So far, so good

Well, it's been about 3-weeks since I got my trike, and I've been using it to commute to work every day, and try to get in a long or tough ride on the weekends, too. I've been out to Kensington a few times (approx 26 mi round trip with some fairly steep/challenging hill-climbing work), plus a trip up to the Chabot Space & Science Center, which is a *very* challenging hill climb up Castle Dr. (a steep, winding residential street) which required a dozen rest stops along the way. I found I couldn't ride on leaves or sand while going up steeps hills, as the drive tire would slip. My trike dealer, Steve, suggested a wider set of tires for the tour, and this now seems like good advice. I was worried about a slightly painful knee condition I had before I began training on the new cycle, but it thankfully seems to have disappeared rather than get worse, as I feared it might. I hope it stays that way. I had my first "almost-got-run-over" incident, where a woman coming out of a parking lot, yabbering on her cell phone, had to jam on her brakes stopping inches away before she finally noticed me. I'm really going to have to keep a close watch out for these situations, and take nothing for granted. My leg muscles still get a bit stressed after the longer rides, but are slowly getting stronger. I didn't have to stop to let them recover from failure, as I did on my first out-and-return to Kensington, so there's some progress happening here, I think. -- Well, here's an odd twist to my schedule: my office at the University of California's Office of the President has decided to postpone layoff notifications until February, but instead of having to then wait 60 days to the actual layoff, they will *give* those being released that time to do job searching, while still getting paid(!) So, the actual layoff date will be in early May, which is when I would then retire. Instead of job searching, I would do the final preps for the trip, and take off as scheduled (I hope) sometime in late Feb/early Mar. That is an exceedingly generous plan by UCOP - I've never heard the like. Thank you, UC!

I'll be adding more photos and video to this blog, soon, so keep a weather eye out...