Alviso

More time off the bike. Five weeks, now. Not a single ride in November. [Well, not counting three miles most weekdays, to and from my commuter shuttle.]

My chief biking buddy and I were determined to get out for a ride today, and I opted to join her on one of her favorite outings: to Alviso, mostly on trails. To keep the distance manageable, I shortened my trip by hopping on the light rail to reach our starting point (and, to return).

Having learned my lesson last time, I definitely needed something less taxing.

I was delighted by the full-size sculpture of Lupe, the Columbian mammoth, along the Guadalupe Creek Trail (near where her remains were discovered). After that story faded from the news back in 2005, I had forgotten all about it.

I have never seen the surface of San Francisco Bay so still. In addition to black-necked stilts in the shallows, we saw a floating flock of white pelicans (and a few egrets and great blue herons along the way).

It rained yesterday, which helped clear out the smoke from the catastrophic Camp Fire that had choked the region for weeks. Even though the fire burned about 200 miles to the northeast, our air quality was (at times) hazardous. Even though all my windows were closed, I smelled the smoke in my house the morning after the fire started.

We didn't get too far on the levees before the trail became too muddy for us to proceed. We met another woman cycling on her own and invited her to join us. We parted ways on the return trip, opting for the unpaved trail on the opposite bank of the Guadalupe River.

The principal part of the ride was 24 flat miles (okay, okay: 320 feet of climbing), which I extended another 10 miles (and 200 feet of climbing) biking to and from the light rail station. Looking forward to repeating this ride in other seasons!