Another ride, another project......

7:10 am - Real Saturday - February 1st - Riverside, CA - 43° F, 62% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear, blue skies this morning with a forecast high today of 80° F.

I love living in Riverside, if even only for a week and a half.  The opportunities for exercise are abundant.  Here at the Elks Lodge I am just a mile from the SART*, and about the same for the Mt. Rubidoux trailhead.  Since we arrived in Riverside I have already taken my first 20 mile bike ride in over a year, and Friday I set out to do another long ride.  I once again headed west on Jurupa (pronounced Harupa) to Palm, and then north to the SART.  Within minutes I was cruising northward toward San Bernardino.  I had already pre-determined I was not going to ride 20 miles again, but set a modest goal of 10 miles round trip.  About 5 miles into my journey, the turn around point if I was to do just 10 miles, I decided to go another 2.5 before turning to get in at least 15.  Just about that time I glanced to my right into a yard by which I have been riding for years where vintage motorhomes are stored, and what do I see.......

.....an early 80's Newell Classic, probably circa '83, or '84 sitting next to a Blue Bird Wanderlodge, also probably early 80's......what are the odds?  Pretty low since Newell only turns out around 25-30 units a year.  Very unexpected, and very cool.

I ended up doing just over 17 miles in total.....just about right......

 Still smiling after 17.2 miles

......in my first ride on Monday I averaged 11.9 miles per hour, but on Friday I hit an average of 13.6 mph for the 17.2 miles I covered, and incinerated some 1,023 caloric units in just one hour and 15 minutes of riding.....

.....last Sunday I ordered a 500 watt E-bike for TLE off eBay.  It has both pedal assist, as well as full on electric power with no pedaling.  It will come in very handy this summer in Alaska for short commutes into local towns, sightseeing jaunts, etc.....

.....originally the seller promised delivery by Monday, February 3rd, however, UPS got it to Rancho Cucamonga Friday afternoon.  We headed into my son's office around 1 pm to be there when it arrived, so I could unpack and assemble it before taking it home.  It arrived just after 3:30 pm, and I had it together in about 30 minutes.  It's a good looking entry level, full suspension, FOLDING E-bike with mechanical disc brakes. I'll spend a good part of Real Saturday tuning it up, and transferring some components from TLE's Cannondale F-600 (saddle, hydraulic brakes, etc.).

Another project I have been meaning to take care of while we are here in Riverside was to freshen up the black paint on our American Trailer tongue.  I spent some time applying masking tape to things I did not want paint to cover, and then sprayed on the new layer of Rustoleum gloss black......

......I let the paint dry while we were at my son's office, and removed the masking tape on our return.....it turned out pretty well......looks like somebody cares, right?

We have another grand child birthday Saturday afternoon for Brayden James (Sharon's son) who has just turned 4 years of age.  He is such an amazing little guy.  We have Superbowl 51 Sunday, and then Monday we head out of town to Borrego Springs for a month!

Thanks for stopping by!

*SART = Santa Ana River Trail

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