Calaveras

We do need more rain, although from this angle you can't appreciate the low water level of the Calaveras reservoir. Another perfect day for cycling, though. Rainy work days are always welcome. No bald eagle sightings this year; speculation is that they sought better hunting grounds.

It's hard not to run on about the things you love. Cycling, for example. I have inspired a few people to get back on their bikes, while driving others to distraction. One conversation from my holiday visit back east springs to mind.

How do you stay so thin?
I bike. A lot. More than 3300 miles and 178,000 feet of climbing [in 2008]. Pass me that plate of cookies? Thanks.

For the most part, my family members have never been physically active, and I'm not sure they quite believe me.

What happens if you get a flat tire?
I fix it.

It's a lot easier to fix a flat in warm comfort at home, so don't ask why I had procrastinated about a slow leak in my rear tire for months. But when I found a small piece of glass embedded yesterday, I read that as a sign. I knew it wasn't the glass, which was a new acquisition (and thank you, Continental Grand Prix 4000S, for resisting that puncture). Much to my surprise, I found a wire fragment piercing the tube (and, more or less, plugging its hole). I also learned that my neurotic cat finds small children and bicycle wheels equally terrifying, as she fled to her safe haven under the comforter on my bed.