OVT and the New Bridge

Carrie, Byron and I spent Memorial Day riding the Ojai Valley Trail (OVT) while Leili hung with friends. The OVT is my favorite place to ride with the family. The new bridge over San Antonio Creek adjacent to the Ventura river was completed in March of this year. We started at Foster Park and pedaled the 9 miles up to Ojai for lunch. The 9 miles back to Foster Park from Ojai is as easy and relaxing as it gets.

Our first look at the new bridge.

Byron checking out the bridge. It's a cool bridge and it's long enough to enjoy the ride over it's wood slats before exiting onto the other side of the trail.

Here's the old crossing. Byron is looking out onto the Ventura River from the old crossing over the San Antonio Creek. During the rainy season flooding would often close down this stretch of the OVT for days, if not weeks, after a rain. Taking  busy highway 33 to circumvent this part of the trail and get to Ojai is not a cycling friendly option. 

Carrie following me up the OVT.

A few more pictures of different parts of the OVT.

Oh yes...lunch time at the Ojai Cafe Emporium . The 9 miles back to Foster Pack is easy and involves a lot of coasting so eat up and enjoy a beer. 

We stopped at the bridge on the way back to get another perspective... 

...from below.

 Now the San Antonio Creek flows freely into the Ventura River. Great place to stop and enjoy the shade of the bridge and cool off your feet,

Time to finish our ride back to faster Park and wrap up another great family ride. We missed Leili but she had fun with her friends back home.

Click here for a Visitors guide for Ojai, California. When we stay overnight in Ojai we stay at the Blue Iguana Inn. It's on Highway 33 before you get into town and right next to the Ojai Trail.

The ride on the Ojai Valley Trail when combined with Ventura River Trail starting in Ventura makes for a nice 30 mile round trip. The Ventura River Trail presents a sharp but interesting contrast to the Ojai Valley Trail with it's industrial buildings and old oil wells. Bring your camera!

Go to Ride with GPS-Ojai Trail and Ventura Trail

Tunnels

Tunnels... doorways to beyond.

A tree tunnel 

Cush for Her Tush

I wanted to give Betzi a little softer ride in her trailer. I folded up a old sleeping pad and put it underneath her soft doggy cushion on the floor of her trailer. No complaints from her majesty on our ride today so she must have enjoyed her renovated digs. I also keep the pressure low on her trailer tires to give her a softer ride.

The folded and duct taped pad on the floor of her trailer. 

Seems pretty cushy back in her trailer.

The added padding allows the ole girl to sit a little higher and to more easily  look around.

Oh... the things we do for our critters.

Set Up for Summer

It's still spring but it feels like summer. Time to strip down for summer. Off with the panniers and fenders. I won't be needing the panniers to stuff layers of winter clothing as the day warms up...the weather is already comfortable in the morning and the sun is up early this time of year. The rain is history so I won't need the fenders to keep the rain soaked streets from getting me wet. Although I could have used them today when I ran over a packet of ketchup. Oh well... 

Picture from my ride today.

My winter rig.

Picture from earlier this year.

Tire Change

It was time to change out the old Schawlbe Marathon Racer for a new Schawlbe Marathon Plus Tour. The old tire had a little life left in it but the center of the tire was slick. When towing Betzi it would sometimes skip on hills. Even when it was new it didn't do well on dirt with a load. 

I replaced the old tire with the new 26 x 1.75 Tour by Schwalbe. It has the same protection offered by the Marathon Plus but with more grip for off road riding. Tire size is still limited. Hopefully it will be available in a  20" size soon so I can replace the front tires where all the braking is done.

There are some great dirt fire and service roads where I live. I want to start taking advantage of them.

The new Flat-less tire. A heavy-duty trekking tread for asphalt, or offroad allows this
versatile tire to always feel at home, whether in everyday use, or on long tours. The robust
structure is an effective damage defense that is twinned with SmartGuard, the most effective
puncture protection belt for bicycle tires.

Click here for the Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour

Old - Marathon Racer

New - Marathon Plus Tour

UPDATE 5/9/12

The new rear tire worked great today on a short section of dirt road dirt. No more spinning the wheel in the dirt...at least on a mild incline. It felt fine on the road but I'm not sure about changing the front tires yet.

Muscle Cramps and Me

This post expands on my previous post Leg Cramps. If you don't want to read this lengthily post then go to the bottom of this post for my conclusion.

I don't consider muscle cramps in my legs a big problem...just an occasional nuisance brought on by certain conditions. Isolating those conditions and acting upon them to minimize or prevent cramps altogether is my goal. As I have mentioned previously I have only had a full blown cramp a couple of times while riding my 700. I've felt cramps starting to rear their ugly head a number of times and I reacted fast enough by slowing down and stretching while still clipped in (an advantage of riding a trike).

I have no intention on explaining muscle cramps because I am no expert. There is much information available on the subject. I found the information presented on Medicine Net on Muscle Cramps to be the most inclusive and informative. I want to take the information available and relate it to my own situation and the adjustments I am making in my cycling, nutrition and general health. There is one adjustment I can't make...age. Age is a risk factor when it comes to muscle cramps so I'll leave that alone and move onto the variables I can adjust.

Sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium seem to be the main players that are talked about when it comes to muscle cramps. My recent blood work shows no deficiencies in this area. The only thing that stood out was my vitamin D was low (age appropriate). Vitamin D is needed to help make calcium available to our muscles. I started taking vitamin supplements but I don't feel that's the final answer to ending leg cramps.

Now what? Well...I'm starting to become more aware of a slightly uncomfortable feeling in my calf and hamstring muscles. They seem to be tight all the time, you might say "bunched up", while at the same time I feel strong and in excellent shape. In response I started amping up my stretching routine. Besides stretching before riding I now also stretch after riding and before going to bed. The stretching seems to have helped but something still seemed missing. Quite my accident I discovered that hiking once or twice a week sees to have a real positive impact on my "bunched up" leg muscles. I haven't really hiked since 2007 when my back started hurting.  Even with a successful back surgery in 2009 I hiked very little, instead I jumped full on into recumbent cycling. In the last few weeks I just felt the need to get into the hills. Hiking up steep trails puts a different stress on the legs. It strengthens and stretches the calf and hamstring  muscles as well as putting a different type of load on all the muscles in the leg. The uneven conditions on a trail also conditions the secondary leg muscles that are underused when cycling. I noticed after the first hike that my leg muscles felt looser...so I went on more hikes and will continue to hike and trike.  I guess this is what cross training is all about. Only time will tell what impact it has on muscle cramps.

CONCLUSION: Cross train...getting off the trike once and awhile and doing other sorts of physical activity seems to be the answer to better overall muscle conditioning. 

NOTE: As of March 2014 I have not had a leg cramp. I've been doing more hiking and a little weight lifting focusing on my hamstrings. If you see no update here then assume I'm still cramp free.

CycleOps

Back in August of 2010 when I bought a Bacchetta Giro (now sold) the gentlemen I bought it from gave me his CycleOps trainer at no extra cost. At the time I didn't realize what a deal I got. It was my plan to sell it right away to help pay for the Bacchetta but I held onto it and I'm glad I did. I use it whenever the weather is lousy or I'm recovering from repair to my body. Today was no exception...it was raining. 

The CycleOps goes on easy and is a great trainer. Excellent and smooth feel.

Not exactly the best view but I have tunes...so it's all good.

This is the temporary wired computer sensor I put on the rear wheel. It goes on in a few seconds with a little help from DiNotte lighting parts.

This thing is lousy for training. I only use it to put underneath the rear wheel when doing simple tuneups.