Head for the Hills!!

What I am trying to communicate with this photo is what the Palo Alto hills look like at 6:45 AM. To the left you can see the sunrise as it breaks through the trees while straight ahead is the coast range upon which a bank of fog rests. This picture is notable for another important reason. To the right and just behind all this is the XEROX  PARC* facility where a lot of the computer miracles we take for granted today were born. It was here that the mouse was invented as well as the disk drive among other breakththroughs that have pawed the way for the new electronic world that we know today.

As for my ride, after I did this hill, it separates Foothill Expwy from Arastradero Road, I then pedaled over Deer Creek road.  A mere 6/10 of  a mile probably 3/4 of it was set at a 6 per cent grade. A small amount of work on the Eagle, it was nowhere near as hard as it had been on my regular HiWheel. And this bodes well because I will have to toughen up for   35 non stop miles of this kind of climbing on my way over the Sierras on Immigrant Pass.

I may have  only logged 12 miles today but most of it was hill work and I had it done in a little over an hour.  In terms of progress my arms are getting stronger while I am also learning the balance point that requires less use of them.

I came home to a stop I need also to practice. Instead of a pedal dismount where I use the pedals to come off the side of the bike, I lifted the bars and came off the back! I can only think this must look spectacular as the big front wheel raises high into the air.

WoW - Hopefully I can get some late afternoon hours in if I make enough progress on the Ines Brunn trick bike show fund raiser we are doing for this ride. I will let you know!!

THX 4 all of U!!  

* Palo Alto Research Center

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