Cycling is becoming so much fun! Good thing, because I just wrote an article about the importance of “Making Exercise Fun” at http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/20667/making-exercise-fun/

Again today, as I have every day since getting my new bike, I went out for a ride. And each day the ride has been a little longer.
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One of the greatest photographers, Ansel Adams, was born 106 years ago today. This is one of his greatest photographs:

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Every time when I do something new I get anxious. Riding my new bicycle today was no exception, even though I’ve ridden one for most of my life up to about 25 years ago.

When I got home with my new bike last night, it was after dark and I had lots of other things to do, so I didn’t ride it yesterday. But I took it all around the Tantra Lake complex just now.

I was afraid that I would forget how to ride a bike and fall down immediately. I even wore an old shirt in case I fell. However, I realize just now that I forgot to wear my helmut. Fortunately, my shirt and my head are still intact.
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The Rocky Mountains were warmer today than Southern California was last Thursday when I hiked Icehouse Canyon in the Mt. Baldy area. Of course, I was dressed with all my winter clothes today, which I didn’t have room to take on the flight to California. Only my nose was cold today.

The weather was glorious. Bright sun reflected on the snow made it even brighter. The temperature reached a high of 42 degrees today at Ward, the town about 1,000 feet below where I went today, Brainard Lake at 10,300 feet. The sky was clear all day.

I have been waiting all year for a day like this. While I had tried out my snowshoes after snowstorms in Boulder, this was my first decent hike with them.
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After 11 cramped hours on the roads and in the sky yesterday, I had to get out for exercise today. Fortunately, my friend Barry Erdman contacted me by email yesterday and we arranged to go hiking together today. Barry is newly diagnosed with type 1 and is extremely conscientious about controlling it.

Along the trail, Barry suggested that my next book could be about Hiking with Diabetes. I really like that idea and plan to pitch it to my regular publisher.

But I already have my next book lined up. I just heard from Jack Hailman that he wants me to take over updating the book that he and his wife Elizabeth wrote, Hiking Circuits in Rocky Mountain National Park.
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I just got back home after 11 hours of traveling from Ontario.

I hated to leave my family. And it was hard to leave the perfect weather there. This morning was especially beautiful. The San Gabriel Mountains (Old Baldy at the left, the highest peak in this mountain
range at just over 10,000, and Cucamonga Peak on the right) are the most prominent in this picture that I took from Ontario airport:
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Now I know why they call it Icehouse Canyon. It’s icy.

I drove just 18 miles from the Motel 6 in usually sunny Southern California to the canyon’s trailhead at 5,000 feet, where it was 33 degrees and overcast in a fierce wind. Almost every foot of the trail was slick ice.

Fortunately, I had taken my Yaktrax, which they gave me all the stability I needed on the ice. I also put on my parka, which I was carrying because it was raining lightly when I set out. The parka provided all the head-covering gear I had, since I hadn’t brought my headsock from Colorado in order to save space in my overcrowded suitcase.
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After far too many years away, I came back to my family today. My only family.

My sister Liz, her husband George, their three daughters, Kathy, Julie, and Linda, and my nieces and their children are all the family I have. The all live in Ontario and Chino and Santa Ana, California. I was able to break bread with 11 of my family today — at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The day started for me when I went a couple of miles from the Motel 6 where in I am staying in Chino to Liz and George’s home. From there, Liz and I went to a delightful restaurant in Upland, where we met Julie and Kathy and Kathy’s oldest son (and tallest) son, Matt. At 6′5″ he’s the only member of the family taller than me.
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Here is a wonderful postscript to yesterday’s hike in a message I just got from Diane:

“Thank you so much for you and Barry’s kindness in hiking all the way back up to the Mesa and then even bringing the dogtrac to my door! You both generated yourselves a lot of positive karma yesterday!

“I want to tell you that having the dogtrac back and on Maggie today may have saved her life, if not saved her from serious injury.

“There was a very large coyote at the end of our run today, and Maggie took off full speed after it. She refused to come when called. The coyote was leading her off into the woods. I had to turn the control way up and put it on constant to get her attention.

“She did a u-turn and quickly returned to me. The coyote sat down and watched her return and then slowing walked into the woods.
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My new friend Barry Erdman and I hiked Shanahan Trail up to the Mesa Trail this morning — twice.

While Barry and I had talked on the phone several times before today, this was the first time that we had met in person. Diabetes was what brought us together. He was diagnosed around Thanksgiving and immediately took charge of controlling it (most people go into denial at first).

Barry is a licensed clinical social worker with a psychotherapy practice for adults, couples, and families here in Boulder. We have a lot in common besides diabetes and our love of hiking. We even know many of the same people, including my good friend Norm Lowery, who is also a therapist here.
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