Climbfest is Back

One of my dearest friends, Karen, is the originator of the Climbfest, but she was in an accident recently.  This weekend is the first Climbfest since her recovery.  As always, she attracts a big crowd on these rides.

Her favorite climb is GMR to Baldy Village, and round-trip, it’s a respectable 50 mile, 6000 ft climb ride (come to think of it, it’s one of my favorite rides).

As usual, the ride started out with overcast skies.  That’s OK, it was keep the temperatures down, so that it won’t be scorching hot.

I like when it’s overcast, especially when climbing over the clouds.  Makes for some awesome pictures, that makes amateur photographers like me seem artistic.

We regrouped at the shack just before GMR-GRR junction (or at least some of us did).  Met up with Rick, who is recovering from his own crash, suffered on a mountain bike ride.  It was good to see him out there.

Terri is recovering from her own back issues.  She’s back to riding again too.  She’s a strong rider, with 97 double centuries under her belt.  Jeez, what is with everyone going down this year?

After seeing all my friends, and seeing the difficulties we have this year, I don’t feel so bad for my lack of fitness this year.  I made it to the village being in the middle of the pack (not the last, not the first). 

The views, as always are great.  You would never think these views are in Southern California.  Who says are in LA is so bad you can’t breathe?

On the way back, I remember seeing a road sign warning of reckless driving.  Uh, yeah, shouldn’t this be the rule for every road?  I thought this was funny.

Where’s the sign about don’t drink and drive, or no smoking?

Anyhow, hopes everyone has a safe Memorial Day.  Be safe out there.

Bike to Work Day in the Bay Area

May is national bike month, and today, May 12th, is Bike to Work Day (in the Bay Area at least).  It’s always exciting to participate in Bike to Work Day.  The volunteers at the Energizer Stations are so energetic, and excited (I don’t know how they get all that energy at 6 am).

So if you are wondering why there are so many bikes on the road today … well this is why.  I kinda wish we had a bike day of the month … that way, this excitement will come not just once a year, but 12 times a year.

I was able to stop by 4 Energizer Stations.

Kaiser Energizer Station at Homestead/Lawrence

Energizer Station off of San Tomas Aquino MUT at Agnew

Energizer Station at the end of bike trail by Baylands Park

Energizer Station at Yahoo

What type of schwag did we get?

Bright florescent green vest
Rear blinkie
Usual advertisements
Clif bar

BTWD Goodies Bag

For the ride, I got 1.5 bananas, half a zucchini bread slice, granola rice Krispies, mini cup of trail mix … That’s a healthy breakfast.

Grass is always greener on the other side

The title of this blog could apply to anything … but in this case, it applies to Cable TV/Internet.  In the Bay Area, the Cable provider is Comcast.  Yes, we all like to punch Comcast in the gut, complain about how bad their customer service is … and I am one of those … but man, I found something even worse.

I went to visit dad in LA, and in LA, the cable provider is Charter Communications … yeah, the same one who just got FCC approval to buy and take over Time Warner Communications.  Well, when I arrived, I found out Cable TV service is out … not only that, but Internet is also down.  Their phone is also down (but we don’t have that service, so at least we didn’t have to worry about that).

I went to their web site, to see if I can find any outage information.  Oy vey … You can’t even get support for a network problem.  How did I find outage information?  Not on the http://www.charter.net web site … no, I had to go to http://downdetector.com/status/charter-communications.  No, it’s not a Charter web site … at least with Comcast, they have a section on their web site, where you could check for status of the connection, and determine if there is an outage … but with Charter, you had to check through third party sites.

They didn’t even publish a phone number to report a problem.  I had to find the local Charter office, then call a 888 number … not a local number, but a 888 number, where I was able to get to support.  Then, they said they detected a service outage in my area.  However, they don’t allow me to speak to a live person.  Eventually, after about 3 subsequent calls, I found there was a fiber cut, which was affecting multiple areas … constituting most of San Gabriel Valley area.

So go ahead, complain if you want to about Comcast, but be careful what you ask for.  With this small sampling, Comcast is not that bad .. Charter … oof.  I wonder how Customer Service is with Cox, or Centurylink.  Why do cable providers strive to have bad customer service?

What … It’s May Already???

Wow, the month of April really flew passed me.  It is already May?  I remember being all excited about April, with the 30daysofbiking … but then I had some family obligations (dad having knee surgery, having to sell his condo).  Family obligations took a lot of my time away … plus, having to work on call many weekends, it didn’t give me much time to ride.  With all this, this must have been the lowest mileage I’ve ever recorded on Strava.  Only 394 miles.  Good thing I didn’t sign up for any Strava challenges.

I am in the middle of a 4 weekend layoff from biking on the weekend.  It started with a trip to LA, two consecutive on call weekends, then another visit to LA.  On my visit to LA, I don’t really have anywhere to store my bike, so bringing it with me is out of the question.  Plus, my time while down there is very busy, with no time for biking.

Here’s to a more productive month of May … I’ll be happy if I can get over 500 miles in May.  Who knows what endurance shape I’m in too.