I just returned from my first real ride since returning to cycling after a three month lapse. Here's some lessons I learned.

1. It's not a good idea to "ease back into things" by going out and doing a 38 mile offroad (albiet gravel fireroad) ride that involves 4000 feet of constant climbing.
2. The Selle Italia Flite is a wonderful saddle and I love it dearly but when you've been off the bike for a while, your butt has "lost that loving feeling" and spending hours on a narrow saddle bouncing over rocks is no better than going out to the construction site and sitting on the business end of an operating jackhammer.
3. After getting used to being the one who's able to ride away from your pack of friends on the hills, once the table gets turned, you better get used to that bitter taste of humble pie.
4. If your goal is to ride through the tunnel at the pass, better check the schedule to see that it's actually open during the winter so you don't have to lug that friggin 2 lbs. light setup for nothing.
5. No matter how much you're suffering, the beauty of nature and the outdoors never gets lost.
6. It's a good feeling to be riding again.
7. It's easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.

On the plus side, I got a real nice picture of one of the many waterfalls alongside the trail. :)

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/J...0003.sized.jpg

glad to hear you're back into biking. That pic is beautiful, you take that with that little digi you carry w/ you?

Yep. The camera is only a 2MP camera but I've learned a few tricks to make the most of it. For one thing, I do as much as I can with turning off the flash and use self-timer along with something such as a rock or wall to steady the camera. OTOH, my on-the-fly shots which I take while on the move are usually done by setting the camera on continuous advance and firing off as many shots as possible. Then I go back in later and pick the one that looks best.

I also have found the sitting the cam still and allowing the exposure time to go crazy works much better, but that requires you to stop n stuff. LoL.

Unfortunately, I don't have too much direct control over the exposure time but I can trick the camera into doing some things by turning off the flash, setting night/cloudy mode, etc. And yeah, I hate to stop too so a lot of times I'm doubling back because I'll pass something, think "is it really worth it to stop and take that picture?, decide that it is and have to turn around. :)

I've found that setting it in night mode and setting the camera still increases the exposure time, allowing a better picture.

Yep. That works for me. I took this picture (inside Notre Dame Cathedral) with the same camera by setting night mode, turning off the flash, using self-timer and placing it on a little mini-tripod I carry around. This was especially important because they forbade flash photography even though a bunch of inconsiderate idiots were using their flash.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/2...0002.sized.jpg

send me that full pic if you can...that's sweet. as far as idiots there are a ton of em!

Ahh you shot one for the Gipper :D

Try this:

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/gallery/...ict0002?full=1

Just right click on the picture and select Save Image or something like that.

Here's a direct link to the full picture.

Welcome back Khoun, I didn't know you were officially out but I knew you must have slowed down, you used to talk a lot more about trails before.

Oh and..I love the pnw, shots like that just put excitement into me :)

It wasn't by choice... well... not by preference anyways. I just got hit with a lot of business travel which kept me off the bike for a while.


We honestly expected to see some snow still. We did see a little though but it looks like a lot has melted even at 4,000 feet elevation.