The NCCC Board has decided to post scheduled group rides starting the week of Nov 9th. These group rides will have restrictions, in order to ensure riders' health as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Please read the new NCCC COVID-19 Rules before you decide to ride. They are designed to keep you and your fellow NCCC friends safe and healthy. Ride leaders will provide waivers that must be signed the first time you join in for the restart. You can save time by downloading the waiver here, filling it in, printing and signing and bringing it to that first ride. As promised, all memberships have been extended about 8 months (243 days to be precise) to account for the time that...

The Board has been considering if, how, and when to re-start official rides. We would like to get your input on the matter. Please respond by clicking on this survey link. Should the regular club rides resume in the next few months, new guidelines and rules for riders will be issued to help protect the health of everyone. We hope you are all safe and healthy; go carefully and maybe see you on the road sometime.

Iceland had been on my bucket list for a long time. After my reading and planning up front, it was still chock full of surprises. One mistake was hauling camping equipment, an extra 15 pounds that I used for one night, not out of necessity, but because it was a mild night. Rooms, although not in abundance, were available, even in remote areas. The weather was as expected, and I experienced some outrageous winds. The scenery exceeded my expectations as did the farm animals. If you do not want to read this extensive blog, my one recommendation is to at least view the photos of Iceland. I had a convenient direct flight from Iceland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where my...

In mid June the club Board and ride leaders reviewed the possibility of resuming club group rides. You will be aware that many activities are re-opening although the rate of infection in San Diego county has been somewhat increasing of late. The balance of opinion is that NCCC should delay a resumption of official club rides. We will review this decision in a couple of months, depending on developments. However, several members are enjoying rides with one or two friends with necessary precautions: keep your distance, do not bunch up at stops, have a mask available for breaks and if you are feeling at all sick or "under the weather," stay home. Stay safe.

I wanted to do a bicycle tour in Europe and go through areas that I hadn’t been before. I looked at Norwegian Air’s schedule and picked a convenient place to fly into (Madrid, Spain) and to fly out of (Helsinki, Finland), and roughly measured the land distance along a probable route to be semi-confident that I could do it within a 3 month window. This was a no camping trip. Besides the flights in and out, my only other reservation pre-trip was my first few nights in Madrid. Talk about a wing and a prayer! This was a huge success. I ended up bicycling through 13 countries; Spain, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, Slovakia Republic, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia,...

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Recommended training for all NCCC riders (required for ride leaders). Available in two locations, Oceanside for free and Mira Mesa for $25. No matter how experienced you (think you) are, you WILL learn something. To quote Robert Abraham, "If you think you don't need to take this class, then you NEED to take this class." More details and registration at https://sdbikecoalition.org/smart-cycling.

Several months away from cycling and several more trying to catch up with the group as it disappeared up the next hill encouraged me to investigate the world of e-bikes; not the types that are fully motorized with a throttle (Class 2), nor high powered mountain or boulevard cruiser type electric bikes, but a simple road bike with a battery and motor. Not that I’m trying to conceal my e-assist; in fact, I’m revealing all here. My basic requirement was for a regular road bike of reasonably light weight and a standard gear set, such as 50/34 chain rings and 11-30 cassette. I would like to ride it as an unassisted bike as often as possible and secondly, but also...

I went from “0-60” in just a few months! No, not in a car. On a bike. Not an ordinary bike, but a Kona Sutra gravel/touring bike. How did this come about? I’ve been an avid “supported” bike tourist for over thirty years and when I heard about a trip some buddies were taking across Mexico, self-contained, it aroused my curiosity. I was too late to prepare for that trip, but the next trip was similar to the upcoming "Big Island" (Hawaii) self-contained ride, a nine-day bicycle tour. I spent the next few months researching bicycles and the various accessories one needs to accomplish such a tour. In the end, nearly everything worked out great. Weight-wise, my bike was...

My goal was to hunt lobsters by bike. That was the inspiration for the first of my two solo 2018 bicycle trips. In June I left from our home in New Hampshire, close to the Vermont border and headed east to the Atlantic Ocean then north up the Maine coast.  I discovered the secret to great lobster! Read more here: https://bethsrecipes.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/the-great-lobstah-hunt-bicycle-tour/ I wrapped up my second 2018 bicycle tour adventure in November along the coast of California. This spontaneous tour was driven largely by my need to get my cycling legs back after 2 months off the bike in New Hampshire. I did not anticipate the California fires and only hoped to beat the rain. On November 8th I packed my bike...