Happy Mother's Day

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower

So the sharp eyed among you have noticed "all the clapped out dually bike love lately?"


Life does indeed go in cycles (new is old , no I ain't no psycho) though a more honest reason would be: recovery.

This video has made the rounds, but in case you missed it (or Love it) check it out...


Paris Roubaix 2011.

See those quivering biceps? That's a whole lotta shaking going on. That amount of shaking is hard on the recovery. Full suspension takes most of that right out the equation. Last week's Henry Coe expedition left my left hip flexors and psoas in some serious distress. You can't teach me, but I can learn anew what I relearn every time I spend some time riding full squish- that I feel so unexpectedly (to me) fresh the next day. Spending most of your time riding around completely rigid, you tend to forget the difference as you take that shaking for given.

No wonder I feels so great. Of course, there's all this Spring welling up and blooming around and that helps too.



On the one hand, I need to get my act together vis a vis the taking of Public Transit to Santa Cruz or Big Sur to ride. It would extend my range so much.

On the other hand (and I quote):
A new route for the 2011 Amgen Tour of California Stage 5 from Seaside to Paso Robles has been released in light of the rock slide on Highway 1.This stage was originally supposed to send the cyclists down Highway 1, but the Alder Creek slide near the San Luis Obispo County line necessitated the change.Cyclists will depart Seaside via Canyon del Rey then travel onto Highway 68. They will then turn on Laureles Grade Road and take it over the hill to Carmel Valley Road. The ride will then continue down Arroyo Seco Road.The new route will take the cyclists through Greenfield, then to the east of Highway 101 and south to King City. The riders will then ride on Highway 101 (El Camino Real) to San Lucas, where they will head toward Lockwood and continue past Lake San Antonio and Lake Naciemento into Paso Robles.

Sweet! Now we can head over there, watch them PROS suffer, and get some bike camping in there, too...who's in?

On the otherer hand, people be doing this...

rolling somnabulantly on, into the future, forgetting the past

Full susssssspension Local Loop. 37ish miles. As much dirt as I could muster. Up the hill the hard way (which I am amazed at having taken with J as it is fresh [and steep!] in my mind this evening) and over and down on dirt. Me and the scrubby Coastal Live Oaks under the lofty Monterey Pines. I really like the spacious feel those trees maintain. I cleaned that one short up after the oak arch that I never clean. That was rad.

South Boundary (exposed,hot, sweaty) to drop 50 the hard way. I blew by the scene of the big Sleaze Otter smash-up, and that rut is truly a lurker. Hella fast, bro, ridge rolling and singletrack through the Ord and over to check the bee status (full swing) at the tower. I noticed this:

RATTLESNAKE.

I hassled him with my wheel until he curled up (fast!) and then retreated in a crook so he was ready to strike if need be, and this with a satisfyingly menacing rump shake. Upon inspecting the tower I took a pitcher of my bike ,


and I turned around to see

another rattler. One I had just ridden right past and not noticed?!

Oops. I had some real deep insights to write in this space, but them snakes drove everthing from my head.



Ain't nobody here but us chickens.

Bikes are ridden and there is muffled activity...

Dirt commute represent. Represent represent sent. Right?

I don't usually take that one cut through on weekends- cuz I'm mostly riding on the road (or driving) to get to work with more quickness- and while taking it today, I came across not only that one homeless guy I see every now and again (that I'm sure lives off that trail and who has shown himself to be careful and respectful) but an old guy who was hiking from Monterey to Carmel. He has a day in the woods, eats lunch in Carmel and then takes the bus back to Monterey. I like his style.

I was using a switch to clear a nuisancy stand of Poison Oak from the trail and he remarked that he'd brought his chainsaw up last week and sawed through some of the dead fall but had to stop mid cut on the last one from lack of gas. I replied that I appreciate his efforts (because I surely do- those were/are some thick logs) and did he know of any other good sneaks. I've got my eye on this one power line easement...but he didn't know of anything else.

image source: Golden Age Comic Book Stories

So yes, trail riding was _ucking _un _or sure. I like it. After work I climbed back up that one trail that I took yesterday on the way home. It is (read this in a high pitched voice:) steep! Like balancing act on the rivet steep. Take that saddle and stick it where the sun don't shine steep. And you know what?

I feel _ucking great!

In spite of this rib/hip B.S. (which is improving now that I'm doing my stretches and using the tennis ball and the foam roller again....you'd think I'd get it through my brain pan that this is required at this point in Life. But I have to learn the hard way.) I gots good legs and smooth lungs. I picked these things up bit by bit at the top of many many climbs. And it feels good. I like it. Summer is coming. It was shirt sleeves all evening. That feels good, too.

The owls were hooting.

Do you know what else? As I was riding through that neighborhood to get up the hill to the trail, I noticed a park that lay at the top of several acres of wooded drainage which cries out to have a singletrack through it. This dirt commute business depends on multiple small-but-worth-it sections of trail; if we can keep adding a bit here and a bit there it really extends the dirt portion of the commute. And that's a Good Thing. All it takes is someone taking the time to lay it in...

I am hereby decreeing a Crusade:
All of y'all extend the dirt options where you are.

Do it.

Do it.

Do it.

We've called the roll, neighbors. Now let's GO!

1stly, this is not a music web diary, but- when was the last time you listened to A Tribe Called Quest?



Well, that's too long. Midnight Marauders was on my headphones on this commute, and it sounds fresh and relevant.


Any commute by bike is a good one, but dirt is better. I'm lucky and thankful to have this option.

After repositioning my shifters and brakes, repairing the busted/short chain, replacing the broken Ti B17 with a steel railed stand-in, and reattaching my super dorky yet so practical seat post bottle mounts (I don't like to ride with a pack) I was ready for a full squish dirt commute.

I went into it with nagging hip issues compounded by nagging rib issues; also, a head full of "problems" and low level anger feelings. I ran short of time after stopping to clear several stands of poison oak off the trail, so I took the quick connector down and rediscovered a section of trail that used to be debris strewn and now is rideable. Bonus.

I came out of it with nagging hip issues compounded by nagging rib issues and a whole new outlook. When I arrived at work, I was cheerful and willing. The day went smoothly. I had a dirt commute to look forward to at the end of my shift.

Homeward bound, after checking out a potential neighborhood sneak entrance (denied), I rode sweet singletrack ribbons up and across the hill. On pavement, at the top (the very tip top) I was halted by several wraps of caution tape across the road and downed power lines. This required me to take the paved option back down the entire hill to climb up a different/clear route.

It was fine.

we don't know quite what we're doing

but we try to have a Good Time. Try to treat everbody right.



Is that right? That's why I ride a bike. I like to ride a bike.

It's certainly why we got out and rode Henry Coe State Park (the largest State Park in Northern California, at 87,000- yes, thousand- acres) recently. I'd only been once before, and I've forgotten what we rode. I remember being well on the rivet, and it being HOT. Folks aren't enthused to ride there, because it gets so hot. And it takes over an hour to drive there.

Anyhow, we parked at the Hunting Hollow entrance East of Gilroy, and rode up to the Coyote Canyon gate. Coit Road (paved) North for a bit. Then it was shaded singletrack climbing up Anza Trail to Jackson Trail to Elderberry Spring Trail (which was fantastic singletrack) to Rock Tower Trail to Domino Pond Trail. At the intersection with Wasno Road, we rolled Easterly to Kelly Lake Trail.

At Kelly Lake, there was a brief nude interlude in the cold water.

Then we got mixed up looking for the grown over Kelly Cabin Trail. To the tune of lots of extra climbing and bushwhacking and turning around several times, before we said eff it:



and climbed a surprising ways up Willow Ridge Road to take Cross Canyon Trail down (totally worth it) to truly hunt and peck the trail (not worth it- we must have crossed the creek at least 20 times) to come back to Coit Road as dirt. Dropping down the other side of Cross Canyon Trail, we blew a turn and mowed down the hillside following other tire tracks until hitting Coit Springs doubletrack.

We got lost several different ways there. As in more than 3.

After saying eff it again, we found the trail we were on was the one we wanted- Grapevine Trail- and man! is it a good one. Then we took Anza Trail back as far as we could to remain on singletrack as long as possible (always the aim) and returned down paved Coit Road to the Coyote Creek Entrance and thence back to the race van. Exhausted and smug.

This is a long winded way of saying: GO! ride Henry Coe no matter what your friends say! It's fun as hell. It was a long haul to get there, but it's worth it. We saw 2 people in total all day. There was a pleasing remoteness. It was really nice singletrack through mostly oaks and grassy meadows. The wildflowers are going karazy right now.

Bring a map and a water filter. The trails are well marked, but it gets confusing if you're dull-witted. There is lots of running water (right now) from which to filter, and you will run out of water.

Also, I pulled 25 ticks (no lie! no exaggeration) off myself, and didn't get one bite- that's witness to the importance of checking early and often. We don't want no kind of Lyme Disease.

ridicule is nothing of which to be scared

For those of y'all who visit to keep up with the latest in bar styles and hippest music...



you are in luck, Friend.





D_____'s new bar set up on his new ride.



31.8 matte black riser mated to a frame matching white stem is out. Back-swept Nitto Jitensha (too narrow for me) held with whatever stem I had lying in the parts box (in this case Bontrager Race -oooooooh) that would work is in. I also shoved his saddle forward.



Don't hate. Celebrate.