I don't lik ___________s that look too planned. Where is the fun in that?

This past weekend was a lot of fun. It centered around a birfday ride (and we know how those go) to the Pinnacles Monument, at which point it devolved into a chaotic free-for-all camp out. A real masterpiece in 84 hard miles: 2 motorcycles sagged with panniers full of iced(!) beer and water and snacks! There were many people involved, (a rotating cast of 19 riders!) and families and friends met at the campsite for a total somewhere between 60 and 2,032 people. They were all good folks. There were plenty of kids for the kids to play with, and D______ got his falling in the creek and emerging covered in mud from the top to the bottom, bottom to the top out of the way early so that he and his buddy could spend the weekend in their PJs (which, PJs and houseshoes (!) is a fantastic look in the woods; and one I will attempt to ape from now on). The children roamed freely, stopping to graze at different snack sites when the need arose.

Happy Birfday, ____! And a heartfelt thankyou to those involved in support! It was super well done.



Also, it was pointed out to me (in many ways) that blogging is problematic for my fellow riders. In that it somehow detracts from the experience while it is being experienced, I gather. I have gotten this information before; several times. At the time, I did not want to pursue this topic; not least because it would be the primary topic for discussion based on how frequently I heard some variation on the theme of "blogging is _______________."(oh...unwelcome, stupid, a waste of time, lame, pointless, something to be avoided, etc)

I will address it here and now. I would ask in response to "waste of time": compared to what? What are people doing with their free time that is so much more awesome? Many of the people with whom I ride have made it clear they do not want themselves plastered on the internet. That is understandable. I do not mention names and the faces are black-barred out. (if it was good enough for low budget stag movies, it is good enough for me) I do not take my camera out on group rides if it will interfere with the pace or if it seems unwelcome. The purpose of (my) blogging is not to recount all the rotten shi_ that people do, though there were a lot of cracks about "documenting" things. Consider them documented.

I started writing this thing because I am interested in bikes and all the surrounding cloud of bikeness. There are all these cool and unique expressions of people's personal interaction with this on the internet that you can't get from your circle of like-minded buddies even if you are lucky enough to be in a place where there is a sizeable circle. This blog is my hat in the ring. Don't lik the content? Fuck off. Or comment and tell me about it, and then fuck off. Enjoy what you see? Great. Now fuck off.

Finally, it is somewhat ironic that the people commenting on the relative unworth of this pursuit must engage in it enough to, at minimum, read this blog. I won't mention any names.



For those interested in such things: the Buena Vistas (Soma's Mixte) are in stock. I need a 58cm...

thank Jehovah for kung-fu bicycles and Priscilla Presley

Although you can ride a bicycle that it built out of a pile of money, it is impractical. I lik to look at Fixed Gear Gallery (yes, still) but I wish they would allow comments. I see why it would be a bad idea when I look at sites that are only forums for bitching using bikes as a pretext (no, uh, this is not oneof those). Sometimes I want to tell the submitter, "Hey! You really did that bike a favor by refurbishing it and now it is being ridden again. Yay!" and other times I want to not comment because it is some me too, bullhorn POS with bright deep dish wheels and no brakes. Boo. Some are just a bunch of expensive parts held together with a bike in there somewhere.

In my experience, shiny new parts will dull with use and paint will chip, bubble or crack with wear...is the rider still stoked? I lik fancy parts as much as you. Lighter, more refined, even shinier or in a nice pink or tweed. What I really lik, though, is well used bikes.

listen,

Saddest song ever. Ever. Ever.
Steve Earle does this justice with his cover of it as well.


Ok, this one is heartbreaking, too.








I will now begin wearing suit vests without a shirt. Apparently it goes over big with the ladies...



See? It's gonna be OK!

I don't know why you're upset. I was thinking about it in English.

So. Up last night on the TV screen was Elmore Leonard's Hombre starring Paul Newman as the 1/2 breed blue-eyed White Mtn. Apache John Russell. Richard Boone in his finest hour, even including being the voice of Smaug the Worm from Rankin-Bass' The Hobbit, as the (truly) bad man.


As this is close on the heels of the Louis L'Amour controversy, I feel I must say: this is POSSIBLY the best western ever. And Elmore Leonard wrote it, so I guess I'll smoke that shuttlecock. Hombre has several of Leonard's subtly effective throw-away lines that feel so authentic it makes me holler.The only time I'd seen this film before, I'd come in 1/2 way through it. The beginning is worth watching. If you need a western...here you go.

Hmmm, I think I'll rewatch Hud soon.

at some point I'd like to get hold of a child...tutor it in the ways of righteousness

Brown Lunch, bicthes!



Yep. Like you read about.

J______ is out of school this week for teacher development, so we are hoboing like the good ol days. Those cans have been stashed out there under some bushes waiting for just such an opportunity since, oh, Fall 2007?

Well, they're minestrone. No wonder they've lasted. If it hadn't been so long that I forgot they weren't lentil soup they'd still be out there. We made it slightly more palatable by wiping the cans off real good and adding fresh mache, roasted cashews, and leftover hashbrowns from breakfast. I loaded mine up with some Tabasco as well.



It was pretty windy today, so we dug a little hollow out for our twig fired feast.





We velocached some, too. J liks hiding the "packages."



Town&Country biking around here. Country gentlemen out for a ramble.






The turkeys were out today! We saw 4 separate groups.

shoot his right profile

So D_____ is watching all my old westerns. I found out about this when I walked into the "playroom" (the drywalled and carpeted garage, half of which is kid play and half bike room for papa play) and he was watching Red River.

"Are you watching Red River?", I said.
"Yeah.", said the boy.
"Why?", I said. Now, this is not as foolish a question as it may appear- because how did he know about Red River? and it is in black and white, and there're no spaceship chases or lasers or flying wizards or animated whatevers, etc. It is a kickass western from 1948! Howard Hawks' 1st western starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift (in his 1st movie role), Walter Brennan...
"Because it's cool.", said the boy.

And that was true.

He has since watched The Searchers (my personal favorite, and which I warned him was sad and which he later thought was "not so sad. Everbody dies though. And those indians were not very nice.") and True Grit ( he said he recognized the guy who played Rooster Cogburn), but The Cowboys is out of it's case and presumed lost. He will be starting on Hang 'em High, A Fistful of Dollars, etc. soon.

That's one apple that landed pretty close.

what makes the mens go crazy

When a saddle , uh, fits so nice.

Before.





After. Much better.



I spent some time polishing these rivets on Sunday, while riding with some real people (vs. you pretend internet beings) in the new-to-me Henry Coe State Park (the largest in CA). Camping is allowed, so I was checking it out with that in mind whenever I could look beyond my front wheel. It will get HOTTT out there soon enough, but right now the flowers are just coming up and it is magic. There is plenty of opportunity for polishing your rivets there. Especially the one on the nose of your saddle. I have seldom balanced on my taint for such exquisitely drawn out periods of steep climbing, but the traction was perfect and- well, what are you gonna do?

for comparison's sake

It did bring home to me that my saddle position of dead level (which is my preferred set up on the bikes) was not doing me any favors in the posterior, given the sag inherent in the system. Of course, I made long mental checklists during every prostate busting effort. Of course I forgot them completely whenever we stopped and I could've done something about it.

This was the 3rd time since last summer that I've ridden this bike. It was fun. I knew I needed gears, and front suspension was recommended to me by those who know. I only have one other geared "mountain" bike right now, and it is the Kampe Monkey all set up rigid and dropped barred. I did not want to ride it on "steep" stuff, so I pulled the rear wheel off the Big Dummy, and yanked the front rotor off the Big Dummy and hastily made the Blur rideable. It is a fun bike, if a little much for 98% of what is around here locally. I lik the (rigid) hardtails most of all, but it is good to switch it up.



My real friends made fun of me (again) for my alternative needs bars. I'll tell you though, they are swell. I am going to sell my Jones Bars and replace them with these, I think. Let's see, at current retail the Jones are somewhere around...$500 US!

That is fucking ridiculous.

These On One Mary bars are in the neighborhood of $50 US. The feel is very similar, and I find I seldom use the forward extensions on the Jones bars. If you have wrist issues or are smart, I recommendo.

I don't know about you, but over here the Eater Bunny is kicking Santa's ass but good. Hopefully, he is hopping down the trail to your town soon.

I made up my mind

Mack the Knife feels like a ghost story to me. If you lik ghost stories, you can do no better than Tim Powers' Last Call. That is a great one.

don't go wasting your emotion

It's important to be flexible.

In my mind I had a loop laid out which dropped me out on the approach to preschool. I finally got around to checking the chain length on the Long Haul Trucker, since it has been noisy and skippy and blown off; yep, bad news on the chain and cassette. I wasn't able to do the planned route on my next choice (the fixed Crosscheck) either, because the lay back Thomson post won't accept the trail-a-bike hitch. Dang. So I thought I'd take the (shown above) "handmade" fixed wheel Le Tour. But that didn't fit in with my ride schemes, which involved errands, technical dirt, and then picking up the boy from preschool. We'd dropped the trail-a-bike off with him in the morning so I could ride out unencumbered to get him. That empty trail-a-bike is a literal drag. He loves to ride it, and was counting on a bike ride home.


So, after some confused tinkering, I rode the Crosscheck out for the usual dirt loop. At a certain point I decided to explore the potential for that dirt connector about which I've been speculating. Slithering through the neighborhood, I spied a well maintained but little used 2 track that wasn't going the way I wanted but was too loaded with alternate potential to ignore. It had several spurs which did not pan out. It had one that really, really did. It looped back to a place I have been before and I knew where I was again- a nice and remote trail that is swoopy and fun, but with a lousy approach so I don't use it often. This wrapped around to the sneaky back door, which I took. This time I took the left where I generally take the right, and that made all the difference.

A sweeping, windy, rollfast downhill through the live oaks all the way down to the road I wanted originally. No, not the dirt connector; the approach to preschool. It popped out at that one spot I always notice in passing and wonder about idly.

Riding a sweet trail is a balm. Finding a new one is a joy.

So I rode home from there, switched bikes and picked up the boy. Total mileage in the low 30s. We ran our errands together on the way home. An $11.99 24pack of Hamm's is enough to induce a nice shimmy on that Paul's Flatbed.

It is a little too flexible.

For real

Fiornzo Magni demonstrating how it is done.

RESPECT.

See here for some learnin.

It's not The Jam, but it's our jam

Awesome. (the sound doesn't kick in until :30, but it's worth it.)

harder than you

Caught! In the midst of a self destructive rage spiral...

Someone is wrong on the internet!

from xkcd.com

You have by now seen lots of blog write-ups about how to behave in traffic. Too _ucking many. And they all share the same conceit- that "cagers" actually pay attention to what you are doing. Leaving aside for now the bullshi_ name-calling from internet bike riders posing as self sufficient heroes who never use a car nor have any use for motorized transport of any kind, this is wack. As has been pointed out by Fxdwhl- to any passing motorist, a cyclist is either a kook forgotten as soon as passed or "that guy" (the one who lost his license due to DWI) forgotten as soon as passed. Full stop.

When I read some (I'll be generous) enthusiast write something about how they are going to ride and "smile all the time, so the 'cagers' will see how happy I am to be riding" and that will change the minds of the motorists and convince them to give cyclists 3 feet of space and drive right to the recycling plant to ditch their car for good, and probably plant a garden too...it makes me hotter than global warming caused by all of you/not me.

Oh, for the love of ___________.

Either just ride your bike, or don't. That's all there is to it. You are not an "example" or an "early adaptor" or anything else catchy...you are some kook on a bike. Just ride.

I lik to ride, and that's why I'm doing it. Some days I can commute, some days I can haul some stuff, some days I can zip around in fancy pants, some days go camping by bike. It's pretty much all fun- lucky for me. At no time am I an example, nor do I expect to be. If there is a red light and it's clear, I'm running that bitch. No waiting so as to maintain cyclists position as legitimate vehicles, etc. If the street is one way and I want to go the other (and it is not suicidal to do so) I am riding the wrong damn way. I try and ride predictably in traffic for the sole reason that cars outweigh me and I will lose in any confrontation- it's common sense. I don't expect them to be careful around me, and I ride to reflect that. I'll take the dirt option if there is one. I also don't expect special treatment. I paid my nickel...

That's the world, cyclists. Shut the fuck up and ride in it.


Well, there is always this:

Velocache, bitcthes!

That's quite the piggy bank! It's about time, too.

Those saddlebums responsible for such local treasures as the Sleaze Otter (remember that?) have got their computer on and organized a local version of Boise's VeloCache Game, involving a mad dash for trash. As in one man's is another's treasure...

I'm in.

See you suckers at the finish line.GO!

Who wants to wrassle?

In a separate communique, it has been argued that Louis L'Amour is not the greatest writer in the western genre:

Hello to all who receive this message--I was reading the Church blog and came across an inaccuracy so astounding that I simply could not let it pass unchallenged...Louis L'Amour is NOT the greatest writer of Westerns ever known. Elmer Kelton is without doubt the finest practitioner of the greatest form of literature known to modern man. A close second would be Elmore Leonard. Please also note Larry McMurtry who penned the greatest Western novel ever written. Lamour is a witless hack who couldn't carry Elmer's sweaty horse blanket to the barn. As a plus, almost all of Elmer Kelton's books feature the great state of Texas as a backdrop. Stories of men and boys overcoming evil and the elements, while always doing the right thing; being true to the code and protecting the womenfolk and little kids.

Huh.
I personally find Elmer Kelton to be boring. It is the truth though, that Texas is a fine place.
Larry McMurtry gets (deserved) accolades for the Lonseome Dove book ONLY, if for no other reason than the moccasin ball in the river. OK, maybe it's sequel too, but none more for anything else ever.
Elmore Leonard is perhaps the True Master.

But, hackneyed and formulaic as he can be, I very much like L'Amour's bareknuckle fisticuffs, his knowledgeable use of the 4 Corners region, and all the injuns in say, Last Stand at Papago Wells, for example or, perhaps...Hondo!?!


Also, let's not forget Frank O'Rourke, who wrote The Professionals(!) and , my favorite, Range War... "Bryan could smell violence in the air when he rode in. The whole town was packing iron. The high country was about to explode in a bloody struggle for land..."

That's what I'm talking about!

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must add that I am currently reading Six Fingered Stud, by Lance Horner, who also penned such classics as Mandingo, and The Mustee. So there's my bona fides. Take it as you will.

Perhaps you aren't riding the bikes as much as you could wish

It may be that, through no fault of your own you are stuck inside doing things like looking at the computer.

Cut it out.

Go ride.

Zing. Bang. Zip.

If that just is not possible, then you are most likely watching Westerns. Yes, that is a nice runner up activity. Have you watched Shalako yet?

Hey! Sexy foreign high class dames, including Brigette Bardot! ( hubba hubba) Sean Connery as a badass frontiersman fighting Woody Strode (yes. He played the negro archer in The Professionals) as the impetuous son of the leader of a band of bloodthirsty savages.


And, it is written by Louis L'Amour! For them that don't know, Louis L'Amour is arguably the finest writer in the western genre, the finest of all genres. Certainly the most prolific. He has peopled my dreams since boyhood with larger than life working men who saw something that needed doing- and did it.

That's good stuff.

Also, it has been drawn to my attention by an unnamed source that:

the source of that crazy sound we all thought was thunder echoing off the hills? Pipe bomb.

Many are trapped for hours in confusion and darkness

A few observations on riding by the light of the (full) moon:

The Full Worm Moon '09 was so bright heading into the (East) trails that I wished I'd brought a visored hat.

Sitting around drinking beers at random backwoods spots, and then riding really fast and loose to another of the spots, etc. is a nice way to spend your evening.

Any animal costume worn while partying shall include, as a safety feature, a tear-away head.

The spherical clumps of Manzanita and Sage both catch you and prop you up. This allows for some fun singletrack pinball action. (wear clothing that won't snag...)

Caching beers under a full moon gives them extra beer powers. This has been known to be true for thousands of years.

All Day Elegance

It was a fun 3 Day Training Camp with Mr. Softy (hard earned nickname, that) Newton. He was fresh off his personal vision quest journey down South. Apparently we need to get down to Solvang to ride Mt. Figueroa.

Day 1 saw a mixed bag of Monterey Peninsula riding- singletrack and road. As good as it gets down here. No poison oak, though...Mileage? High 40s.

Day 2 had us in Santa Cruz for the pave. Mr. Sr. D____ G___ joined us, though he really should know better. I promptly got us lost up Trout Gulch- an uphill 7.5 mile detour to a dead end. Then we got back on it to ride the funnest road anywhere, ever. I shall no longer refer to this road in anything but a spoken whisper. Done.
I will say that we saw a group of ladies on the lower section of said road, and they chased us for a while. We had stopped for a nature break, and a group of 5 ladies rolled up. Needless to say, we hurried it up. As we rolled out I told them "We'll see you when you catch us", which I actually meant, and they actually took as a gauntlet. They clipped in so hard and fast behind us I thought a tool had fallen out of my pocket! (Yes, we shelled them.)
I experienced the most exquisite cramping I have ever known near the top. This is quite distinct from the worst or longest lived, etc.; this cramping was special. It started in my adductor, and then wrapped around the lower half of my hamstrings. It felt like a web of constricting fire. I have never felt anything like it.
In true to the route form, we finished zipping down Eureka Canyon in the cooooooold dank dark. Super Fun road ride. Mileage? Low 60s.

Day 3 showed sooner than I'd have liked, bringing with it a return to SC, but for dirt. "Serious riding"- some fire road up, some narrow singletrack across and down, all good. The one ride to go on if you can only do one? Mileage? High 20s?


Good times with Good Friends. Parts of me hurt.

Ring the alarm!

Another ride is calling.

Full Worm Moon*, (tomorrow) Tuesday March 10th!

Get your bike in order (don't forget your shoes/helmet/gloves) and get yourself to the corner of Parker Flats Cutoff around dark(~7pm). You will not need a light. We are serious about this one, people. A little longer (at least over #82), a little funner (climbing via #49 to The Grind and back down #50 in the moonlight?), a few more beers (wear your fancy shirt with the pockets-beers fit in them).

Those of y'all who would lik to ride from town-please see me after this post to discuss.



*Some people also refer to the Worm Moon as one of the following: Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sugar Moon, Sap Moon, Chaste Moon. So you can take your pick, Picky.

kick em when they're up, kick em when they're down

Rhus diversilobum

Took that shinyish newish old bike out in the torrent today. (I am weary of the rain.) Rolled those 28s right off the streets and into the woods. Lots of sinking and slipping. Some sliding. Several big trees down right now, as those Monterey Pines just fold right over in a storm with their shallow roots. I don't have the saw for them. What sawing I could do I did. Beat the hell out of lots of poison oak; back on that plan. If you take a stick (of not-poison-oak) and swing it, you can lop the tops right off. Clearing trail for days when it will be fun to ride.

I make it sound like it wasn't fun, but who am I kidding? Being out in it is being out in it=Good.

It is definitely self-tent weather, and I used the Carradice waxed cotton Duxback poncho to good effect in the trees. Hard to beat for comfort when coupled with wool underneath. Hard to stay upright if there is serious wind and it is not ezzackly aerodynamic. Choose your weapon for the specifics of the field, I guess. None of the Gore __________(insert whichever model is current when) stuff keeps me dry for an extended period, and I end up overheating and sweating like mad in my personal sauna suit. Also, the self-tent is quiet- not crinkly. And plus, I look like a hobo and that is always a bonus.

Rolled out of the woods and into the town...stopped at the store for ingredients(and I will point out that the semisweet chips were $1.99 right next to the Vegan chips for $2.99, and both "may contain milk" as they are produced in a factory, etc...but the only listed ingredient difference was that the "vegan" chips had dehydrated cane juice instead of sugar) for these vegan "brownies" , and then it was home again to make the goods with N after school. She wanted cupcakes this time-complete with the vegan frosting of melted chocolate chips whipped with Silken firm tofu...we also left OUT the almond extract, reduced the sugar by 1/3, and reduced the cayenne(!) by 1/2 on account of how my kids are soft . But to each their own...If you make them you will be happy with the result. Full stop.

Also: Softy Newton is coming to town this weekend, from the wide open singletrackless (well, mostly) desert of Southeastern Utah, and I am putting out feelers to those innerested in dragging a hard man around so's we can show him up on trails we know the ins-and-outs of. He foolishly declined to bring his cross bike, so he will pay the price on his little bitty wheels...if that puts you in mind of some looong slogs involving plenty of quality road sections mixed in with suhweet singletrack. I know it does me.

"Smell my head...it's warm."

Spoken like a 4year old.

So. In looking at all the sparkly bits from the NAHBS'09, I was inspired to go and gather some of the shiny bits I have hoarded and make a bike. By hand, if you will.

It is the old Japan made Schwinn Le Tour Tourist in Godawful Bleu. (I am not a fan of blue) From whence did this frame come? I do not even remember now. Maybe from Shorty- that guy who scavenges from the dump in Watsonville, with the fence lined with bikes? Maybe from your mom. Whatever, it is a 58cm, and it is kinda sweet.




It is the moustachioed Nitto handlebars/cheesy odd 1"stem combo from several other junk bikes, sporting the shellac job from when they were mounted on this Schwinn's transsexual doppleganger fixte mixte (which, coincidentally, Mysterious B___ S_____ hisself rode into the ground repeatedly at the NAHBS'07 when it was in San Jose- claiming that it was "how you learn!" in his attempts to stop and skid on the dime). I smiled when I thought about that connection. If I had it to do over, I'd move the levers out and angle them down a little more, but I am reluctant to mess with the shellacedness. Hella sweet.

It is the brass bell from other bikes. Sweet.

It is the Paul Comp Flatbed, bought in '02 for the rattle-can pink Diamond Back (a gimme frame from the early 1990s with the incredibly steep ~175mm stem and the horrid marbled purple and grey paint job) which became the Xtracycle and has not been in use since mmmm'03? (The basket. The frame was retired upon reception of the Big Dummy, and is currently awaiting it's next move.) It is kinda a crappy design as there is a lot of sway (even with the extra/custom rack mount stabilizer), but it is kinda sweet. And plus, canned beer is lighter. It'll haul that just fine.




It is the Brooks B66, originally bought for the matching Schwinn repro cruisers we had (from my 1st seasonal stint in Moab at the Chile Pepper) when we were ski bums in Telluride, last millenium. Remember that? Fucking sweet.

It is the no name seatpost that is silver and adjustable and fits. Sweet.

It is the scavenged Mafac "Racer" brakes all cleaned up and lubed and fitted with dual compound WTB canti pads from when the WTB cantis were the greatest thing ever. Remember that? It is the sweet quick release brake cable guide with integral barrel adjust for the rear of those brakes, which juuuust fit the 700c wheels (hanging around unused in the bike room- the front a Campy Record hub laced to a Mavic MA3 built in/around '01 and the hub had been through so much already by then; but it has a greaseport and newish bearings and it is sweet- the rear a super bargain Formula flipflop fixed Surly14/fixed Surly16 laced to a Mavic Open Pro built last year or the year before; kinda (not really) sweet.

It is the Pletscher rack from some restoration project at Joselyn's which the customer said to "get rid of"...so I have. Several times. It still had the Tecate can clasped in it's aluminum grip from last year's County Line Jamboree, when it was mounted on the incredible flexing Peugot fixte mixte...until the seatpipe gave way and ruined my plans for total domination and I hitched a ride to the party with J__. Remember that? Sweet.

It is the extra long, fluted, hammered aluminum Honjo fenders bought last year for a project that failed to materialize. These days they seem so...pedestrian. I remember when putting fenders on my bike at all was clunky and odd. Look at us now. Very sweet, even if they are not (sigh) brass.



I hate to do it.
It bothers me lots when people put up unfinished stuff; it's like when folks "review" gear they just bought, without even trying it out..."It looks so awesome! I really am so happy with it. Soandso recommends it, and they really know. It will work great if I ever use it...I've used it hard for a week now, and it performs like new!"
But.
It is these upper crusty mud flaps (from last year's no-go project as well) which will match the heinous blue in understated laying-one's-forefinger-along-side-the-nose-and-winking style.





And lastly it is the super custom fender mount. I seem to have misplaced one of the originals, so this will stand in it's stead. Sweet.

I say "awesome", you say "cool"? Ready?

Super Power Ranger AWESOME! There're more sets behind it, but you can take a pull at the front, too...I get tired out here in the wind while you sit on.

Really Cool!

Those are amazing bikes from the NAHBS'09. I wish I'd magically appeared at the show whenever was convenient for me, and had easy access to beer, and there was sweet riding right outside, and it was sunny and warm, and I could magically appear back at home with all the things I likked (like the incredible sculpted chainguard, the lace-up Berthoud pannierrrrrrrs and perhaps Rick Hunter's personal all day road bike). Sorry for me my friend, it wasn't that way. You prolly wish stuff like that, too. but you can at least go look.

I saw Keith Anderson's bullshit kid bike with the non-adjustable seatmast (WTF?! 1)children grow 2)I hate and despise a seatmast because it is so ugly and 3)_uck a "showbike" that "showcases" stuff but isn't useful- contrast it with the dirty and used bikes, them I lik) and all I can think about is...the ducky.
Mysterious B___ S_____, you heard?

No parking, baby.

Lately it has been nooks and crannies whispering to me of their potential for linking trails. Fort Ord is a bit of a bummer East Garrison side, given the ongoing devastation/construction. That's too bad, but it's been coming for a while now and it's past time to find other options. Other options are around if we take the time and effort to seek them (witness the sneaky stuff off the top of Veteran's that M____ and I breezed through last Fall). Often, like you, I find myself unconsciously following my normal routes and not even seeing the faint spurs that lead off someplaceIvaguelyrecallwasn'tasfun or whoknowswhere. In that mode I cannot even see how ________'s Ridge could very well provide a dirt access to ___en____ Road because I am head down on the usual, just "getting there".

One of the things I lik so much about riding the bikes is not thinking. JRA doing nothing but being riding. Without getting any more hocus pocus about it, it is refreshing to simply flow with no thoughts in the head. No thoughts about work or what's for dinner or etc. That is the Good Stuff.

But. It is not conducive to finding new trails. Later, after I find these new trails, I will Just Ride Along them. For now, I find myself peering around with different eyes in an attempt to squeeze a little more potential out of this area. I should mention that this exploration is best done alone (for several reasons) and it requires a willingness to ride "trails" that are questionable in every sense of the word.

The rain is back with a vengeance, so I will put these up as a visual reminder of how nice it can be:

Looky looky. That is the Pacific Ocean out there.




That is the rear of my bike right there, in front of the overlook on the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and a fastfood restaurant table for 2 that someonenotme hauled up there. I was riding along examining the liminal areas typically swept right by, and decided to take that one faint hint of a trail...



It is a nice spot to have a beer and watch the sunset.


No parking on the dance floor, baby.