Sunshine Returns

The sunshine came back to visit us today and what an awesome day it was. Used almost every bit of the daylight to do something outside because the weather was perfect as was the temperature, slight breeze and no wind, zero precipitation as well, finally!

The funny part is that it's actually really difficult to say that no rain was nice because we need the rain so desperately with Lake Tahoe being so low and most of California being in a severe drought situation. We've been doing all that we can do to help. Shorter showers, not letting the water run for too long brushing our teeth and stuff.

Making sure the laundry is nice and full before doing a load, same with the dishwasher. The irrigation system is also cut back to 20 or 25% less than it normally would be. Last year I did the same though it was only a 5 or 10% reduction to sorta get used to it and see how the lawn reacted.

Overall it did not react that bad and so long as I kept the grass a little longer than usual it helped to hold in the moisture in and the grass green as it could be. Only in the extreme heat of summer did we really have any brown areas start to show up and those I would simply hand water a little extra.

Cycling

Today was an awesome day for cycling. If the wind would have been just a little bit calmer it would have been that much better. Granted it was only a small breeze today compared to most days lately when I am out. Once summer is in full effect and the days are dry and hot I will be wishing for a breeze, even if it's a nasty dry wind in my face.

Anyway, I was able to do a great ride and it felt awesome. I headed way out to the north valleys as I've wanted to for quite some time now. I finally found a route by going up various streets and roads that allows me to get there without taking this one climb that is a little dangerous in my eyes and I do my best to avoid it.

The climb itself is actually a really good one and I'd like to do it, unfortunately there is no bike lane and almost no border at all either. At best there is the width of the white line plus a few inches up to zero inches in areas. This makes it really stressful and does not allow you to stand up and pedal either which I don't do much anyhow when climbing but at times it's nice to have the option to get out of the saddle for a few minutes, stretch the legs, use a few other muscles and then plop back down.

So yeah, I'm happy that I found this route and that it worked out for me as good as it did. All said and done I managed just over 51 miles today which is a good day in my book. I would have loved to have pushed it to a 100k, though I will usually only do those once a month. Similar to my century rides (100 miles) I normally only do that once a year because they really kick my ass to complete. So yep, great day on the bike!

Hiking Backpack Carrier

The backpack carrier that I picked up yesterday at REI was finally put to the test today. Cicely, Zoey, Oggy and I headed out to the Pah Rah mountain range area this evening and went for a 1.2 mile hike. Just long enough to see how the pack felt compared to testing it out in the store. It felt really good and I think Zoey was nice and comfortable in it as well which is just as important.

My back was already sore today so I was not sure how good of a time I would have with a 24 pound kid on my back, plus the weight of the pack which I think is another 6 pounds or something, I'd have to look again. Anyway it felt just fine and she seemed good as well.

If I had some things in the pack like snacks, water and related it would obviously be even heavier although I still think it does a really good job of distributing the weight on my entire back, shoulders and my waist. The only thing I would like to have is somewhere to put my hands. I think that if I had a hiking pole it may help, otherwise I just tucked my hands into the shoulder straps and it worked out pretty good for the hour we were hiking tonight.

Successful test, the pack worked wonderfully and I think we are ready to try it on a little longer trail, although something just as mellow would be nice until I can get used to having her back there and build up the stamina.

That's It

With that I'm going to end this entry for today. As I type this we have been driving over to the south side of Reno and back. We decided to get chicken for dinner at this place called Raising Canes. They have really awesome chicken fingers that are breaded just right and always the best breast meat.`

For me, that will be it for today. As we pull into the driveway and get ready to unload everything, I for one am ready to have some dinner and kick back for a few hours before bed. It's supposed to be thunderstorms tomorrow so we will see, I hope not!

Photo: Photo of my rear-mech that I messed around with while having a post ride Dr Pepper and relaxing for a few minutes. Not really any good effects to add to a shot like this surprisingly.