Day 946: Up the Mountain I Go

Railroad Grade

It was really nice to ride up the mountain today. The skies were clear and the sun was warming me up as I pedaled upward. The organic smells that were permeating from the leaves and such were semi-intoxicating. There’s such a clean and fresh feeling on the mountain just after there’s been a good rain storm. All of the creeks were running, and the waterfalls were finally flowing at full strength.

I hadn’t ridden up this fire road in a while so it was nice to see that not too much had changed, but that said, I did notice some changes. I know this route so well that I can pick up on even the smallest of changes.

I was just glad to be back up on the mountain on a beautiful day.

Double Bow Knot

I pedaled up to Double Bow Knot and then back down Gravity Car. I stopped at the Muir Woods overlook for a peak. I thought about how few times that there’ve been clear skies over this amazingly beautiful national park. There’s always something, whether it’s fog, haze, or perhaps a storm. I always think that I’ll catch a great view from the overlook, but it’s very seldom that it ever happens.

From there I rode back down to Mill Valley via Pipeline and the Pixie Trail. All in all it was a nice ride. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll pedal over to Tiburon on one of my old faves. ;-)

Day 945: Nature's Tattoos

Nature's Tattoos

There’ve only been a few times in my life when I’ve thought about getting a tattoo. I’ve never gone ahead with the idea. There’s something in the back of my mind that tells me not to do it. That said I really appreciate the “ink” on other people. I certainly appreciate the artwork. It must be really difficult to use other people’s skin as a canvas. There’s really no room for a mistake, right?

When I ride around, or even while walking around, I see a lot of natural tattoos. Perhaps the proper word is to call them stains. Using the word “stain” doesn’t mean that they’re not beautiful. I found the pictured stains on concrete underneath a maple tree nearby my home. it's natural beauty hard at work.

Day 944: Marmot Mountain Works

Tent

I received some bad news today. Marmot Mountain Works is closing its doors after thirty six years. I remember frequenting the store in Berkeley when I was in my mid twenties. I didn’t have the money back then to buy all of the fun gear that I would have liked, but I did buy things from them when I could. At the time I was a newbie to camping in the High Sierra, and these folks were always really helpful in teaching me what I clearly needed to know. In the end I managed to purchase a tent, sleeping bag, stove, water filtration system, and the list goes on and on. I still have some of those items to this day.

My buddy Mick

One of their tips for me was to buy a four season tent even though I had no intention of doing any winter camping. One year that saved my butt during a camping trip that I took in mid September with my old camping buddy Mick, my Chocolate Lab. We had spent the day playing around one of the lakes. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt if that gives you an idea of how warm it was at 7,800 ft. That night I could see the stars as I cooked on my little stove. It was beautiful out, and there was no sign of a single cloud in the sky.

Sometime during the night my dog started nudging me with his nose. When I woke up I could tell that it had turned cold, and cold enough that he was prepared to climb into my sleeping bag. I let him in. So now I had my own personal heater for the night. I went back to sleep while thinking that it was simply going to be a cold morning for us. When I woke up I noticed a very cold chill on my face, and yet I was toasty warm in my sleeping bag with Mick. I then noticed that the walls of our tent seemed to be sagging pretty dramatically. After a few minutes I realized that it had snowed during the night. When I dug out of the tent there was eighteen to twenty four inches of snow on the ground. That four season tent sure did come in handy and I thank the good folks at Marmot Mountain Works for that recommendation.

I hope that all of the good people there find new jobs quickly.

Day 943: More Recycling

Recycled bicycle

A nice follow up to yesterday’s visit to Recology was to have a bicycle returned to me that’s been on long term loan for the past eighteen months. It's been recycled too. The frame has undergone several makeovers during the course of its lifetime that I’d guess started sometime in the mid 1990’s. It’s a very solid bicycle frame that’s made out of one of the most notoriously reliable frame materials, Reynolds 853 steel. The bicycle frame's first rendition was a build up that was done by an old friend of mine. It had some medium level parts on it, and it was perfect for anyone that was dipping their toes into the road cycling scene. My friend later gave the frame to me, sans parts, after I’d had an accident that literally crippled my road bike in 2002. I think that he was trying to get me back on my bike, and I sure did appreciate the gesture.

Unfortunately, the frame sat for a long time. I looked at it regularly hanging up in my bike closet. I kept dreaming about rebuilding it in one style or another, with this or that set of parts, but that never happened. Instead it just sat there for years.

Colnago C-40 (Notice the headtube)

Seven years later another buddy of mine was riding my beloved Colnago C-40 when a car pulled out in front of him. Luckily for him he wasn’t killed, or even severely injured. The C-40 was another story. It had been mortally wounded in the incident. When the bike was returned to me I had a bit of an "aha" moment. As I looked at all of the high end parts that adorned the bike, I thought to myself, those parts will eventually make their way onto the old Reynolds 853 frame. But when will that happen? I had another road bike so I was in no hurry to hop onto another “project,” so the parts and the frame remained sitting in my bike closet for another year, or so.

I finally found the impetus to build up the old frame when I'd heard that a young man, who I’ve mentored in cycling over the years, had decided that he wanted to try out road biking. I was happy to help out, but his mother was very reluctant to have her son riding out in traffic rather than up on the mountain where it’s safe.  He’d just had a great season of mountain bike racing so he was eventually granted his wish to ride on the road. That being the case I had the frame and the parts to make it happen for him, and it was essentially accomplished for free. He was, and I quote, "stoked!"

Soon after he was cleared to ride on the road we met on a weekend afternoon to build the bike. A lot of bikes have been built on my porch. We started the build of the old frame by pulling all of the parts off of my C-40. It was a bit sad to deconstruct that bike, but the parts would live for another day on the old frame. We then sequentially installed all of the parts onto the old road frame. After several hours of work the old frame had been transformed back into a bicycle again. For the next eighteen months the new-old bicycle was ridden all over Marin County, CA. The young man loved it. He loved riding on the road so much that he ended up buying a Specialized Tarmac that’s at least five pounds lighter that the old bike. I guess that the old frame served its purpose…

The new-old bike is now going to be loaned to another friend so that he too can test out riding bikes on the road instead of the dirt. We'll see just how many friends end up riding the bike and being converted to road bike enthusiasts.

Day 942: Recology

Reclaimed glass and cogs

I had the opportunity to visit Recology on Saturday, A.K.A. Sunset Scavenger, San Francisco’s city dump; If you can call it a dump.

Sometime in the late 1980’s, and early 1990’s, the city of San Francisco began to see the need for recycling programs. When I moved back to San Francisco in 1989 (I'd lived there seven years earlier) they didn’t have a recycling program, and none had even been discussed. At that time the environmental movement was just kicking in and recycling programs would prove to be one of the cornerstones to the movement. By the time that I moved out of San Francisco in 1995 everyone was recycling the basics like bottles and paper, and looking for guidance on how to recycle additional things like plastics and batteries. It was a revolution of sorts and Sunset Scavenger was listening to a the very loud environmental movement.

Skip forward twenty years and now you’ll find that the original Sunset Scavenger has been transformed into three distinct entities that service San Francisco. They occupy seventy two acres of land on the south end of the city. Almost everything that enters their facility is recycled, composted, or repurposed. They’re spearheading reaching zero waste for San Francisco. Now that's a great goal!


What's this?

 The purpose of my visit there was to check out one of their associate programs. It’s an artist in residency that provides several artists with four month’s salary, 24/7 access to the facility, as well as a studio space and workshop. They even provide assistance to the artist. The only caveat is that the artists must use materials that they find on the premises of the facility. It’s an amazing opportunity for the artists that are selected.

At the end of each four month residency the artists host an open studio celebration. It’s an opportunity for them to display their work, and an opportunity for people like me to see the whole operation. Today is saw sculptures that were made entirely from reclaimed wood and other bits and pieces. There were works on paper that came out of the recycling bin. They even repurposed a piano that had been tossed away. It was a lot of fun to see what can be created out of salvaged materials. Seeing these art pieces is a reminder that we throw way too much stuff into the dumpster.

Thanks to Sunset Scavenger for hosting such a great program.

Day 941: Thriving Succulents

Succulent

I rode around the local neighborhoods today. I was just getting outside in order to stretch my legs on my road bike. As I usually do while riding, I looked around at the flora, fauna, and even some interesting architecture. Since we’ve had such an amazingly dry winter thus far, and given that our first real storm of the season is moving in as I write, I took the opportunity to see which flora is doing well and which isn’t in these conditions.

Gabriel's Trumpet

I guess that it’s no surprise that every single succulent that I came across looked healthier than I’d seen in years. What’s so surprising about that to me is that they’ve survived multiple days of freezing temperatures without a hitch. They looked fantastic, whereas plants like Datura (Gabriel’s Trumpet) are looking tattered and nearly dead. Daturas like the rains, but they hate the cold, and we've plenty of that lately.

In general, things looked pretty good as I pedaled around the neighborhoods. Now we're going to be nailed by a pretty good-sized storm. It will be nice to hear the rain coming down, and to see things cleaned up by the rains. It was a fun and interesting pedal around town.

Day 940: Bicycle Commuting by Train

Amtrak's Bayshore Station

I’ve always wanted to commute by bicycle and train. I’ve done irregular trips via bicycle that have included the BART system, but they’ve never been much fun since they're really not set up for bikes. I’ve always wanted to use the Amtrak system that’s apparently really well set up for cyclists that commute regularly. I’m thinking about trying to set up a reason, or look into an event, for me to use the Amtrak system in order to get to the South Bay. Maybe I should just get on the train and see where it leads me. Or perhaps I could just get off somewhere and tour around the area. I’m pretty disconnected from the South Bay nowadays, so I’m fairly sure that it could be a fun rediscovery for me.

As I stood in front of the Amtrak station that’s shown in the photo I watched two trains come and go. The trains looked pretty cool, and the station was architecturally interesting to me. The station’s location is a bit odd, but I guess that situated in an area where there’s a lot of parking for the train riders.

The short story is that I can see riding from Marin to the city by bicycle, and then use the train to hitch a ride down south for a day of exploration. It would probably be an all-day adventure, but I’m up for it.