Fog-o-licious

So I blew off going to shoot the fourth, and final for 2007, Cranky Monkey race today. I've been running full-speed for a couple of weeks now and just needed a day to decompress. The idea of being up and out of the house by 7am just didn't sound like fun. And if it's not fun, it's work.

I just got back from a quick, busy trip out to San Francisco.



The wife is out there for a couple of months for job training. Her new employer was nice enough to fly me out for a (much overdo) visit.

I got out there Friday. On Saturday, the wife and I headed north, through Napa wine country and stopped in Calistoga, a cool little town with a post-WWII feel. It also has a bit of a tourist-trap vibe thrown in for good measure. We stopped off at the Calistoga Inn for a drink, where I had a tasty brewed-on-site Calistoga Amber Ale. We then went on to another place for dinner where I got to try a Lagunitas IPA. Tasty. Hoppy. I'll definitely keep my eye out for this again, tho I don't recall ever seeing it here on the east coast. Maybe I just never noticed it. Oh yeah. And I had a mud bath, too. Man, I'm still picking bits of mud outta nooks and crannies. Much like I see skydiving or alligator wrestling, that's one of them once-in-a-lifetime kinda events. Been there, done it. Cross it off the list and move on.

Sunday, we headed south down Highway 1.



A beautiful drive down the coast with stops in Santa Cruz and Carmel (the town formerly under the rule of Mayor Eastwood). Santa Cruz had a cool college-town feel. I could definitely see myself living here (all the hippies not withstanding). At least for a while. Besides...with a town named after a mountain bike company, there have got to be some good trails around there, too. Right?

Monday the wife had to put in a half-day's work, so we stuck around the apartment. She working, I reading the infinitely fascinating "Under the Banner of Heaven" (highly recommended, btw). After the relaxed morning, we decided to wander down and book one of the bay boat tours. Yeah, touristy. But eff it. I'm a tourist.



We left the marina, tooled around under the Golden Gate Bridge, came back around Alcatraz, somewhat close to Angle Island then back to port. The kite surfers took advantage of the high winds and boat wake to give us some acrobatic entertainment. Unfortunately they were too far off for my short camera lens to be of much use.

Tuesday the wife had to go into the office, so I had the day to explore solo. I rented a beater Fuji mountain bike and headed off around the Embarcadero towards the Golden Gate. I crossed the bridge and headed off into the Marin countryside, following the cartoon-quality-map intended for fat tourists on rented hybrids (or in my case, fat tourists on rented mountain bikes), in search of a brown and twisty dotted line bearing the vague description: "MTB Trail".

I make a switchback climb up a gravel road and survey the lay of the land, which looked pretty much like this, except more 3D in real life:



From the top of the hill, I can see the fire-road-width trails a bit further down the road. It takes a bit of searching to find the actual trail-head. Unfortunately, by the time I hit dirt, I'm already a significant number of miles into my ride (for my outta-shape ass). I'm pretty beat, and time is running out (gotta get back into the city to meet the wife when she gets off of work. The perils of a single set of apartment keys). I roam around the dirt for a mile or two (all a gradual climb, damnit). I reach a point, this point as a matter of fact:



and simply turn around. The nice thing about the mile-plus gradual climb is that it becomes a mile-plus moderately-high-speed descent on the return trip.

I make my way back to SF proper the same way I came out to the 'burbs. Google-mapping the whole ride after the fact, it looks like I managed to do about 24 miles of riding.

Oh, the wife and I also took a quick overnight trip to NYC just before xmas. Took the kid and the niece. It was a great trip, but I wish we'd have had more time to roam the city. A few of my snaps can be seen here. I have a bunch more to post process. (See my last post re: motivation and hibernation).

We drove up early Saturday. Stayed over in Jersey. Ferried to NYC. Roamed the south end of the island. Had lunch in some random little cafe. Cabbed it up to Rockefeller Center. Saw the crowds. Saw the tree. Saw the light show on the side of the building. Roamed through Saks for a bit to warm up. Then, under protest, I dragged the family up to 76th St(?) and Fifth Ave to check out the Apple store. Took some quick snaps (not as nice as the official Apple snaps above). Cabbed it back to the ferry. Ferried back to the Jersey. Crashed for the night, then drove home Sunday.

*whew*

Souvenir

When I went to San Francisco a few weeks back, I found the coolest souvenir ever:



It's a 11x17" poster for "The San Francisco Bay Guardian" newspaper, a free Bay area rag (like the DC City Paper).

(Sorry about the weird angle. I had to take the pic from off to the side to avoid the reflection of the flash).

San Fran musings

I was lucky enough to be in SF at the time of the SF bay area VeloSwap hosted (maybe sponsored) by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. VeloSwap is part bike yard sale, part bike industry showcase, and part bike geek hangout. It was fabulous! Thousands of bits and pieces and parts from brake lever hoods (10 for $1) up to a brand-new Specialized Demo9 downhill bike. Fun for the whole family.

So anyway, off in one corner of the Cow Palace was an area set up with a bunch of stationary trainers, a bunch of bikes, a laptop, and a bigass screen. Evidently a race was scheduled. A race based on the terrain of a particular trail of Mount Tam (arguabley the birthplace of mountain biking). The participants of the race were just settling onto the bikes as I arrived, and the first person I noticed was Gary Fisher...



...of Fisher Bikes fame (and arguably, one of the "inventors" of mountain biking). I'm a bit of a fanboy, since I ride two Fisher bikes: a 2002ish Sugar 2, and an old 2000 Aquila that I converted into my singlespeed, so needless to say, I was pretty stoked. Also, being the photogeek that I have lately become, I had my trusty 20D on me, so I whip it out and start shoting.



As I look around, I see other "racers" who look familiar. Later, after the show, I find a flyer which lists the race participants as:

Joe Breeze (Breezer Bikes)
Gary Fisher (Fisher Bikes)
Mike Sinyard (Specialized)
Scot Nicol (Ibis Cycles)
Jaquie Phelan
James McClean

I must have fired off 200 shots in the 10 minutes I was standing there (luckily, I wasn't alone...there were plenty of other people taking pix too). Most of my shots were aimed at Fisher, but I did manage to get in a few of the other racers as well. I believe the rider in Specialized gear next to Fisher is Mike Sinyard (founder and current president of Specialized).



I only now realize, while Googling to figure out who these people were, how much history was sitting 10' in front of me. If I'd have known then that everyone there was a pioneer in mountain biking, I'd have spent more time panning my camera around.

It's nice to see that the San Francisco Bay Guardian's secret monitoring device inside my head is still transmitting.

In their November 10th-16th issue, they said:



On November 5th (well before my November 9th-16th trip), I said:

http://gmr2048.blogspot.com/2004/11/four.html

Mmmmmmm

Fat Tire Amber Ale. Even bought a pair of pint glasses from Mike's Bikes in San Francisco. These west coast people got it pretty good. Gotta see if I can check a 12 pack or two onto the plane for home.

And like that *poof*, he was gone.

Here endeth the blog for a week. The girl and I are off to San Francisco on a 6:30AM flight Tuesday morning. The things we'll do for cheap tickets, huh?

Aside from the 5AM cab ride and 5 hours in the air, I'm expecting a really great time. A town I've never seen...a coast I've never seen (er...West, that is). I've got plenty of tour guides (the girl once lived there and still has a bunch of friends there), a camera with tons of storage space and 7 days to see the sights. Hopefully we'll be able to play in some of the outdoor meccas there. Mt Tam, arguably the birth place of mountain biking, IIRC, is nearby. I may have to try and rent a bike for a bit just to say I've ridden there (if it's even legal to do that anymore). At the very least we're gonna try to get there and do some hiking and possibly camping.

No idea what kind of internet access I'll have, so I'll have to blog the old fashioned way (paper and pencil) then come back and transcribe it all into this computer thingy.

So, think light thoughts about my plane. I have a pretty good grasp of physics, and I understand *why* they stay up. But that doesn't stop them from scaring the shit outta me. Hopefully my local pharmicist will have something to take the edge off. Nothing like vodka and cranberry at 6am. Mmm mmmmm good.

Oh, and in case any of you psycho stalker types were gonna come crash in my house, or steal my underwear or anything creepy while I'm away, keep in mind that the land mines will be armed, and the 6', under-fed pet alligators will be released to roam free in the house while we're away.