Your Exceptional Life » Cycling http://www.valeriecrowell.com Shining in the shadow of Mount Diablo Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:15:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 And the sun shines on the bay http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/06/02/and-the-sun-shines-on-the-bay/ http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/06/02/and-the-sun-shines-on-the-bay/#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:45:04 +0000 Valerie Crowell http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/06/02/and-the-sun-shines-on-the-bay/ Yesterday was a lucky day for me in the shadow of the mountain. I started the day with a ride OVER the mountain. I’d never done that before. It was a five hour bike ride door to door. It was also the hardest thing I’ve done in years. And I’m soo doing it again next week. The views are spectacular, the work out unmatched. It was a gorgeous day on the mountain, the wind was mild, and I’m still in awe of the whole day.

Last night I had dinner at Metro in Lafayette. It’s the second time I’ve been there. The first time they had a duck confit on the menu that was ridiculous. How ridiculous you may ask? When the guy came and asked about dessert we both said “can we have the duck for dessert?” That’s an amazing dish. Last night the duck wasn’t on the menu, but a Croque Monsieur was and so was a Bucatini with sausage. Both dishes were excellent. My friend Harry ordered the spicy fries and we spent a goodly amount of time figuring out the amazing spice concoction.  (We nailed it)  Service was very attentive, just like the last time. This place is a little jewel in a strip mall. The owner is a sommelier so the wine list is interesting and well priced. We had the Tempranillo by the glass and for the first time in a long time I could say that a by the glass wine was both good and well priced. Stop by, they bring a certain sophistication to their house that’s nice to see in Contra Costa County.

]]> http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/06/02/and-the-sun-shines-on-the-bay/feed/ 0 I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/04/03/i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-i-want-to-ride-my-bike/ http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/04/03/i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-i-want-to-ride-my-bike/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:59:25 +0000 Valerie Crowell http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/04/03/i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-i-want-to-ride-my-bike/ I watched a woman driving up Treat Blvd. last Monday night.  She was in the lane next to me, swerving all over the lane, not because she was drunk but because she was texting and driving.  This just came across my desktop and I’ll link to it here for all my cycling friends.  The weather’s nicer and there is more of us out there, let’s all take’er easy.  When a cyclist makes a mistake and gets hit by a car, the cyclist gets hurt.  When a motorist makes a mistake and hits a cyclist, the cyclist gets hurt.  Let’s have a Hill Street Blues moment….Be careful out there.

]]> http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/04/03/i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-i-want-to-ride-my-bike/feed/ 0 I’m running down the road trying to loosen my load http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/03/30/im-running-down-the-road-trying-to-loosen-my-load/ http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/03/30/im-running-down-the-road-trying-to-loosen-my-load/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:22:50 +0000 Valerie Crowell http://www.valeriecrowell.com/2008/03/30/im-running-down-the-road-trying-to-loosen-my-load/ Big props to the City of Concord for getting Clayton Road finished and open EARLY!  I noticed it right away driving up Ayers and I wasn’t sitting in traffic, then I thought “Hey, the signs are gone!”  Well done.

My latest favorite website to play with is Map My Run.   You plot out your course, in my case, I plot it from the house, and then off you go on a measured run.  You can keep track of the distance you cover and save your courses on the website.  It also works for cycling courses.  Although the big problem around here is the lack of bicycle lanes.  Ygnacio Valley is downright deadly for cyclists.  Concord Blvd ain’t much better.  I just bought the cycling coalitions map of East of the Hills where has all the bicycling lanes mapped out and also has the more dangerous roads pointed out.  Ygnacio Valley certainly falls in the latter category.

Looks like we’ve got some decent weather today, I’m going to run the dogs and work in the garden.

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