Category: bike

The Saturday 8am bike ride with the boys still lives strong. 22 miles and a break at our favorite place. John got a great deal in a California flag so we set it flying today 

At some point during an end of year ride in 2013, John and I were trying to estimate how many miles we ride during the year. Since we did a 23 miler almost every saturday, we knew it had to be at least 1000 miles.

I decided to track my rides and miles during 2014.

December miles = 257

Total 2014 Miles= 2607

Shout out to the creek trail riders for putting many miles in the saddle with me. Special thanks to Barb for pushing me to go as far as I did.

November rides are cold rides. For whatever reason I was able to log 270 miles in the saddle this month. That give me a year to date total off 2350 miles.  Got out there today for a day after Thanksgiving/burn a few of those pecan pie calories,  ride. A lot of people had the same idea. Barb and I took the short way out to Coyote Hills via Ardenwood Farm. Took a right turn once inside Coyote Hills and took dirt trail around Pelican Island (no pelicans today. about 8 turkey vultures though!) and made our way out the last two miles of Alameda Creek. Got on the levee road at the end of the trail and cruised over to our regular rest spot we like to call the “bus stop”. Turns out the bus stop was a busy place today. This curve in the road is where we always take a break. There were already a couple of guys there when we pulled up. Then another couple stopped to check a trail map. Some very rare congestion out in the middle of nowhere.  After a couple of minutes everyone else went on their way and it was just Barb and I.  Before we left, I did take the opportunity to put up old glory out in its rightful spot in the bay. 

Although I didn’t get as many miles in as previous months, October is one of the best months to ride. The weather is great, the seasons are changing, and the trails are clear. 

120 miles for the month

1880 for the year

Got the first ride of November in this morning. Dodged a few raindrops on the way out and all clear the rest of the way. Stayed out of the dirt because of the overnight storms, but took a nice break with Downing at mile marker 11 on the creek trail. 

200 miles in September! 1960 miles for the year!   Thats like riding from Sierra Vista, AZ to Lansing, MI. But for me  it was about 15 trips to Coyote Hills.  Cargill salt continues to be asshats for repeatedly destroying every bench that we put out there. All we want is a place to sit. We put some wood pieces together to sit on and Cargill throws it in bay.  We put big cement rubble pieces together to sit on and Cargill jack-hammers them into nothing.  They also seem to be un-American.  We put out flags and they take them down.  Not sure what the big deal is.  GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

What a beautiful morning. We set out for Coyote Hills via Ardenwood Farm. The Train Fair was going on at Ardenwood, so the parking lot was filling up and there was a line to purchase tickets.  Out to Coyote where things were a little more peaceful.  We stopped at the bus stop and placed a memorial flag in honor of Labor Day and all the hard working stiffs out there.

Turned out to be a pretty good month in the saddle. The normal saturday rides compounded with my lunchtime sprints and a few other rides with Barb made for a total of 274 miles in August.

1760 miles total for the year

That’s like riding from Dhandhuka, Gujarat, India to Behali, Assam, India!!  Dude, thats like all the way across India!

Hit the trail today for a lunch time 12 miler out to Coyote Hills.  Check out the Monthly mile totals!

Jan -245 miles

Feb -226 miles

Mar -250 miles

Apr -220 miles

May -252 miles

Jun -177 miles

Jul – 116 miles

For a Total of……

1486 miles!

and counting

Thats like riding from San Jose to Kansas City

Some how, some way, I pedaled over 250 miles in the month of May.  At one point during the month I was pretty sure that I would NOT hit 200 miles, which I had been able to do every month so far this year. The 75 miles in the saddle over memorial day weekend helped a bunch. It was all gravy after that.

I was out alone today. Vandy umping and Downing Tahoe bound. Did the usual route. Out to Coyote. Up heart attack hill, out to the bus stop, then over to the creek trail and head back home.  Hit the trail early (0730)  since it was an “o solo mio” ride.  It was a nice morning for a ride. Overcast to start with little to no wind. Sun started popping out as I was climbing heart attack.

There is a big old tree on the way out to Coyote Hills near Crandal Creek. The tree looks dead but its big. A couple of falcons built a nice nest way up in the branches. Today on the way out I stopped and took a look throught the binoculars. Sure enough, there were three falcons up there.  Tried to figure out if it was three chicks or a combo of mom dad and chicks.  Nature!!

Saw more nature out at “laughing island”. The spot between the bus stop and end of creek trail where the gulls nest, have sex and raise (and some times eat) their young.   Must be hundreds of them out there.  We started calling the spot laughing island because some mornings the noise from the birds sounds like they are all laughing. After hearing about the debauchery that goes on out there, who knows what the noise really is.  A look through the binoculars this morning found little seagul chicks everywhere! They blended in so well to the dirt that you couldn’t see them with the naked eye. There was also some sex going on!  Never saw that before on laughing island!   Click here for a “sunday morning with Charles Kuralt”  video

The only bummer of the morning was that I got a flat tire on the way home.  Did a quick change and was on my way. The way I figure, if I’m going to get a flat it might as well be out in God’s country. All alone out there. Good thing I had everything I needed to get the job done.

So after I fixed the flat I was back in the saddle, back on the creek trail,  and  quickly coming up to 250 miles on the odometer.  Where would I be when it hit 250? Where or where will I be? Turns out it’s at highway 880 and the creek trail. A place where the hustle bustle of everyday life zooms by on the freeway,  while life on the creek trail goes about 12 miles per hour.  I’ll take the creek trail anyday!!

side note – 1191 miles so far this year!

What better way to spend an hour than to head to the bus stop and back? Twelve miles today and a great picture of the flag.

Who knew that the normal saturday morning bike ride with the boys would get this crazy.  Right off the bat things got bad. Almost as soon as we got on the creek trail a bee flew into my mouth and stung me on the inner lip. OUCH!  I spit that little bugger out but not before he got me good. I wasn’t sure what the hell happened at first and thought it was maybe a bug that bit me, but then soon realized it as a bee sting. Didn’t stop riding though. I thought the picture would show more swelling on the right side but it just make me look more handsome. Like a botox shot for free.  Hurt like hell and still does. Who knew that this picture could end up being my mug shot!

After our normal ride out to Coyote Hills, up and down heart attack hill, we get out to the bus stop to take our normal break. Turns out the  Cargill Guy was trailing us all the way out. He pulls up in his Cargill Salt truck and just sits there a while in his truck. Then goes on his way. He is about a half mile down the levy road when I grab a piece of wood to put on the Portal To Freedom. Thats when Cargill stops, turns around, and heads back our way. He gets out of the Cargill truck and tells us that we have to stop with getting the driftwood and making it stick out of the rocks. When I asked him why he said that its a danger to animals if the wood falls. WTF?! He also said that  park rangers are watching through binoculars over by the Dumbarton Bridge and that if they catch us doing  ANYTHING, that we would be subject to FEDERAL PROSECUTION and fines of up to $575!   He even said that he took our pictures but wouldn’t hand it over to the feds since this was just a warning.  Are you kidding me?!  We are hoping that he was full of bull and just using that “story” to scare us.  If there are tax dollars being spent  to watch me and Downing through binoculars stacking rocks and chucking wood  then I will have to have a chat with my good friend Diane Feinstein. 

So he is basically saying that the portal to freedom is against the law. That the US flag flying in San Francisco Bay is in violation of federal law.

Stay Tuned!