We were riding along the canal today when something white caught my eye. Could it be the Great White Koi?
I turned around and went back, and there he was.
We haven't seen Moby in a few years. I had assumed he moved on or died, but there he was in his gigantic magnificence. There is his distinctive orange spot on his left side.
I should have known he was tougher than that. It was nice to see he's still out there doing koi things.
Later.
We just returned from Monterey. While we were there something felt strange. We asked ourselves, have we ever been here in March? I combed through the many Monterey posts and it was true: we had never visited in March.
For the most part, the reasoning for this was simple. When the kids were young, there were many visits in April centered around Easter and spring break. When baseball became a central part of our lives, opening day was usually towards the beginning of March, and we played a couple games a week until the vacation window during spring break.
When the kids were older, Jennifer and I often went in January and February because the weather was often warmer in Monterey than at home. March is typically pretty nice in the Sacramento area, so we tend to enjoy the March weather at home.
Anyway, on the first day we rode south along 17 Mile Drive.
The weather was pretty damn perfect.
Afterwards we enjoyed a beer at Fieldwork, followed by an awesome meal at Alejandro's.
The next day we rode north with expectations of riding into Fort Ord. I knew the trail through Fort Ord Dunes State Park would be closed due to a campground project that will run through 2027. We would have to ride the less desirable trail along Highway 1 like last time and take the exit trail to 5th Street.
Unfortunately between visits they bulldozed the entire bike trail leading to 5th Street and were using it to truck in dirt.
<rant mode> This kind of shit has been happening for years. It really seems like municipalities will close off cycling infrastructure at the drop of a hat. Need to do road work? Close the bike lane! Want to organize a running race? Close the bike trail! Need to build a campground? Close the bike trail! Need to truck in dirt? Bulldoze the bike trail!
This isn't any new issue. I've been seeing the trend for a long time.
This past spring and summer I wanted to ride in Tahoe before we sold the condo. Then I saw that there were some trail closures due to a Marlette Lake dam repair, and I completely lost interest. These are some of my main trails up there.
The closures seem extremely excessive to me for one tiny little dam. But if you are a cyclist, you already know you are a meaningless blip. Anyway, back to our scheduled program. </rant mode>
We simply rode past the closure and continued to the north end of the trail. After turning around I had calmed down enough to start taking pictures again.
The weather was great and I told myself that things could be worse: I could be home working in the yard.
Afterwards we had a beer at Dustbowl and dinner somewhere that escapes me.
The next day we rode south again. I took some video. It's not my greatest work, but what can you do.
After that we packed up and headed home. It was a short but much-needed break from all the hard work we have been doing.
Later.
Last night I sold the oldest bike in the garage.
I built the Jamis Dragon 29 way back in 2009. The bike served me well. We shared some great adventures and epic rides, but it was time to go.
The guy who bought it was super stoked to get it. I took great care of the bike and there's no reason he can't get many more years out of it.
Later.
The Folsom Dam Raise Project (FDRP) started back in 2024. The Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with raising the dams and eight dykes around Folsom Lake by 3.5 feet to enhance flood protection. Given my belief in climate change, this is probably very necessary.
Unfortunately, these dykes are in my riding areas.
The initial work on Dykes 1, 2 and 3 messed up my mountain bike rides. Some trails were closed and a couple nice pieces of singletrack were bulldozed. It was frustrating, but with reroutes and detours I could still complete a decent mountain bike ride. The work is ongoing.
 |
| RIP Singletrack |
Then they started work on the Mormon Island Auxiliary Dam. This closed a main thoroughfare connecting all the Sacramento County trails with the ones in El Dorado County. I used this dirt road for countless commutes home from work. Using this stretch I could ride for over 30 miles without ever touching a road.
Then they started work on Dykes 4, 5 and 6. This closed most of the dirt road between Beals Point and Granite Bay. I rode this stretch all the time on my gravel bike.
The Mormon Island portion was supposed to be completed in the spring of 2025, but that date came and went. I would check every couple of months, but the fence would still be up.
Today I checked again. The fence and equipment were finally gone.
Nothing but smooth, flat gravel road along the water.
I was able to piece together some roads and trails that have been absent from my rides for years, which was nice. I completed a 27-mile mixed terrain ride, and I am looking forward to utilizing this stretch of road once again.
Later.
Our air hasn't been particularly great lately. As someone who is a little sensitive to particulate levels, I have to be careful, which has meant riding indoors a lot. Which sucks. This morning it looks like this:
Bad air in the winter is not something we deal with here. Yet here we are. I find myself saying "we've never" a lot lately when it comes to the weather and climate: We've never had rain like this. We've never seen wind speeds this high. We've never seen heat like this. On and on it goes. This time it's a high pressure system that is just sitting on top of us creating an inversion layer that does not allow particulates to escape. We've never seen this . . .
Yesterday, though, I caught a break and had some clean(er) air and blue(r) skies. I took the new Wolverine out for a mixed surface ride.
All told it was 24 miles and a little over half of it was on dirt.
I wore my new Duff Beer cycling cap for the first time. Sexy. As is the cap.
Hopefully this weird inversion layer situation lets up soon.
Later.
An era ended today. Finally.
We closed escrow on our Incline Village condo earlier today. It was a very long and stressful 11-month ordeal. It's amazing to me that I posted about this decision almost a year ago. And so ends our 15-year run in Tahoe.
I am mostly happy it's over, but at the same time a little sad. I wish we could have kept the condo, but the world has changed. Taxes, insurance and HOA dues are spiraling out of control in Tahoe. It isn't sustainable. Not for us, at least.
It also severs our relationship with our property management company, one that lasted a dozen years. All my Goldfish keychains went into the trash.
Hopefully we still get up there on occasion.
Later.
The full suspension experiment with the Santa Cruz Hightower was sort of a disaster. I guess I should have known better since the first two forays into full suspension weren't exactly successful either. I hated the first one in 1994, again in 2003, and now this one. After over 40 years of riding mostly rigid and hardtail bikes, I must conclude that I just don't like full suspension.
Anyway, I listed this damn thing on Craigslist months ago:
Other than a couple lowball offers and a Nigerian prince scam, it generated little interest. It sat in my office collecting dust. This was not unexpected. Times are tough.
I decided to edit the post stating that I was open to a trade for a gravel frame or bike. A guy contacted me and asked if I would be interested in a Soma Wolverine. When I said "possibly," he sent me a pic:
Good enough. We met and made the exchange.
He was taller than me and expressed his concern that a 58cm might be too big for me. I hopped on and the saddle was actually much too low. All good there. I have long legs and arms.
Unlike my pristine Hightower frame, this bike has really been ridden. It has some scratches, cable rub and chainslap marks. It has a little character for sure.
Today I went through the bike (never trust other people's mechanical skills) and made a few adjustments. I flipped the stem over to get the bars a bit higher, raised the saddle and topped off the tubeless sealant.
This evening I took it out for a short spin since I already rode this morning.
It's definitely bigger than my other bike. The extra stack is great, but the extra reach is not. Compared to my other bike, the 27mm longer top tube is mostly negated by the 20mm shorter stem. However, the Easton bars have 12mm more reach than the Salsa bars on my other bike, so all told it's still 19mm longer. Because of the higher bar position, I rode much of the time in the drops whereas on my other bike I spend more time on the hoods.
Shifting is handled by 11-speed GRX. Although I was a Shimano guy for many, many years, I have been using DoubleTap for quite a while now. I shifted the wrong way many times, which was frustrating. If I keep both bikes I will have to convert this one to SRAM so I don't lose my mind.
Cornering was weird. My other bike is running 700x43 tires and this one is 650x55. I can't put my finger on what exactly I am feeling, but this bike does not carve corners like my old bike.
Anyway, I rid myself of a frame I didn't want that was just gathering dust, and I acquired a new toy without spending any money. So much winning.
Later.
Today I was trucking along on a quiet, smooth road when there was a loud bang and orange tire sealant spewing everywhere like a pinwheel firework.
I stopped and found a large, C-shaped cut in my rear tire.
There was no fixing it. I mean, I could have installed my spare tube if I had to, but I certainly didn't want to. It's a messy situation.
Jenn was about 30 minutes away at a yoga class. Luckily my son was still a few days from migrating back to SoCal for school, so he was available to come get me.
It's a bummer because the Panaracer GravelKing tire was very new. You can still see the nubs on the center tread. I have no idea what I hit, but it must have been something very sharp and cylindrical to make that cut. This is only the third tubeless failure in well over 10 years of tubeless use, so I can't be too mad.
Time to shop for a new tire. I will not get another GravelKing because they were not easy to seat due to the very loose bead. Hopefully there is a Maxxis tire that fits the bill because I like mounting those.
Later.
