We rented a Nissan Altima Hybrid which was pretty cool because it had a push button ignition which was actually more handy than I thought it would be! The gas mileage didn't seem to be too much better than what we would have got from a regular Altima but I can't say for sure since I haven't driven one! The trunk was really small. But we did manage to get both of our Mountain Bikes in the car without using a rack!
We got to Chula Vista around 5:00 Saturday evening and decided that we would go see the 7:30 showing of Robin Hood. While we were waiting for the movie to start we decided to go ahead and bring the bikes in the hotel room we were staying at and get the bike ready for riding. My bike had a flat front tire that I hadn't fixed so I figured it would be better to get that taken care of right then rather than scramble around in the morning and try to get it fixed before the ride.
So I replaced the bad tube with a good one and started to pump it up. After about 10 minutes of trying to get the tire pumped up, I realized that the tube was bad. So we had a mad scramble to go find a sporting goods store that was open to get tubes. Since my bike only takes Presta valves my options were even more limited.
This is where I learned about the true magic of a smartphone.
I had never been to Chula Vista before in my life. So I obviously had no idea where to go to find bike tubes let alone where to find presta valve tubes! So I used my handy Droid Eris to look up some bike shops in the area (which were already closed) and a Sports Authority store that was about 5 minutes away. Complete with driving directions! So we went to the shopping center where the Sports Authority was located and saw that there was a Big 5 there also. We went in to Big 5 and discovered that their Cycling section consists of one little rack with about 5 inner tubes. Of course none of which had Presta valve stems. So we went over to Sports Authority and found the tubes with Presta valves! Saved the day!
The technical problems didn't end there. We were getting the bikes unloaded and ready to go when we discovered that the brakes on the bike that my brother was using weren't set up correctly. Now, the bike he is using is my old Marin hardtail. It has cantilever brakes which, in my opinion, have to be the least user-friendly brakes that you can have on a bike. So that means a lot of time wasted on adjusting, remounting, and having to pedal harder than you need to because they are rubbing on your rim. Anyway we wound up starting the ride about 20 minutes late and I'm sure we were the last ones to get on the ride.
The ride itself was fun! After about a 2 mile road ride to get to the trails around the lake we were in business. Now it is a ride and poker run so along the course there are stops where you draw a card to make the best 5 card hand possible. We were so late in getting started the people at the first card stop had left! Luckily one of the later card givers let us draw some extra cards to make up for the ones that we missed.
Oh, and another drawback to starting late is that you have to be careful of the riders who are already on their way back. The trail looped around in one section and you had to go back on the trail the way you came. It was quite a shock to be riding along on the trail and all of the sudden see 3 riders coming from the opposite direction!
It was overcast out so it wasn't too hot. Actually, it wasn't hot at all. It was probably about 65 degrees out. I took the picture above probably about 6 miles into the ride.
The trails themselves were nice. They were well maintained and clearly marked. They weren't too strenuous so the casual rider can ride them with ease. As a matter of fact, my brother, who hardly rides at all made it through the whole course! This is a guy who thought that the small wooden bridges that they put down to get over the watery areas were dangerous because he couldn't keep from going off the sides. When I explained to him that they were just as wide as the trail he was riding on, he tried to tell me that it was different because there was ground on either side. I told him: "Yeah, ground covered with trees!". There was one little creek that didn't have a bridge over it. My brother thought that it was the craziest thing in the world to try to ride through that. I rode across it and he opted to carry his bike.
We finished in just under 2 hours. Other than having to wait multiple times for my brother to catch up, the ride was pretty smooth. I almost qualified for a prize with the my poker hand too. I had a 10, Jack,Queen, and an Ace. I only needed a King on the last card to make a straight and I got a 9. Oh well. I don't even know what the prize was I could have won. We had some Rubio's on the way home and we got home safe and sound.
It was a good day!
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