Tag: casitas

Making Time to Ride

Just for fun.  Today was too nice outside not to go for a ride, not errands, just a ride for the sake of riding.  A recent saddle acquisition motivates me to take out the Eisentraut.  What a fun riding bike.  The tire clearance is the only limitation that bike imposes, the rest is up to the motor.  I have a set of vintage NOS Specialized Touring tires on it at the moment, labeled 32mm, but measure at 23mm.  Not sure if it is the overstated tire size trend of the era, or dyslexia.  For super skinny tires they ride pretty well.

I was out for a few hours, and about 30 miles before the wind came up too bad.  I shot more video than pictures on this ride.  Something else I will be teaching myself as part of the Ocean Air Cycles project.  Some of it actually came out OK.  I learned that video takes a different level of planning than pictures.  Lots of scouting and thinking about timing and angles of view, and how to get it done solo.  Next up is post production, I will see what is usable and hopefully have a short movie by next week.

Mid Day Escape

It has been way to nice outside to pass on riding.  Try as hard as I may, by the mid afternoon the clear blue skies pull me away from the computer and telephone.  With temperatures pushing into the low 80’s in the inland valleys I broke away for a ride back up the river valley.

A total of 26 miles crammed into an hour and a half, not bad after a couple of months with little more than short errand rides.  Even at that average pace I was still able to grab some pictures and enjoy the weather.  Near Lake Casitas there was a herd of deer out grazing, in a mile or so I counted close to 20.

All those little dots in the field are deer, really, even a four point buck in the mix.

I since my dad does read this, I will admit I need a hair cut, pretty badly.  I keep telling my self it is winter and it keeps my head warm, but this winter has been hotter and drier than last summer.  I am sure Murphy’s law will kick in as soon as I cut it, but I guess I have hats for that.

Two Wet Nuts

And this has nothing to do with my choice of cotton shorts and boxers(capilene). Yesterday’s ride was wet, the fog was late in coming this year and has been relentless in moving on.  The mist was so thick in the morning that there was puddles most of the way out to Lake Casitas, and the trees were dripping with dew.

Wishing I still had fenders on the Roadeo I made my way out towards the lake to see if I could find some free snacks to take home.  The weather out here has been unusually damp all year, and cool, hot for a bit and then cool again.  As a result the rivers are still running with water in the summer.

Usually by this time of year they are barely a trickle of a creek left.  Likewise the fruit and nuts have been all off schedule, plumping up early during the heat, but not turning ripe now that it is cool and damp again.  First stop was the walnut tree, relentless branch shaking did little more than draw a crowd of onlookers wondering what the crazy human was up too.

From there is was just a little further to check on the progress the pomegranates have been making.

Like the walnuts, the trees are loaded with fruit, but none of it near ready to enjoy.  I am looking forward to the day it all comes ripe at once.  The transition from spring to summer this year has been a mixed bag on our stretch of coast this year, even the wild flowers are a bit mixed up, some still blooming while the rest of the fields have long gone to their summer tan.

While not high yielding in wild foods, the ride was a great chance to get out of the house for a bit, and not think about the things I “should” be getting done, and yes all that tree shaking resulted in just two wet nuts 😉

 

Back to Our Scheduled Programing

I had some coverage for the baby today and was able to get out fo ra couple of hours, thank you Opie.  I headed up to Casitas for a while before doubling back to head to the farmer’s market.  It was really nice to get out of the morning fog and into some clear skies.

While out in the hills a bit I saw a deer with actual antlers, not usual around here.  I only seem to see one every few years or so, plenty of does, but not really any bucks with head gear.

and then it was back into town where the fog was flirting with the coastline all day.  A successful ride, fresh veggies and spin the legs.

You can just make out the fog bank in the distance.