THE American River

There are two extremely nice advantages to the location of my office - 1) a mid-level racquet club & gym about 300 ft door to door and 2) the American River Bike Trail about a quarter mile from our parking lot. The American River Bike Trail offers a 31 mile (one-way) reprieve from auto-traffic which connects Discovery Park and Folsom Lake.
Having this picturesque trail so close allows me and some buddies the regular opportunity to squeeze in a "lunch ride."  Today I was rolling solo which gave me a chance to snap a few photos at my turnaround point about 20 miles from work.  There's a pretty good chance there will be more iPhone pics from this and similar routes along the trail.

Mile 20 - turnaround point at Sunrise Blvd.

Kids were out feeding the ducks... and the geese, and the seagulls, and the pigeons

After taking a closer look at the previous picture you'll see Salmon season is officially over

My view of the new cockpit at ride's end: now rocking the Garmin Edge 500 so I can track about everything on a ride

Saturday Davis Wheel Works Race Ride

For those of you that aren't avid cyclists and/or locals to the Davis/Sacramento Area - the Saturday, Davis Wheel Works Race Ride is one of the best "race-prep-workouts" around.  A 58 mile group ride with 2 marked sprints and 3 small climbs in-between, the group size can vary between 20-60 fine-tuned endurance athletes.  The group is diverse with a few continental pros, several local 2's and dozens of serious 3's, 4's and 5's trying to get ahead in their training.  Today's ride was a cold one with a 38 degree start and fog to add to the chill:

38 and fog feels about like 20

At base camp (Wheel Works), about to get whistled at by our ride captain Alan Rowland

Debut of my new Fizik Saddle with "versus" technology, helps save the boys on a long ride

I'm a huge believer in fatter/beefier tires for winter workouts - these 25mm wide Conti 4-Seasons do the trick nicely