Friday, February 28, 2014

First turns of the season!

Finally got my first turns of the season! Here's a quick vid to show you why my back was so sore the rest of the weekend.


The Friday before "ski week"... which happened to be Valentine's day.  Kimbo & Becky got out for a few hours and then traded off with Jack & I.

Kimbo stoked to go skiing for the first time in a few years.  First time at Alpine! Although her feet were in agony...
Kai's first time on skis this season... 
this was where the best skiing was late in the day.  It was all spring mush and this skied great.  





Thursday, February 27, 2014

Skate Skiing!



There used to be a time when I made fun of nordic skiers.  Usually, it'd be when we were building a kicker on the "S. Side" of Mt. Ashland trying not to break our bones and going for back flips, one would zoom by and I'd think how boring that looked.

Check out fat my ski are!
Well times have changed, and now anytime I'm on the snow I'm a happy man. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer blower powder, but anyday I get to play on the snow is a good day.  Just like kayaking... any day I get to be on the water, I'm a happy man.

The Donner Lake Rim Trail... this is supposed to be a fun trail run/mtn bike ride.  
From our cabin share in Tahoe Donner, Donner XC is a 3 min drive away.  In fact I'm sure I could skate there if there was any snow.  But it's pretty patchy down at the bottom now, and the roads are totally dry.  Around 1 pm, during Kai's naptime, I have the option of heading to a resort (all 20 min away)... or going skate skiing.  And the last week when we were staying up in Tahoe, I chose to go skate skiing most days.  The first day out this year was my second or third day out on my skate skis.  The first time on skate skis I went out to Glacier Point with B-Ral, which was a really fun day, I'd like to repeat.  The trails that were open at Tahoe Donner basically take you straight up the hill and back down.  So it was quite the learning process, and I got slightly better each day.

I got new (well used) skate ski boots that actually fit me at the Sports Exchange.  These things are awesome!!!
I even found some interesting zones to potentially ski down for dawn patrol...
Below are my tracks for the 5 days I went out.



Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Weekly Pano: Tahoe Donner XC

The top of Tahoe Donner XC.  You can see Squaw, Tinker Knob, Donner,  I-80, Castle Peak, Frog Lake Cliffs, etc...

Monday, February 24, 2014

Resolutions for 2014


  • First off, take care of the fam.  As I've got 2 boys now to take care of.  And one great lady that supports me when I go on my many adventures. 
top of Shasta on a beautiful day.  
On Going Annual Goals

summit shot from MacLure last nov
RUN
  • do a 50 miler
  • do several longer runs on my list...
    • East Bay Skyline
    • Tam
    • Ohlone
    • Skyline to the Sea
    • Ridge to Bridge
    • Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne
    • Tenaya Rim Loop
    • Big Sur
BIKE
  • 600k brevet?
  • at least 6 centuries
At the top of Mt. Watkins with Half Dome behind.
Ski
  • given how the season is going this year, I'll be happy with one hut trip and a few day trips... but I'd like to plan for a fun trip for next year (BC huts, CO huts, WA, UT, AK, Cham?)
Stefan navigating through the low tide...
Uni
  • Wheelwalk 10 ft
  • Coker ride up Tam or Hamilton
  • Get a MUNI
on the Russian River
Kayak/Canoe
  • go on a few thurs night paddles
  • get a bomber roll on both sides
  • back deck roll?
  • commute to work 12 times


Monday, February 17, 2014

Every season is different...


I think this might be the first January that I didn't slide on snow.  Not that I missed out much (from what I hear).  But given that my second son was born on the 4th, I wasn't planning to get up to the goods anyway.

But boy... what a difference seasons can be.

Here's a look back at 4 years ago, when we were all in a cabin, no kids, and carefree...
Skiing highlights from January 2010... from TeleK on Vimeo.

Notes:

  • that was a good Jan!
  • We did a lot of Family Runs!
  • I spelled officially, officialy wrong.  
  • Tim hasn't changed at all.  
  • I sure miss Messy.  

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Weekly Pano: Rodeo Beach Hike


Another gorgeous SF winter day.  Shorts and T-shirt weather.  We went up from Rodeo Beach past Battery Townsley up toward Hill 88.  A dog friendly trail... not so stroller friendly.  For all the dog friendly areas in the headlands... check out this map.
http://www.parksconservancy.org/assets/park-improvements/pdfs/marin-headlands-map.pdf





Monday, February 10, 2014

EB MUD-a-thon

me: "Hi..."
Cow: "mooo...."
Well, it was an ambitious plan that ended up being almost 10 miles longer than I expected... but I made it  unscathed, and actually feeling quite ok.  The day before I had played soccer for 2 hours, then gone on a night ride with Sigman (where we saw a bunch of these newts... or are these salamanders?)... near where this human skull was found.  And on the short section of pavement that we rode, I hit a deer... it was crossing the street at a full gallop... while I was coasting downhill at 20+ mph... I probably blinded him with my 800W light, then we basically came to a merge with my front tire hitting it's rear legs.  I'm sure if I had my HR monitor it would've been my max... somewhere above 200.


After the ride, I got Nikko's passport pics from Walgreens at midnight (see below... Kimbo thought his hair is all "caddywhompus." I thought it's brilliant)... then Kai decided to wake up at 3 am to play with his trains.  So I stayed up with him until 6 am or so, when he finally collapsed on the sofa with me.

Nikko's caddywhompus Passport pic. 
Then I woke up an hour later to get Kai ready for daycare.  I was exhausted, mentally and physically, but I hadn't gone on an all day adventure for a while, the weather was holding up, and I was determined to get out, so I just went for it.

After going to the post office in Canyon, CA (a magical pocket of hippie kingdom in the middle of the redwoods between Oakland and Orinda) to apply for a passport for Nikko, for our upcoming trip to Japan.  I got dropped off at the intersection of Pinehurst and Skyline and set off running.  I had mapped out a rough idea of this run, but my estimate was that it'd be more like 16 miles... maybe 20.  By the time I ran to the Castro Valley BART, and from MacArthur BART home, my mileage was over 28.  I had recently purchased a EBMUD hiking permit as I've been wanting to check out their trails.  Soon I discovered that their map for this area is pretty horrendous.  There are fire roads, dirt roads (mostly private), and tons of other trails that intersect the few EB MUD trails on the map, making navigation quite a challenge.

Despite the slight miscalculation, the day was everything I was hoping for and more.  The trails were very remote, quiet, and adventurous.  From Canyon Rd. I only saw one couple until I got onto Redwood Rd... 18 miles later.  And it was a good thing I ran into them as I was 100 yards from an intersection where I had just taken the wrong turn.  They told me which direction I should start trotting off to... and away I went.  I would have probably just ended up in San Ramon otherwise.

Highlights included Rocky Ridge, which provides a quite spectacular relief, along with Ramage Peak, which in addition to having a cool name has a fun vantage point.  Most of the trails were open fire roads, but there were nice sections of single track mixed in, along with sections of dense forest.

I carried my Jurek Vest with 2 water bottles, a bunch of snacks, gu, emergency blanket, and my phone with my clipper card stashed in it.

Next time:
  • I'd carry at least 3 bottles of water.  There's a good 20 mile section with no water.
  • I'd like to do it in the spring time when the wildflowers are going off.
  • Always take a windbreaker.  I was using my emergency blanket for warmth by the time I got to the BART station.  
  • Take a real camera, the phone camera is fine, but not that easy to use when running, and difficult for taking wildlife pics.  
  • Carry an extra USB battery and headphones.  6 hours is a long time to be solo... music always helps. 
  • get some sleep.   
Wished I had found this blog before my run...
http://www.therunnerstrip.com/2012/02/running-ramage-peak/

Here's the Strava track
http://www.strava.com/activities/111426684

Some other runs that I'd like to do incorporating the EBMUD trails:
And panos and pics below...
Upper San Leandro Reservoir

Fire road... leading to Rocky Ridge.  Still a LONG way to go...

Looking over at Las Trampas
Summit pano from Ramage Peak (16.5 mi) to the left you can see the Antenna marking the top of Rocky Ridge (13 miles) and the end of Upper San Leandro Reservoir (20 mi)
Spooked a Coyote who was about 10 ft away.  By the time I got my phone out of pano mode, he was waay up the hill.  
Big houses in the Larch Neighborhood in Moraga...
Crossing Buckhorn Creek
Cows!
Radio Tower at the top of Rocky Ridge
A nice view of Mt. Diablo
Las Trampas looks like fun terrain...
EBMUD/Las Trampas boundary
see the City?
Ramage Peak
Check out the solar powered X-mas lights at the top of Ramage Peak!
...need more water...
Grazing + heavy rain = landslides...



Sunday, February 9, 2014

Weekly Pano: San Bruno


On my way to picking up Becca from SFO, I decided to go check out San Bruno.  And turns out it's a great stop for anyone going to SFO and finds out the flight is delayed.  It's mostly wide open fire roads at the top.  The main loop is fun singletrack (it'd be fun on a mtn bike if it were bike-legal), and the trails leading up to the main fire road on the eastern side of the park are all very faint and skratchy.  You'll have to keep checking your gps.  Here's my strava track.  http://app.strava.com/activities/102189681


Sundog!





Thursday, February 6, 2014

Monthly Pano: Wavecrest Beach

near Half Moon Bay.  It's a pretty sweet spot if you want a dog-friendly, sandy, uncrowded, kid-friendly beach...
http://www.weekendsherpa.com/stories/wavecrest-beach-in-half-moon-bay/

Monday, February 3, 2014

Kayak Commute with George


Got to share another enjoyable kayak commute with a partner.  This time with George, a unicycling buddy who lives really close by.  He's got a folding feathercraft kayak... and has a bike trailer attachment for it as well.  So when or if I get my kayak trailer working, we could bike/kayak commute to SF together.  That'd be awesome.  I picked George up after I dropped Kai off at day care, then drove to Signal Beach and put in.  There was a surprising east wind in the morning, which probably helped push us for some of the way.  As soon as we got around Treasure Island, the wind died down and we had to shed a layer, and it was smooth paddling to SF.


On the way back, no wind, not much current, and it was quite an enjoyable paddle back, just chatting away and not really paying attention...

Soon, we were back at Signal Beach...
Got goodgirl loaded up and made it on time to pick up Kai from Day Care.







And here's the track back...