Scooter wrote: “Since there’s no bike though, I think you owe us just a bit more, is there a Joshua Tree to be found?” I won’t have a chance to visit any Joshua trees during this month’s challenge, but I can offer this, which some might remember, from earlier in the year when I was … Continue reading "Yucca brevifolia"

Bristlecone pines. Per rules, this might be cheating — no bike in photos — so I didn’t flag it as challenge of the month. But I figured no one else would have an opportunity to post this species. Top photo from a combined biking and hiking expedition to Death Valley and Telescope Peak last year. … Continue reading "Pinus longaeva"

At 14,252 feet in elevation, White Mountain Peak in the White Mountains is the third highest summit in California. A long, rough, unpaved road (requiring four-wheel drive and high clearance) leads up from the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest visitor center several thousand feet to the University of California’s Barcroft Research Station at 12,470 feet. Normally … Continue reading "Bikes on White Mountain"

To the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University to meet my ace support crew for picnic on the lawn and Santa Rosa Symphony performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons while seasonal photos of Sonoma County projected on the giant outdoor screen above the musicians. The images showcased the county’s spectacular natural beauty, but one thing was … Continue reading "To the symphony"

My phone, my computer, and the weather guy on TV all agreed that today would warm up to nearly 90° F (it actually exceeded that by a few degrees) and I was late getting out of the house because I watched stage 18 of the Tour de France. Although I didn’t hit the trails at … Continue reading "Tolay"

It seems pretty quiet around here, so I decided to post this even though I haven’t been up to anything too exciting. Mostly I’ve been spending my time on training hikes in preparation for a (probably pain-inducing) expedition with the wild woman I call my ace support crew. But here are my latest rides. Read … Continue reading "The usual"

Despite narrow lanes, lack of shoulders, and sometimes heavy traffic (including plenty of RVs), I ride up and/or down the coast on Highway 1 at least a couple of times each year, most recently back in January. I pedaled steep Coleman Valley Road once, with Jeff, back in November 2015. I went halfway up unpaved … Continue reading "Willow – Coleman – Ocean"

Sun casting long shadows at Lights for Liberty vigil. Read more at Bill Bikes

Just a quick run out the Greenway and back, interrupted by a diagonal. Read more at Bill Bikes

I pedaled for more than two hours before I encountered eastbound traffic, and almost three hours before westbound traffic caught up with me. At that point I quickly got out of the way. One of the first westbound vehicles in the long line of fast-moving traffic on the narrow road was my white Forester, driven … Continue reading "Tioga Pass, part 2"

Tioga Road across the Sierra through Yosemite National Park is one of the most spectacular high mountain routes (up to nearly 10,000 feet) in the US. But all the usual reasons—narrow lanes, lack of shoulders, curves, climbs, heavy traffic, lumbering RVs, inattentive drivers—make it a dicey proposition under normal circumstances. Consequently, bicyclists love the opportunity … Continue reading "Tioga Pass, part 1"

After leaving the Forester at the overflowing Lee Vining Creek, I pedaled the Ogre on dirt and gravel “forest roads”—no trees—around the southern shore of Mono Lake to the main tufa area. (See part 1.) These impressive spires and towers of carbonates grew underwater and emerged when the lake level gradually receded over the years. … Continue reading "Mono Lake, part 2"

After riding through the snow on the dirt road from Bodie to Bridgeport on Thursday, on Friday I had time for a morning ride before I needed to drive back home to Santa Rosa. Mono Lake was only about thirty minutes away by car, albeit in the wrong direction. Not having explored that area in … Continue reading "Mono Lake, part 1"

After starting up the dirt road from Bodie (see part 1), I gained elevation and repeatedly ran into snow covering my route. It was impossible to ride across the white stuff, so I always had to dismount and push until I could get back on bare dirt. Every time I thought that would be the … Continue reading "Bodie to Bridgeport, part 2"

Before bicycling the dirt road through the mountains from Bodie to Bridgeport, while I was still home in Santa Rosa I consulted four local “experts” via email and phone about what conditions to expect. All agreed cars could not get through due to deep snowdrifts at multiple locations. Beyond that, everyone had a slightly different … Continue reading "Bodie to Bridgeport, part 1"

After arriving at Bodie, now a state park, I started exploring the ghost town for a couple of hours before setting out on my bike ride over the snowy mountains to Bridgeport. This concludes my tour of Bodie. Read more at Bill Bikes

W. S. Bodey and his companions discovered gold high in the hills at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1859. After almost twenty years of small scale mining by a few prospectors, in 1877 industrial scale mining on the site brought about the boomtown of Bodie, named—inaccurately—after the deceased W. S. By … Continue reading "Ghost Town, part 1"

It was a very full-on three weeks in America, but now we are home and trying to recover from all of the extra energy we expended seeing family and helping my parents host 12 out-of-town guests and a 50th Anniversary party complete with 100 guests, a live band and a cake the size of Colorado. … Continue reading "Our new ride"

Time for another getaway, this time to escape a spell of temperatures above 100° F. I drove over to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, basing myself in the town of Bridgeport (not far from Nevada), which put me in a position to do some riding up to the eastern face of the mountains, … Continue reading "Twin Lakes"

This is especially for Janet. I arrived in Bridgeport on the eastern side of the Sierra today and immediately went for a warm-up ride in preparation for my expedition into terra incognita beyond Bodie tomorrow. Who — or what — should I run into? A local guy — who also makes touring videos — on … Continue reading "Ogre and Troll"

I’ve been looking for a chance to bike this route through Willow Creek Open Space Preserve near the coast. I’ve hiked parts of the trails before. I know there are some steep uphills that will require pushing, and they are sensitive to weather conditions. Always too wet in winter, which would have me slipping, sliding, … Continue reading "Willow Creek"

Part 5 concludes my bicycle safari among the wild and unpredictable creatures inhabiting the desert around Borrego Springs. Read more at Bill Bikes

After interrupting my exploration of animal sculptures with a morning ride to Fonts Point, part 4 of Creatures of the Desert resumes my bicycle safari among the wild and unpredictable creatures inhabiting the desert around Borrego Springs. Read more at Bill Bikes

Part 3 continues my bicycle safari among the wild and unpredictable creatures inhabiting the desert around Borrego Springs. Read more at Bill Bikes

Part 2 continues my bicycle safari among the wild and unpredictable creatures inhabiting the desert around Borrego Springs. Read more at Bill Bikes

We continued to get highly unusual torrents of rain in May. I lost track of the rainfall records being set around Santa Rosa this month, but I knew I was tired of precipitation. Time to head for the desert. For this trip I wanted to take the Ogre off road to the Fonts Point scenic … Continue reading "Creatures of the Desert, part 1"

As part of my brief expedition to the desert, I intended to pedal the Ogre up to Fonts Point, reputedly offering a fine view of the badlands between the Salton Sea and the town of Borrego Springs. The turn from the paved road is marked with a small sign in the sand. Interestingly, whether configured … Continue reading "Fonts Point"

I spent a couple of days bicycling through the desert. Who knew it could be so dangerous? Fortunately, I survived this and further attacks by dragons, giant scorpions, and other wild beasts who thought the Ogre and I looked like tasty morsels. I made it home safely, and I’m trying to put together details of … Continue reading "Coming soon: Dinosaur attacks in the Desert"

It’s not supposed to rain around here in May! Rainfall total for the entire month averages under an inch. Ha! On Wednesday alone approximately twice that amount poured down upon us. And that was just one day out of the current rainy spell, with more rain falling as I type these words, and more in … Continue reading "Lovall Valley"

A beautiful day in Wine Country. While it’s possible to pedal the direct route out Highway 12 to the multitude of wineries around Kenwood, it’s always much more fun to take the longer route up and down Lawndale Road. Read more at Bill Bikes

Today’s the day my ace support crew emerges from the Grand Canyon after her backpacking expedition. I need to pick her up, and we’ve arranged a rendezvous point at Grand Canyon Village. However, it’s impossible to know what time she’ll climb out of the big ditch, and there’s no cell signal, which prevents her from … Continue reading "Hermit, part 1"

Upon my return from Arizona, I washed red dust off the Ogre, cleaned and lubed the drivetrain, and made a few minor adjustments to enhance performance. Then I cruised over to Spring Lake to see if those modifications would help us get airborne. Read more at Bill Bikes

With my ace support crew down in the colorful depths of the Grand Canyon for four days, I had several ideas for bike rides to keep me busy until I needed to pick her up. I completed a very introductory exploration of trails around Sedona yesterday. I also planned a couple of rides closer to … Continue reading "Navajo Bridge"

After completing the Bell Rock Loop, I was back at the trailhead. I peeled off some clothes, studied the map of the trail system, and applied a fresh layer of sunscreen before setting out on the Big Park Loop. This was also rated as a beginner trail, but singletrack with a few tricky sections, unlike … Continue reading "Red Rocks, part 2"

My ace support crew and her team departed Flagstaff before dawn to begin a four-day backpacking expedition in the Grand Canyon. That gave me four days to bicycle around Arizona to my heart’s content, as long as I was on hand to pick her up on the South Rim when the expedition emerged. To begin … Continue reading "Red Rocks, part 1"

I’ve been on the road. While my ace support crew has been backpacking in the Grand Canyon, I’ve been pedaling my little legs off in places like Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, Navajo Bridge, Marble Canyon, Vermilion Cliffs, Lees Ferry, along the Colorado River, Schultz Pass, and Hermit’s Rest. They were all terrific rides, and I … Continue reading "Coming Attractions"

After three days at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and a loop around Tucson, I drove up to Phoenix in order to pick up my ace support crew at the airport. She didn’t want to spend her life wandering around the desert in the Forester with Old Grumble-Face, the Ogre, and a bag of dirty … Continue reading "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

When planning my visit to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, I considered riding a big loop of 40+ miles around the park on North Puerto Blanco Drive and South Puerto Blanco Drive. The rangers I spoke with warned me against it, because the big deluge (more than three inches of rain) a few days earlier … Continue reading "The desert’s quiet"

These days one of the big topics of discussion in the US of A is to build, or not to build, a wall, fence, or other barrier along the border with Mexico. A contentious topic to say the least. The southern edge of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument abuts the international border, and one of … Continue reading "A Few Gray Federales"

The campground at Organ Pipe, surprisingly, nearly overflowed with RVs, big travel trailers, camper vans, and a few folks—like me—in tents. Where all those vehicles went during the day, I don’t know, but I saw very few of them on the park roads. They were far outnumbered on the roads by Border Patrol pickups, SUVs, … Continue reading "Poncho was a bandit"

Sonoma County was inundated by torrential downpour for days. Santa Rosa received the most rainfall in a single day going back all the way to the earliest records kept in the 1800s. Rivers, creeks, and waterways overflowed. Streets, roads, and highways flooded. Residents along the Russian River received mandatory evacuation orders. Hundreds of miles away … Continue reading "Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument"