to the bitter end

Riding of one type and another. I hadn't been on my street bike for months? yes, it's true. I forgot to mention here (on account of I mentioned it at my other unpaid innernet bicycle stuff writing gig) the full moon ride down to Esalen. It was aboard the street bike, and it was almost all for which you could you ask- my shitty phone camera couldn't capture the incredible imagery of the shadow arches cast by Bixby Bridge, etc. and also sadly, C____ opted out of Old Coast as 23s were deemed unappealing on dirt. Me? I'm running some 37mm Panaracer Paselas (with the gumwall, naturally) on account of that tyre is unaccountably kick-ass on a variety of surfaces.

So you ride one bike for a period, forsaking all others, and you forget the wonderful differences that are to be savored. Ride another bike and it all comes rushing back. And then you want to fiddle with saddle height, and ruminate over stem length ad nauseum.  Thus, the resumption of street biking. Why, just the other day I rode some road and some dirt to get to roads leading to sand. _other_ucking HERO SAND. Fort Ord is set up so nice right now! Tacky, with just enough moisture content to cradle the tyre in the could-be-crumbly off camber berm. I especially love that.



You know, but on the way there are little pockets of RADness everywhere. I try and hit them all. So much niceness, all this sneaky cut-thru and the trail behind the houses and the back ways and.



That there is a little corner of Heaven, custom made just for you. It used to be a corner of suck, but I stopped my raging torrent of personal record setting and fixed the trail. It keeps the nice nice.



This section remains, but it now remains a work-in-progress. We are chipping away at it, under cover of darkness.



And, but, so riding. Eventually,after much huffing and and rallying, I warshed up at Lookout Ridge. Sorry about your hematoma. It's a nice spot for a beer from the stash under the oaks and a view.




From there, it's the rippingest quickness. 2 wheel drift into the tacky (!) berms and push that edge, homie. Push it real good. Down, and down, and down to the swoopy ups. Across, upy downy, through to the New Stairs.



It should come as no surprise that I consider the spot to be MINE. (I made it, after all.)  But, as was recently pointed out to me by my Nighttime Ride Adviser, you put something out in the public domain...and it becomes everybody's. It's a bitter pill.

Because then there is shit like this here:




Let that soak in for a moment. It is the note from the last time the spot was trashed. It lay upon several unopened canned beers, an empty/capped jar (for snacks, to keep the wood rats out), and a couple crushed empties, all tucked in the bole of the tree and covered by a 9"x9" piece of wood. Some member of the public has found "my" spot and this note, and has added to it a demand for weed.

Speechless at the presumption. Please discuss.

a smooth get away

The time is right for riding in the _____s. You picks your lines and you takes your chances. What with the warmth and the extra  evening hours, it's a bonanza. I got the boys' bicycles all dialed and lubed, and we went riding. Out to the New Stairs for some Brown Lunch...

 ...tofu dogs. J gathered miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliota) for a salad, as it is going ca-razy all over right now. While waiting on the nice, quiet twig fired Kelly Kettle to do it's work, we set up the hammock and did some lounging, and some tree climbing. Those fellas are agitating to bring the rope swang back out there, and that is prolly a good idea since it is getting frayed at the contact spot with the horse bridge and should be retired from that use. D says we shoulda brought the BB guns and he is correct.

After, it was a short pedal over to Rattlesnake to check under the board...




...and there were 2! The second is just up and to the left of the obvious snake. This board is far enough off the trail that they are seldom bothered by dilettantes; it is some singularly focused hasslers only. We employed the Snakecharmer 9000 to induce some tail wagging. You can feel the fat-bodied menace. After an exciting lunge or 3, the boys were very ready to get back to bikes.

This is training for life and happiness. We are thinking of big ideas, and one of them is the notion of camping out once a week. That is a idea with which we can roll.

see if you Qualify

 J and meself rolled around the Ord. Fall is playing peekaboo over here, and today it was both eyes open/Indian Summer and eyes covered/Early Fall by turns. The shoulderest of seasons.

We stopped to refuel the Shrine. J felt it was lacking some Tootsie Pops and some Everlasting GobStoppers. I felt it was lacking some Hamms.

We stopped at the New Stairs and hung around.

J said there were "sure lots of those 'for your safety' signs". There are. I enjoy the wording. Nothing like good old Fear for some controlling the public. I myself am fearful of handicapped people wearing feathers.

This is one of the sleds I mentioned. I misspoke. They are built of 4x4s and 2x6s. That's lots of spendy lumber to close off dirt roads and trails we've all been riding without mishap for 12 years. Where has my Safety been all that time?

we go on as before

Caught up in catching up, there has been little written of local doings. There have been some.

 While hiking my fixed gear bicycle up this trail, I came across Trail Crew?!?! 2 gals and a guy, a 3' D handle, and a 4'ish cross-cut. They had even cleared that big hanger. One never knows how folks are gonna take a bike in the woods so I was vague, though effusive, in my thanks. Nice work, people.

 
 The boys and I took the long way to and from the store...

 J and I scavenged some more timber to start the backrest at the New Stairs. Brown Lunch and all. Later on in the ride, I told him the Legend of Comanche- the ghost horse who is out for revenge on children of the Central Coast. 

Another time I rode from home, did some trails, some road, rolled through Ord and then home. Then I did it again another other time, but included 50 and 49 and 82- all of which are perfectly tacky right now from all this grey Summer fog. Fasssst and grippy. Just fine for some 38c road tyres. I love that 2 wheeled drift pedal into the counter steer sandy turn.



And, also- enough with these tired Full Moon designations already. Can we get with the new new and bring it in closer to home? Yes, we can. Tomorrow is the Kick Ass Moon, and I will be rolling out underneath it after work. Whosoever wants to see if we can find some moonlight out there past the edge of the fog, should be prepared to roll from Cside around 6:45ish...

revolutionary internet parenting device

Circumstances being what they are, my potna and I had to head over to the New Stairs for some rope swang repo.



Full Hunter's Moon coming up quick...any of you serial killers or internet stalkers is around Arroyo Seco, look us up...

Example:

It's true. The tower is full of swarming bees.


Somebody needs to do something about this.



My kids say that somebody is me.


We can't use a tower full of bees for kickass adventures, after all. Barring a successful convo with a beetrapper/keeper, I will be getting all covered up and sneaking up after dark to tape cardboard over the holes. I realize this is mass murder, and will attempt to avoid it, but I think the bottom line is them or us. I'm choosing us.

Who wants a piece of this? 20 feet in the air, after dark, facing potentially Africanized bees? What could possibly go wrong?



The goal of the day was adventure. Bicycles. New Stairs. Shady oaks. Brown Lunch.


My favorite one liner ever? "Hold my beer and watch this..."


Prior to firing up the Esbit for some doctored split-pea soup, I handed D my beer and shimmied up the oak until my ribs wouldn't allow anymore and tied up the pirate rope we been using at Arroyo Seco. It worked out well enough that this may be it's permanent home.




The rope swang was enough of a thrill ride, that the boys weren't bothered by waiting for the twig fueled cookout.









Then it was my turn.

Graceful!


J is riding SO well!



First ride for D on the new bike.

26" Rockhopper. I think it's over-the-top, he likes the flash. Whatever gets him stoked. Since I'm back in the shop, this is a good use of my resources. He needed a new bike. The 24" is just too small. He likes the paddle shifters. I like the disc brakes. It's too big (17.5"!), but he's got to use it for several years and he juuust fits it. I will shorten the stem and replace the bars with some swept backs; Mary or the like. Then he will be faster than you.


Hey Lord Hayden, we found your stash in the manzanita, and we tucked it up under the caprock where it'll keep cool.

This has been an example of how to trick your children into a longish bike ride.