jimsjoint

Spring Equinox Ride - FAIL

Everything lined up yesterday to allow me to go out and get another equinox bike ride under my belt.  Hit the road around 1pm with the intent of heading out to Coyote Hills for a modified lunch time sprint.  Even though it had rained a little the night before, my plan was to head out on the no name trail to the bus stop. I thought I'd give it a try and if it were too muddy, just turn around and head back. As I got to the beginning of 'no name", I noticed a runner way down the trail heading out. I figured I was good to go as far as the mud. Things were ok at the start. No problems at all. Then about  a half mile in, things started to get muddier.  I've done more than a couple of muddy rides out there so it wasn't like I was unprepared. The key is to keep going. Don't stop. It wasn't even that bad. Then something happened.

Not sure how or why, but I began to slide, and as I did, something jammed and didn't allow me to peddle.  So much for not stopping. UGH! As soon as I looked I knew I was screwed. The "hanger" on my rear derailleur had twisted somehow and ripped off. It was just hanging there off the chain. The derailleur itself was all bent up too. What the hell?! I thought about taking a picture of the mess but I was too damn pissed off.

No way to fix it or even ride it back so I started the long push back to Coyote Hills. So much for the lunch time sprint!  Found the driest part of the trail and tried to stick to it. Its then I notice that my back wheel wasn't even spinning. I figure its caked up mud so get a stick and poked the mud out and off. No luck! Still stuck. So pushing the bike back was a little harder than usual. It wasnt until I got off the no name trail that I was able to figure out that my wheel was not totally on the fork. Somehow the wheel got loose. What a mess.  I called Barb to come rescue me with the truck. THANKS HONEY!!  She pulled into Dairy Glen parking lot right when I was walking around the bend.

Once home, I hosed off the beast and got a good look at what may have happened. All I can figure is that my back wheel WAS loose. The combination of mud buildup and then sliding a little made the wheel come off partially and  rip the hanger from the derailleur. My best guess. If that is true, I'm just glad it happened out there and not coming down heart attack hill.

Dropped off at the Bicycle Garage for repair. Looks like about an $80 fix but should be back in the saddle by Saturday.

Good Bye Jack

I didn't want too much time to pass without saying good bye to a good friend and great dog. Staci's faithful loyal and true boy, Jackson, passed away last week.  He had become sick and we found out just a few days before that he had cancer.  Staci did the right thing and didn't let him suffer.  Jack lived  a good life and touched many. He was really REALLY a great dog. You will be missed my friend!

I have a lot of pictures of Jackie but here are my top four. The first says it all. Jackson in his element. Peaceful and handsome on his mom's lap. All is good in the world. The next is little puppy Jack on the first day we met him. Staci brought him over to introduce him to the family. After a long day of fun, he was OUT!

 

Six months later Jack was back  and after a exhausting morning playing with Niya, I look out on the front porch and Jack is OUT LIKE A LIGHT! I mean he was sleeping so hard. You can really tell in the picture.

 

I love this one of a still young Jackson, trying to figure out how to open that damn back door! He was smart. Almost too smart.

 Until we meet again Jack...

 

 

 

 

Parker Time - North Carolina vacation

This vacation couldn't come soon enough. It had been 5 months since we saw our grandson and we were getting Parker fever! We need some Parker in our lives. He had reservations on a red eye flight out of SFO on Feb 13th.  Kelly was also going and red eyeing it from LAX.  We met up in the ATL (Atlanta) and flew together to Jacksonville NC.  No problems with the flight there other than almost missing our flight to Jacksonville. They changed the gate and for whatever reason we didn't hear it so we had to hightail it to another terminal and get on right when they were closing the flight. Whew!

Either way, we arrived in Jacksonville as scheduled and started our week of Parker time. Kate, Frank and Parker met us at the airport and we all headed to their house together. To say that Parker has grown in the last 5 months is an understatement. When we last saw him in September, he was a small little two month old bundle of joy who (if we were lucky and coaxed him enough) would give us that precious little smile. Today he is a strapping young 7 month old who is crawling, standing, jabbering, and giving you that smile that mealts your heart.

 I wish we could say that we did a lot of different things on our vacation, but all we really wanted to do was spend some quality time with Parker. Oh, and Kate and Frank too! Frank actually got some leave while we were there so we really did get to spend time with everyone. It was so great.

The plan was to go out to dinner for my birthday, but who knew that EVERY Marine in Jacksonville would be taking wives, girlfriends, husbands out for a Valentines dinner. It was crowded everywhere but we ended up having a nice meal at Chili's. Can never go wrong with a rib eye steak.

I'm proud to say that most of the rest of the vacation was dedicated to Parker. Holding Parker,  talking to Parker, playing with Parker, helping Parker stand and balance, feeding Parker, changing Parker (ok not me but everyone else). Parker Parker Parker!!  Along with every activity also included taking pictures and video. I tell ya, this kid must have felt like a Hollywood kid with the Flaherty paparazzi always around. Mostly I enjoyed just watching Parker be Parker. Like I said he is seven months old and just starting to become aware. He will be playing on the floor or in his swing and all of a sudden will notice his hand. Then he will spend a few minutes just looking at his hand, moving his fingers, back and front. He seems just facinated by his own hand. Too damn cute!!.

Kate and Frank have a new dog, Simon, that we also got to know. A beautiful lab mix rescue dog that needs lots of love and time to become a real dog again.  Simon is a great dog who is only going to get better, better with the Lee family love and support.  GOOD DOG SIMON!

Kate and Frank also have chickens. Five hens out in the backyard in a coop that Frank built, and six little chicks in the house in their own little indoor coop (first a big bucket tub then a dog kennel when they started to escape). They are getting 3-4 eggs a day from the hens out back.

During Christmas, when we knew we were coming to visit in February, we decided to hold off on exchanging gifts and instead do it when we were all together.  We packed a whole other suitcase with Christmas presents (and clothes for Parker) and had a nice little family Christmas in February. It really   felt  like Christmas on the next night because it SNOWED!  Here we thought we would get some nice "southern" weather while we were there but instead got a freak snow storm. It was still cool. Of course we were excited and even built a mini snowman and had a short (because that snow is cold!!) backyard snowball fight.

In the Christmas tradition, we made enchiladas one night while we were there. Not a multi dozen batch like usual, just a pan of corn and a pan of flour tortilla. They turned out great and were devoured that night and the next day.

Kate and Frank took Kelly to the shooting range one day, but not before getting some pointers out in the backyard. Kelly turned out to be a pretty good shot. Barb even took a try and did good as well. Another time the three (Kelly, kate and Frank) of them went to a party at some Sargents house. When they were all gone it was true Parker time with Gramma and Grandpa.  We were happy Kate and Frank could get out of the house and enjoy some time with Kelly.  Frank is such a great guy and its good to see him getting closer to Kelly. I'm proud to have him as part of our family.

The weather wasn't that great while we were there but who cares? We weren't there to lay on the beach and go golfing.  We did manage to get to the coast once so Kelly could at least see the Atlantic Ocean. We went over to Swansboro one day to get some apple fritters at a place where everyone on YELP was raving about. They were great!

I cooked some while I was there.  Made chicken wings one night, gluten free pancakes one morning for breakfast,  gluten free breaded chicken another night, and of course the enchiladas, where everyone participated.

Before we knew it, time was running out on our vacation and it was our last day. We stopped at Camp Geiger on the way to the airport to visit the chapel that Kate and Frank got married at and to show Kelly where Kate and Frank had met. It was hard to say good bye.  Kate, Frank and Parker make such a wonderful family.  They are truly in love and they care for and love our grandson just like we knew they would. We couldn't be happier or more proud. We know that only the best is ahead for the Lee family.

So we said our goodbye and flew with Kelly to Atlanta, then said goodbye to her as she flew back to LAX. 20 minutes later we were on our flight back to SFO.   

 

Paper or Plastic? BYOBag!

The new year always comes with a flurry of laws or regulations that were passed in the previous year and take affect on January 1. One interesting law
that took place in Alameda county this year was that supermarkets would stop supplying plastic bags. In addition, they would also start charging 10 cents per
paper bag. In other words people, start bringing your own bags!!

I think this is a good thing. Over the years we must have gotten 10,000 plus plastic bags from the store. I think this is how hoarders start out, just storing plastic shopping bags. Even though we found many uses for them (picking up dog poop, wrapping Christmas ornaments, packing material for shipping boxes) there were still many many many MANY left over.  Those we didn't use we put in
our recycle bin. Plastic bags are right up there with plastic bottles as a leading contributor to pollution and litter. Pulling these littered bags out of
storm drains costs big bucks every year.

Before the new year we were half assed "BYOB'ers". We had a half dozen reusable bags that we bought from Trader Joe's. Even have a nice SF Giants bag.
Only problem is that I would always forget them.

So even though I knew about the law and thought I was prepared, the first time I went shopping in the new year, I forgot the bags! It didn't dawn on me until I was half way through the store with a dozen or so items in my basket. I figured I'd do the "Costco" thing and just put my items back in the shopping cart. A pain in the ass but a lesson learned. I saw other people doing the same thing. I bet Safeway made a mint that day selling their reusable bags.

From that day on I made sure that our reusable bags were in the back of the car. I still forget them and have to leave my cart to run out and get them, but I'm getting better. I can only imagine how much good this law has done in the few weeks it has been in affect. I feel good about this one.

One interesting thing about the new law is that people on food
stamps/assistance get free paper bags. Huh?

Winter on the Creek Trail - Western Flyway - Pelican Brief

Its winter on the creek trail so that means cold mornings, less people and more birds. It was a different type of cold yesterday, never really warmed up. Saw almost ZERO people out there, all home and snuggled in bed I suppose. The birds were out in force though.  San Francisco Bay is part of the great western flyway, the path migrating birds take when heading south for winter. The numbers that hang out (particularly at low tides) are astounding!  So many whatchamacallits and whatevertheyares just resting and feeding in the shallows.  When a group takes off the sounds breaks the morning silence and sounds like a far away plane or car zooming past on a road. When a swarming group of thingamagigs fly pass and turn quickly, it looks like a beautful dance on the wind.  And all this a mere 5 miles from home!

We are always seeing pelicans cruising the shallows and salt ponds, occasionally diving for a tasty morsel. There must be several types of pelicans out there because some seem HUGE compared to others.

So yesterday as we were coming off the levy road and turning onto the creek trail (mile marker 11), John saw some movement in the mud where the creek empties into the bay. Sure enough it was a pelican. John (Audubon) was trying to get a good bird pic all morning, scaring away both great blue herron and ecret in an attempt to get a close up with his handy dandy phone cam. The great blue flew away mad, neck fully extended and squawking away. You don't want a great blue mad at you.

So Johnny boy takes off to get a closer look at the pelican, over the rickety wooden plank that spans a small outlet and into the mud. The picture above is John out in no mans land.  He got within 5 feet and took these great pics. This report according to John: the bird was sitting on a mud mound of some kind, staring at a torn up blue and white sofa cushion that had washed up with the tides. John said it was almost like he was praying to it, or in love with it. 

"Are you my Mother!?"

Since old pelican pete didn't look shot or tangled in anything, we went on our way. Maybe just in love with the cushion.  John did call the park ranger and they said they would go out and take a look to make sure he was ok. Click here to check out my video perspective on jimsjoint YouTube Channel

 

On a side note, someone had taken our flag (now beat up after many months in the elements)  that we put out at the bus stop and stuck it in the mud! John had to go rescue it and put it in its rightful place.

 

 

 

It's Christmas time in the City

Kelly is up for Christmas, and Barb bought us tickets to go see the Lion King at the Orphium Theater in San Francisco. Last night was the big night and it couldn't have turned out better.  Our plan was to drive and park. The weather was iffy all day and traffic was pretty bad getting up to the city (95 minutes going up, 35 minutes going home) but we left early and got there with plenty of time to spare.

Parked at the Civc Center Garage and walked the short two blocks to the Orphium. The weather was cooperating. It had been raining all day, but as we walked to the theate,r all was clear. Brought the umbrella and only needed is a little on the way back to the car.  There was definitely a hustle bustle in the city. Families dressed in Christmas best  hurrying to see the Nutcracker at Davies Symphony Hall.  Tourists like us were out taking pictures of City Hall bathed in Christmas red and green.  Two block walk and we met the sellout crowd waiting at the theater. After ten minutes the doors opened and....let  the show begin!

I've heard about the broadway production of Lion King. Barb had gone to a production in San Jose a few years ago. Even though I knew what to expect, it was still amazing.  The cast, the "costumes", the lighting, the stage, the music, all came together to tell the story. Just like the movie!  We all liked it. Loved it!!  The Orphium is something to see itself. Old style theather that first opened in 1926. We pre-ordered drinks for intermission (cool!) so we didn't even have to wait in line.  After the show  it was a quick rainy walk back to the car, but not before taking one final shot of city hall, this time standing in middle of street (thank God for little traffic and a long "walk" signal). City Hall, with it's Christmas Tree out front, made a fitting end to the fantastic night. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Grandma's Tree

Way back in the 80's, when my parent's were retired in Rohnert Park, my mom took a ceramics class. The result was a plethora of ceramic goodies that she created. I'm not sure what all is involved, but one result was a beautiful little Christmas tree that lights up. The Tree stands about two feet tall, has the wierdest,longest light bulb going up the middle, then holes to put in the  light like ornaments. We have put this tree up over the years and even kidded the girls that we would forgoe the traditional "live" tree and instead go with Grandma's tree.  The best thing about the tree is what is etched into the base

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this year Grandma's tree is up in all its glory. Thanks MOM and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

King Tide Ride 2012

King Tide - an unusually high tide that occurs only once or twice a year. So its the highest tide of the year. A time when the sun, moon and earth are aligned and closest together. When the tidal pull is strong!   A normal high tide around these parts is 6.5 ft.- whatever that means. This week's King tide was supposed to be 10.3 ft! So, since we are always riding out the bay, we have a pretty good idea as to what high and low tides look like. So we made plans to do a little King Tide Bike Ride Thursday to see what is up, literally!  Barb, John and myself took a nice easy ride from parking lot of Coyote Hills park over to the creek trail and to the end of the bay. When we made that first turn to where we could see Alameda Creek where it empties into the bay, we knew it was a VERY high tide. The "creek" is really a flood control channel that must me 200 feet across. Water was from side to side (which is NEVER is) and pretty high. Stopped and took a couple of pictures, then headed the short 2 miles to the end of the trail. The water line was about has high as I've eve seen it. Still not as high as I thought it would be but still pretty pretty high. Took the loop back via the (somewhat muddy) bus stop. To see water lapping up on the levy road as something that rarely happens. 

Here is before and after shots of Alameda Creek - King Tide Style

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

King Tide before and after

More King Tide Before and After

Thankful

It was a very nice Thanksgiving weekend for us. Even though Kate, Frank and Parker are clear across the country, it was a good feeling to know that they were spending the holiday with Frank's Family in Florida. We know all of Frank's family got plenty of "Parker time." We got some Parker time too! Tango is a cool app for the phone that lets you video conference!!! I love technology!! It lets me see my grandson real time!

We picked Kelly up from the airport on Wednesday morning and had pre-planned on going to breakfast. Headed to our old favorite, Country Way, for a great (as usual) breakfast.  After that is was home to do some pre-Thanksgiving cooking.  Since it was just going to be the three of us,  and we were trying to keep the menu simple, it wasn't as stressful as it could be. Even got in a late afternoon bike ride with the boys! So late afternoon that it was getting dark by the time we were done!

Thanksgiving morning we pulled together an impromptu bike ride with Team Downing.  Creek trail to the end of the bay on a sunny Thanksgiving morning.  California baby!!  Kelly on Barb's hybrid and Barb on her road bike.  We even had time for a quick coffee at Starbucks before we headed home for football on TV and Thanksgiving dinner.

Rotisserie Turkey - Sage sausage stuffing with red wine and sour cream - broasted brussell sprouts with parm cheese and pine nuts - sweet potato casserole - sour cream mashed potato and garlicy gravy - rolls-cranberry sauce - pecan pie - pumpkin pudding crunch.

Food coma!

The rest of the weekend was chill. Did a nice long (6 mile) creek trail walk with Barb. While we were walking, Kelly was hiking Mission peak with Melissa Rynd. Kelly and Melissa met up with Nae Nae Camello at some point after, and they all met up at our house for some hot tubbing. For whatever reason they wanted to do some sort of cooking/holiday project. After much discussion and brainstorming, they decided to make a "holiday donut house." Similar to a gingerbread house but made out of donuts.  They had fun making it and we had fun eating it!

Saturday we went and saw "Life of Pi" at the new theater complex in Fremont. Good movie!  The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend is always bittersweet. After being off for three days, Sunday usually hits hard. The realization that work looms the next day is always rough for me.  It was a cold morning and Kelly had been begging for a fire in the fireplace, so we started a fire and watched football all day. Dropped Kelly off at the Oakland airport around 8pm, and the weekend was over.

A Decade of Digital

So today is our good friend Tanya Champagne's birthday. Happy birthday TKL!!

Occasionally when a good friend has a birthday, I like to go back into the Flaherty digital archives and pull up a picture of that person, and send it along in an email with birthday wishes. Now that social networks are in vogue, its even easier to share old pics with friends, with the added benifit of allowing friends of friends to see the same picture.

So today I'm sifting through our digital archive. Since we go WAY back with the Champagne Crew, they are in many pics. As I was looking over some classic pictures from 2002,  I realized that was a decade ago!  Ten years of digital pictures!  So here are the first few Flaherty digital pics from an August weekend in 2002.

The first picture is of Kelly. She was going to a Dance with Ernesto. She looks so pretty here.

 

Then the next day we all went to the beach then over to Diane Abel's house in Scotts Valley for dinner. We brought Sammy Sturm along for the fun.

 

 

 

 

 

Over the next weeks, months and YEARS,  the digital archives grew and grew and GREW! Today we have over 14,000 digital pictures!  Memories!  Now I can start doing a "ten years ago today" retrospective! 

Thanks for getting me going Tanya!! And again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Hope you enjoy the pic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise Ride + Dirty Girl Mud Run + Giants Win = GREAT DAY

Couldn't ask for a better day yesterday. Early EARLY morning bike ride with John Downing. Dark at 7:00am when we met at the courthouse to begin our ride. It started to lighten up a bit when we got on the creek trail but there was NOBODY out there with us. Had the trail to ourselves.  Did our usual ride down the trail then off into Coyote Hills. The sun was just now starting to climb up behind Mission peak. Stopped in the middle of the tules and took a rare sunrise bike ride pic.  No Heart attack hill this morning since I was on a schedule. Cruised out to the "bus stop" and took a break. ZERO wind, calm waters and total quiet. I mean so quiet that we could hear the traffic on the dumbarton bridge. So quiet that a flock of birds taking flight sounds like a car  driving by on a road. So quiet that a great blue herron let us get within about 10 feet of him, which is oh so rare. Check out the video by clicking here.

Home by 9:30, showered dressed and off to root Barb and Marie on in the Dirty Girl Mud Run held at the Alameda Fairgrounds. 6000 girls getting wet and muddy on a 5k obstacle course that wove its way around the fairgrounds. All in the name of breast cancer research.  When Barb said there would be 6000 women participating I was skeptical, but when we got to the fairgrounds I realized this was a big deal. The girls checked in and made there was to the starting gate. They had set it up so people started in "waves" every 15 minutes. Our girls went off at 11:15. Down a long stretch then back towards us where they climbed some huge inflated pyramid thing.  I guess it was "photo op" time because all the girls were climbing up then sitting and letting people take pics. Then the girls were off and around back to the first mud pool that they had to walk or crawl through (or I guess some girls just walk around if they want). Then they disappeared doing the rest of the course. Ron and I got a brewski, Talked to old St. Leonard's dad Lance Vivet who we met there (his wife Terri was running), and waited for our girls to bring it on home. The last two obstacles before the finish line were a rope ladder climb and a final (low crawl) mud pit. Then the finish. Normally it would be hugs all around, but these girls were MUDDY! The plan was to have the girls shower at the shower tent then hang around for the music and atmosphere. Did I mention that it was about one of the MOST beautiful days of the year?! 80 degrees on late October day. I LOVE CALIFORNIA!!!

Anyway, the shower line was a mile long, so we just headed back to Marie and Ron's (three blocks) so the girls could get a real shower. We were all starving so then it was off to Main Street  Pleasanton for lunch at Boci Bistro. Grilled Artichoke, steamed mussels, steak sandwich , shared cheesecake and lemonchello tartufo for dessert!  WOW! Another cool thing during lunch was that we both got calls from our kids! Kate (and Parker) did a quick "tango" call with us, and young Dr. Ron called Marie and Ron. We talked about how nice it is that our kids call US while we are living the dream.

So far, this is a pretty great day, Bike ride, Mud Run 80 degree weather, fantastic lunch.   Can life get any better?!    Yes!!

A leisurely ride back to Marie and Ron's and just in time for the start of World Series Game 3!!  When the Giants went up 2-0 I knew it was going to be a good night!  Grilled hot dogs with kraut during the 7th inning stretch, then watched Lincicum and Romo come in, to close the Tigers down!  I'm happy for those boys. WOOHOO!!!

A handful of halloween candy (go to this Marie's house, they give the best!) and it was time for us to go home, but what a great day it was!! Started off with peaceful, rare, sunrise ride. Mid-day surrounded by 6000 wet and muddy and wet women, great food, great friends, Giants win and all is well in the world!! I slept great last night too!

Check out the videos here

Check out the pictures here

Pleasanton Ridge Bike Ride

Decided to try to switch things up a bit from our normal Alameda Creek trail / Coyote Hills bike ride. There had been an inkling to do either Pleasanton Ridge or Calavaras Rd, so this weekend we headed over to the Ridge to try our legs at climbing some hills. We just didn't know it would be hill after hill after hill after hill.

I had hiked the Ridge plenty of times, either with Barb alone or with various friends and hiking buddies. I know that its an uphill climb (either hiking or riding) to the ridge. What I failed to remember was that once in the ridge, its just a series of up and down hills as you traverse the ridge. For some reason, in my minds eye, the rolling traverse was more rolling and less up and down, when the reality is that it IS up (mostly UP) and down.

Either way, Downing picked me up at 0730 and we were off to Pleasanton.  We didn't find out until we got to Niles Canyon that the road was closed for repairs or something. We saw guys trimming trees and stuff. So, we took the long way around and eventually made our way to Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. Since we were somewhat early we had no problem finding parking. Soon we were saddled up and ready to ride!

Needless to say, its an uphill. An uphill right from the start. After about a quarter mile of up, we realized we probably should have stretched or warmed up a bit more before we started. After a while the trail did level out a bit so we were able to catch our breath. But an uphill climb is an up hill climb, and climb we did. After we pass through a cattle guard gate, we knew we were near the ridge.  The rolling hills may be rolling when you are riding down them, but going up is a different story. Some were so hard that I had to get off and push my bike up a couple of times. Along the way we met a guy who was walking, that said he turns around at the gate up ahead and it works out to be a 7 mile round trip. So a three and half mile up hill followed by a three and a half mile down.

We couldn't have picked a more perfect morning to try this ride.  We were blessed with a little cloud cover as we made our way up, but other than that it turned out to be a sunny and bright fall morning. Saw about 25 BIG turkeys making their way through the hills. The view from the ridge was beautiful. We could see the windmills at Altamont Pass. The view of Mission Peak and the Sunol Regional Wilderness, could make you forget about civilization. Even the mighty 680 freeway looks small from our perspective.

We made our last uphill to the gate that the walker had talked about, and decided to turn around. In what was an hour plus up chug, would turn into a 7 minute downhill whirlwind. At one point, John and I stopped at the top of one rise because we knew the downhill was very steep. John took off and did great. I, on the other hand did not do great.  The downhill was so steep at one point that I was trying to work both brakes so I wouldn't be going so fast that I would lose control. I guess I over compensated on one brake or the other because I started to fishtail. I knew I was going down so tried (think I did anyway) minimize impact. Went down hard on my right knee, then did a couple of somersalts and ended up in a cloud of dust.  There was a group of kids that were on the top of the hill that came running. "are you all right?". By then I was up and dusting myself off, retrieving my cell phone and pocket knife that went flying, and (this time ) more slowly made my way down the rest of the hill.

Other than the fall, the rest of the way down was fun. There were a a couple of  "bone jarring, tooth rattling, hold on for dear life"  down hill sections, but for the most part if was smooth sailing all the way down. Only problem was, it was too short!!  To me it seemed that for all the uphill effort, the downhill reward wasn't that worth it. It was still fun!

It really wasn't until we got back to the truck and were cooling down that I could take assessment of my crash injuries. My right knee took the brunt with a pretty good scrape. I could feel the other spots in body ( left shoulder left leg right calf) where I probably agrivated something. Could have been worse but it wasn't.  I have to admire the guys that ride their bikes up there. I saw one guy FLYING down the same hill that I crashed on. I think I'll stick to the creek trail.

Check out the video here.

Tahoe Vacation 2012 - Family fun in Fremont

I know I have a lot of catching up to do as far as posting goes, but what better way than to post about one of the BEST vacations ever.

Kate Frank and Parker arrived as SFO on 9/11. We got to spend a few quiet days at home before we all packed up and headed to Lake Tahoe for a week. Did manage a Mission Peak hike and Coyote Hills bike ride with Frank before we headed to the Sierras.   For Barb and I the vacation was all about spending some quality time with our new grandson, and that's what we pretty much ended up doing.  Friday the 14th we drop the dogs with Marie and Ron (we owe you so much!!) and arrive at Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort at check in time. Nice, newly remodeled room on the 5th floor over looking the pool, courtyard and Lake. I like it! Only problem (and not to me, I thought it was cool) was that they were doing a major remodel on one section of the resort, so they had the courtyard blocked off and heavy equipment replaced the BBQ pits and common areas. We got to spend the days watching the workers put up new siding and roofing. I thought it was cool.

Barb and I went to Reno airport Friday night to pick up Kelly. YAY for family vacations!  Team Downing came up for the weekend. Staci and Colin came for a few days.  Kate had a girlfriend come up for a night and Frank had a buddy and his wife come for a couple of nights as well. My sister and Joe were staying at the Keys, it was an action packed (not so much) family and friend filled (yes!) fun times.

Saturday morning did a mamoth grocery shopping trip to stock up for the week, then settled in for vacation. Anne Marie and Joe had rented a house in Tahoe Keys for a week. They invited all of us over to have lunch, enjoy the view from the water front home, and watch some college football and MLB.  It was so nice to spend some quiet time with family and friends in such a peaceful and scenic place. Thanks for the invite sis!!

Sunday morning was time for a good bike ride. Frank and I headed to Team Downing's house where we saddled up and headed via the keys to Fallen Leaf Lake, then further up to Lily lake. A nice, high altitude 26 miler to kick off our Tahoe vacation!  On the way back down from Lily Lake, Michelle wanted to show us the Fallen Leaf Lake Chapel. Lucky for us, Services were just wrapping up so we got a little spiritual nudge and got to meet and mingle with some nice people that attended the service. Great ride!!

At some point on Sunday everyone left to do things and it was just Barb and I along with Colin and Parker. Total grandparent time. Had tons of fun building a blanket fort in the room with Colin. Even took him for a swim downstairs, which ended abruptly when he later saw his mom waving at us from the balcony of our room. Another time Colin and I took a walk over to Ski Run Marina and shared a fantascially refreshing watermelon sorbet. We are both hooked on them now! He still has a little on his chin in this picture.

Sunday night Staci made some awesome spaghetti (squash and regular pasta)  with a three meat sauce! Bacon, sausage and ground beef. Best I ever had!!! One morning Kelly made some great breakfast biscuits. Then tuesday Frank made his famous chili. This after drinking 3+ "rock hard" Wet Woodys at the Riva Grill across the way.  Needless to say, we ate good while we were in Tahoe.

The rest of our week is a bit of a blur, only because we mostly just hung around the resort reconnecting with family. It was nice to spend some time with Parker. We watched him sleep, talked to him when he was awake, held him, fed him, changed him (ok that was all Barb) gave him baths. He is a great baby! Kate and Frank are great parents. Barb is a great grandma!  We encouraged everyone to go do whatever they wanted.  We got  the grandkids!

The vibe up at Tahoe was different than when we normally come up. For the last many years, we would come up on 4th of July week. The busiest summer week of the year. Last year it was August. This year it was middle of September and pertty much empty. Zero kids (all back in school) and pretty much all older folks and couples. I like the quiet. The weather was great. Nice during the day and chilled down nicely at night. We blew the conch at sunset every night.

Thursday morning we packed up and headed home. Took a detour down highway 99 so Frank could check out the Bass Pro Shop super store in Manteca. An outdoor lovers dream come true. He, Kate and Kelly wandered around in there for an hour or so while we watched (fed, changed) Parker in the car. Then it was over to Marie and Ron's to pick up the dogs. They not only watched our dogs but treated us to pizza dinner too! And then home.

Had a couple more days of family time. Took Kelly and Frank on my normal saturday 8am bike ride with the boys. I was happy to bring them along and show them all the fun we have on our rides. Also took Frank on a couple more rides before they left. He and I did 92 miles on the bike and a Mission Peak hike while on vacation.

We (sadly) dropped Kelly off at the airport on Sunday. I too went back to work on Monday, but Kate and Frank had one more thing on their agenda. They both went skydiving in Watsonville! It started out as a surprise for Frank (we was surprised and VERY excited) ended up being a jump for both of them. Needless to say they both came home very excited to share the experience with us. They want to add skydivng to the list of things they do when they come to visit. Have at it I say. We'll watch Parker.

All in all one of my most favorite vacations.

Tuesday morning it was 0345hrs wake-up call. Kate, Frank and Parker had a 6am flight out of SFO. We were back home by 5:15am and they were home in North Carolina around 8 hours later.

Click here for a link to the vacation pictures.

Click here to watch the videos!

 

Dairy Glen Campout - Blue Moon weekend

We had so much fun at last year's Dairy Glen campout that we decided that we should do it again. I looked on the 2012 calendar for a weekend when there was a full moon. Lucky us, Labor Day weekend was just that. Friday night was last day of August and a Blue moon (second full moon of the month). We booked Saturday and Sunday night to camp. With the Monday holiday it gave a little time to relax before going back to work.

Turned out to be a great weekend.  I headed over to Coyote Hills around 2pm on Saturday. Team Vandy was already there setting up their tent city. Steve had to ref a game so they would leave and come back later. I set up my tent and started to get the campground ready for the weekend. Camp stove, Ice chest, food box. Frisbee, oh and dont forget the bike! Around 5pm Team Downing showed up fresh from a Cal football game. Team Vandy came back and we settled in for pizza around the campfire.  And sure enough, that full moon rose over the eastern hills and illuminated the night sky, just as planned.

So the first night was "men's night", meaning the women folk chickened out and went home (two miles) to sleep warm in their beds. This, while the men stayed warm by the fire late into the night. We did do a night ride up and down heart attack hill, mostly to get a view of the Dumbarton Bridge. Coincidently, the bridge was closed all weekend for earthquake retrofitting, so seeing the empty bridge was a rare site indeed. Somewhat eery, considering some 50,000 cars used it everyday. Eventually we put the last piece of wood on the fire and called it a night.  I won't kid you. That first night was a bit frosty. Woke up twice to put more layers of clothes on and really didn't sleep that well at all.

Up early Sunday for a bike ride! Nothing like starting our ride right at the park! We headed out to the bus stop at low tide and placed an American Flag out on the rocks (and old ship wreckage) that are always under water at high tide.  The plan was to have the flag sticking out of the water and waving in the wind at high tide. Goofed around a bit more then headed back for a campfire breakfast.

People came to visit on Sunday! All the wives came back. Al and Debbie stopped by. Tim and Linda stopped by. Eventually things settled and it was just the creek trail riders and their women. In late afternoon we headed back out to the bus stop to see how the flag was looking at high tide. It was pretty cool to see old glory blowing in the wind way out in the water. I wonder what people will think when they ride by and see it. It definitly looks cool out there.

Sunday night was a much better night. Not as cold, and the girls were all there! Steve bbq'd some chicken and we ate like kings. Smores for dessert and all was well in the world. I learned my lesson from the night before and really prepared for bed, and slept like a baby! 

Up early again Monday morning and took it nice and slow eating breakfast and packing up.  The bonus of this camp trip is that the house is only 3 miles from home.

 

Welcome to the world - Parker James Lee

and today we had a grandson.......

Creek Trail Riders on the Purisima Creek / Whittemore Gulch loop

Got to love it when Vandenbusch plans a ride. We were on the road just after 6am for our short trip over to Half Moon Bay and the Purisima Creek Redwoods open space preserve. Steve's buddy Dean had done this ride and told Steve about it. They did a test ride last week to see if it was do-able for us old guys. Turns out it was so away we went. Highway 92 over Skyline blvd and into HMB with windshiled wipers going. Another summer day on the coast! South on Highway 1 then a left back toward the moutains. After a 3 mile winding trip we came upon the trailhead (first ones there at 7am!) and saddled up.

A nice steady 4 mile climb up Purisima Creek Trail. Just a beautiful, quiet morning. We could hear the creek running along side us. The vegetation was CRAZY!  It was so GREEN! As my dad used to say, "look at all the greens"  There were so many. The combination of ferns, wildflowers, berries, along with hundreds of redwoods, moss covered pines,  and plenty of "coastal scrub", made for a ride that is really different than our normal saturday morning ride.

Although it was beautiful, it was still a moderately difficult 4.5 mile uphill climb. There were a couple of spots where we had to get off and walk, but for the most part we ride the entire way up. Although we did stop a few times just to suck wind, I mean, take a break.  Once we got to the top of the trail, we popped out at Skyline Blvd (highway 35). The plan was to head north to a restaurant that served breakfast. We never did find a place open that early, but we did do a super fun (coasting at 30 mph) down hill on part of Skyline. So much fun in fact that we didn't hear Steve's phone ringing with Dean wanting to  tell us we went too far and missed the cutoff to the trail back down.  Once we did realize that the super fun downhill now means a not so super fun uphill, we chugged our way (4 mph) back up to meet Dean.

The trail we took down was called the Whittemore Gulch Trail. Its downhill, its single track, and its awesome. The first part of the trail was a steep downhill where I really had to lean back for fear of going over the handle bars.  After the downhill leveled out somewhat, we came upon a series of switchbacks that showed what a novice I am when it comes to mountain biking. I took it real slow around the hairpin turns, but not slow enough. My handle bars clipped  a nearby tree and down I went.  Back on the bike with a scraped and bloody knee and finished the super fun downhill. Some of the parts were so fun, like a roller coaster but on  a bike, and almost out of control! WOOHOO!!!!! Before we knew it we were at the bottom of the trail and back at the car. Headed into town to have a victor's breakfast then back home by 12:45.

Check out a video here

and here

Rock Stacking at the Bus Stop

The boys and I always take a mid-ride break near a make-shift bench way out on the levy road that runs between Coyote Hills and the end of the Alameda Creek Trail.   As mentioned before,  its about as close as you can get to the middle of nowhere and still be smack dab in the middle of 4 million people that surround the bay. When we first started to take our breaks out there, we would throw rocks into the water (or mud, depending on the tide) or try to hit a stick that was sticking out of the mud. We found a metal ring and hung it on the stick and tried to throw rocks through the ring. When someone took the ring and broke the sticks we decided to build something that would be harder to tear down.

So, on every ride we have gone on since, we have thrown a couple of rocks onto a pile that sits out on the mud during low tide. Slowly but surely, ride after ride and rock after rock, our little rock pile is beginning to grow. We throw a couple rocks on, some small, some medium, and few large (too heavy!!)  I think our ultimate goal is to have the rocks clear the water line during high tide.  Oh what a day that will be!

The last few times out (and before we leave)  we have started to stack em high in hopes that they would survive the winds and tides (and rock throwers?!). Everytime we come back the stack is toppled. But that only makes the base stronger!

Kite Surfing at Coyote

We always talk about seeing something new or different every time we go on a bike ride. This ride was no different. As we were heading out the levy road to the "bus stop", we noticed a couple of kite surfers. At first it looked like they were doing their thing in the bay waters, but as we got closer it was apparent that they were actually IN the old salt reclamation pond! This water is only about 18 inches deep, but I guess if you are a good kite surfer it doesn't matter.  These guys were good! Needless to say, it was another windy afternoon on the bay, so these guys had perfect conditions. I took a few videos that you can check out by clicking here.