December 19, 2022
Vineyard Canyon
It’s 29F/-2C again this morning when we first check on the weather. It’s warmer over at the coast if we wanted to hop in the car again, but we don’t. We loaf around the house until it finally climbs up to 50 before starting out. It’s nearly 12:30 when we coast down toward the river, which doesn’t leave us that much time for a ride. Now that we’re out and in the sun we find it’s not bad at all, and we realize we should have gotten out sooner. I think of Tough Guy Greg biking in the snow up in Hastings or Noah Stryker freezing his ass off and suffering from altitude sickness at 16,000 feet elevation in Peru on the hunt for a Black Spectacled Brushfinch, and feel like a wimp. We’ll do better tomorrow.
We’re less than a half mile into the ride when Rachael pulls us over so she can check out her Varia tail light, which isn’t registering on her Garmin for some reason. It takes her a minute to discover the issue - she’s got my Varia, not hers, so it’s not paired with her device. We’ve only got one between us on the ride today because we couldn’t find the one we assumed was mine last night when she went to charge them. I didn’t want to put my shoes on go back out in the cold to get it last night, so I planned to just ride without it today.
She hands over my Varia so at least I can use it, but for the first miles north on River Road she feels naked and exposed as the occasional car overtakes her from behind. She won’t start feeling secure until we get about halfway to San Miguel and leave most of the traffic behind, and she’s anxious about biking down this road again on the way home.
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 0 | Link |
River Road’s fine up this way really, especially once we’re about four miles from town. It’s a pretty ride as it follows the Salinas River the whole way, but the quality of the ride makes a quantum jump when we get ten miles out and branch off to the east onto Vineyard Canyon Road and follow an unnamed creek up into the hills. Suddenly there’s no traffic at all and no hazards to be alert for other than the occasional small pothole or stray tumbleweed.
| Heart | 9 | Comment | 2 | Link |
2 years ago
| Heart | 7 | Comment | 2 | Link |
2 years ago
It’s really a beautiful ride the rest of the way out. We’ve ridden Vineyard Canyon Road once before so there’s nothing new here today and no shrikes on the lines to slow me down. We’re short on time as it is, so we mostly ride. Rachael’s gotten ahead of me in spite of this, and I’m mildly disappointed when I see her coming back at me because I’m enjoying the road so much and not ready to turn back yet even though she’s right and we need to be homeward bound before it gets too late in the day. If we’re out this way again I think I’d drive to the start of Vineyard Canyon and start biking from there, maybe going all the way to Parkfield before turning back.
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 1 | Link |
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 7 | Link |
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
We only stop once on the way back - for lunch, soon after we’ve met up again. There’s no obvious spot so we just find a wide spot on the shoulder, pull out our coats and sit on them on the grass. It’s a surprisingly good spot - the ground is spongy when I sit down, and worries me at first because I think it must be damp to feel so soft.
Rachael gives out a squeal of delight when she opens her pannier to pull out her turkey sandwich and finds her Varia beneath it. Mystery solved; and there’s some still enough charge on it to see her through for the ride home. The modest traffic on River Road doesn’t bother her nearly as much now, which is a good thing because we’ll likely be out on it again tomorrow.
Video sound track: Drift Into a Dream, by Fin Moon
Ride stats today: 35 miles, 1,500’; for the tour: 143 Miles, 6,900’
Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 143 miles (230 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 12 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 1 |
2 years ago