Stones and sand and rocks

View on Sunday after the storms cleared out...crystal clear, beautiful!

The rain from last week left so much in the way, on the bike trail, in the bike lanes, the parking lot I go through...I got my legs all muddy on the way to work.

Sort of cool actually.  It felt so good being back on the bike going to and from work today, that those obstacles didn't bother too much.  But...after over two weeks...I could sure feel it in my legs.  Very hard ride home...I was wiped out.

But now, home, relaxed, so glad I did it.  What a difference already with the days getting slowly a bit longer...the extra light is very motivating.  And this morning...it was chilly, but not cold.  Felt invigorating.

Overall a good bike day.  The rain is expected to return tomorrow...I'll see what it looks like in the morning.

Dodging puddles

Wow did it rain last week!  Didn't commute on my bike even once...bummer....

Seriously though, it rained so much for San Diego...it was pretty cool.  The best part was though that I had the awesome 960 Express bus to grab to get up to work and back.  I walk about 12-13 mins to catch it, which is pretty nice, usually.  On Thursday morning, at 6:35 when I leave for work, it was coming down buckets.  So....I walked next to some buildings to help with the blowing rain.  Didn't help much..

Funny though...it was STILL ok being car-free.  Really.  I got a ride home from work on Monday from a co-worker.  I started to sort of panic about walking to the bus in the rain, and the walk from the busstop to home again.  Then after I got home I thought, "this is silly....it's just rain."  So, I took the bus the rest of the week. 

View from bus stop at about sunset, in a lull between rain bursts.

My rule for riding in this is: If the roads are wet....I'm bussing it.  I don't have the confidence to ride while it's real wet.  And, it's just a risk I'm not willing to take.  There are enough hazards, mostly crazy car drivers, that to worry about a slick road isn't for me.

Having said that...I'm very excited that it is crystal clear blue sky this morning, and tomorrow looks good for a bike commute!

Car-free?

I haven't posted in two weeks, wow!  I guess I was just too busy...a friend had some surgery and I was helping out, works been very busy and hectic, leaving me wiped out at night....

Anyway....this is about car-free, not necessarily just bike stuff.  For a week I was driving a car, my friend who had the surgery lent me his to get back and forth more quickly.  I enjoyed the convenience of getting some errands done for sure.  But...an interesting thing happened...I wasn't filled with a desire to be a car driver again.  It was interesting for me.  I started to miss my bike riding.  I did do some errands on my bike last weekend, and getting back "in the saddle" felt really right. 

What I'm trying to say is....this car-free really resonates with me.  I miss the exercise and the quiet time that biking to work provides.  Really looking forward to Monday's ride to work....

Listening to the most amazing podcast right now....It's a dj in Vegas that a co-worker, former co-worker  :o(, got me into, the dj, Faarsheed, is a friend of his.  This link is to his mixes....one of the mixes that I dare you to listen to and not start swaying back and forth to a bit is 008-1.  Quite a difference from opera, but oh, so, good..........

New Year's morning bike ride

That is not my picture by the way.  I forgot to take a pic while I was out this morning riding.  This one is from a biking forum I follow. 

I just took a short ride, 35-40 minutes, around the neighborhood, from Normal Heights, over to Hillcrest.  What a beautiful morning!  New Year's Day...9:30 a.m. temp was 63 degrees...and sunny....

I only rode to work once this week, on Monday...Tuesday I was too tired, hadn't slept well...and then Wednesday and Thursday were wet, so I rode the bus.  I really was craving getting back on the bike today.  That feels good to want to be on it.

Bike-wise this weekend I'm buying a better, brighter, more expensive ($!$!) front light.  I am more confident riding at night, as I wrote in a previous post.  But still...my present light really isn't as bright as I want.  It became very apparant this week when the bulb died, and I had to rely on my "blinky" light.  No thanks.

The one I am probably going to buy is from this company, they look sooooo cool.  And bright!
Seriously though, I did read a lot about them on some of the bike forums I've been following.

On a different note... best book I've read in ages in ON PAROLE.  I loved another book of his, SHIPWRECKS, and this one was equally as good, despite being very different.  Check both out.