OK kids, add it to your schedule, let's meet July 10th 2010, 6am at the Marina Safeway in San Francisco for the third run of La Ruta Loca Randonnee (LRLR) a 200k ride off Mixed Terrain following brevet format (timed controls and 13.5 hrs to finish) with about 15000K elevation. Sounds crazy? Well that is part of the name...

La Ruta Loca Randonnee (The original NorCal 200k Mixed Terrain self flagellation ordeal) was first run July 19 2008, you can read about that experience here. and the 2009 edition here. This page feeds from a google calendar and shows only future events. 

These are proposed dates for Mixed Terrain rides (paved/

If you know me you know I like espresso and cognac (brandy when I am cheap) and sometimes I combine them in different ways. I also combine coffee and cycling quite a bit.

Well the other day while searching one of them bartending apps on the phone I found the regular jello shots the wife loved so much when we first meet.
Now you see where I am going with this right?

I have had caffeine mints on some on the longer randonneuring events to help me stay alert at night but the pills are not the same as the real thing. Coffee has that bitter taste that I like.

What if I make some easy to carry jello coffee shots? Hey even better coffee/brandy jello shots! (those are not to be used when riding)

Here's the recipe for Carlos' Coffee Jello shots:

2 envelopes of unflavored gelatine
1¼ cups of espresso
¾ cup of brandy
3 tablespoons of brown sugar

Add all of them to a bowl and boil for a minute. Pour in an ice tray. Wait until the gelatine is ready and then enjoy.
Don't want them with brandy? just replace the brandy with more espresso

Now don't go riding after eating the "brandy enhanced" jello shots. But the plain coffee jello shots should be easy to carry in a ziplock bag or even inside a water bottle.
Gotta try then on the bike, at home they taste great...

I keep my tubes in the bike for a while but when they get about 4 to 5 patches I retire them, but still keep em' just in case I need one and don't have a brand spanking new to use. There are times however when the tube is not worth repairing or the damage is not repairable (like a valve failure) I also keep some of those dead ones and give them a second life as rubber bands gaskets and other things. I use the same 1.5-1.9" x 26" tubes on all my wheels, from the 1.3" slicks on the commute-randonneuring wheels to the mixed terrain 1.5" hybrid tires I favor for off road ridding. This tube size has proven to be very useful when recycling them into new objects. My recent creations a cover for the iPhone and a wrap for battery holders I use on the Dinnote 200L light.

The iBTube ©®™... When I first got an iPhone as replacement for my aged Palm phone I found the silicone covers or the phone they sell in stores here, were ~$20! are you crazy?...

• Post a travel report, by an anonymous contributor, to a forbidden island in the Caribbean.

Summer ridding is canceled. At least most real long rides for now. I've have not been able to do a decent ride in months. I get this dull pain in the upper left leg area that tells me I need to slow down or stop all together. Dr. prescribed an anti-inflammatory that I took for two weeks, that did not help much, then I had x-rays and then an MRI. The verdict, it seems there is some small damage that a cortisone injection right in the joint between cartilage and bone should fix, not sure about that.

A big deal for me, not because of the actual injection but more because of the potential to have a problem that can cut my recreational riding "career" short.

What would you do if you could not do the type of riding you enjoy anymore? What about life without epic rides, brevets and touring anymore? I mean I've been doing these very low intensity/