from sea level to 7300 ft, a few interesting animal sightings, and in general great riding. Friday morning we headed north through moderate traffic, over the grapevine, through Fresno to Bass Lake in Madera County. We checked into a nice woody cabin and had time for a spin around the lake. The next morning we joined in the Grizzly Century, sponsored in part by Howard’s alma mater the Fresno Cycle Club. This offered us some 8000 vertical feet...

It's that time of year when Ghoulies and Ghosties, And long-leggity Beasties, And all Things go bump in the Night. Yes the phantom of the bicycle joined us on a recent ride. As you will see if you meet him on one of our rides, he is fit and well; as they say, ghosts stay fit by exorcising regularly. Is this a former member....they say old cyclists never die To see him in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PuAwuouFj0 Thanks to Captain Steven Stewart for enlivening our ride and our Halloween.

This has been a good cycling year for piling on miles. My monthly average during the summer dropped while I was in Canada helping friends and relatives with household projects. Some, make that all, of them are getting older and need assistance. I didn’t mind but it did cut into my annual mileage aspirations. I have been knocking out the miles again since mid-September. I need about 1150 more in November and December to get to 5000. On November 20th I was aiming for another 55 miles or so. Things went south in Oceanside at about 1:00 PM. I was headed north on Myers Street on the right shoulder of the two-lane road when a Toyota Camry taillight and fender...

Recently I received from ex club president Peg, several files of club ride routes, meticulously organized by start point and direction, north south east and west.  These route slips, printed on aging and sometimes yellowing paper give a fascinating insight into the NCCC of twenty and more years ago., locations which no longer exist, roads which have acquired another name, routes we no longer use as traffic has increased.  Many of these routes were accompanied by a hand drawn plan of the route, a routing map pre GPS.  Here are some snippets. Would you know where to find Hill Street?  Here’s a hint: it is one of the flattest roads in San Diego County, named, I suspect, for a Mr. or...

It was a beautiful San Diego day - Cruisers, Clippers, Roadies and Long Riders all rode together to Walnut Grove Park and then went on their ways. Here are some photos (thank you Dana!) of the gathering afterwards at Dos Desperados:

Everyone I’ve ridden with in NCCC over the past several years probably heard that my goal was to do a bike tour in Southern Africa. I finally got the chance this March. This trip story is actually two rides in one. My wife Pam came to South Africa with me, and after spending a few days shopping and sightseeing in Capetown we did a four day tour of the “Winelands” to the east. Then, after viewing wildlife in Kruger National Park for a few days, Pam flew home and I joined an organized ride from Victoria Falls (Zambia), through Botswana and ending in Windhoek, capital of Namibia. Capetown Winelands We had never been to Africa before, and of course weren’t sure what...

After Geneva I had decided to visit Embrun, somewhere I had visited when Charles de Gaulle was the name of the President of France and not of an airport north of Paris. I had found in my archive the 1:50,000 hiking map I had used any years earlier and decided to re-visit the area. The Tour passes Embrun about once every four of five years and part of the route includes the ascent of the Col de Vars, a “categorie 1” climb to 6916’. Embrun is a delightful small Alpine town of some 6000 residents. It was formerly an archbishopric with an interesting small cathedral which dates from the twelfth century, now downgraded...

Dick, a good friend with whom I worked in Haz Mat at the County of San Diego Environmental Health Department and I have kept in touch since he switched jobs years ago. He retires this week from the City of San Diego. It has been over two years since our cycle trip along the Danube. I have put off writing up the trip long enough; so, as it’s a blustery fall day I have resolved to get it done. Another reason I finally got started was a promise I made to dear 98-year-old friend that I visited in Canada this summer. She made me promise to write this story since she really enjoyed my STR story a few years...