My Singletrack

My Singletrack

When I first bought this almost two acres where my house sits ten years ago, there was a 3 acre lot directly behind me that I tried to buy at the same time. I was told that was a subdivided and platted lot and they were going to build homes on that and others, but I could have it for $25,000. I laughed, and told him That'd be fine, he could build all the homes back there he wanted, and I wouldn't stop him. Well, lot's changed since then.....he died a year and a half later, and his widow took over the company. Then came a natural catastrophy that I'll elaborate on later. The end result was the lady came by yesterday and offered to sell me not only the lot behind me, but ALL her remaining lots that all adjoined each other and mine...... all for $1,500. Quite a difference. I bought! It's definitely Jungle! But, I got to thinking how much singletrack can I build, looping back and forth, and whatnot on ten acres, and I thought probably a LOT. So here's the start, I selected a spot in the back of my lot that looked less intimidating than the rest, and started clearing.....



And this is where I stopped for now.....The going is tough with all the vines, roots, brush, poisin ivy, wild roses, blackberry and raspberry, but I made a little headway. Actually got about 150 yards cleared and built into a rudimenary trail before I tuckered out.



This is the trail that goes back toward the road, and the river.



Now comes the fun part. The reason the owner was willing to part with her high dollar land so cheap. After I got to the county road, here is what it looked like.....



My property is all along the left side of the road. If you look carefully at the road, you'll not see a single vehicle track on it, in fact it looks as though there hasn't been for a while....Here's why.....



The county barricaded off the road and closed this entire section for over half a mile. This barricade is put up before you get to my land or hers. Well, you say, what about coming in the other way....... OK......lets go for a walk. Less than a half mile the other direction was this.......



A couple years ago we had a big 12" rain and flood, and the river swallowed up a large portion of the road. So....the county closed it off rather than repairing it. The outcome was..... those ten acres have NO road access.....only through my property, and I wasn't in the mood to give any easements. Hence, the humbled price. And....I now have a ten acre someday singletrack and wildlife sanctuary, but also over 1/4 mile of my own personal road AND personal river access.



All for $1500. Granted, it's not the most usable land in the world, but it's certainly worth what I paid for it, and it should be fun... Heck.....it even has a substantial fence that they threw in.....

This is shortly after I aquired the land and hadn't done much with it yet. I realized I didn't have a basis for the later posts, so here it is. I now have about a half mile of usuable trail cleared, and as you can see from some of the later posts, I have been using it! It's definitely been an experience.

 

Wine Country Ride

 

The Saga Continues

The Alexander Valley/Russian River part of the Wine Country Century has been a ride I've been wanting to do now for over a year. TL was obliging, and we decided to head north up to the Town of Windsor to start the ride. We had a bit of a problem with the ride sheet that TL had from the Santa Rosa Bike club however as many of the roads had changed names since they printed the directions up.....so.....we started the ride in the State of Confusion.....not really where we wanted to be. After riding in circles a few times looking for non existant streets, we resorted to a cagey technique that works every time.....flag down a local biker. Finally getting some understandable directions we headed north up to the town of Healdsburg. Crossing the Russian River heading into town.......



A pretty park in downtown Healdsburg......



Leaving Healdsburg, we once again crossed the river to find a gaggle of canoeists leaving on a downriver float trip.



Stopping at Jimtown for lunch, and conferring with a few more local bicyclists, we strategically planned the rest of our trip over a bit of food and drink. This is the entire town of Jimtown.......



A popular destination for bicyclists, Jimtown also had a nice little Deli and Bakery. In asking about the road ahead, I asked one cyclist about the Chalk Valley Road, He laughed and said "you're not going to think it much of a valley....it's called the Chalk HILL road for a good reason". Hill.....Hill......Oh Me, another one!

Alexander Valley is the heart of wine country, and there are many vinyards along the way.



Along the way, I found this horse who was not only photogenic, but a camera and publicity hog as well....I obliged him and told him I would give him a national audience, so he posed nicely for me.



A little further down the road was this old Johnnie-Popper and disc.



After climbing up a little hill and thinking....well, that wasn't so bad, I caught this tandem coming up the other side.



A short plung down the other side, and another ride up a pleasant valley for a couple miles, we came to the REAL hill.....The biggy.....this is IT.....Hill.....Oh, Me.. Legs still tired from yesterday, still a bit sore.....but it's the shortest way back now. Here goes.....stop....take a picture of TL at the bottom



....there, that procrastinated long enough ......if I don't get going, she'll be back in Windsor by the time I reach the top......struggle....struggle...puff.... puff....pant, pant.....finally what seemed an eternity, the top was achieved.....TL was waiting to cheer me up and over. Another brisk downhill for a couple miles, and an easy ride back to Windsor.
Windsor is a cute little town that has been made over to appear like a little Dutch, or German community........



A nicely restored old Railroad depot now serves as a Rapid Transit station.



A cup of Espresso in the Old Town while we enjoyed the tour of the unique little town, and we were on our way back. This ride wasn't a long one, 28 miles with our going in circles and all at the beginning, but satisfying, certainly with the one big hill in the middle. Great company, a good ride, and a wonderful cup of Joe at the end..... what more could anyone want?

Bodega Bay Ride

Riki and TL's Grand adventure part four

As part of my continuing bicycling vacation, my travels now took me to Rohnert Park, Ca. where I met up with ThisLife again for several more trips in beautiful Northern California. We decided to choose a route that was similar to last year's, just to extend it a bit further to include Bodega Bay, and return on a different route.
We left early in the morning, although not quite early enough to miss the morning rush hour. Early enough to make it damp and foggy however.

Soon we were able to get out of town and into the beautiful Northern Cal countryside. Here we have TL rounding a curve coming up a little rise. I spotted a rather nice pastoral scene coming through a small valley.



I spotted a couple of Scottish Highland cattle just off the road.....a breed one sees little of in this country. This cow was very typical of the breed.



As I suspected, there was going to be a significant number of hills to climb. TL called them a few little hills, compared to what she had been up on previous rides, but any hill that I have to get down in my lowest gear and grunt to get up the thing is at least to me, a tough hill. I found a couple of these on this ride. I'm getting ahead of myself here however. We traversed several small and picturesque valleys on our journey and managed to find a couple of deer close to the road, this one was confident it was completely hidden from me, so it stayed put while I dug out my camera.



A pretty farmstead.....



Long and steep (at least in this flatlanders judgement), at least the one going into Tomales ended in a lunch break. They have a most delightful little Deli in the town of Tomales that is normally crowded with bicyclists, but not on Friday, so we had it to ourselves. After lunch we left Tomales...up yet another hill, headed for Bodega. Many,many more hills later, we came upon a particulary steep downhill, one that TL had gone up on a previous ride...... I plunged down the thing,and waited on TL at the bottom where I caught her at speed looking very intense and flying........



We rode on through the little community of Valley Ford on our way to Bodega. For those who are old enough to remember Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds" you may remember these buildings, as both played key roles in the movie........ First, the schoolhouse....



Then the Church......



We enjoyed a coffee with a friendly pooch on the Main drag of Bodega....he knew it was closing time and was looking for his treats.

 He wasn't too picky about who he begged them from either. Deciding that it was getting later and later, we decided it was time to start heading back. Back through the town of Valley Ford once again and on to the Bloomfield cutoff (Yes, Teesiea they have one in California too) where we turned off to follow the Breathe Easy Metric route back. This had a couple of more (why am I not surprised here) hills..... one of which had me breathing not so easy near the summit. I thought I was going to have to stop, but I had the summit in sight, so I went for it. Topped out, heart beating too fast, gasping for breath, but at the top......and time to rest a bit. After this one, we had a couple more shallow hills....



Still a very scenic area. I just love the smell of these eucalyptus lines roads.  I was starting to get very tired about this time, and suggested a rest stop about fifteen miles from home, I felt a bonk coming on, even after the large lunch, so I decided to munch on a Larabar, and drink a little electrolite and I must have needed it, 'cause I ate the whole thing. We turned on a very busy highway, then back into the country again and a return to the town of Rohnert Park and our starting place. 86.93 miles of tough (for me anyway) riding. Got back, and enjoyed a much needed dinner. I was very tired after the ride today, and I doubt if I could have gone much further. Ah, but tomorrow's another day, and the Alexander Valley awaits

Bicyclin' The Central Coast

Bicyclin' the Central Coast

Now comes a different phase to my bicycling vacation.....A ride up the Central Coast with SportyGal. Morro Bay was a wonderful destination, I remember it well when we lived there for about 3 years when I was a child. It's changed much since the early 50's, but some things just seem timeless. One of the things I remember so well was the fishing fleet there....the boats are still there, but the fishing is gone. Still, they supply a great photo opportunity however.



Morro Rock of course is timeless



As are the birds.



These seemed much friendlier than Alfred Hitchcocks "Birds" however.
During a get aquainted dinner, we decided to ride up the coast north as far as Elephant Seal Beach, past the town of San Simeon in the morning. It was my request that we leave early because the winds were supposed to pick up and blow strongly from off shore later in the day. She agreed, although getting up early wasn't one of her favorite things to do. We left around 7:30am and headed north out of Morro Bay, providing many wonderful photo ops.



We passed through the very picturesque town of Cambria on our way north, the winds were holding at bay for the time being.



As we worked our way north, traffic lightened up a bit and I noticed many examples of flora and fauna.



We worked our way up and down several hills, and this is the view I got of SportyGal most often.



Working our way up the coast, we came upon the little community of San Simeon, which is the home of Hearst Castle, situated high on a hill top and bicycles aren't allowed to travel the road....camera's are however, so I got as close as I could considering the slight haze in the air.



The pier at San Simeon....



In the town of San Simeon is a very old store, and warehouses for materials to build the castle on the hilltop, back in the 1800's. The Sebastion Store is a National Landmark.



Finally, after struggling against a strong headwind for the last eight or ten miles, we arrived at our destination......elephant seal beach. There were still many juvenile seals left on the beach, enough to make the stop an interesting one.



Turning around and heading with the wind was pure joy! As chilly as it was going up into the wind, we now found times when we were warm. Back down through all the towns, this time on the ocean side of the road allowing much better views.



Stopping for lunch, we found this statue and SportyGal was nice enough to take my photo standing in front of it.



Slipping down the coast feeling like I was floating on the tailwind, we soon had Morro Bay in sight again. It seemed that the return trip took no time at all. Finishing up, I found I had 67 miles on for the ride. SportyGal had ridden from her home to meet up with me, so she had a few more. It is such a wonderful experience to be able to meet aquaintences from Eons that seem like old friends when you meet up. I really hated for the day to end, but like all good things, the day comes to an end.



Tomorrow, however is another day. A ride with SportyGal's club from San Luis Obisbo was in store for me...... but that's another story.