It never rains in California...

I had hoped to ride Pedaling Paths to Independence in Linden on Saturday, but the crappy weather reports, which included rain and possible snow, kept me at home.  I'm more than a little disappointed that I didn't go; the metric would have been a good training ride and the weather reports later in the day implied that the ride would have been do-able.  Next weekend I'm signed up for the Kings River Blossom Ride metric, which should help prep me for the Solvang Century (which will probably be the Solvang Metric for me) the following weekend, because I've been a slacker of sorts recently. 

This weekend, I rode just once, a 40-mile spin from Woodward Park in Fresno up toward Prather.  Not too climb-y, but a bit windy, which was hard on my knees.  The cold (it was 36 degrees when I started the ride) resulted in a runny nose that was a bit of a pain, but it was a sunny day and the ride was pretty and a good one, if also fairly tame.

Last weekend, I rode from Exeter up Yokohl Valley Road, which is a very popular route with local cyclists.  I set a personal best for distance and climbing for this route, making 40 miles and over 2000' of climbing.  I was set to go farther, but it started to rain and I turned around at the old fire station at Milo.  Recent rains had made the road conditions a bit dicey, with lots of dirt/clay washing across the road, so discretion was certainly in order.  Here's a couple shots of what the road looks like.