Home roaming

Beat laughed we he caught me poring over Strava's heat maps again. "You're obsessed with this now," he said.

"I'm just trying to set a route for tomorrow," I said, wide-eyed as I scrolled over thin blue lines drawn across an area of the map that for me, until now, was entirely blank. Where I reside — in a metropolitan area of 7 million people that is surrounded by a patchwork of open space — finding new places to roam isn't as simple as just looking at a map. There's so much private land, watershed easements, gates, extensive and often convoluted use restrictions. It's easiest to just find routes that work and go to these places again and again. After all, once you've seen one oak-dotted hillside or redwood grove, you've seen them all, right?

 And yet ... I need new spaces. I recognize that I travel at a higher-than-average rate while enjoying the spoils of settled life. I don't think I could handle a fully itinerant lifestyle, and yet ... I need new spaces. Just when I think I've tapped out my immediate geography and there's nothing else to explore, new wrinkles and folds come into view. The heat maps revealed a slew of new trails that were close enough to shoot for from my house. I traced the map and then went out looking for them.

My fitness is not stellar right now. Interestingly, and opposite of my usual status quo, I have decent power for cycling in short bursts, but the power meter drains out quickly rather than kicking into good ol' endurance mode. I'm good for an hour, and then I suck. Perhaps this is what five weeks of inactivity, one week of semi-smart rebuilding, and two weeks of turning it up to eleven will get you. Muscles get tired, who knew?

But yes, my ride plan called for immediate 15- to 20-percent grades up the thick clay of Fremont Older, followed by pretty much carrying my bike down the hill when bricks formed around the frame and the wheels wouldn't turn anymore. (It rained Friday and Saturday. Yay! This makes me happy, but it also makes for a wet and muddy ride, for which I am embarrassingly out of practice.) Ten minutes were spent chipping away at concrete, then another twenty or so finding my way out of the steep, rolling maze of Saratoga. Then it was time to climb again, nearly 3,000 feet up to the crest of El Serreno.

 I pretty much spent my day's allotment of energy in the first six miles at Fremont Older, and had little to give for what was only the first of two huge climbs — that I knew about. By the time I dropped off the ridge, legs searing and shoulders aching, I considered the just descending all the way to Los Gatos and forgetting this whole silly exploration thing. But this path, this nondescript side road veering off a quiet neighborhood street, beckoned in a hypnotic way. It was a powerline access road that was overgrown with grass, strewn with deadfall, and eaten away by mudslides — calling out to me as though it was the most desirable trail ever cut into a mountainside.

And then it just kept on climbing. Like any good contouring powerline access road, it cut up one small drainage and down the next, direct and steep, up and down. I only acknowledged the ups. Climb and climb. Mist billowed around the forested mountainside. Curtains of rain fell through sunbeams thrown by a clearing to the west, and there were rainbows and sparkling raindrops. It was a beautiful afternoon on this most secret of trails, so close to home and yet so far away.

I turned a corner at the bottom of the drainage, into an enchanted woods with lush pines, real fall color, and a glassy secret lake. I exited the woods onto a paved road and saw the first trail sign of this secret trail, forbidding bikes. Oh, that explains it. I didn't see a single other person out there on a Saturday afternoon, in seven miles. It always irks me when public spaces that are clearly not frequented by anyone carry these restrictions. But I try keep it legal and don't intentionally poach trails, so I guess if I want to go back to this enticing place, I'll have to plan a long run.

 I couldn't dwell on my misdemeanor for long, because it was time to climb again. Climb and climb. My heart was developing that dull achy feeling that sometimes crops up when it's been beating too hard for too long. Climb and climb. I checked my watch and although I'd only ridden 23 miles thus far, I'd already climbed 5,000 feet and was still climbing. Argh. Climb and climb. Veered onto the Saratoga Gap trail, powered over some roots, more climbing. The sun went down. I turned onto Grizzly Flat with about twenty minutes to spare before twilight turned to darkness. Some mountain bikers who had just emerged and were packing up their car asked me, "Are you going in now?"

"I have to," I said. "It's the only way I can get home from here."

"You'll never make it," one of the mountain bikers said — presumably also aware of the no-trail-use-after-dark, you'll-almost-certainly-get-a-ticket rule. "We just finished, it's far."

"It's quick, mostly downhill; I can make it," I said.

"And there are bobcats," he warned, as though ranger danger wasn't scary enough.

I thanked him and turned into the dark forest in the fading light. Twelve miles and fifty minutes later, I was home. As far as I'm concerned, that entire ride was climbing.

Beat gave me a hard time for riding for six hours on Saturday when we had our official longish weekend ride planned with friends on Sunday. We met Pavel and Jan at the mouth of Steven's Canyon and headed back the way I came out just fourteen hours earlier.

Ugh, I was feeling the miles. Beat completed a long run yesterday, and Pavel is more of a short-range guy than an endurance cyclist, but Jan didn't take sympathy on any of us. He planned a punishing route — lots of singletrack and power moves and steep rollers that always feel like all climbing. Fun, of course; no one would argue that it wasn't fun. I certainly wasn't arguing. It's more enjoyable just to roll with it, and apologize when your tired legs cause you to drift farther and farther behind.

 All in all, it was a fantastic weekend of overdoing it — some bikesplorations, some social riding with friends, some sauna time for the sore muscles. I've got the heat maps out again and am already dreaming up the next adventure. Once I get my running legs back, there's almost nothing on there I can't cover. I'd love to see the whole Santa Cruz mountain range light up on my own personal heat map. After all, there's really no such thing as being stuck in one place.

Learning to run again

 After the third and hopefully final knee-flexing session with my doctor today, I was given the go-ahead to start running again, as well as encouragement to "ween" myself from dependency on a rigid brace while riding bikes. Lots of miles in the saddle and very few on foot have disrupted the balance, and I've noticed old overuse nags that I haven't felt in years — hints of patellar and Achilles tendonitis. I either have to reduce the cycling miles or slowly increase the foot miles. I'd planned on walking after the appointment, but after the encouraging assessment, decided to leave the trekking poles in the car and try a slow jog. Four miles on a flat gravel path at an average of 12 minutes per mile, and the knee felt surprisingly strong. I would probably be more excited about that, except for the rest of it felt discouragingly tough for a four-mile, 48-minute jog. It's going to be a long road back. It always is.

On Wednesday I rode in the Headlands with Leah. I'm actually feeling pretty strong on the bike right now — that came back fast. We enjoyed a mellow spin in the fading evening light, then went for Burmese food in the Richmond district. As we were enjoying our tea leaf salad, the streets outside erupted into mild chaos, with screaming, honking, loud bangs, even fireworks. Before this evening, I had no clue that the World Series was happening, or that the Giants were playing, but they apparently had just won and the usual mayhem and car fires were about to begin. I'm embarrassed that I didn't know about the World Series. I browse the New York Times site every morning, keep up with Bay Area media to an admittedly lesser extent, and have baseball fans as friends, and yet I missed this. It's evidence of how insular my world has become, and how I should probably pay more attention to what's going on locally besides extreme drought and eye-rolling political antics. I'm not against professional team sports; they simply aren't interesting to me, and it's gotten to the point of inattention where I've lost track of even major events like the Superbowl. But it is good to know when the streets of San Francisco might erupt into riots, just in case I'm out for a Headlands bike ride that evening. At least the trails were nice and empty.

In other news, my blog turns nine years old this week. Can you believe it? Nine! A cursory glance at the Blogger overview reveals that amounts to 1,796 posts, 21,874 comments, and 4,141,958 visits lo these many years. This is a small (yet obese) blog with a limited scope, but it continues to be a fun, relaxing project, and I enjoy having the record of nine years' worth of adventures. I am nearing completion of my book project that has involved poring over every post from year one of this blog, and that's been an interesting rehash as well. Many times I find myself thinking, "Was I ever so young?" ... which is a little embarrassing considering I'm still writing about virtually the same subjects on the same platform. But I value all of the connections this blog created over the years, the new friends and new ideas. I appreciate those who continue to check in even during the typical life lulls, like now.

On that note, I've also returned to my Iditarod 2014 race report and am considering starting to post that next week (contingent on continuing to make good progress on my book project.) I held off for so long because ... life ... and also because I had this conceptual idea that I wanted to spend more time hashing out, but it's proving to be difficult. A straight narrative might be the best way to go for now, just to make sure I get it all down before the memories start to fade. I can return to my original idea in future Iditarod adventures, which I plan to continue this coming March. So look for that. In the meantime, buy Tim's book! ;)

I am trying to put together a ~300-mile bikepacking loop around the Santa Cruz mountains, and was hoping to scout some trails on the northern part of the Peninsula this weekend. Beat scrutinized my route and announced it contained a large amount of hike-a-bike and some possibly illegal trails. So perhaps it's back to square one. If any readers know of good routes in Half Moon Bay, Montara, and Pacifica, I'd appreciate some direction for good touring (emphasis on touring) trails. Apparently I routed my tour through 30-percent-grade segments with names like "Cave Hike-A-Bike," "911 DH," and "XXX DH."

Speaking of blog connections, I recently learned that a woman who I knew while I lived in Alaska has been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer that spread to her liver. She used to keep a blog called "Karen Travels" and lived in Anchorage for a few years. She is a single mother to a two-year-old son and she is younger than I am, facing an extremely difficult battle. She has been on my mind frequently this week, even before she sent me an e-mail asking if I wouldn't mind sharing her fundraising page. "I am hoping I have at least a few good years, I am not done adventuring, and I want to take him out on some adventures too!" she wrote. Karen hopefully will have more great adventures. Her fundraising page, "Karen Kicking Cancer," is at this link.

Ridin' the range once more

As soon as I figured out that turning pedals no longer aggravates my knee during or after bike rides, this renewed sense of health opened the floodgate of suppressed cycling mania. Strava tells me I rode 172 miles with 22,150 feet of climbing this week. I realize that's not defensible given I'm trying to rehab an injury, not push its outer limits. But none of it seemed like much at the time. I did a little ride here, a routine ride there, and joined a friendly day trip on Sunday. Just like that, 18 hours on a bike. Where does the time go? 

 It's funny to contrast a big cycling week with my current walking efforts. Today I was carrying my trekking poles across the access bridge at Rancho when a man who was having professional photos taken with his wife and young son turned to me and said, "You going skiing?"

"Skiing?" I was confused.

"Yeah, skiing. What are those for?"

"Oh, these? These are walking sticks. For walking with a hurt knee. I use them so I don't lose my balance and fall."

"How far you walking?"

"Three miles. Maybe four."

"Damn!" he said. "Four miles on a hurt knee. You know there are mountain lions out there. Don't think you can outrun them."

"I know. I'm here a lot. I've never seen a mountain lion."

"Is that right? I like walking, getting started with walking. And you know what, someday I'm going to walk ten miles, and you will too!" He grinned and then the photographer waved to get his attention again. I didn't really have any idea what he was stream-of-consciousness rambling about, only that he seemed genuinely enthusiastic at this stranger's plan to walk four miles.

On my way up the hill, two runners who I recognized gave me a wave and a thumbs up. Another who I didn't recognize waved and said, "You do good for that knee." I felt like a fraud. I mean, occasional stumbles and tight sensations in my knee remind me that I need to pay attention to balance and ease my way very slowly back into running. So I continue to gimp along my usual running trails in an effort to work my way back to full mobility. This is the smart thing I'm doing. This was today.

This was yesterday —

 In the four years I've known him, Beat and I have only embarked on a select few long rides together (the long ride qualifier meaning six to eight hours, or more.) Back in Montana we'd make up hybrid bike-run adventures that sometimes involved him carrying my bike up a mountain. There was the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow in Utah, three times. Liehann and I dragged him along for at least one trip during our training block this past spring. These long ride opportunities are rare and cherished.

 Now that he has tough bike races on the agenda — not "just" the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow — he promises there will be a lot more saddle time in his future. He's even on the hunt for a useable saddle, which is not an simple acquisition for him. He's searching for something that's comfortable while not creating disconcerting numbness up front. Right now he's settled on a saddle that only achieves the latter. I consider it my superpower that I can sit on pretty much any saddle on not wear chamois and have no pain or chafing, at least for day-length rides. I am Iron Butt. But I can not sit on the saddle that Beat uses. It's a diabolical torture device. I flat-out refuse to use that saddle for any length of time, because there's no benefit in it for me. I really don't know how he puts up with it, but the saddle issue may partly explain why, up until now, he has mostly avoided long rides.

We planned an 80-mile loop of trails, fire roads, and some pavement connectors through Big Basin Redwoods and the surrounding drainages. Liehann was thrilled that we were finally embarking on a long ride again, and in celebration he went to Safeway and bought up half of their deli case. Among the items he pulled out of his backpack during our lunch stop were a massive brownie, a half-pound block of cheese, and a full 8-ounce container of chipolte mayonnaise. I'm so out of "long ride" mode that Beat and I didn't have anything in the house to bring on the ride. We had to make do with squished old Luna Bars that have been buried deep in backpacks for far too long, and Target brand fruit snacks. Liehann was sympathetic and shared one of his rolls and cheese. Beat also took advantage of his gallon-sized Ziploc bag full of sausages, exclaiming, "I can never eat like this when I'm running!" I can't really eat like that when I'm biking, either, so instead I ate an old package of separated almond butter that had the consistency and taste of wet cement.

 The afternoon drifted away as we plunged into the enchanted forest of Gazos Creek, skidded wildly on chunk gravel that was newly laid over a steep logging road, fought a fierce north wind along the grassy hills of the coast, and returned to climb into the mountains again. On this entire route there is only one reliable water stop, at mile 50. I nearly went into panic when we arrived at the campground to a sign that said "Closed Due to Drought." This past summer I was burned a couple of times by trailside pumps that I expected to produce water, but were dry. I thought this campground source was a sure thing, so the sign came as a special disappointment with 30 miles left to ride and an empty water bladder. Happily, we coaxed the spigot to give up a few liters before it began to gurgle and sputter. With water bladders full once more, we rolled into the moist, chilled air and thick shade of Portola Redwoods forest — the kind of place where you can almost pretend that the entire state of California isn't shriveling up from lack of precipitation.

 Liehann and I promised Beat that the mile-60 climb out of Pescadero, with its slippery dead leaves and 15-percent grades, would be especially fun. The hour-long climb did not disappoint. Beat lamented the state of his backside, but he didn't complain. I was buzzed on endorphins and having an immense amount of quiet fun — quiet because I had my own physical issues and no relatable reason to be enjoying this punishing climb as much as I was. But I was. Two months is not a long period of time, but it is long enough to renew appreciation for the wonderful freedom of simple motion.

 We continued on trail to the top of Black Mountain as the sun slipped beneath the Pacific-outlined horizon. Beat was incredulous that we'd were spending more than nine hours wrapping up this bike ride. He said it felt harder and more tiring than a mountainous 50K. Even though my own legs were aching with lactic acid surges and nagging aches in now-undertrained joints, I disagreed. Two months can be a long time to spend away from a bike, but it's not enough to interrupt intrinsic flow, the uncomplicated joy of moving and breathing.