With this year being a superbloom, Tina and I took a quick trip to Paso Robles to see the wildflowers. The main show was on the Carrizo Plain, a dry lake bed, and surrounding hills, which were filled with a large number of wondrous wildflowers. See all the pretties below.
I just finished the San Luis Obispo Randonneurs Pinnacles Traveler 600k brevet, a point-to-point ride that started in San Jose and finished in Ventura, near Los Angeles. The ride started in downtown San Jose, so I was able to take the Caltrain to there with just my bike and gear. The plan was to ride Amtrak back from Ventura, but Patrick’s wife came down and I managed to get a ride home with them.
I did the ride mostly with Patrick and Kris Jones, although we picked up and dropped a few different riders along the way. The route took us south from San Jose through Hollister and then Highway 25. This led to the remote Peach Tree Road, which was almost deserted as far as cars was concerned. We reached Paso Robles by the late afternoon, and turned towards the coast.
After passing through Morro Bay and stopping for food, it was pretty much dark. I managed to pick up a series of flats, the last of which exhausted my supply of tubes, and caused a bit of a meltdown. I collected myself and we managed to reach Santa Maria, where we grabbed a few hours of sleep.
We started out the next morning and stopped in Solvang for breakfast, which was hot, big, and very delicious. After climb up and over Gaviota Pass, we were at the coast, but still a long ways away from Ventura. We spent quite a bit of time on the coastal highway before reaching Goleta where we exited onto surface street. Then it was a nice scenic journey along the coast until we reached the finish by late afternoon.
Overall, a very good adventure and one that I hope to return to in the future.
A new gallery has been added. Click the image to go to its page.
Tried to sell Jyoti today, but it looks like we wouldn’t get much for him. Figured as much, but it didn’t hurt to try.
webuyanycat.com has valued my cat at £5.67.
Missy Momma has a nice warm bed to keep her warm on these cold mornings. She’s quite happy with this arrangement, which is a far cry from her former life spent outside.
More pictures of momma, and the other cats, are here.
The 508 starts tomorrow. I am riding as Northern Shoveler There are updates on the 508 here
And real-time GPS updates here
The weather looks decent so it should be a fun ride.
A new gallery has been added. Click the image to go to its page.
A new gallery has been added. Click the image to go to its page.
Looks like the Furnace Creek 508 Roster is shaping up, and my name appears to be on it. I will do my best to honor the race. Less than 6 months to go… I’m already excited.
Not really… But there was snow at the top of King’s Mountain today, deposited during yesterday’s storm. It was about 37° F, or 3° C, at 2000’ elevation. There is even more snow at the higher elevations, but I didn’t get up that high today.
Here’s a picture of my bike frolicking in the snow.
And a picture of Mt. Diablo in the distance across the bay, with its top covered in snow.