These things do take time

I have a friend who is moving. Nice, eh? She's moving her little family from Oakland to Bald-Tim-More because the husband(I'll call him "J", I'll call her "Lara") got himself a good teaching position at a university out there and unfortunately long distancing for her doesn't make sense. "Lara" and "J" have a small but significant collection of carnivorous doo-dadds that are in need of special care while "J" and "Lara" get settled and do some European errands in places like Munich for the month of June, so I have "inherited"(I'll call it "babysitting") the majority of their collection so that it gets good care and they can reclaim and refresh the collection back east when settled. That would be my gardening news for today.

Biking: The pedals have been changed from the Trek 3900 MTB with the mis-aligned spokes to the Cannondale r600 so that I can get up in the morning and ride the needed 24 miles(both tomorrow and Saturday if I am to reach 120 this week) before collecting the giant fish tank that houses the "inherited"(I'll call it "babysat") small wonders of "Lara" and "J"s collection. I think that sums up the whole of that as well........

Grimacing thru the inevitable and I am a Mileage Whore

The day always comes when there are roadblocks thrown up to seemingly thwart my efforts to ride. Sometimes it's emotional, as in "I don't feel like it", sometimes it's physical: "I'm really too tired" and sometimes it's just plain nonsense that will take some time to sort out. Today I am looking at the nonsense of needing to get my back wheel re-aligned after hitting whatever it was in the road last night. A "non-visual" diagnostic by my friend, Dennis, suggests that the spokes on the back wheel have become mis-aligned due to the impact of the encounter. Well, I guess it just means I'm going to have to ride the Cannondale now. As in really commit to the feel of it. I'm still not accustomed to the feel of every little bump in the road shooting up through the bike frame and into my body. I imagine after some time I will get used to it.

I spoke at length last night in my post about the visual and physical pleasures of riding alone at night in the Presidio and around town. The encounter with whatever I hit last night is a good reminder to always have as many tools and equipment handy as one can have to fix problems on the ride. Thankfully I have only had 1 flat tire in all the 2770 miles I have so far ridden this past year and that flat was a painful 2 mile walking reminder to carry tubes, patches and a pump.

The sliver of moon over the south tower of the Golden Gate and I were alone in that whole world, watching each other from afar and appreciating the balance that exists between the heavens and earth and how, no matter the miles between I am touched by the light of it, even when it is nearly gone. Periodic looking toward the west as I came and went in and out of view of the coast I could see the progression as that moon disappeared finally for what we mortals call "another night". It was just so real and so very personal, as if I was the only one who could see it.

It's funny, too, how the gulls flying overhead, with their often white underbellies sort of glow against the starlit night sky as they sail on the winds from the west. The coastal trails beckoning me to join them in their efforts to make it to the sea. As a cyclist it is certainly not practical to descend those often treacherous trails, especially at night, on the bike, and I imagine that a leisurely, well-footed stroll on their dark approach to the shores would have its own delicious rewards. The breezes blowing up off the ocean, the slight rustle of the coastal grasses long since dried up after the end of spring rains; all this coming together to make for a remarkable climb down to the waves. Except for the bike. Pity, but I know what I can and cannot do so I act accordingly.

As I approach the Presidio from the Coastal Bike Trail onto the main road going under the Golden gate Bridge, there is a bus stop(Muni) where there are always a small handful of folks waiting to be escorted home(?) from a long day's work(?) and inevitably they are so often older Chinese. I roll past and notice their often mismatched and ill-fitted(?) colorful garments and listen to their foreign(to me) dialogue and wonder about their reason for being at that lonely Muni outpost at that time of night and if they are going home or to another job. My time with them is so brief and the hundreds of questions that arise will forever go unanswered because I will not stop to ask, will not learn Mandarin or Cantonese in order to ask and am much happier with never really knowing. Some nights the fog rolls in and offers a more ghostly perspective as it bathes them in a more pronounced golden light from the shelter fixture.

When I roll into Crissy Field from the Marina, traffic is lessened, the lights go down and with the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge on my left bathing me in its ambient golden streetlight glow, I can hear the silence around me. I can see well the road in front of me, the trees sparsely populating the Bay (near)shores on my right and a few here and there peppering the open spaces under the overpass rising to meet that great Golden Monument to take folks where they need to go. The Bay on my right gently slaps the shores with its entirely too cold water that has circulated from out beyond the Golden Gate in front of me, arriving from China or Japan and all points east to wash up on those shores. I love to ride through this area at night because the locals have all gone home, the tourists are sitting down somewhere for the night recounting their time walking the beaches of Crissy Field with the Golden Gate in view and I pretty much have the place to myself. But I am just passing through. It is a gateway of pleasure for me to ride over and into the arms of the Presidio where I will rise up and above the lights of San Francisco and become a coastal dweller for a time. My bicycle hugging the pavement as I push my body forward, propelled toward the mileage goal for the night(I am a Mileage WHORE) but never forgetting to take in the most beautiful vistas and scenes around me as I count down the centimeters, inches, feet, yards, blocks and miles to my betterment.

I have long since put the childhood fears of the dark behind me and can relish the silent City that I inhabit; in the darkness of trees and periodic streetlamps suggesting humanity's presence but neither confirming nor denying it. Other monuments of human habitation arise as I coast by trash and compost bins set out to be picked up per a weekly schedule, green and blue bins that are universal in San Francisco and remind me that we create too much waste yet work very hard to minimize the impact. surrounded I am by all things human, and yet, in the darkness of the Presidio on the West Coast of San Francisco, of California, of these United States, I am alone and cradled in the generosity of nature giving as she always has the kinds of beauty that must be seen and heard with some awareness and intent lest they slip by and I cannot recall them to write down.

Sliver Moons and The Golden Gate in 40.42 miles

Tonight was a ride to remember. First, I had a guy in a silver Jeep coming up along side of me who decided to turn right about 10 feet in front of me. I yelled out "DOOODE" to let him know he was in the wrong. He quickly rolled down his window and said he was sorry as I passed him by. I kept riding. Not 4 blocks later he is again beside me, matching my pace with his passenger-side window down telling me how sorry he was and that he didn't see me. I'm thinking "NO SHIT, you didn't see me. Had you seen me and still done what you did, I would have been more bothered". Ultimately, I just waved and nodded and put my head back down into the ride but I think coming up a second time on a rider to say your sorry is worse because it's easy to suspect something bad. Alas, all ended fine........

I like to ride through China Basin past AT&T Giants Stadium. It's always well, lighted, with the Bay Bridge as the back drop and a small marina on the eastern shore of the Park. I noticed tonight that the masts were in significant numbers and I was impressed by how orderly they all look with their silver-grey coloring standing at attention in stillness when right behind them there is a rowdy baseball game or other event at the stadium. The lights for the field, as well as all the neon, streetlights, Bay Bridge lighting, etc makes it a great place to cruise through.

Illinois street leaves the ballpark and snakes past the new UCSF campus, along with a great old dock that is now just pilings in the water. There is a repair dock on that side of the city which is HUGE and looks like a giant open-ended dumpster for repairing cruise ships, Coast Guard boats and who knows what else. It is so interesting to ride by at night when a well-lighted cruise ship is docked and one particular one(Carnival Cruises) I could see the main dining area at the top all lighted up. Made me think of the Titanic for a moment, then I came to my senses to avoid hitting a skunk in the road.

Tonight I went back thru China Basin to The Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf, Crissy Field to the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Imagine my pleasure as I approached the Bridge and there hung a sliver of moon just to the right of the south tower, meandering nicely right in line with the top. The golden lights and orange paint are strongly visible at night(as one would want lights to be) and the span is just so fresh every time I return to it. The waters were choppy and the winds were westerly(as usual) and quite constant. There's a road that snakes up the side of the hill that will get one to the area where tourism and riding across the bridge meet the die-hard riders. This little road has NO LIGHTS, winds up at such an incline that it must be taken slowly, and has the very real feel of zombies, cougars dropping from trees overhead, homeless attacks to steal one's bike, etc. Of course I have never had any such incidents, thankfully, but it's how dark the road is that stirs my imagination. Indeed a pleasure to conquer each and every time.

The views from the top of the Presidio, which butts up to the bridge are incredible day or night and tonight I watched(as I rode) that sliver of a moon dip down past the ships off the coast and into the water. So incredible, even with those winds. All in all I would say that tonight's ride is one of the best as I rode all the way to the Arguello Gate on the West side(past the golf course), turned right around and took myself back to the bridge, Crissy Field, the Marina, Fisherman's Wharf, The Embarcadero to BART. Incidentally, I hit something in the road, 2 blocks from the BART station at Embarcadero and whatever it was, it bent my back wheel. Yes, it ribs on the frame now and I had to get off the bike, unhinge the brakes, remove the chain and take the wheel out of it's riding position in order to figure out that I probably need a new back wheel.......

Gardening today? I watered, the allium are cool, I killed a couple of baby slugs chomping on my orchids in the greenhouse tonight, hmmm........That really would be all, except for the few weeds I dug up, which is a ZEN practice every time I see them. They are now very few and far between, so the walking around the garden and looking for them is a practice in NOW......

Today's ride

The winds along the Bay Trail were especially strong, making the waters very choppy and making me reduce my speed, as well as the myriad pedestrians all along the path from the Richmond Costco(maybe El Cerrito) all the way to the end of the line.
The roses in the city of Richmond were incredible. They are planted in groups and are shrub roses with smaller but prolific floral displays and all inspite of the constant winds, salt spray and low water during most of the year. The 'mimulus' relatives, 'clarkia', 'lupine' and California poppies('eschchlozia californica'?) were all in full bloom, as well as the 'echium fastuosa'. Well, the echium had really already passed its peak. There was lots of sunshine but the fog was arriving in full as happens religiously here this time of year. Yesterday was the coldest May 24 on record, with no sunshine whatsoever, so I was greatful for the beauty of today.
The winds, of course, are the big story of this ride. I managed to keep my pace at 16.5 mph in the face of those winds for most of the way and my friend Dennis, whom I was riding with, commented on my strong pace considering I was on a mountain bike and he was on a road bike. I feel much stronger then I have ever before, so I am appreciative of his input on my progress. He has been an avid rider for nearly 30 years and is the reason I am in the saddle these days.

Now, onto gardening: Hmmm, the nicotiana silvestris is taller than me with 6 major flower spikes blooming now and 5 more arriving soon, the 'asclepias phytocarpa' is covered in hoya-like white, nodding flowers(cousins, you know) with the "family jewels" to arrive later this summer. My 'hoya archboldiana' has 2 sets of flowers coming in 2 weeks or so that are deep red and incredibly fragrant. My 'hoya' mystery species that is hanging in the golden plum tree(delicious plums!!!!!!!) has 2 sets of flowers coming in the next month or so as well, assuming that they don't blast in the SF FOG that will inevitably set in most of June-August. The 'pychnostachys urticifolia' has close to 40 flower heads forming and will probably make flowers by the middle of June. My housemate, Gerry, is convinced that it will bloom before May 31 but I know he's wrong. The 'aeonium' species that he got and brought home, along with the ones I have picked up, will make a very significant display when they are bigger. Not sure yet how we will arrange 'em. Yesterday Gerry unloaded a 'lonicera hildebrandiana'(Burmese Giant Honeysuckle) and I have to put it into the yard somewhere. We have lots of vines right now and between the 'passifloras'(4 of them), the 'solandra maxima', 'cobea scandens' and 'thunbergia alata'(Black-eyed Susan vine) we are already well-"vined" but he's into these things so here we go. I do believe that is all from me for tonight......

Today is my first day

I am incepting this blog to better keep track of my riding and gardening. Thank you, Stephen Sass, for the encouragement and assistence in setting this up. I am no Tech Guru, that's why I ride and garden.

My riding is for me. I do not race, I do not do charity rides, I do not do easy rides. I currently ride a Trek 3900 MTB, own a Cannondale R600 which needs pedals and a seat. I had a goal of 2000 miles by Mar 24, 2009 and rolled through 2400. My newest goal is to roll thru 3000 by July 15 this year. I am at 2699.10 today and am planning a 30 mile ride to Pt Richmond and back.