Category: Bay Area
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2023 Ride for Kids
I must’ve been 15 when I saw my first “Ride for Kids” roll by. There were hundreds of motorcycles rolling down the road, two by two. I’d soon come to learn that motorcyclists are a highly philanthropic bunch. What I did know at the time was that I wanted to do that ride for one…
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North
I’ve had the same job (more appropriately said worked for the same employer) for more than 10 1/2 years. I’m definitely a fossil if not an oddity inside of the tech industry that prioritizes change. It’s been a good run doing all sorts of different things as my employer grew into its own. That being…
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Crossing the Mendocino County Line
I’m experimenting with this blog. A confluence of factors that may break me of my old Mac came into my life. My old Mac was one of the last Intel-based Macs that ran Windows. I am a massive fan of Dragon Dictate for Windows and have extensively used it to dictate blogs for work and…
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Dancing with Windmills
The WordPress.com team launched a new feature called #wordPrompt where they post a term each month to inspire content for your blog. This month’s word: green. When it comes to motorcycle posts, I almost always lead with a picture, stories, and conclude with a route map. As to every rule, there is always an exception.…
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A motorcyclist marked by Covid
This post is a follow-up to my first pandemic post: It’s ok to say “I’m hurting”. Talk to any seasoned motorcycle rider, and you often hear the phrase “There is cold, and there is cold on a motorcycle.” Without the proper gear, riding extended distances in cold weather leaves the rider chilled to the bones.…
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On Winter Riding
If I’m honest, there’s definitely a part of me that has been feeling the winter blues. For the last 3 to 4 weeks here in Northern California, it’s been cold, wet, and cloudy just about every day. Since we generally have so many great days to go riding, it’s easy to forgo your motorcycle, and…
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Old Stories; New Beginnings
My bike has been in the shop for almost a month. Having just rolled over 12,000 miles, the Beemer needed its thousand dollars of love. That includes a major service: oil, valves, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I also wanted BMWs to help troubleshoot why the installation of HeliBars was crimping the front…
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Hiking in March
In mid-March, my neighbor and I were sitting in his driveway, shooting the breeze. We covered all sorts of topics: current events, the stock market decline, what’s going on at home, etc. I posted that photograph to Facebook with the tagline: Sometimes it’s about living life with the people around you. I appreciate my afternoons…
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Sunset at Acalanes
A colleague of mine at work today asked what platform powered my blog. That’s easy: WordPress. He was looking for a solution to share photos outside of the social network. That got me thinking. Sometimes writing a long narrative keeps me from posting photos on my blog. This post is simple by design. A buddy…
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Back to the Peninsula
Going out during the coronavirus pandemic still feels a bit weird to me. I’d been putting off vacation as I wondered what I would do with a day of vacation sitting at home. In many ways, at least working kept a sense of groundedness throughout the day. Knowing I’d lose the holiday come June 1st,…
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T1D Biker Gang
This Memorial Day weekend in the age of coronavirus was anything but typical. Usually, I’m off on the motorcycle somewhere in the Sierras chasing the ebbing snow. With the continuing sheltering in place order except for essential services and exercise activity life here is anything but typical. On Saturday, my friend Sarah texted me and…
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#eastCounty
We hardly ever get rain in May. This past weekend two crazy rainstorms swept through town Sunday and Monday, leaving the air perfect for motorcycle riding! Now that riding ATVs is legal in the state of California for exercise, I wanted to hop on my bike in a socially distant fashion. I love the Briones…
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Sweating Lafayette’s Ridge Trail
With coronavirus slowing my life down to a very long, quiet pause, I’ve been taking the time to walk – a lot. I normally hike the ridge near my house. It’s a 3 to 4 mile jaunt with about 800 feet of elevation gain. I’ve become fond of that hike – especially with the great…
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Springtime Moto Poppies!
Typically Mount Diablo is my go-to motorcycle ride what I need to clear my head. With the park closed, I’ve had to look at other places for my motorcycle quick fix! The late Robert Bleeker introduced me to the lap around Briones Park as an alternative to commuting on Highway 24. This little loop has…
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Hanging out at Hawk Hill
One of my favorite stretches of pavement in the bay area that nobody’s ever heard of is Conzelman Road. It’s the little ribbon of pavement that snakes up the Marin Headlands for an outstanding view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Randy flew into town unexpectedly which was a great surprise. He suggested maybe heading over…
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I took the road less traveled…
Four years in I’m still learning the back roads of Contra Costa and Alameda counties. November and December were really wet months. January was cold and I was traveling for a good portion of it. Come February we’ve had a brief bump in warm weather and with an impending surgery, I wanted to get out…
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Mount Diablo – Fits like a leather glove!
When I was living down in the valley, I’d heard lots of things about “Highway 9”. It had a reputation for crashes when guys would get too throttle happy. It was usually packed on the weekends. Climate sometimes varied significantly from the valley floor to the ridge. Over the years what I found though it…
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Sunrise on Mount Tam
This winter seemed to go on forever. We’ve had a lot of rain which I am thankful for, but this Californian definitely loves the sun. This year Easter came late, April 21 to be exact. With generally mild temperatures and no rain in the forecast, the annual trek to Mount Tamalpais (Mount Tam for short)…
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Easter Sunrise
Easter Sunday affords one of the most unique rides in the bay area. This ride started in the mid-1980s by a couple of hard-core vintage motorcycle riders and some good friends within the California State Parks. What is it? It’s the annual sunrise ride to the summit parking lot of Mount Tamalpais. There’s an optional…
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Farm Road 109
This is my first motorcycle ride back from the Sierras since moving to the East Bay and it was decidedly different in good and unexpected ways. I did my first long ride in almost 3 years. That in and of itself is awesome. When riding I’m often a stickler for mileage as it helps place me…
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A second splash of fall color
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog. Working on the house took longer than expected. Writing blogs got hard with Dragon for Mac. I upgraded to Dragon Dictate for Mac version 6 hoping it would fix issues and I felt like it was a significant regression from version 5. Having the Mac…
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Christmas on two wheels
Last year was the first year I was able to attend the South Bay Riders’ Toy Ride. Mike, a longtime motorcyclist here in the Bay Area, organizes this ride. Each rider is to bring a new, unwrapped toy for the Toys For Tots program. Some riders come out in full regalia, others with a touch of…
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A rider greets autumn
Weather is a changin’ Every rider once a year has that ride where he knows the weather has fully transitioned from warm weather to cool weather for the year. As motorcyclists, we are fully in the weather. Going places means experiencing all that that place has to offer as well as everything in between. The…
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Lifelong Learning: A Ride In the Rain
Tyler, a good friend of mine and a wonderful person in the motorcycling community, recounts a story that I never really understood. She was riding through Kern Canyon at night in the pouring rain. She spoke of that evening as a wonderful experience and as I listened intently I kept thinking what an awful ride…
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Going to See the Bay Model
The Bay Model is a fully functional representation of San Francisco Bay. Scientists in the 1940s and 1950s were looking for ways to understand the ecosystem around the bay. Since computer technology was not near as advanced then as it is today, scientists had an alternate solution. They built a to scale model of San…
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Up to San Francisco!
Wow, it’s hard to believe a year has gone by. The Death Valley ride generally marks the closing of the riding season for the fair weather riders in California. The climate here is such that one can write a motorcycle from the Bay Area all year long. The destinations will differ by the season but…
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Returning to the Marin County Coast
A few months ago a buddy and I went out hiking near the Green Gulch Zen Center. When I was first moved to California my future hiring manager took me to this hike. It’s a steep, but short hike up to the ridge line and the hike has great views of San Francisco and the…
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Good Night San Francisco!
Earlier in the week I was up in the city taking photos of the Bay Bridge at sunrise. People were talking about this so-called quote “super moon” this weekend. I heard through the web that there would be great photo opportunities at the Golden Gate Bridge. While websites like Meetup and Facebook are great to…
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Good Morning San Francisco!
A friend of mine, Matt, took a photo of the Bay Bridge and posted it on Facebook. I was very much intriuged by the photo and wanted to try my own to see if I could capture the same sort of sentiment. I had another “get up at the crack of dawn” to capture the…
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No Poppies
I was headed out to Arastradero park to see if I could find some poppies. I’ve seen them by the freeway a number of times this spring in good color. The park usually has some good flowers to photograph this time of year. I had the afternoon free, so I figured it was a good…