Outdoor Travel Geek

Category: biking

  • biking, burgers & bros

    The rain has been crazy this past week. Originally I had planned to go mountain biking with some friends at Santa Cruz but those plans got shelved because of the rain. The weather forecast said it would be sunny, but we figured that after a week of rain the trails wouldn’t be in great condition.…

  • resurrection and road rash reminder

    When I was a kid it was easy to remember when Easter was coming. Easter more or less correlated with spring break. Now that I’m an adult I don’t have a spring break, so it’s harder to remember when Easter is near. Well I guess there are all sorts of reminders, I guess I just…

  • merry mondays

    Today was my first Monday off. It’s nice waking up with absolutely no plans at all. My only goal was to fix this bike. It had been sitting on my workstand for almost a month. When I had bought the bike around a year and a half ago, it had a broken front shifter. Originally…

  • racked up

    ,

    The weather has been incredibly nice lately– unusually warm for February. I’ve been taking advantage of the weather by going biking, if you couldn’t already tell from all the biking posts in February. This weekend I went biking out at the American River Parkway with Jiro and Ray. I’d forgotten how nice it was out…

  • cycling mix

    I knew Mix Canyon was a tough climb. I’ve attempted the climb three or four times, but still haven’t made it to the top. I made it almost to the top once, but that was on a motorcycle (http://outdoortravelgeek.com/2011/05/the-mix/). On a bicycle the farthest I’ve gotten is about three miles. So yea, I knew it…

  • granite bay

    Today was my second time mountain biking at Granite Bay. I came out here once before with Dave and Jason, but we ended up not being able to ride all that much last time. The scenery is nice at Granite Bay, even at the parking area. That being said, I don’t come here often, partly…

  • mini triple crowns

    This weekend I went for what I guess was the first real training ride of the year. The weather was perfect for riding. The sun was out, but it was not hot. There was a bit of wind, but not too much, in fact it seemed like just enough to make the ride a bit…

  • lazy days

    It is cold. The trees are barren. Winter is here. It was especially apparent when I went biking on Saturday morning. What’s amazing is just three weeks ago I went biking on this same stretch of road with Jiro and one of his lab mates, back then the trees were still covered with autumn leaves.…

  • the confluence

    They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I guess that’s true for places as well as for people. It’s been a little over a year since I’ve last been mountain biking at the Auburn Confluence, or Auburn Connie as I sometimes call it. I had forgotten how much I loved biking there. It’s…

  • pickle juice

    A couple of years back, when I first started to get into mountain biking, and before I really had any friends who mountain biked, I joined a group called Bayside Adventure Sports. Despite being the youngest person in the group by like a dozen years, I was the slowest person in the group. After a couple…

  • the real season finale

    ,

    Originally I was going to title this post “season finale.” But when I typed the title into wordpress, it told me that I already had a post titled “season finale,” which I wrote almost exactly one year ago. So I changed the title of this post to “the real season finale.” Since I work a…

  • back to the bike

    It’s hard to believe I’ve gone an entire year without hopping on my mountain bike. I actually enjoy mountain biking a lot more than road biking, but I end up on the road bike a lot more, mostly because it’s more practical. I can just hop on the road bike and ride out to Winters…

  • christmas in july

    christmas in july

    ,

    Starting location: Calistoga Village Inn & Spa, Calistoga, CA Ending location: Home. Davis, CA End of day cumulative mileage: 992.2 With my legs well rested from the spa I packed up my belongings and started my last day of riding. From Calistoga there was a short ride down Silverado Trail road back to highway 128. From…

  • the road home

    the road home

    ,

    Starting location: Vagabond Inn, Ukiah, CA Ending location: Calistoga Village Inn & Spa, Calistoga, CA End of day cumulative mileage: 921.7 Today’s riding was supposed to be pretty easy and uneventful. My plan was to continue down highway 101 until it hit highway 128. Highway 128 is basically my road home. It takes me through Sonoma…

  • vagabond

    vagabond

    ,

    Starting location: Standish-Hickey State Park Ending location: Vagabond Inn, Ukiah, CA End of day cumulative mileage: 859.4 I woke up this morning and stared up at the clear blue sky framed by the redwood trees above my hammock. Sleeping in a hammock has its advantages. I had figured out a way to protect myself from bugs.…