1975 Schwinn Continental

1975 Schwinn Continental
This is the bike before most of the restoration work - click to view full-size

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Sprinkling And Sixty Degrees In So-Cal

I just got back from a 4 5-mile ride in So-Cal's Inland Empire region, Temecula.

Saren & I moved to Temecula in January of 2015. This past Friday was my first ride since the Summer of 2014. Today was my fifth ride here.

Temecula is high desert, and wine country. There are about 160 wineries nearby, starting about four miles from our front door.

Temecula is also surrounded by the Santa Ana mountain range. There are serious hills here. (Any rider of 1970's-era Schwinn 10-speeds knows that first gear is more like 5th on a hill.)

I feel very much like it's early Spring in the late 1970's in Madison, Wisconsin this week. I was in high school in Madison back then, and we lived on a long, tall hill, way at the top. (Peak of Troy Drive)

All of us kids LIVED for the Summer, when we could ditch the schools, the coats, and the bus, and get on our bikes. I had a mint-condition green 1975 Schwinn Varsity at the time, and I loved that bike. It was stolen in the Summer of 1977, but I never have nor will forget it. (Curse you, Red Baron!)

Now I have the bike I couldn't afford when I bought the Varsity with my paper route money. I am also making it a little further up these hills before I have take a break with each passing day...

Ride on,

Dan