Mt Tamalpais Birthday Trip

 

Xiaoqin found a hotel on Mt Tam and decided it would be a great birthday present for me to do a trip with her. I mapped out two rides and we drove up on Saturday and rode the first, an ambitious 38 mile loop with more than 4500' of climbing, taking in RidgeCrest, Mt Tam summit, and Highway 1. It did not disappoint.

While the valley was shrouded in fog, on Panaromic Highway and Pan Toll road we were in the sun, with gorgeous views of the sea of clouds below us. You might think things couldn't get better but when we descended down to Ridgecrest, the gate across the road was closed!

We saw plenty of cyclists coming the other way so we knew it was passable by bicycles so we rode around the gate and onto the car free highway. The views were nothing short of phenomenal, and we could use the entire road because no cars were going to be on it!

Once the road descended enough, it was foggy and mysterious but the pavement despite being wet didn't splash any water on us, and the road was still car free so we could dodge around wet spots and avoid construction debris. On the other side of the gate a group of cyclists stopped us and asked if we could help with their broken chain. While I had an 11s quick link they clearly needed a chain tool and I didn't have one with me. Fortunately, they had a radio and radio'd their parents for help.

The descent down into Bolinas was gorgeous if cool, making us wear our jackets. At the bottom we turned left and headed along the Bolinas Lagoon, which was beautiful even on a cloudy day, with fast flat curves that denied the right to cars to drive at full speed but were perfect on a bicyle.

At Stintson beach we stopped at the Parkside Cafe for some seafood tacoes to brace ourselves for the inevitably trafficky climb up Highway 1 towards Muir Woods. A hostile hitch hiker told us to block all the traffic going southbound. Usually it's the motorists who are rude but I guess anti-bicyclist sentiment extends to many hikers as well.

At Muir Woods we stopped to use the bathroom before climbing up the Muir Woods road to four corners. The sun came and went but it never rained and the temperatures were warm though not unpleasantly so.

Back at the car, we loaded it back up and drove to Mountain Home Inn, a tiny hotel with just a few rooms. Rather than miss the sunset, Xiaoqin had the smart idea to bring instant noodles and we could eat dinner in our rooms and then drive back up to Ridgecrest for the gorgeous sunset.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then drove to Point Reyes Station to start an easier ride along parts of the Marshall Loop.

In retrospect, I should have reversed the route, since the traffic on the return was much worse later in the day while traffic on that part of highway 1 was relatively light. Nevertheless, we had gorgeous views of Tomales Bay before turning inland.

Once inland past Tomales it got warm very quickly. Unfortunately Xiaoqin suffered a flat at a rest stop from a thorn. We quickly fixed it thanks to the Cycplus Pump that was on her bike. Despite my never having topped up the charge it happily pumpped up her tire after we installed a new tube.

The return via Wilson Hill Road followed by Hicks Valley Road and then Pt Reyes Petaluma Road had  a lot of traffic but the road mostly had wide bike lanes and it was mostly downhill. It could have been cooler, but we got to Point Reyes Station and our car before 2:00pm  and could buy a nice lunch and sit outside before going home. What a wonderful birthday present from Xiaoqin!

Re-read: The Snow Queen

 After A Fire Upon The Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, I was so impressed that I decided to go back to re-read The Snow Queen, the 1981 Hugo Award Winner that I read as a kid. I had vague memories of it being good.

Unfortunately, some books don't age as well over time, and this is one of them. The analog with the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale was well done --- I have no issue with that, but the idea of a trans-star wide computer that uses humans as input output mechanism (but that results in the human medium unable to even recall what was transmitted through them) doesn't work as well. (For one thing, where does the power source come from?) I did enjoy the use of the biological hazard symbol and the virus-infection method of transmission, but again, that doesn't seem very robust, and then there's the old trope of ancient mechanisms still working hundreds or thousands of years in the future without bugs seems very unlikely.

The characters now feel like they were jerked around like puppets on strings. I can see how at the time the book was written female protagonists that rescued the male would have been considered innovative.

I don't think I'll bother with the rest of the series.

Capitola Weekend Trip

 

For labor day weekend we decided to ride to Capitola and back for the Saturday and Sunday. The kids were pretty happy about going to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, the first time Boen would attend in which he's tall enough to do all the "fun" rides.

We cheated by driving to the Lexington Elementary school, parking the car, and starting up Old Santa Cruz Highway. This is by far the easiest way to ride to Capitola. We'd booked the Quality Inn in Capitola. The ride to summit road was fairly easy, and then the nerve wracking ride along summit road to the Summit store, where we ate lunch. It was surprisingly warm, and we were happy to start descending Soquel San Jose road.

That road was fast and furious as usual, and at the bottom we found the Quality Inn. Bowen needed new shoes, however, so we rode over to REI to discover that the Santa Cruz REI had a very poor selection of shoes and their sales did not apply to shoes! We bought a very expensive pair not having much choice and then rode back to the inn to put on shoes and then call an Uber to the Boardwalk.

The Uber driver dropped us off not at the boardwalk, but across the bridge, which was a very short walk and bypassed a ton of traffic. There, the kids did 3 rides, but Boen bailed on the last one so I had to do it with Bowen. Then we took an Uber to the Capitola beach where we ate Tacos at Mijo's Taqueria. After that we had ice cream and a walk along the beach and then back along the Soquel Creek, stopping at Gayle's Bakery to buy more dessert.

The next morning we had the hotel breakfast and left to ride across Santa Cruz to get to Graham Hill Road. Graham Hill Road made us glad we decided to bring the tandem.  The road was busy and uphill, but once it dropped us off on East Zyante Road it became a lot quieter and we had a good ride.

At the only grocery store on East Zyante Road we had a snack before tackling the climb, which was steep. In fact, at one spot we had to stop to rest. Of course, Xiaoqin didn't have any trouble at all with the climb and was forced to wait for us.

Once at the top of Zyante Road we turned right onto summit road to ride over to Mt Charlie Road. On the intersection over 17 Xiaoqin had a very slow-motion fall as she had to dodge a car. But despite that she was fine and we all made it back to the Lexington School in time to visit Chickenlicious for a late lunch.

MTB Whistler Day 6 & Epilogue

 On Saturday Bowen was too hurt to keep riding, so I rode by myself. This time I resolved to ride every lift in the park except Fitzsimmons Express. To my surprise many of the trails were closed --- Midguard was closed, parts of Unamoss and Blue Velvet was closed. I tried a few more tech trails but as I got more tired I switched to riding more flow trails and dialed it back on the jumps. Still, by the time I returned the bike my hands were sore and I was so tired I couldn't even contemplate swimming. 

On Sunday, we checked out of the AirBnB, walked back to the Legends hotel and waited for our shuttle back to YVR. While waiting we saw a group of Asian cyclists loading up a car with bike boxes and spoke to them. Turned out that they were top end competitive MTBers from Hong Kong, able to clear A-line and Dirt Merchant. They spoke to us about various events and soon we had to get onto the bus.

The bus dropped us off at YVR around 3:00pm. We got to the hotel and checked in, and went to get food, first at Dim Sum Now inside a food court on the second floor of a non-descript building. The dim sum took some time but it was made fresh and quite yummy.

Then we went to Prata-Man for Satay and Hainan Chicken rice. The Hainan chicken rice was great but the Satay was disappointing.

On the way back we stopped by the supermarket. Bowen bought Longans and then we found every flavor of popping candy we could for Boen, plus a few bonus candies.

The stay at the hotel was non-descript but their shuttle service was efficient in the morning and we made it home with no problems.

Review: Veken Temperature Control Kettle

 The Veken Kettle was $17 on Prime Day, and I've been looking for a temperature control kettle for a while but never could justify the $60+ the gooseneck kettles (which are ideal for pour over coffee) cost. Being able to get the kettle to turn off precisely at 195F is pretty useful for making coffee in the morning. Not only does it just get to temperature fast, your coffee tastes much better without over-extraction.

The downside of the kettle is that the sides aren't transparent so you can't easily see how much water is in the kettle as you're filling it. On the other hand, after a few tries you'll get a feel for how much water you did put in. The kettle is no longer available on Amazon, but I'm sure you can find reasonable clones. For the price savings over the $65 kettles it's well worth the purchase.

MTB Whistler: Days 4-5

 On Thursday we spit our time between technical trails and flow trails again, this time riding Call Me Maybe (too hard) and Palm Corners and Earth Circus.  I was developing callouses on my hands from the pounding I was getting from the bike. I told the bike shop I suspected my suspension was bottoming and when they checked it they said no, it's the opposite --- there was too much air in the tires! I guess the big advantage of owning your own DH bike is that you can get the bike dialed in. But there's no point owning a DH bike in the Bay Area --- there aren't any ski lifts and every ride starrts or ends with a massive climb. I've even got to the point where I'd rather ride my Roadini off pavement! 

On Friday, we got our lesson with Tommy --- he had agreed to meet us at Creekside. There was a bit of drama in the morning as Bowen had lost his goggles. I would later find the (after buying a new set!) at the top of the lift sandwiched between Bowen's back and his backpack! Bowen and I got a lesson in technical bike handling on Devil's Cup, and it was quite enlightening to see how slow you could do this.

Then we got a jump lessons. "We've been doing it all wrong." said Bowen. Apparently as you approach the lip of a jump you're supposed to push down with your arms and legs to compress the suspension and then rise up smoothly as you hit the lip and let the bike come up to you. Bowen did a couple of beautiful jumps on crank it up while I fumbled and flustered like the old uncool Dad that I was. Then I had to wait a long time at the bottom of Crank it up because Bowen had crashed. He made it down safely but he was too beaten up to ride the rest of the trip. We took the bus back to Creekside because the park was now closed because of lightning, and then returned the bikes. Bowen and I went to the Samurai Bown for dinner because our lunch was a grocery store lunch at Whistler village. 

Timemore C3 Coffee Grinder

 I bought the C3 Coffee Grinder as a travel grinder, and it turned out that I never brought it on any trips for the 3 months I've had it. I did end up using it at home for single cup aeropress use. Compared to any previous handgrinders I've had it's pretty smooth. The defect is that grounds tend to stick to the upper part of the grinder, but the kit comes with a brush to brush those grounds into your aeropress. Various folks tout this grinder for camping, but unless you're car camping I think the additional weight of the grinder would be prohibitive.

What I do like about it is that it grinds very nicely and is quite quiet. That means I used it far more than I expected, even when I'm not traveling. Recommended.

Whistler MTB: Rest Day

 On our day off, we took the bus to Whistler Village and the shuttle to Lost Lake, where we jumped into the lake for a good swm and then hiked around the lake. We went over to Samurai Bowl for lunch and to our surprise it was quite good and not as expensive as the grocery store depending on what we ordered. After lunch we walked to Alta Lake which was only 8 minutes walk away albeit a painful 8 minutes along a fast moving highway. There, we rented a double kayak and after that I went for a swim. 

Wayside park had ominous signs saying the swimmer's itch was a thing. I asked the kayak rental staff and they said if you rinse off right after it should be no problem. I would swim for the next couple of days at Alta Lake for the afternoons were super hot. 

Whistler MTB Trip Index Page

 I took Bowen to Whistler in August this year. This is the index page for the trip report.

• Prologue
• Days 1-2
• Day 3
• Rest Day
• Day 4-5
• Epilogue

Review: The Second Shot

 The Second Shot was an Amazon Prime giveaway, covering mostly Gene Yu's autobiography upto and including the rescue of Evelyn Chang from her kidnappers in the Phillipines.  Gene Yu has an interesting background, since very few Asian Americans volunteer for military service, and so I read the book in a few days and enjoyed it.

The start of the story seems almost stereotypically Asian American, with Gene growing up in Massachusetts and surviving childhood bullying by pretending he knew martial arts. His family then moves to Cupertino where instead of being the smart kid in school he was surrounded by kids who are parented in typical Asian hot house environment and realized that he couldn't keep up.

His adventures upon joining West Point are great reading --- his was the last class where the typical hazing by upper class students were still permitted and allowed, and as the school is 1% Asian (and most of those Asians were South Korean!) he seemed particularly singled out. I didn't understand the Green Beret specialty of the US special forces when I started the book, but by the time I finished it's clear that most of the special forces are composed of people who finish the grueling training. I did enjoy the famous story where he ordered pizza during a training mission.

In any case the story of the kidnapping and rescue, while the hook that led me to read this book turned out to be less exciting than a typical action movie. Rather than being deeply involved in the action or going Rambo, Yu coordinated and convinced local special forces to trick the kidnappers into exchanging the victim in exchange for money (which was never found again) and a spiked set of electronic components that were used to track down the terrorists in the future. This is much harder than you can imagine, and Yu had to foist of distractions like his own mother's need to get him a job after he got laid off from Palantir.

I enjoyed the book and think it's very much worth reading.

Whistler MTB: Day 3

 On Tuesday we worked on more technical intermediate trails like Funshine Rolly Drops, Blueseum, World Cup Single Track, and more flow trail with Crank It Up. We  would eat lunch at the grocery store, but it wasn't cheap with how hungry Bowen and I were, as we kept going back for seconds and thirds. Our hands were beaten up so we agreed to take Wednesday off. We asked Guest Services for a creekside instrutor but they weren't interested in helping us. After e-mailing an calling around Tommy said he was available on Friday so we went with a half day for Friday morning. 

Review: REI Link Seat Bag

 We were planning an overnight trip to Aptos, and we wouldn't have had enough saddlebags for if all 4 of us were riding singles. I liked the Revelate Designs bag I'd bought used, but what I noticed was that it didn't have a taillight loop for the Garmin Radar, which has quickly become an essential safety accessory on all kinds of rides.

REI is selling out their Link Seat Pack for $40 each, which is a good deal. The seat bag isn't waterproof (not a problem in California), and comes with 2 smaller stuff sacks for pack organization. Most importantly, the bag has a taillight loop, so I bought two.

The bag looks like it would sag, but it doesn't even come close to the wheel on a 51cm Ritchey frame. For an overnight, the weight gain was minimal, and Xiaoqin reported no handling problems. The taillight attachment worked well for a Varia Radar.

For a tour where I expect rain, I would bring along silnylon dry bags  rather than going for a revelate with no tail-light attachment.

All in all, it was a successful trip and I can recommend the REI Seat Bag. Get them before they're all gone.

Whistler MTB: Day 1-2

 

We had painstakingly picked out a recommended instructor but events intervened and Whistler assigned us Tommy Steele instead. Rather than meeting us at Creekside they wanted us in whistler village, so we had to ride 15 minutes to the village with our downhill bikes, which are not ideal for riding flat or uphill. 

Tommy put us through a barrage of lessons (we rode Beeline, Easy Does It, Del Bocca Vista, Tod, Rod, and various trails while he kept telling us not to sit down) and even went out of his way to drop us into Creekside village at the end of our lesson. I got his number in case we wanted more lessons later. 

On our first day of riding together we did Weasel Juice to Little Addler to Blueberry Bathtub. Tommy had told us we needed to be able to do Monkey Hands easily before going up to Top of the World, so we did Naughty Hands and then tried Monkey Hands which was way too hard. We did a few more technical loops before going up the Garbanzo express to ride Unamoss, Midguard, Southpark, and Earth Circus back. I discovered that the Garmin Edge 840 has a jump detection momde when mountain biking. It would detect when you jumped, record how long your jump was for and how long you stayed up in the air ("hang time"). It would also chirp at ou as positie reinforcement. On my first day I got 2.68s of air time. 

Back at the AirBnB Bowen started watching Youtube videos to design our progression.