The year in pictures... part 4

• October
  

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass... generally our favorite weekend in SF. Amazing music, friends... all for free at Golden Gate Park.


Finally, we hung out in town. Made a cornhole set (learned to sew!). Took Mingus to his favorite dog park.


Back up to Yosemite. This time with Messy to do some climbing. blog.


Did some bike rides... like a full moon ride up diablo (failed)... started doing some sunrise rides... (blog).. and a tandem ride.


Went up to Trinity Alps with the 7 Alpine Crew. blog.

• November
  

Went out to the Halloween Critical Mass (my camera was tweaking out at this point... spent too much time up in Mendo... so no pics.) Then saw Albino! at the Independent, and worked on Moses and I's boat. WWJV (Wild Willie's Joint adVenture)... blog 1, blog 2.


Stuck around... went kiting at OB.


Great cycling weather the following weekend... as Seth, Bradley, Khalid, his bro and I did a Centry ride around Mt. Hamilton... powered by donuts.


Then hung out at Alameda all day, playing beach volleyball.


B-day... Smitty's 30th in Russian River. Lot's of games, cornhole, nails, etc.


Then we had our annual post Thanxgiving Hut trip to Peter Grubb.

• December
  

Wedding in North Carolina. Melissa and Ted had a nice ceremony in the mtns.


Pretty much the other weekends... we've been packing & getting ready for our trip.

pic from yesterday...

the last backflip of the season... (Jan 4, 2009)

The year 2008 in pictures... part 3

• July

Forth of July! Went back up to High Sierra Music Fest... our 4th? or 5th time... always an amazing weekend. Had to miss my HS reunion for that one.


And the wedding season begins. Good ole' Tele Pete and his lady decided to have theirs in Yosemite a month before ours! Good choice Pete. Weddings are always fun, but Pete and Heather's wedding at the Evergreen Lodge was really, really fun.


Aaron & Chelsea tied the knot the following weekend in Berkeley. Very classy.


Funk, Alex, Mendel and I went on a full moon kayak paddle in a "slough", slept on the beach, and went kayak surfing all day... then went straight to Aaron and Chelsea's ceremony.


The next weekend, it was Kimbo and I's joint bachelor, bachelorette party at Kirby Cove. A perfect weekend in the bay area. Lot's of games...

• August

Weekend before the wedding... needed to get spiritual in the mountains. Did the Palisades Traverse with Splitboard Stevie... a LONG day involving summiting five 14,000 ft + peaks. Saw Peter Croft the day before... that's Steve in awe as he lapped us 6 times freesoloing harder routes...


The next weekend... let's see... oh. We got married.


Then went on a short honeymoon to Santa Barbara, Channel Islands (where we saw 1000s of dolphins, sea kayaked, snorkeled, swam, and camped), and visited LA... see blog.


We hung out the next weekend, went to Outside Lands, relaxed, took no pics.

And for the long Labor Day weekend, we went out to Mammoth with Dave and Danielle for Demolition Derby... blog.... Kim found some yummy pulled pork. She's excited.

• September

More weddings. This time in Indiana...


B-day... for Kevin "the gimp" Smith in Carmel.


For Kim's B-day, we went on a bike tour in Mendocino with Hoefty and Elena... blog.


Another B-day... this time for Nick. Amazing time, climbing at CalDome for two days then Mtn Biking at N. Star the last. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3. Blog.


OK... the last part coming soon...

Beach time in the Bay Area & Fog.

Doesn't happen too often around here. Folks think... California in the summer! I'm gonna hang out at the beach all the time! Well... not in SF.

In the Winter, Spring, Summer... it's too cold. Spring & Summer, it's predictably foggy and windy (great for kiting & sailing... and some time-lapse vids). A nice summary of the SF weather is here. And if you want to check the fog-forecast... a great resource if you are biking to the headlands.

But there are a few days a year usually in October or November when it's unseasonably warm, and there is no wind or fog (why? - cuz the central valley is HOT in the summer... that air rises, and that air has to be replaced... with what? the off-shore air... and SF happens to have the Golden Gate, the path of least resistance). And you think, man... SF is awesome.

This year we've done a good job taking advantage of those days.

That's when you can go out to the beach, have bonfires, play beach volleyball


donkeyballs, cornhole, toss the bee, play cups, nails,


and catch amazing sunsets.


Not too shabby.

Kiting at OB - Wave Riding...

Kited Ocean Beach for the first time.
Jumped in the water at OB for the first time.
Rode my kite in waves for the first time.

Here's what I learned:

• Kiting in waves is SCARY...
• ...but really, really FUN and addictive
  
• I need about 25 more sessions out there, before I'd feel comfy.
  

Had a fun session on my 2004 Cabrinha 8.5 m... which I need to replace with a newer kite... the winds died after about an hour, but that was about all I could take anyway. Earlier I had driven down to 3rd, which shut down as I got there... frustrated, I came home, went on a run to OB, and there were tons of kiters. Ran back, grabbed the gear, and kited... my quads are sore...

None of these pics are of me, but of other kiters. Met a few nice kiters out there, but don't know who these kites belong to...


Lots of foam... wuz up wit dat?


Makes for some cool pics though...


Also, I got to use my O'Neil Thermo Hooded vest that I purchased from Kite Wind Surf... which rocks for colder waters... used it under my 4/3 and was never cold. Ear plugs might help though.

Ben Wilson's Basic Wave Kiting Info
http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2350557
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/Articles/Kitesurfing/Summary.aspx

more pics here.

How to make your way around a Chinese Bakery...

In Oakland Chinatown (which is close to my work)... there are tons of Chinese Bakeries. Once you are there, you have no idea what to get cuz most of the folks don't speak English, and everyone seems to be in a hurry.

However, it's cheap, it's good, and worth the hassle.

First... you should take the chinese bakerey photo quiz. Although many of the items may not be offered at the Chinese Bakery you go to, you get the idea.

Here is a Chinese Pastry Guide from Chinatownology.com

And a cool blog about chinese bakeries in NYC...

My favorite items?
Cha Siu Baau... aka BBQ Pork Bun. (Steamed!) In Japan, this is call Niku Man (Meat Bun), not to be confused with Kin Niku Man (Muscle Man).
Jin Deui... aka Sesame rice balls

And my favorite bakeries:
Ruby King
Tao Yuen

Bike Around Bay

I've been thinking about this for a while now...

There are a few hills, but it's mostly flat. SF and Marin are flat. The E. bay will have some challenging hills, and so will the peninsula. I did the Northern Section about a year ago... and man was I tired... So... doing this in a day will take a little training I suppose... or a higher pain tolerance... Anyone wanna do it with me? It may take 2 days...

Let's assume 15 mph... riding with a 30 min break every 3 hours... Would be about 10 hours 40 min of riding... with 3 breaks totaling 90 min. So it'd take at least 13 hours. Probably more like 15 or 16.

Currently there is 12 hours of day light... hmm...

Northern Section (approx 80 miles)

View Larger Map

South Section (approx 80 miles)


View Larger Map

Mendocino Bike Tour...

Mendo is great. It's a bit far. Not so many folks. The roads are really curvy. But still great.

Why? Here's a few reasons...


Beer... & wine...


BEACHES...


TWEEKERS!!


And fellow bike tourers...

There were also black berries, apples, crazy old men, and scrabble.

Here's a link to the full pics.