day 3 and 4

We slept in until noon. After we woke up, did some housecleaning and typed up our first blog. Late in the afternoon we went outside on our bikes without the heavy gear (yay!) and rode around Marie's neighborhood. The first bicycle shop Marie took Marshall to was College Cyclery. They specialized in vintage bikes. Vintage bikes and parts were hanging up everywhere. The boys chatted it up with us and were really chill. Mike gave us two sets of patch kits. we went on to two more shops, hoping to find a good deal on a rack. the third bike shop we cycled to was closed. Al cruised up, expecting the bike kitchen be open too. We striked up a good conversation with Al. We talked about the current, arguable conditions. The thoughts on the World Bank were dropped and Al enlighten us about the Cochabamba protests of 2000. Two more guys, Joe and Kevin showed up at the bike kitchen, both in the predicament of having flat tires. Joe had some tools and Marshall fixed up Kevin's flat and assisted Joe by installing his tire. The quasi-bike kitchen was a success; good company and great conversations. There was a park festival nearby that Kevin was aware of. Al headed home as the rest of us bikes over to the park, where there was music, food, and beer. Unfortunately Joe's tire flatten and he stayed behind. we stood outside of the park entrance, as Marshall and Kevin talked on. Marie encountered Vance, a friend from highschool. We headed home, and enjoyed a late dinner of salad that Marie's mom made.

Next morning was pleasant, the sun was finally shining in Sacramento, after a spell of cloudy, humid weather. Ted, Marie's dad pulled out the bench grinder and we sharpened the hatchet while Marie and Erlinda cooked. After breakfast and (first) lunch we biked to Whit

worth cycle that was featuring a road maintenance clinic. We just arrived in time to catch

Micheal's discourse on training. Micheal is a personal cycling instructor and affiliated with the Davis Bike Club. He addressed training for comp etitive cyling as well as long distance tips, for us. The information was so helpful. Micheal took time after the session to give detailed direction for using an alternative route to Tahoe. He strongly advise us to use the safer route, 88, since Tahoe has some closed roads due to about 5 feet of snow existing.

We picked up our bikes and few blocks over to the rode a Bike Kitchen, today it was definitely open. Cruising through the midtown grid in a neighboorhood of charming old Victorians, we came upon a yardsale selling homemade kombucha. It was a fundraiser going towards renting a studio for the Yoga Seed Collective, a donation based yoga group. We met Zack who was serving up his divine and refreshing, homemade blueberry kombucha. We gave him our donation, and donated some ideas, sharing our bay area network connections with him. We told him to look up Adaptogen in SF, hopefully can serve as a framework for the 916 collective. Also we told him to check out isratrance.com and clued him in on psychedelic trance and the like. Hopefully this opened some new doors for their collective.

We moved on and arrived at the Bike Kitchen. Tucked away in an alley, the vine-covered garage was open, with people buzzing about. Marshall got some assistance, a volunteer picked out a $5 rack that with a little grinding on the bench grinder would be perfect for the bike frame. We're going back on Tuesday to use the bench grinder when we have a little more time. Marie was snapping away with the camera. The volunteers were super friendly- good vibes. Three guys rolled up, one with a flat. The guy was able to catch 5 minutes before the shop officially closed

down. Marie talked with Randy and Ego. She told them about the bike trip to Detroit, and the project we were getting involved with. The guys gave us props for taking our bikes. They highly advocated biking and agreed that "cars got to go! Bike instead." I asked them if they would mind sharing their opinions on camera, to share with you all. They were more than ready to.Thanks Randy and Ego!

As the shop was closing, we chatted with the shop owner, and took some more pictures. We thanked them and said our goodbyes. We stopped at the Sacramento Food Co-Op to pick up a cheap quick-fix. Sac Co-Op employee, Phil, who went to h.s. with Marie, was a nice surprise run in. He recommended these cheap, high calorie energy bars, exchanged info to keep in touch and possibly hang out during our stay.

It was time to hit the road to Folsom, to visit Jon Le, a good friend

of Marshall's. The bike ride was beautiful. It was late in the day and the bike path ran adjacent to the American River. It was a smooth path surrounded by nature. Along

the path there were small rabbits, wild chicken, turkey, quail, and ducks.

There were bikers and joggers dotting the path the whole way. At one of the water fountains we came across a group of boys, Justin, Dante and Garrison, who offered to ride with us and show us the way. They all had bike computers and let us know how fast we were riding. 17mph, seemed like it was fast to us but they said they usually cruise at 22. Justin was the youngest at 16 and he said he was the fastest as well. He hoped that next year as an upperclassmen he would be able to start a biking club at his highschool. We wound our way along the trail and eventually came to Folsom blvd and bit our traveling companions goodbye. Jon's house was just a little further. Twenty six and a half more miles under our belt.

When we arrived at Jon's place we took cold showers then hot showers. Then had spaghetti with slow cooked homemade sauce that Jon had started the day before. His chihuahua had a cute new puppy that we took turns holding and we checked out the pictures from his trip to Vietnam with habitat for humanity to build houses in the village that his mother had grew up in. Jon was popular among the locals there because he's multilingual and handsome. His group built 3 homes in 3 weeks and he enjoyed the experience so much that he is going back in October to build more. Soon after we went to bed in the guest bedroom, all tuckered out from a day in the sun.