The Cliff: Last Snowshoe of 2012

It was a perfect day to go on the last Caledonia Ramblers snowshoe trip for 2012.  The sun was out, it wasn't too cold or warm, and the snow was perfect!  Twenty people showed up for the trip, which was an incredible amount.

Tim getting ready for some adventure

Happy New Year's!

I'd like to send out a special Happy New Year's to the 2 awesome guys that I rode with for 4 days in Oregon and California!  I had the time of my life riding with you and I am glad that I bumped into you... All the best for the New Year's.

I'd also like to wish Deanna W.  a Happy New Year's too. Thanks for doing the adventure with me!  I cherish the memories.....

Happy New Year's to all my followers too...I know that I haven't posted as much since I came back to home.....but I know that there will be more adventures on and off the bicycle to post here.... Thanks for following!

The Cliff - preview

I had an awesome Christmas at my parent's on Vancouver Island, but it's good to be back home to get some more snowshoeing in!  Today I went snowshoeing to the Cliff.  It was a very beautiful day.  There was a full moonlight snowshoe trip on Friday night, but I was tired from taking an overnight bus home, so I just rested.

I took a few photos today as I hardly use the camera.. I had a bit of fun with it today!  I'll post a full trip report in the next day or so...

Piderny- Southwest Loop Snowshoe

On Sunday December 16, I led nine people on a snowshoe around Piderny.  Honestly though, without the help of Nowell, I would have got us lost!  Thanks Nowell.  We had a big snowfall, and it was not very cold, so it was a perfect snowshoeing day!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I'll be offline for a week...

The Piderny Triangle

My gosh!  I am back in action.  I swear when the season changes, I get a lazy streak, or at least I think so, despite me riding to work every day on my bike.

Free at last!

I've started snowshoeing again with the Caledonia Ramblers as there now is enough snow to snowshoe, or sort of.  We still got caught in snags..

Snowshoeing is back!

Me and Moon

Yeh!  I've finally got back into action with the Caledonia Ramblers.  I'm back to snowshoeing with them as enough snow has fallen down to need them. If I didn't bike to work every day, I'd be in sad shape!

It felt really good to get out and get some fresh air... We hiked around Piderny. I'll do a better post during the next few days as I have a few good photos that I took of the trip.

Being Seen

I've been riding every day to work in the dark.  I have plenty of lights, but I am always looking for better ways to be seen.  I currently ride with a dark jacket/pants.  I would love to find a bright jacket that can keep me warm in the Winter.  I suppose wearing wool would do the trick, but I love my down jacket since I ride for only 5 minutes.

These two items recently caught my attention:

This is a cool 360 LED jacket that needs funding to be produced.  I am hoping that it makes enough, but if not, that they try again! It looks good, but not thick and warm for winter..  Still it would be good for tour riding too.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/275086

It has been created by Badger Gear

http://www.badgergears.com/index.php/apparel/jacket.html

I seen one bright jacket with an LED light in the back, but this is so much better!


I also seen this back light that 'creates' a bike lane.  Pretty cool even though it's a bit pricey.

I've really been thinking about improving light as even with reflective gear and the lights I have, I wonder how effective it is. Recently two Joggers got run over by a car even though they were wearing reflective gear and lights...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/05/bc-hit-run-video.html

I suppose no amount of safety gear will prevent that from happening...

Things I miss.

Big Red and Baxter both keep me company in Living Room during Winter

Some days I really miss touring on my Bike.  Sure I bike around town every day, even in Winter, but it's not the same.  I miss the simple life of just riding my bike to the next destination, not caring what's happening in the world.  Riding through some of the most beautiful country in the world.

I am already thinking of ideas for next year...though I probably will stay a bit closer next Summer.

While I miss my Bike Touring during the Winter, I miss my home and birds while Bike Touring in the Summer.  It sure is nice being home with my birds right now, as I always feel so bad leaving them for a time while I travel as I love them dearly. 

Did someone say Popcorn Time?

Popcorn Time:  The Aftermath.  Popcorn carnage everywhere!

Festival of Trees - 2012

I'm back!

Well, it's been a while since I have posted here.  I have been rather having an uneventful few months.  I admit that even though there's been a Rambler's hike every weekend since I came back, I haven't been going on any.

Bit of a breather

I'm taking a bit of a breather from the blog...  as I've got a few things to do for the Caledonia Ramblers.  The good news is that I have finally have recovered from the bike trip.  I swear that it took a whole month to feel just right!  I don't know if this is normal or not, but I have heard that people doing extreme adventures need time to recover afterwards, although I don't consider what I did, extreme, like racing down 'Divide' in a record amount of time. Oh well.  I hope you've enjoyed my posting of my bike trip photos, most of which I wasn't able to upload and post until I came back...

I've been putting the studded tires on Floyd to prep him for Winter riding, but so far the weather has been excellent.  I can still wear Summer clothing.. amazing! Although I am sure that will change soon.  No complaints from me.  I should bring my camera with me, I missed an opportunity for photos when I took a ride on a local special steam engine train this weekend.

I have been offered a free beater bike to take Floyd's place eventually.  It's another cheap bike that I don't mind trashing....

Eureka to Garberville - Heritage buildings/Redwoods

Heritage House in Eureka, California

From the border to the Redwoods

Biked across a state border

I've walked across a major border once, when I hiked on the Chilkoot Trail.. I crossed from the USA into Canada.

Humbug to Brookings- last bit of Oregon

Cat resting at the Book Dock Bookstore in Brookings

Humbug to Oregon - Last bit of Oregon - the end of one chapter and soon, the beginning of another in the journey.


Here's some more photos that I took on my trip... I really love the cat one, he/she seemed to be right at home in the bookstore, and what's a bookstore without a resident cat?

Seven Devils and other random Pacific Coast Bike Trip Photos.

Between Newport and Jessie M. Honeymoon State Park

Manchester Beach to Jessie M. Honeymoon State Park, and beyond....
 

It's really hard to choose photos to post here. I have so many to choose from. I don't want to post all in the case that someone coming here will view my slideshow... anyways, here's another post of only some of the photos that I took.  I had the slideshow in mind while travelling, hence the ton of photos.

Pacific Coast Photo Album - Day 2

Bridge that connects Washington to Oregon

Astoria to Nehalem Bay State Park

(Approximately 40 or so Miles)

*Warning* If you are going to see my eventual slide-show in the future, many of these photos will be featured in it.

We stayed at a hotel near one of bridges that connects Washington to Oregon states.  I have heard that it is quite a challenging bridge to cross on a bike because of the strong crosswinds, although apparently the official ACA route goes across another bridge.   And that one is also very challenging as you can imagine. Even though we didn't have to cross those particular bridges, we did have our fair share of challenging bridges to cross on our journey.  (Tunnels too)

 

Before departing for Nehalem Bay, we took a side trip to the Goonies house.  I love the sign at the beginning of the driveway.

One of two tunnels that we had to go through

We went through one of the tunnels on the first day.  Another bicyclist was kind enough to push the 'bicycles in tunnel' sign button to activate the blinking lights on the warning sign.

 We met this group of woman cyclists in Seaside, they were riding on a fully supported tour down the Oregon Coast/

Nehalem  Bay

Pacific Coast Photo Album - Day 1

Me and Deanna depart Vancouver on August 9

Final Destination - Part II

Bicycling towards Sausalito

After meeting up with Leo at the Village Peddler, I continued on towards San Francisco.  Even though it was only 20 km away, it was taking longer to ride it as I was riding in the City.  I read the directions in the 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' book carefully, so I wouldn't get lost.

Final Destination - Part I

On my final Day, I said my goodbyes to fellow bicyclists staying at Samual P. Taylor State Campsite, which is about 40 km North of San Francisco. The campsite was full of riders from all over and a few hitchhikers also.

Tandem Bicyclists from Scotland

Onwards to Samual P Taylor

After having a a much needed rest day at Bodega Bay, along with some good meals, I was all geared to ride to ride on towards San Francisco.  It is amazing what rest will do.
I said my goodbyes to the other bikers  including Leo from Fairfax at my campsite before leaving.  ( l bumped into Leo at the Rustic Bakery in Larkspur, the next day!)
Leaving Bodega Bay, the highway turned inland for awhile. It was another one of my favourite areas to ride through. There were lots of rolling hills and farms. For a while, there was hardly any traffic and I felt like I could be riding alone in an end of the world show like Survivors, or the Walking Dead. Thankfully, I did not run into any outlaws or zombies!
I stopped for coffee in this cute little village of Tomales where there were other cyclists hanging out. I enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and a very tasty pastry. There were also lots of motorcyclists out for a day ride from San Francisco.
I continued on until I reached the ocean.  There were lots of roller-coaster hills to ride along the ocean.  Those are great as long as I can make enough momentum to get up the next hill without much effort.
I stopped at one of many quick seafood places for some clam chowder.  (At the many fancy oyster places in the area, people from San Francisco like to come out for the day).  At the seafood place that I stopped at, I bumped into a rider from the Bodega Bay campsite.  He was riding slower due to bummed knee.
We rode a lot of the rest of the day together as he was riding slower.  I soon met him again in Port Reyes Station again where I stocked up on food.  This town was cute touristy town.  I stopped again in Olema to get some needed beer.
I had to ride up this 500 foot climb and then ride on a bike path to get to the campsite in the Redwoods.  It was great to get to camp in them again.  We had lots of time at Samuel P Taylor to explore the Redwoods.
(I saw the cute Dr.Who mug in a store front at Point Reyes Station.)

On to Manchester

After a good night's rest at Fort Bragg, I left fairly early in the morning as usual.    By 7 am, I am wide awake every morning.  I checked out the cool town of Mendecino.

It was another short ride for the day.  But it was a challenging one as there were a lots of ups and downs with narrow turns.   I call those tight corners, 'pee your pants moments', for good reason!  There are plenty of those riding down the California coast.  Shoulders mostly do not  exist here. After having a quick lunch in Elk, I continued on.

I was tired by the time I hit the KOA.  After signing in, I immediately set up tent, then jumped into the hot tub!  I also watched some more tv.  Then, off go bed early again as I was tired and sore.

Next morning, I packed up early to avoid the busy weekend traffic and to increase the odds that I would make it to Bodega Bay. I did not think I would.  I also thought that I would not catch the 8 am shuttle to there.  I had to catch it in a town after Manchester, that was 7 kms away.  But, by some miracle, I did!  After riding madly down a hill to catch it, I threw all my stuff off the bike and onto the bus.  It took the bus 2 hrs to get to Bodega Bay, but it beat riding as I would get there late then, if at all.  When I saw some of the crazy cliffs along the way, I was glad that I chose the bus to get there.  The roads were insane!

Here I am relaxing.  Cheap campsite, but I splurged on a t-shirt, a good breakfast and dinner to prep me for shorter ride to campsite near San Francisco, my last stop before hitting the big city.

Watch out for the BIRDS in Bodega Bay

Let"s do Leggett

After riding with my two Nanaimo buddies, it was finally my time to ride on my own.  There were quite a few bikers staying at the Standish Hickey campsite, but most were still sleeping when I packed up.   I wanted to tackle the over 2000 foot Leggett Hill early to beat the 100 degree heat.
I stopped at the cafe across the street to say my goodbyes to the guys, then off I left at about 8:15 am. I was going to stop in Leggett to have a proper breakfast, but nothing was open.  So tackling Leggett was my first order of business.
Right away, as I was leaving Leggett, the long, fairly steep ascent begun.    The hiker in me told myself that I would find it easier to walk the bike up, so I did.   I climbed up it to the top fairly quickly.  At the bottom, I asked a local resident for some water.
I had bit of flat road where I biked quickly, then I had another steep ascent!  I also walked up most of that.  After a fast descent, I made it to the ocean.  I had a bit of a break there.  A German tourist offered me a diet Coke.  I took him up on it.  He was amazed at me riding.
After going up and down several rolling hills, I made it to Westport.  I enjoyed a Crabby Patty at the local market.  Spongebob must live near there!
I continued on to Fort Bragg, where I decided to stay at a cheap motel as the campsite was just North of the town and I wanted to hang around the town area.  I made it to Fort Bragg in good time at only 3pm which is great considering the big hills that I had climbed that day.   I enjoyed dinner and light Scrimpshaw Pilsner beer and dinner at the local micro brewery.  While there, I chatted with other cyclists who were heading North.  The told me to stay at the KOA near Manchester the next day as they only charge $10 for biker/hiker and it includes a hot tub!
After exploring the town, I headed to bed early after watching some tv.  I was exhausted from that day's ride despite it only being 63 kms long.

Hot day in the interior

Today, we had a hot ride in the interior.  We stopped for coffee at this cute cafe.

We decided to ride on the freeway as we seen the big cedar forests.  But, they were our friends as they kept us cool during the hot day.  We ate at this cute cafe in Garbervile.  We met some other cyclists from Berlin.  While in town, I cancelled the room for 2 for the hostel for Sunday, as I am completely following the Biking the Pacific Coast book, which means I won't get into San Francisco until Monday, August 27.  We bought some food, but there is a restaurant near where we are camping.

After some hot climbs with rests under trees and a bridge, we came to Standish Hickey campsite.  It was closed due to California budget cuts, but volunteers have opened it up!  Kudos to volunteers!