Kouign-amann Karma

When you bike to work and find a kouignette waiting on your desk, the day is off to a great start.

I had never heard of (much less tasted) a kouign-amann before. (Think croissant meets sticky bun.) One of my colleagues completed a rigorous professional pastry-chef curriculum this year as a way to relax (?!) and unwind from the stresses of work. [Yeah, I don't understand, either.] When his final “exam” was judged by local restaurateurs, one offered him a job on the spot. But that wasn't the point ...

Thus, it's not uncommon to find something delectable next to your keyboard in the morning.

My other stroke of good fortune, this week, is that I'm taking care of a friend's cat while she's away. She was in an unexpected bind because her regular cat-sitter had moved out of the area.

Me: Um, I can do it?

Friend: OMG, you don't know how much money you're saving me!

Me: And you will not pay me a dime! Your place is 3.5 miles from my office! I can just bike there, every day!

It's still smoky.

Kitty and I got along famously. He wandered in late the first night, ate, jumped up to check me out, purred and curled up on my lap to sleep. (Get that laptop out of the way!)

Each morning he'd climb onto my chest as soon as I woke up and nuzzle his purring head under my chin. Within a day, he'd adapted to my schedule.

This all worked wonders to reduce my stress level.

That, and the hazelnut/chocolate rugelach.

Creamy Good

Sometimes you need an incentive to spur you to climb on the bike. Club rides are great for that.

This morning I was more enthusiastic about sleeping in than I was about any of the rides listed on the calendar. But I did like the prospect of connecting with my fellow riders at our annual Ice Cream Social, which was scheduled at a friendly, post-lunch hour. And I was hankering for a long-ish ride.

After indulging myself and chatting with friends, I decided to take a different route home. Why not visit the rookery?

Many of the youngsters had fledged by the time I last visited, but there were still a few on the nest. As I watched, some crows set up a ruckus and the sky suddenly swirled with a flock of adult egrets. More than a few remain, after all.

One of the resident great blue herons was hunkered down next to a channel along the Bay.

Today there were cormorants lined up, as they will, preening and drying their wings.

The Bay Trail offers options; I chose the straight and not-so-narrow. Reversing the route I usually lead, I was curious to explore a new segment of the San Tomas Aquino Trail.

They've extended the two-way, separated trail alongside San Tomas Expressway. But it's not done. And I hadn't studied the map for options before making this fateful decision, knowing that there is a wide shoulder on the expressway and that traffic would be light on a Sunday afternoon.

What I didn't know was that only one southbound lane would be open (road construction), with ... no shoulder. When I reached the end, I glared at barriers blocking access to the as-yet-unopened continuation of the trail. It was already striped! Why the heck wasn't it open?

I pedaled hard. The driver behind me was heroically patient; never honking, never trying to pass me. Maybe he or she was my guardian angel, shielding me from the cars behind. Or maybe they all just understood that even though I was slow, traffic was backed up and we'd all come together at the next traffic light anyway. There was no place for me to pull off (though I did consider veering left and pedaling in the cone zone).

I made it. 51 miles, only 800 feet of climbing.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

It's not a cloudy morning.

It's a smoky morning.

The fires raging through the hills of northern California are hundreds of miles away, but the smoke spreads. The prevailing westerly winds haven't been enough to clear it away.

I did a double-take yesterday morning when I awoke to a red glow on the wall: sunrise. The smoke layer above us colors the light.

Absent warnings about air quality, I biked to (and from) work. My schedule hasn't been bike-commute-friendly this summer. (Not being a “morning person,” anything earlier than a 9:30 a.m. meeting makes the 18-mile trip infeasible.) On some mornings, I do load my trusty steed onto a commuter shuttle—and bike home at the end of the day. One way is better than no way.

Today gave me the usual 36 miles and 1,000 feet of climbing. The sun will come out ... tomorrow.

Where the Birds Are

Time for one of my favorite summer outings, a combination biking/birding adventure.

The winds were calm, the tide was low, and many shorebirds were feasting in the shallows. Great egrets, snowy egrets, and more.

The first time I've spotted a white pelican in the area; all alone.

A pair of great blue herons—one close by.

A great egret craning for a catch.

We arrived at the rookery just as the local Audubon Society folks were preparing to pack up—a bonus! I really should check their calendar. And really, I should just become a member.

They had a scope trained on the nest of a black-crowned night-heron, which was snoozing with its chick.

The egret nests are emptying out; many of the chicks have fledged, but a few remain.

A satisfying ride for me: 51 miles, with 1,000 feet of climbing.

Empire Mine

This is gold country, and my friends encouraged me to visit the nearby Empire Mine (now a California State Historic Park).

Standing at the the top of the shaft, my internal soundtrack conjured up the Cowboy Junkies. [Of course.] I certainly had no concept of hard rock mining. Till now.

There were a few numbers that stuck with me. The bottom of the shaft was nearly a mile below the surface of the earth; the shaft (11,000 feet long) cuts through the earth at an angle. The museum displays an enormous and intricate scale model of the shafts and side tunnels of the Empire Mine and its neighbors.

I wondered where the tons and tons of discarded rock ended up. Some of it was used to construct the buildings onsite. Some of it was likely used to form the beds for railroad tracks, as I now recognized the curious specimen I'd pocketed back near Graeagle as granodiorite.

It was possible to wander through the offices, to climb the well-worn creaky stairs, to marvel at the redwood used to panel the walls. So many tons of rock drilled and crushed to extract precious ounces of gold. The scale of it! How can gold be affordable, at all? Here, in 1956, this operation stopped being profitable. The pumps were shut down, allowing the groundwater to rise to its natural level and flood the complex warren of tunnels. By one estimate, 80% of the gold is still down there.

The “cottage” was closed; I was too late for the last tour of the day. What was it like to live in such grandeur on the site of an active mine? The pounding, the shaking, the shattering of the earth?

When the mine began to run on electrical power, there was enough to go around. The cottage was among the earliest electrified residences.

It was cooler in the garden than on the barren grounds above the mine, baking in the sun.

Back in Nevada City, the evening cooled down nicely. I chose to dine on a creekside porch.

My thoughts turned to one of the many stickers adorning the colorful spot where we'd enjoyed our smoothies: Earth Bats Last.

Remember that.

Rattlesnake Reparation

The route for today would be shorter and less strenuous, but my friends humored me with an earlier start.

We meandered through rural residential neighborhoods on quiet roads. The area offers a mix of the affordable and ... the less affordable. We stopped to admire this impressive entry gate, a tribute to the land complete with a swirling lake and cloud-topped mountains.

The route also offered more shade, overall, so I was having a much better day.

I was looking forward to the promise of a lovely descent on Rattlesnake Road, but alas: The road had been trenched for most of its length and the infill spoiled it. I'm sure it will be nice again, someday, when it's properly repaved.

We regrouped at the Northstar Mining Museum, which was closed. Much mining equipment was displayed outdoors, anyway (in its natural habitat, as it were). These were not small machines.

This Pelton wheel was forged at a foundry less than 500 yards from where it rests now, out of service. Much more efficient than the familiar traditional water wheel, it was a big innovation in energy delivery (and is apparently still used, in places, today). [Learn something new every day, even at play, that's my motto.]

My friends were keen to extend our route to revisit some scenic views. “A little more climbing,” in the heat of the day.

I was having none of that. 30 miles and 2,380 feet of climbing felt just right to me; I had no desire to get overheated again. Besides, I knew where to get a nice berry smoothie and a cool shower—and have enough time left in the day for a local adventure off the bike.

Bitney Springs

In Nevada City, we were staying in cottages that are part of a vintage motor lodge (dating back to 1933). The place is quaint and funky; my mom would have loved the birdhouses adorning the cottage across the garden from mine.

We chatted with a local cyclist a few blocks into our ride. “Oh, that will be hot—I wouldn't do that climb today.” I wished we'd gotten an earlier start.

I missed viewing a dramatic bridge over the Yuba River. I was focused on the unpredictable traffic and parked cars, and when I saw a climb on the other side (after a nice long downhill), I just wanted to keep moving. The day was warming quickly. Drivers were more foolish around here, crossing the double yellow line to pass slower cars. Passengers were foolish, too; I did a double-take when I realized the shaggy head hanging outside a Jeep was attached to a human, not a dog.

I didn't miss the historic covered bridge, later, though it's fenced off. The best view was from the road outside the park. I was already suffering in the heat; I saturated my arm coolers with cold water, which helped for a time. We would be mostly climbing for the next 13 miles, so I preferred not to check out the local history displays in the barn. The day would only get hotter.

The heat was taking its toll on me. At first, I stopped every mile. Later, every tenth of a mile. Finally, I made it from one tiny patch of shade to the next. I dismounted and walked the final, exposed pitch to the top. It wasn't steep, but my engine was just plain overheated. The cattle lolling in the shade had more sense than we did.

The reward for climbing Bitney Springs Road was not the view; it was the eponymous water at the bottom. Despite the county's official warning sign, a steady stream of people with empty containers pulled up in cars. I drenched my arm coolers again, but hesitated to refill my water bottle. “I guess it's okay?” I asked an elderly gentleman who was filling three jugs. “Been drinkin' it for 50 years,” he replied. Enough of an endorsement for me!

We stopped at a quirky little spot to refuel with some healthy fare. I was grateful for the giant berry smoothie, but even more excited at the prospect of a cool shower at the cottage.

Done and done, 34 miles and 3,560 feet of climbing.

Rainy Day Women

My friends had mapped out an 80-mile route for the first day of our biking vacation. After plotting the course on a map, I saw a straightforward way to reduce it to 60 and suggested considering that option when we reached the turning point. But the more I thought about it, the more certain I was to follow the shorter route—especially since we were not staying another night in the area, but would face a post-ride two-hour drive to our next home base in Nevada City.

Our loop started with a sweet downhill, passing through the town of Graeagle. I was glad that I'd tossed a vest into my bag, almost as an afterthought, “just in case.”

The morning was chilly, with a slight chance of rain (rain?!) in the forecast.

Uncharacteristically, Ms. C (who normally stacks on multiple layers), brought none. Here she is snapping a photo of me snapping a photo of her.

There were flowers and boulders and evergreens a-plenty.

At one point I looked up just in time to see two fawns trailing their mom across the road and up the hillside.

“Did you feel that?” Sprinkles.

Which turned to rain.

Enough rain for vehicles to flick on their windshield wipers and spray water up from the roadway and bring patches of oil to the surface.

We have neither windshields, nor wipers.

But I've weathered far worse.

I met the Boyfriend (Ms. C's) climbing back up. “She wasn't far back when I started descending, but she must be cold.” He'd offer her the option to turn back. “I'm going to continue,” expecting that I would ride out of the rain. [I was right.]

I paused now and then for a snack, and to admire the scenery.

If they hadn't turned back, they'd surely catch up to me.

Continuing was the right choice (but then, with my vest and arm warmers, I wasn't really cold). I dried out soon enough.

I realized that my internal soundtrack had started playing a tune ... Gershwin. The mind works in mysterious ways.

I lingered a while at the Sattley Cash Store, by now convinced that my friends had turned back.

I had earned these photo-worthy views.

A barn dating back to 1895.

Vehicles traveled fast, but there weren't many. Visibility was excellent, so I wasn't worried about sharing the road.

A flock of white pelicans rose up from the field, swirled overhead and vanished.

In addition to the views, I was rewarded with a smokin' tailwind.

Puffs of cloud dotted the sky above massive rock formations.

Bright flowers were a welcome sight after the morning's gloom.

I was glad I had stayed the course: 4,025 feet of climbing over 61 miles (some wet, some dry). For my friends, who turned back, more wet than dry.

The afternoon drive gave us the views we missed this morning. Maybe I'll come back, one day.