Day 251: Riding at China Camp with "M"

It’s always a pleasure to ride with my friend “M.” He’s been building bicycles, and designing parts for them, for at least 30 years. His tire and saddle designs have in my opinion been the very best to hit the market over the past couple of decades.

I met “M” at his house after a very spirited warm up ride over to his house from mine in Mill Valley. It took me a good 40-45 minutes to pedal over there. Once that I arrived, I was greeted by the amazing “A,” “M’s” wife. She’s a real sweetheart of a person who’s always willing to give me a big hug even if I’ve just ridden for 40 minutes at about 21 mph, and sweating like a pig. I was pushing hard since I was a little late and trying to make up some time. ;-)

After a few minutes of salutations we headed off towards China Camp on our road bikes. “M” seems to always leave the starting block at full speed, at least that’s how it’s felt to me after riding with him for over ten years now. There have been times when I’ve wanted to toss an anchor onto his back. Although I’m a whole lot fitter now than I’ve been during the past 10 years, I still wanted to anchor him down today. "Slow down, and warm up damnit!" Sorry “M,” but you're headed out of the gate way too hard and fast, BUT I respect that.

In order for us to get to China Camp, we were required to ride on the State highway (Highway 101) for about 500 meters, and although I’ve ridden this stretch of highway many times, I've never gotten used to the cars and trucks whizzing by me at speed. Getting rear ended is one of my greatest fears in general while riding on the road, but when riding on a highway it’s a lethal deal. Just do the math!

We made it to China Camp State Park without incident and we then began to relax and enjoy the scenery which was the core of the ride. We caught up on various things in our lives, and all the while, we were pedaling along at a good pace on the back roads that wind around China Camp. It was a really nice day, and riding on these roads is really great on weekdays when there’s little or no traffic.

I rode back home with “M,” and I then said goodbye to “A&M” before heading back to Mill Valley. I was going to ride around Paradise Drive on the way back, but work was weighing on me today, so I headed straight home to my computer. It was a nice ride to take with an old and dear friend.

Tomorrow the rains return, and I’m not looking forward to that, but the end of the rains is nearing, and then I’ll make a final push on my mileage and elevation gain. I still have some goals that I’d like to hit. I think that I have a couple of century rides to do, and a couple of epic elevation rides to do. Tioga and Ebbetts passes are on my list, but logistics might be difficult.

I'm going to offer to let a neighbor store his old and heavily modified Schwinn on my porch so that the rains don't destroy it. Look at its really cool license plate attached to the bottom of the fork leg. The bell is a nice touch too...