Operation Tuscany by Bicycle Begins!

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.

                                                                                                                                  H.G. Wells

A little background here... I finished my Ph.D. last summer, and my graduation gift from Mimi was "Pick Your Paradise"!  After some consideration and research, discussion and recommendations from friends, we decided upon a cycling trip through Tuscany.  So, for the past 9 months or so, we've engaged in more or less training.

So, for this season of View from the Fit, we won’t be driving the Fit, but, we hope, we will be riding as The Fit ourselves!  The training begins!

Once we decided our Summer ’14 adventure was to be a cycling trip, we knew we’d better start training!  We got out our old (mountain) bikes, got them cleaned up and tuned up, and set out on our first ride.  As we got prepared to pedal off, we talked with our next-door neighbor, James, an avid cyclist.  We told him about our trip, and he cheered us off down the street.  Approximately 3 blocks later (I swear, I am not exaggerating this), we had to pull over and rest, acknowledging this was a horrible idea!  Unfortunately, we knew that James would still be in his yard, and we couldn’t face the humiliation of riding home approximately 10 minutes after we left. 

We plugged on, huffing and puffing and resting frequently, and made it a couple of miles before heading home.  We decided it must certainly be our bikes.  We do enjoy a little shopping, so had quite a time shopping for bikes and equipment and clothes.  The training began anew!

Christmas Eve, 2013.  Bolsa Chica, CA

Over the course of the past eight or nine months, we have kicked up the training for our ride in June. We've ridden the San Gabriel River Trail, the Santa Ana River Trail, the Pacific Electric Bike Trail, and mostly, the Bolsa Chica to Huntington Beach or Bonelli Park bike paths.  

We've gone from needing to rest 2 blocks from home, to doing the 16 mile round trip from Huntington to Newport, or the 10 mile loop around Bonelli/Puddingstone with relative ease (but encouraged by a stop for chips and cheese at Jake's on the Beach, or Norm's Cafe at the Brackett Field Airport).

The end of a windy beach ride!

This is too much fun to be called training!

On one of our recent rides around Puddingstone, we were hot and tired when we arrived at Norm's for breakfast.  We were extremely discouraged to realize neither of us had packed any money, so we rode back to the car, got the check card, and rode back to Norm's.  After this additional 4 mile jaunt, we arrived back at Norm's to find:

AHHHHHHH!