Good Old & Crusty Valentine's Day

Believe it or else! Valentine's Day has finally arrived, chock full of the best of times and the worst of times (take your pick). The weather cooperated fairly enough, gorgeous in the morning, blustery in the afternoon, with a wintry nip showing through.

Stopped by Middle Harbor Shoreline on my way back from SF this afternoon. Low tide had exposed a nice little sand beach. The wet granules felt like a sea of leisure through my shoes. The wind had whipped up some pretty nice ankle slappers for the bay. I touched the cheery little succors, just for the salty ritual of it, then got back to work.

Rode Briones last Sunday, Joaquin Miller last Wednesday. Due to the recent precipitation-free weather, trail conditions were excellent (said in the voice of Montgomery Burns). Cleaned Chapparal trail at Joaquin Miller; seemed stone cold easy compared to it's rain-drenched self. The Bitch, unfortunately, cleaned me, and was the source of my only unexpected dismount. There's a tree lined, root-filled, steep curve at Briones that left the tip of my right pinky permanently bent a couple years ago, but I cleaned that nicely too, which always makes me smile. Several mudslides combined with hoofprints made for interesting new aspects to a few of the Briones fireroads, fun by any other name. Still plenty of mud to go around. Mountain bike #1 exudes perpetual filth. The caked soil shown brightly enough for the mother of a newborn that parked behind me at Joaquin Miller to remark that the bicycle looked as if I had fun on it. These little encouragements that strangers bequeath hold special value to me, even if it implies that I should clean my bike more often. I've been training my son to clean it, but he's a little young yet.