I took a short September vacation in California and Oregon this year. The idea was to take my time to visit old friends and to cycle here and there as my whims dictated. It turned our well, except for one particular ride around San Francisco Bay. This ride could be named “One Nut, One Flat and Two Bridges”.

I stayed a few days in Berkeley with an old friend. One can’t ride across the Bay Bridge so it was necessary to take BART to the Embarcadero, bikes are welcome on all but the first car. I got on and was immediately offered senior seating across from the bike rack so I suppose I am showing my age these days. I sat down and decided to resecure the bike straps at the first stop. When I returned there was a big slurpee cup on my seat. One of San Francisco’s urban outdoors persons had taken the adjacent seat. She was gestating at something I could not see. I just looked at her and said ‘remove your cup’; she reluctantly did so. There are large numbers of people living on the fringes in San Francisco so one has to be careful of their surroundings at all times.

It was an easy ride through the Marina, Fisherman’s Warf and the Presidio. The. Scenery approaching the Golden Gate bridge is beautiful. The bridge has a narrow two-mile-long pedestrian/cycle path It is easy to navigate but you have to ride slowly as it is crowded. The views are stunning, I made lots of stops to take in the view. Once off the bridge there is a steep highway down into Sausalito. I was cruising at 20 mph plus when I ran over several sharp fist sized rocks that flattened my front tire; this encounter nearly flattened me as well. I stopped to fix the flat by replacing the tube, several days later I found slit in the sidewall that cost me one more tube. I went through four tubes on this trip, in the previous year I never had a flat.

The west side of the bay has numerous cycle paths mixed with roads. It is easy to miss some of the turns so I did ride a few extra miles before reaching the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. This bridge is four miles long, I stopped mid span to look for the Golden Gate Bridge. It was just visible on what looked like the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Riding into the wind will affect your judgement.

The east side of the bay has well developed cycle paths and many parks. There are several well used dog parks with lots of four legged visitors. I made it back to my friends place in about four hours. It was a good ride.

A few days later I drove up to the Humboldt Redwoods Avenue of Giants. Riding in the Redwoods is much than driving. I saw a touring biker in the campground and we decided to ride together for a few miles along the Avenue of Giants. It is surprising how quickly the miles go by when you ride with someone. We stopped in Myers Flat for coffee. Tim is from Montreal and is riding from Portland to San Francisco. He started with a friend who suffered an injury on their first day and had to fly back home.

As we enjoyed our coffee Howie who is touring the West Coast on a motorcycle rode in. As we chatted it turned out he was from West Kelowna B.C. I grew up and went to school in Kelowna only about 8 km from West Kelowna. Howie ‘blogs’ his trips. I am inserting his comments for September 15th. Howie is prone to exaggeration, but it is for comedic effect, I think you will agree. An excerpt from Howie’s blog follows:

“This went on for a couple of hours and my increasing hunger was making me wistful for something delicious, like a latte. But out in the middle of nowhere on what is basically an interstate there aren’t too many drive-through espresso bars. However, around 10:45 I saw an exit to Myers Flats and there were the symbols on the road sign for places to buy table settings so I figured there had to be some kind of food there. A quick, i.e. 30 second ride through the entire town revealed exactly two places to buy something potentially good: an ESPRESSO bar(!) and a convenience store. There were also a few other non-descript businesses but I wasn’t paying much attention because they were not selling lattes. Not entirely sure who was the consumer base in this forgotten corner of the world but the owner of the espresso bar had told me it had been a busy summer.

Seated outside the espresso bar were two gents, one older and the other younger (than me, of course) with their road bikes. The younger was riding his packed-for-Armageddon touring bicycle, the older, a sleek road racer. The bike, I mean. We start chatting and I had to suffer the indignity of fessing up to yet another Washington tip-over. It’s pretty obvious with only one mirror on the bike so it is not like I can just subtly change the subject. The good thing is that they are both Canadian and on their own versions of U.S. trips. Tim, the younger, is from Montreal and Ed, the older (sorry Ed, because I know you are reading this) is from…. KELOWNA! It’s practically Old Home Week in Myers Flats! Both of these guys are grizzled road biking veterans. But they are not riding together, they just happen to have met for espresso, just like I showed up. Ed is camping four miles down in Humboldt Redwood Forest and implores me to take a ride down there. Tim is riding to the Antarctic, or someplace far away. They are clearly chummy and I’m not sure how long they have been sitting there but Tim wants to buy Ed a muffin before he heads off.  Tim is probably in his late 20s and Ed is a couple of generations ahead of him. Actually, Ed might be a couple of generations ahead of me! He tells me he rides… what was it? Something with a “5” in it, like, 50,000 miles a year. Maybe it’s kilometers. Maybe it’s dog years but it was a lot. The guy is a specimen and if you ever wonder if it is possible to be fit in your “golden years”, Ed is the living, breathing example of it. I’ll see you back in Kelowna, Ed!”

I can affirm that cycling and camping in the Humbolt Redwoods is good for the soul, not much traffic and magnificent trees. It was hard to move on.

Next stop was Crescent City where I stayed the night. In the morning I cycled along the Tolowa coastal dunes some in light fog. Quite a change from the redwoods but very peaceful in the early morning. Crescent City was hit by a Tsunami on March 11, 1964. A number of people who chose to watch it arrive on the beach were drowned. It’s similar to what happens here when people choose to drive around the barricades when Mission Valley floods. It may not be politically correct but I see this behavior as part of Darwin’s Natural Selection.

Later in the morning I drove to Grants Pass. US 199 passes through the Anvil Fire Zone, hence road closures and single lane traffic. A two-hour trip took much longer. If anyone doubts the effects of drought caused by climate- change they should take this trip. It is real and it. Is getting worse. The political deniers are not only ignorant they are decimating the planet for following generations.

Later in the day I drove up highway US 199. Due to the Anvil Fire, there were numerous delays caused by fire traffic and road repairs. The fire burned down to the highway causing blockages from rock slides and falling trees. The air was pretty smoky, so I wore my N95 mask for a few hours. I took one short detour on Howland Hill Road, a one lane in places that takes you through magnificent redwoods. You have to be careful not to scrape your fenders on the tree trunks.

I stayed in Medford the next night then visited friends in Shady Cove. We hiked and paddled on the Rouge River. The Chinook salmon were running. Hopeful fisher folk drifted down the river but never seemed to catch any fish. The Chinook are single minded in their quest to reach the spawning grounds, some of these fish are 25 pounds. It’s sad to see them dead along the riverbanks. No cycling in Shady Cove where I spent a few days with old friends from Cardiff by the Sea.

My next cycling adventure was the (abbreviated) Crater Lake Rim ride. The rim is normally a 33-mile trip, but the road is closed due to a major paving project. I only got in 22 miles. The elevation is all above 7,000 feet with a few hills. It didn’t bother me. I met a cyclist from Boston who turned around after 5 miles. He said anything over 100 feet was too much for him. Still, he got to see the Crater Lake which at 400 feet is the deepest in USA. I kept passing and being passed by a guided Crater Lake Tram. It made numerous stops and at the last one I was approached by two older ladies. They asked if it would be ‘impolite’ to ask my age. I said ‘no’ and told them. They said everyone they knew were in retirement homes. I said they should exercise and eat their veggies.

The Crater Lake ride ended my cycling for the trip. I did drive through Yosemite planning to camp and hike Half Dome. There is no way to camp there these days without first booking a spot online. I do plan to return as it too is a magnificent part of America.

Crater Lake was my last cycling day. I did some hikes in the Giant Sequoias. I learned that there are different muscles involved, it took a day to get over my rubber leg syndrome.

It was a good trip, I planned to camp in Yosemite but you can’t get a spot unless you make an online reservation. I hope to do that in the next month or two.