New Member, Old Cyclist from Sebastopol, CA
01-08-19, 08:20 PM
#1
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Location: Sebastopol, CA, USA
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New Member, Old Cyclist from Sebastopol, CA
Hi.
I've been riding bikes for many years. I used to ride quite a bit in my 30s, but then I got a job that basically kept me off my bike and in the office for 50-60 hours a week for 19 years. I was terribly out of shape and overweight by a whole lot and felt horrible. When arthritis took out my right knee, I quit after my total knee replacement. There I was, 60 years old, fat and lacking in all fitness.
I returned to riding my then-ancient Trek 5500 OCLV bike. But I was really, really bad at it. I could only do six flat miles before I was cooked. I heard that a friend of a friend was riding his bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles and I figured that that was what I needed, a big, hairy goal. If I worked at it, I figured that I could do that in 5-7 years.
Then, I found out that it was a ride for The Arthritis Foundation, the disease that took out my right knee (and a year later would take out my left knee, too), plagued my mother and crippled my grandmother.
So, I signed up for it, one year out, and then trained like a mad man, puting in more than 8,000 miles of training and successfully completed the 2016 California Coast Classic.
I did it again in 2017 and 2018 and will do it again this year!
Last year, my trusty Trek 5500 died partway down the Big Sur coast. The bottom bracket shell separated from the carbon bottom bracket. I had to finish the ride to Los Angeles on a loaner. (Thankfully, the CCC provides fantastic support.)
Trek came through with their lifetime warranty and gave me a huge discount on a their new Madone SLR.
I've also just added a new-to-me 2014 Specialized Langster fixed gear bike, that I will be using to help my training.
My California Coast Classic / Arthritis Foundation page is events.arthritis.org/participant/Oren
I've been riding bikes for many years. I used to ride quite a bit in my 30s, but then I got a job that basically kept me off my bike and in the office for 50-60 hours a week for 19 years. I was terribly out of shape and overweight by a whole lot and felt horrible. When arthritis took out my right knee, I quit after my total knee replacement. There I was, 60 years old, fat and lacking in all fitness.
I returned to riding my then-ancient Trek 5500 OCLV bike. But I was really, really bad at it. I could only do six flat miles before I was cooked. I heard that a friend of a friend was riding his bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles and I figured that that was what I needed, a big, hairy goal. If I worked at it, I figured that I could do that in 5-7 years.
Then, I found out that it was a ride for The Arthritis Foundation, the disease that took out my right knee (and a year later would take out my left knee, too), plagued my mother and crippled my grandmother.
So, I signed up for it, one year out, and then trained like a mad man, puting in more than 8,000 miles of training and successfully completed the 2016 California Coast Classic.
I did it again in 2017 and 2018 and will do it again this year!
Last year, my trusty Trek 5500 died partway down the Big Sur coast. The bottom bracket shell separated from the carbon bottom bracket. I had to finish the ride to Los Angeles on a loaner. (Thankfully, the CCC provides fantastic support.)
Trek came through with their lifetime warranty and gave me a huge discount on a their new Madone SLR.
I've also just added a new-to-me 2014 Specialized Langster fixed gear bike, that I will be using to help my training.
My California Coast Classic / Arthritis Foundation page is events.arthritis.org/participant/Oren
01-08-19, 08:45 PM
#2
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Hi, Welcome and thanks for sharing your inspirational story of your return to cycling!
01-09-19, 04:47 AM
#5
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Location: Seattle area
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Bikes: Bikes??? Thought this was social media?!?
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I did Santa Cruz to SLO twice. Great ride if wind, weather and the hwy traffic cooperate.
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Vintage, modern, e-road. It is a big cycling universe.
Vintage, modern, e-road. It is a big cycling universe.
01-09-19, 07:55 AM
#6
So it is
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Welcome to Bike Forums, OrenNoah! Great story, and keep it going!
01-09-19, 10:36 AM
#7
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Welcome! Nice intro.
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Keep the chain tight!
01-09-19, 10:42 AM
#8
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Welcome. I love the whole area around Sebastopol, Santa Rosa and Bodega Bay. How is the recovery coming along from the fires of 2017?
The photo below was taken outside Bodega Bay where the Pacific and North America tectonic plates run past each other forming the San Andreas Fault.
Beautiful area.
The photo below was taken outside Bodega Bay where the Pacific and North America tectonic plates run past each other forming the San Andreas Fault.
Beautiful area.
Last edited by eja_ bottecchia; 01-09-19 at 10:47 AM.
01-09-19, 11:35 PM
#10
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Sebastopol, CA, USA
Posts: 38
Bikes: 2019 Trek Madone SLR6; 2014 Specialized Langster
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Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone.
Eja Bottecchia: The recovery from last year's fire storm is SLOW. The neighborhoods that were destroyed remain ghostly empty. The rubble has all been trucked away, but only a few new houses are sprouting up. There is a severe shortage of insurance money, architects, contractors, construction workers, building supplies, etc. Imagine trying to build thousands of homes and businesses at once. It simply can't be done, even with lots of funding. It will take many, many years before the area fully recovers. Thanks for your concern.
Eja Bottecchia: The recovery from last year's fire storm is SLOW. The neighborhoods that were destroyed remain ghostly empty. The rubble has all been trucked away, but only a few new houses are sprouting up. There is a severe shortage of insurance money, architects, contractors, construction workers, building supplies, etc. Imagine trying to build thousands of homes and businesses at once. It simply can't be done, even with lots of funding. It will take many, many years before the area fully recovers. Thanks for your concern.
01-27-19, 10:22 PM
#12
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Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone.
Eja Bottecchia: The recovery from last year's fire storm is SLOW. The neighborhoods that were destroyed remain ghostly empty. The rubble has all been trucked away, but only a few new houses are sprouting up. There is a severe shortage of insurance money, architects, contractors, construction workers, building supplies, etc. Imagine trying to build thousands of homes and businesses at once. It simply can't be done, even with lots of funding. It will take many, many years before the area fully recovers. Thanks for your concern.
Eja Bottecchia: The recovery from last year's fire storm is SLOW. The neighborhoods that were destroyed remain ghostly empty. The rubble has all been trucked away, but only a few new houses are sprouting up. There is a severe shortage of insurance money, architects, contractors, construction workers, building supplies, etc. Imagine trying to build thousands of homes and businesses at once. It simply can't be done, even with lots of funding. It will take many, many years before the area fully recovers. Thanks for your concern.
We are experiencing a similar problem in So. Cal. following the Thomas Fire, the Montecito mudslides and last year the Woolsey Fire. The extent of the devastation is not nearly on a par with what you suffered in your area, but now anytime that we get even small amounts of rain, the mud starts moving. I rode on PCH today and you can see where the mud came down from the previous week rains.
What gets to me is all the imbeciles, from other parts of the country, taking pleasure on the recent devastation and blaming California politics on what happened. For God’s sake we are all Americans. I don’t jump up and down with joy when a hurricane blows through Florida. OK, I will get off my soap-box now.
I have been wanting to do the Arthritis ride, just can’t make the time—plus I am a lousy fund raiser.
Good luck to you and everyone else in the area.
The picture below is from downtown Santa Rosa, home of Charles Schulz.
01-31-19, 04:55 PM
#13
Still kicking.
Welcome to the forums.
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Appreciate the old bikes more than the new.
Appreciate the old bikes more than the new.
