After missing some days due to sickness, I got out this morning for a short walk at the Bair Island Wildlife Rufuge and Trail. This is a flat walk by the Bay near Redwood City. I was hoping to see more wildlife than I did, but there were some wildflowers along the trail that were nice. I also took a short walk by the Marina at the end of my walk.
Even though I was still recovering from my cold or flu, I decided to head out to join Lyresa and Tom for the annual Berkeley Hills ride. This is one of my favorite routes, even though it does go past the refineries. Even so, that has its own charm, and no toxic clouds were ridden through.
We even got to ride a bit with some of the other Western Wheelers, doing the E route, but starting later than us. The poppies were out today, which bodes well for our trip to Pacific Grove next weekend, where I’m hoping we see some great flowers like we did in 2023.
Over the last few days, I’ve had a few deliveries, the boxes of which have become irresistible to Arun. As I’ve said many times, a box is a cat trap, and it seems to work every time.
I lived in Belmont for many years but have never been to these parks, even though they are close to several of my favorite climbs.
It was nice to be out on the trails after a period of rainy weather. The trails were mostly dry with a couple of muddy patches. Nothing too difficult to get through.
The snow level was pretty low during the latest storm that passed through last week. I was out on my bike today and managed to see the snow on the high peaks to the east of San Jose.
In November of 2024, I was riding along on my bike on a lovely fall day when I passed a garage sale in progress. I would have continued past it if I hadn’t spotted a vintage bike leaning up against a tree. I stopped to check it out, and found out that it was for sale at a very nice low price of $100. I talked to the garage sale proprietors and told them that I wanted the bike and would return shortly with my van to pick it up. I quickly went home on my bike, grabbed some cash, and returned and was able to acquire a new bike.
The bike itself is a Zanella Pordenone, which I know nothing about. It’s a nice looking bike, with classic geometry, down-tube shifters, and the awkward brake lever position common for bikes of that era. Most of the components looked original, except for the wheels, which were a newer Mavic model, with presta valve tubes. I like that the wheels are modern enough that I can easily change a flat, if I get one.
I haven’t ridden it too much, but today I decided to go run some errands, specifically to go to Mollie Stone’s in Palo Alto. It wasn’t a short distance, but it was pretty flat, which is about what the gearing can handle. Here is a picture of it. It’s a lovely vintage bike, for sure.
With some sort of super sporting competition taking place just down the road from my place, I decided to take advantage of the quiet roads and good weather to hike Long Ridge. I did the usual jaunt on Hickory Oaks Trail to the Wallace Stegner bench, and then down Long Ridge Trail to Peters Creek Trail. I passed by Two Moon Lake on my way back to the car. The weather was nice and the trails were reasonably quiet for a weekend. Pictures are below the fold.
This was the third week in a row where I’ve driven to the start of a Western Wheelers LDT ride. This week it was in Livermore, where we rode up Del Valle, Patterson Pass and Altamont Pass. We skipped a short loop into Livermore for the official lunch stop, as we had already grabbed lunch just on the outskirts of Tracy.
It was the usual suspects with me, Lyresa and Tom, and we were joined by one of the Bobs.
Well, sort of. I wanted to make some pumpkin bread this week. I was going to prepare the pumpkin on Wednesday, but I did a bike ride instead, as I couldn’t do the usual Tuesday ride for… reasons. So, today it was a two-fer, preparing fresh pumpkin from the newly acquired sugar-pie pumpkin I got from the Farmers Market, and then making the bread from that fresh pumpkin. The photos document the key moments in my quest for freshly baked goods.
Two Hills for the price of one. A lovely hike, starting with a good walk to Mindego Hill, with its sweeping views of the hills and ocean, and then back up to Borel Hill, which had its own fine views of the Bay.
