Morning Coffee Run

We're getting ready to take our morning run to get a cup of coffee while Byron and Leili and of course our pup Betzi are fast asleep. Actually, Carrie is the the coffee addict. I bring a thermos of green tea. It's only a ten mile round trip but there are some good elevation changes. We especially look forward to the last one third of a mile up a 11% grade to get back home!

It All Starts Here

It all starts here in Agoura Hills, California. My wife, my best buddy for life, and wonderful kids, both young and not so young, all surround me. So what the heck am I thinking? Why or how can I think someday wanting to leave those that I love so dearly for days or maybe weeks of sweating on a bent up contraption touring California and who knows where else? Well my plan to take off on any sort of extended ride is still a long way off. So maybe I don’t have to think much. Too much thinking can be a curse and too little can be dangerous. I do know that I not only seek adventure but as a father I crave knowledge and personal experiences that I can pass on to my kids and others who care to listen.

Carrie with Byron and Leili

My big boys Danny and David.

My girl Jamie.

For most of my life I hiked into the hills to think more clearly. Whether hiking locally or somewhere more distant, by myself or with my kids, I always imagined that I’d be hiking until my time here on Earth expired. My time here on Earth is far from over. There is alot that I still want to do and see. But I'm wearing out like an old clock. The medical profession has put my shoulder back together, twice removed torn cartilage from my knee and put the scalpel to my feet to put them back in good working order. Now my back has finally given out. I had no clue what to due until I was introduced to the world of bent up cycles better known as recumbent. I ended up at Bent Up Cycles in Van Nuys. Now I'm active again and ready to check out what I've been missing while talking to the animals.

In early May of 2009 Dana and Kate at Bent Up Cycles showed me what recumbent cycling is all about. Their knowledge of recumbent cycles put me at ease that I could transition from hiking to recumbent cycling. My ride of choice right now is a 2009 Catrike Expedition. It is a recumbent tadpole design trike. I could ride it all day and still party at the local Cantina at night.

I have given up the long (not the short) hikes into the backcountry of many beautiful places in California and the Southwest. Instead I’ll be cruising on my recumbent at an average of ten miles per hour on lesser roads and highways. I look forward to becoming more intimate with all the places that I've missed while speeding to a hiking destination. I look forward to experiencing life from a different prospective. In addition to taking short hikes on a wilderness trail to clear my head I will also be riding the paved streets of reality. I will enjoy all the bueaty that exists at the edge of the road as well as bemoan the havoc that we humans have caused upon our planet and thus upon ourself.

I am looking forward to sharing my discoveries, thoughts and diatribe with my family and friends through words and pictures.