Wildflower Century pre-ride ride on the 2004 Porsche Bike X

We arrived in Chico early enough for a little 13 mile pre-ride ride. I am in Chico for tomorrow's Wildflower Century ride and we always sneak in a little leg warm up prior. Today we rode from the rented house out to a stream-side trail and back. Nice little ride. Next we head over to the Chico fairgrounds to check in for the Sunday ride.

Heading to Chico ... soon

I loaded the 2004 Porsche Bike X and all my gear into the 2006 Cayenne S this morning for the trip to Chico, California for the first big ride of the year - the Wildflower Century. I just couldn't leave my bike outside while I stopped at the office for a few hours. It looks nice on carpet!

I meet four cycling friends tonight for pre-ride planning and beer. Then we all drive to Chico Saturday to get our rental house and the traditional pre-ride ride to the event check-in area for our wrist bands, maps, swag and, of course, more beer.

The weather for Sunday's ride is looking warm and breezy - which is Chico every day through spring and summer. But that's better than Truckee's cold and snow!

I'll update this blog several times this weekend with progress and photos on the ride and the beer.

Yellow is the new Guards Red

I plan to wear the yellow Niello Porsche custom bike jersey for this year's major cycling events. The first is this weekend's Wildflower Century ride in Chico, California. After the Wildflower, I'm riding the June event around Lake Tahoe and, of course, the July Death Ride which is the end-goal of this year's cycling focus. All with the super-bright yellow custom jersey.

Last year I mostly wore the red jersey with the exception of wearing the black (see photos below) for the 2016 Wildflower Century.

The red jersey was my theme color for last year since I was riding the Guards Red 1998 Porsche Bike S and supporting AMBUCS - which builds all of their bikes in the same red color.

This year I'm riding the all black 2004 Porsche Bike X. But instead of sticking with an all black theme, I'm gonna mix it up and wear the bright yellow cycling jersey.

Niello Porsche in Rocklin, CA graciously sponsored my riding and fundraising efforts by paying for these three custom designed jerseys. Niello Porsche is the best Porsche dealership I have ever come across. They have an amazing selection of cars and SUVs, great customer service as well as a large parts and service department.

Porsche enthusiasts supporting AMBUCS

The following two pages are from the latest Porsche Club of America Sierra Nevada Region newsletter. This is a story I wrote about how the SN Region of the PCA is supporting a Reno, Nevada based charitable organization that builds customized tricycles for developmentally challenged young people. These tricycles are guards red and are built individually for each child's specific needs. I am the PCA club's charitable lead and I am working with the AMBUS team to raise money for these tricycles. So far, SNR has provided $2,000 to the Reno AMBUCS for the purchase and assembly of two tricycles. The SNR club also plans to work side-by-side with AMBUCS staff to build a few trikes this summer. More details within the two pages below.

Porsche Bike X TTT

Today I rode the 2004 Porsche Bike X on the famous Truckee Tahoe Triangle bike loop. 

The TTT bike route stays on paved roads from my residence in Glenshire, through Truckee out over Brockway Summit on Highway 267 (just over 7,000 ft) to Kings Beach, along the beautiful Lake Tahoe to Tahoe City, then following the roaring Truckee River down Highway 89 back to Truckee and over to Glenshire.

The 47-mile route took me three and half hours under blue skies and cool and breezy conditions. The views of Lake Tahoe were spectacular and the Truckee River is flowing higher than I have ever seen it before. Lake Tahoe is full and water is dumping out into the river.

I stopped for a few photos and an energy bar in Tahoe City, but for the most part I just kept pedaling. The Bike X just cruised along, performing very well again. I did ride through some puddles, so I had to wash the bike when I was finished!

I originally planned to ride another 10 miles. But at the end of this ride, all the wind and hill climbing took it's toll. I opted to wrap up the ride at 47 miles instead of pushing too hard this early in the riding season. I do need to prepare for the Death Ride, but training smart is better than getting hurt early in the year.

After two tough rides in three days, I plan to rest most of this week with maybe a little easy garage spinning mid week. Then Friday I take the Porsche Bike X to Chico, California to ride in the Wildflower Century ride on Sunday. This will be my second Wildflower. Great organized ride. Looking forward to it again.

Spring is here!

  

60 degrees, sunny and a light breeze - the best riding weather in Truckee so far this year.

So, I jumped on the 2004 Porsche Bike X and rode from my Glenshire residence along the Truckee River on the awesome Legacy Trail, through Truckee to Donner Lake and then ascended the short but steep and windy Old Hwy 40 to Donner Summit.

I tried to push myself hard since I'm a little behind in my Death Ride training schedule. My legs are tired so I feel I did well.

Along the Legacy Trail an off lease dog chased me for a quarter mile. I used his barking to push me faster. He couldn't catch me and I wore him down. Now his owner has to find him. Teaches that lady a lesson.

The steep climb to the summit was hard, but fun with amazing views. Looking down from Donner Summit at Donner Lake is one of my top five favorite places.

The ride ended up at 31.5 miles and almost 4,000 feet of climbing. I burned 1,500 calories. Not a bad little 2 hour ride.

The Porsche Bike X performed perfectly. Fast on the flats and great on the steeps. I did worry a bit as the pot holes in the roads caused quite a lot of jarring on the carbon forks and aluminum frame. This bike does have some years on it. Hopefully it all holds together.

I'll likely use tomorrow as a yoga and rest day since I'm planning a 47 mile ride to Lake Tahoe and back Sunday.

Spring is coming....

...apparently starting tomorrow!

Cold and windy today turns into sunny and 50 degrees in Truckee tomorrow. So today I'm back in the garage.

Riding the Death Ride isn't easy. So to prepare I've downloaded a spinning class app for my iPad and set it on hill repeats. Hard workout, but necessary if I'm going to complete 129 miles over five Sierra passes in mid July.

Train on!

Round up of my PCA articles

Here's a list of the stories I've written for the Porsche Club of America. All of these ran on the national PCA website as well as featured on the weekly PCA eBrake News newsletter:

The Porsche bicycle missing link?

It’s not just the cars — it’s the people (and the bikes!)

Needle in a haystack: A Porsche collector’s dream come true

20 years of Porsche bicycle development

The Magnus Walker of Porsche bicycles?

54-mile ride: world record on a Porsche bicycle?

Porsche engines floating in color

Another Porsche bicycle hill repeat ride

My training for the July 129-mile/5 mountain pass Death Ride includes a lot of hill climbing.

One of these training rides includes hill repeats on the road outside my home near Truckee, CA at nearly 6,000 ft elevation. The short half mile road is very steep. So I grind up the hill and then fly down. Over and over.

The first time I rode this 10-mile training ride I used the 2004 Porsche Bike X - the same road bike I'll be riding in the Death Ride. But for today's training I decided to use the 1998 Porsche Bike S mountain bike. I thought I'd make it harder on myself by riding the heavier bike with less gears and fatter tires.

But to my pleasant surprise, I completed the 10-mile routine in about the same time. My legs must be getting stronger.

Latest story on PCA.org

My latest story was just posted on the Porsche Club of America's national website. The article is about my obsession collecting Porsche racing, sport and sport utility vehicles.

Here's the link

Porsche and Adidas

Porsche and Adidas are not only both German companies with international reach, they are official corporate partners. If you look closely, you'll see the connection quite frequently. On Porsche race cars and on Adidas shoes, Porsche and Adidas go hand-in-hand.

Like the last several years, both the new for 2017 Porsche 919 LMP1 and 911 RSR World Endurance Championship race cars have Adidas logos prominently on the rear wings.

And Adidas manufactures an entire line of Porsche Design footwear and athletic clothes. Like the race cars, the Porsche and Adidas logos are side-by-side on shirts, jackets, shorts, pants and shoes.

To honor this Porsche/Adidas business partnership and ongoing company relationship, I've been wearing Adidas sportswear for my cycling adventures. I have Adidas shoes, socks, shirts, tights and sunglasses. Beyond the road and mountain biking I also have Adidas running and casual shoes and shirts and jackets. A whole lot of Adidas.

To cap off the Adidas and Porsche bike connection, I've been using the Adidas GPS app on my iPhone to track all my cycling miles. The screen shots from all my rides on this blog are from that Adidas "Train & Run" app.

3,000 miles

Today I reached the 3,000 mile mark riding Porsche bicycles. I started this journey back in November 2015.

Windy Reno Porsche Bike S ride

I had a few hours free before tonight's PCA Sierra Nevada Region board meeting so I launched a windy bike ride from the Porsche of Reno dealership where we meet.

The strong headwind made riding out tough, but very good Death Ride training for sure.

The ride back though was super easy. The tailwind blew me back. The wind was so strong I almost didn't need to pedal!

I only got 18 miles in. But it was a hard 9 miles and provided a good workout.

Porsche overload

My office desk has a little too much Porsche going on. Or is there such a thing...

Porsche Bike S urban assault ride

This morning I threw the 1998 Porsche Bike S in the back of the 2006 Cayenne S and drove the 30 miles to Reno, Nevada. My training plan showed I needed a 30 mile ride today. I thought Reno would be a little warmer and the forecast said little wind.

The weather turned out awesome, but the strong recent storms caused all kinds of road and trail damage. I had to scrap my planned starting point due to a road closure.

To get my 30 miles I rode from downtown Reno as far west as possible and then back through Reno to the far east end and back to the Cayenne parked under a bridge in downtown Reno. The bridge's colorful graffiti made a cool photo backdrop.

I couldn't maintain a fast pace since the roads and trails were full of potholes, other bikers, walkers, strollers and homeless people. But I did get some great seat time and had fun swerving around all the obstacles. The Bike S is amazing in these conditions.