Good Karma

Some of you had heard that we had all our luggage stolen from us when we were coming home from a holiday trip from Toronto. Good karma must have been in the ether because I'm happy to report that a lot of the stuff has been found and will be making its way down to us over the next couple of months.

We had gone to Toronto over the holiday break to visit family. On our last day, we went to eat at the Keg restaurant near the airport before our flight. We had left our luggage in the back of my brother's car - a VW Golf with a hatchback. There were signs in the parking lot and in the restaurant to "watch your laptop since thefts have been reported". My spider sense was tingling so I went to my brother's car to get my laptop. My laptop bag also had all our passports and $200 in cash.

An hour later, we went back to Gary's car and the rear window was busted and all the luggage was missing. Jade was upset since they stole "Tiger" - a stuffed toy that she has been sleeping with for years. We felt a little shell shocked about the incident but Eve and I showed a lot of strength about the ordeal. It's just stuff we said. The bright side was that we could get back home to California and I didn't lose my (company) laptop. It also made the plane trip easier without luggage to check. Jade was sad but she was quite brave about the incident. She showed a lot of strength and understanding. People do bad things but most of the time people are good.

We were resigned that we were never going to see our stuff again and had started the process to replace all our goods. We started talking to the insurance company to discuss the settlement.

On Friday, I got a garbled voice mail from the Renaissance Hotel near the Toronto airport that they had found our luggage. I called them back over the weekend and they had found all 5 bags in the ravine behind their property. They went to recover as much of our stuff as they could and try to dry it out. I had arranged for Gary to recover our stuff and bring it back to his place for inventory and he sent us pictures.

The good news is that a lot of stuff like a dental night guard, prescription glasses and especially Tiger has been recovered. However, my iPod, portable speakers, other electronic gear and Eve's North Face jacket is missing. Also, all of our clothes and luggage have been left in a Toronto ravine for 2 weeks and have exposed to rain, snow and a wind storm. Gary mentioned that the bags are pretty trashed and the clothes smell like piss or mold. The books may be ruined.

All things being equal, we are really fortunate that our luggage has been recovered. A big shout out to Joelle and the staff at the Toronto Renaissance hotel. Joelle was the one who noticed the bags and took the initiative to recover our goods. I gave her details about the theft and they will review the night vision surveillance tapes around the time the crime took place. They are going to look for a car, license plates or suspects and hand it over to the police. There is a special place in hell for people who steal from little girls and make them cry.

Tiger is making his way back to California. I'm sure he will have an interesting story to tell.

Lick the Toad?! WTF?!

For years I've had the handle "lick the toad" @ Yahoo or Google for my free email address. Just to set the record straight: I've never licked a toad nor do I have an interest in licking a toad. I know my favorite poisons and cane toad sweat isn't one of them.

When I arrived in California, full suspension bikes were ridden by yuppies and most mountain bikers I knew rode XC hard tails with 65 mm of front travel, flat narrow bars with bar ends and long stems. I met Eve on a ride and we were riding and hanging out together. We would look for new rides and we hooked up with Team Wrong Way and started racing with them. Pretty soon we were taking road trips and we headed up to Lake Tahoe for some riding. The high point of the trip was to ride "the Toad". Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is definitely one of the classic California mountain bike trails. Along with the Flume trail, no Lake Tahoe mountain bike trip is complete without checking out Mr. Toad.

I had ridden Mr. Toad the previous year so I knew that it was a technical challenge for my Rocky Mountain hard tail. Back then it was difficult to ride and I had to walk or dab some sections. For this trip it was my goal to clean the ride. To "clean" Mr. Toad meant riding all the technical challenges without dabbing.

We rode the trail and the carnage was impressive. I was riding with the lead group and rode every section but I would dismount and wait to regroup. Contrary to Mike Gin's account of the ride I did clean the trail. I would ride every section and exclaim "lick the toad" after I cleaned it. When describing the ride I would say I "licked the toad" - with the obvious double entendre.

Soon after that trip I found the need to create a Yahoo email address and used "lick the toad" as my handle. When I got a gmail account, I carried this tradition forward. As I get more engaged in civic life "lick the toad" has become a bit of an albatross. The handle elicits explanation or perhaps not being taken as seriously as I could have.

Over the past few months I have been steadily transitioning away from this handle to something more conventional. Perhaps it's a sign of maturity.

Mr Toad goes to Washington

I was in Washington, DC recently for a bike conference/summit/lobby session. It was my first time in DC and I learned a lot about the political process and American history. My new hero is Thomas Jefferson. His presence and influence is everywhere.

I stayed with a family in nearby Virginia and took the Metro (subway) and the Slug Line (car pool hitch-hiking) into the city. The family is involved with Trips for Kids - a non-profit group who gives disadvantaged children opportunities to go mountain biking.

I felt very comfortable in DC since everyone in the city loves to talk about politics and big issues. I met some great people, rubbed elbows with the players in the bike advocacy scene and even had the chance to see dozens of museums and monuments.

The highlight of the trip: meeting with Senator Barbara Boxer's staff to discuss mountain bikers concerns with the California Wilderness Heritage Act 2006 - which will designate 2.4 M acres of land in CA as Wilderness area (meaning no bikes). High stakes, big responsibility, nice suit.

It was an incredible trip and it's not the last time I'll be going to DC. In fact, I can't wait to go next year!

More commentary and pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lick.the.toad/BikeSummitInDC2007

Dirt Cheap Mobile Audio Video

Last Sunday we got stuck in that hellish traffic jam on I-80 West on the way back from Tahoe. It was the first real snow this season and chain control and speed limits were in effect. This was also the end of the holiday weekend and people were returning from Reno and Tahoe. According to Caltrans, 1 in 4 drivers on I-80 have never driven in the snow. So speeds were slow and we were stuck on 80 for a few hours.

Jade had not got her proper sleep since Turkey day and had been a little whiny over the weekend. Being stuck in traffic was looking to be a nightmare. Fortunately for us, I found a dirt cheap way of creating a mobile audio/video entertainment system.

I used a video iPod, a set of portable Altec Lansing iPod speakers, a DC to AC power inverter and couple of bungee cords to create a audio/video system on the headrest of our Subaru. It's a great thing that I keep a power inverter and plenty of bungee cords in the car. I bought the Altec Lansing inMotion IM3 portable speakers back in May for my NorCal camping trip and I continue to find new and exciting uses for them. I used the red bungee cord to attach the speakers to the headrest. The iPod is docked to the speakers through the interface at the bottom. This interface also holds the iPod in place and was not designed to withstand the vibration from stop and go traffic. I uses the blue bungee cord to secure the iPod against the red bungee cord and this stopped the vibration. I connected the power adapter to the power inverter which was plugged into the car DC outlet in the cargo area.

I had the insight to download some preschooler TV shows like "Wonder Pets" and "The Backyardigans" from the iTunes Music Store before we headed up the mountains. Jade knows how to control the volume but she still doesn't know how to operate the iPod. The result is that Jade was cheerfully amused for a couple of hours while we were cursing Californians who cant drive in the snow.

NorCal Bike Ambassador - Annadel State Park

Early wakeup but I had a casual start. The goal was to ride at Annadel State Park for a couple of hours and leave by 11 am. I started to break down camp while watching a couple of young chix and biker dude get started. Nice. The wheels of the single speed were rolling at 9:30 am.

I wound my way clockwise around Spring Lake following the route we did yesterday and cut over into Annadel via dirt trail. Climbed the Spring Creek trail to Lake Ilsanjoe and passed a bunch of hikers. Mostly strolling retirees and jogging milfs. It's Monday in Santa Rosa - Milf city.

I wanted to ride Live Oak to North Burma trail but I followed Lake trail too far and wound up climbing Richardson and passing an older couple. We stopped and chatted at the junction of South Burma and I decided to climb it. It's a challenging trail on a single speed but very pretty and heavily forested with some rocks and picnic tables. I followed this trail over the peak and through Buick meadow. Then I took the Marsh trail back to the Lake Ilsanjo.

There were a few swimmers at the lake. Some old guys were having a morning swim across the lake. A trio of young college women was splashing in the water. I went for a nice refreshing post ride swim and the water was really warm.

It was 11 am and I planned to be back at camp before noon. I took the Rough Go trail back to the park entrance. Rough Go is quite rocky, technical and exposed. It reminded me of Rockville. This trail used to be a fireroad but it became decommissioned. Rough Go was narrowed by placing rocks and obstacles to create choke points which was done as part of a 1998 trail building grant. The result is a narrow, twisty technical trail which increases the challenges and reduces speeds. I'm really impressed that this type of trail is legal in a California State Park. Along the trail, I rode by open meadows and orchards. I passed a few hikers who were impressed that I could ride that type of terrian. I think they would have been more impressed if the realized that I was on a single speed - if they even knew what a single speed is.

Back at camp the chix and biker dude are packing up. I take a shower behind the MBOSC banner and one of the chix was watching from her car. Could be the single one. I finished packing up and was out of the site by 12:30 pm.

I went to the Santa Rosa AAA to pick up some maps for the next phase. Was served by another fine example of a Santa Rosa milf. She was a well dressed, manicured married blonde about 42-45 years old with a push up bra and nice skin. She was very friendly and spent a lot of time helping me with directions and maps. She never asked to see my AAA card.

I spent about 1/2 an hour in the AAA parking lot taking the lower dash of the Subaru apart. It's the only way to get to the fuse box for the rear 12 volt accessory socket. This rear socket just doesn't work. This circuit is connected to the seat heaters which also doesn't work so I figured it was probably the fuse. I took apart the lower dash to get to the fuse and it was fine. Hmmmm.. Must be a loose connection. I'll save it for another day. At least the jumper battery that I brought has a 12 volt DC outlet and I have a 75 watt power inverter so I can keep my electronic devices juiced.

Pastrami reuban at Togos for lunch, went to Kragen for spare 20 amp fuses then off to Albertsons for breakfast groceries like bagels and cream cheese. In the parking lot a nice 20 something with large breasts was loading groceries in the car in front of me. I noticed her because I heard her talking to her small dog in the car and I thought she was addressing me. She was wearing a loose green top draped over a skin tight black tan top. Her neckline was low and her breasts were D cup or bigger. She had a Chinese calligraphy tattoo on her left shoulder ("Beef with broccoli?") . I was a little confused trying to get back to the Hwy 12 so I asked her for directions. She was really helpful and leaned over the map so I plumbed the depths of her cleavage with my eyes. Cheap thrills.

Left the Santa Rosa Albertson's at about 2:30 pm. Arrrgg! I forgot to buy yogurt and beer. Idiot. I took Calistoga Road to Petrified Forrest and caught the 29 way to Boggs Mountain listening to classic rock all the way. I have mp3 rips of the early Led Zeppelin albums from the first British vinyl pressings. Each mp3 is an entire album side and it's a real treat when they come up in the shuffle. The live version of "Dazed and Confused" pushes me over the edge and I cranked it and rocked out. I imagine that the milfs of Santa Rosa were rocking in the back seats to that one back in the day.

NorCal Bike Ambassador - Santa Rosa

Arrived at Spring Lake campground in Santa Rosa at 3:45 pm. I got campsite 17, which was a nice spot at the far end of the campground. I had a view over looking a large family from Idaho located near the washrooms. They had arrived after me in their RVs full of kids. I set up camp and got the trail bike ready. Ken Wells arrived at about 4:35 pm and we rode the bike paths of Spring Lake to the adjacent Annadel State Park.

Ken is the President of the Sonoma County Trails Council and an experienced mountain bike advocate. He was involved in the early days of ROMP and IMBA. He works in waste management/planning for Sonoma County so he knows how to navigate the administrivia of big government. He gave me some maps and some information about Sonoma County trails including a great trail user map of parks in the county that they had just produced. The bike advocates seem to have a great relationship with county and state parks.

We hit the trails at about 5pm and started clockwise around Spring Lake, we rode Canyon trail to Marsh Trail past Buick Meadow and around the Ledon Marsh. They have Red Legged frogs at the marsh. We rode down Ridge trail and I was grining from ear to ear. We doubled back onto Marsh and rode along the south end of Lake Ilsenjo. The Spring Creek trail was very pretty - completely shaded with trees - but there were quite a few hikers. We wound our way back to the campsite arriving at 7 pm.

We parted ways and agreed to meet for dinner in an hour. It was a great ride and a great introduction to Annadel. There were some familiar elements in Annadel to trails that I have ridden including Wilder's Enchanted Loop (Ridge trail) and the dry rocky terrain of Santa Teresa.

The campground offered hot showers but charged $1.50 in quarters for 5 minutes. The website didn't mention that there were pay showers. Screw that nonsense! I was going to use my new solar shower at my campsite. Finding a spot for the shower was a small challenge. There weren't too many useful trees and the campsites were packed together. Fortunately, the campground wasn't busy since it was a Sunday night. I strung up the MBOSC banner between a couple of trees as a modesty screen in front of the Idaho family. The screen wasn't perfect but would spare the kids from the trauma of full frontal nudity from a sweaty, dirty mountain biker taking a shower. The screen protected the kids but the lady in the campsite beside me could probably see my ass if she wanted to.

I took the single speed to meet Ken on a busy street near the park with plenty of restaurants. It was a small challenge to find one open since many of them were closed on Sunday night. We found our way to the Texas BBQ where I had a 1/3 lb burger with slaw and mint chip ice cream in a sugar cone for $9.17. Ken and I talked about advocacy and his history of activism. He's a good resource.

I had to ride the road in the dark to get back to the Spring Creek Campground. I forgot to bring lights (not even a blinky light) and I got a little lost in the suburbs of Santa Rosa with the monster homes and well-groomed gardening. Back at the campsite, the Idaho family had a fire and way too much light. The kids were going to bed in the RVs. I finished off the Blueberry and tried the King Kush. John Coltrane was on the iPod and I sipped 10 year old Laphroaig out of a flask that I bought from my brother back in Toronto for CD$20. I was kicking back and loving life while looking at the stars. Looking at the Idaho family made me miss my own and I would love to bring them to this campground for riding and playing in this area.

I went into the cocoon in the back of the car at 11 pm and drifted off to the easy sounds Sarah McLaughlin. This was an awesome start to this trip.

NorCal Bike Ambassador - On the road

I took a couple of weeks off work to visit family in Canada for the first week and then go to the World Mountain Conference in Whistler the next week. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the logistics work for the Whistler trip so instead I decided to embark on a solo camping/ mountain biking adventure in Northern California. My wife and child were going to stay in Ontario with my parents and I would pick them up at SFO at the end of my trip. I contacted bike advocates that I had previously met and arranged a couple of rides. I called this adventure "The mountain biking Ambassador" trip. It was a great opportunity to see new places, new rides and get to know other advocates.

I packed up Ubi the Subaru with camping gear, the Marin Attack trail bike and an On-One Inbred single speed. Having a trail bike and a single speed gave me a wide variety of riding options. Ubi was left at my Aunt and Uncles place in East Palo Alto while we were in Toronto visiting family.

The trip from Toronto back to California was an all day affair. My brother drove me from his place in the beaches of Toronto to the Scarborough suburbs where my Grandmother lived and my Aunts and Uncle were staying. We drove a rented car down to Buffalo, had lunch near the airport and flew to SFO via Washington, DC. We arrived at San Francisco airport at midnight and I was finally in bed at my Aunt and Uncles place in East Palo Alto at 2 am. Not a great start for a bike trip but that's part of the adventure of travel.

I didn't get a great night of sleep due to a number of factors and I slow getting started in the morning. The TV was tuned to the World Cup and I was reminded of the WC mania in Toronto with flags from all countries attached to cars. Here in the Bay Area, it doesn't seem to be on the radar. I did a couple of trips to buy groceries food and an iPod mount for the car. It should have been one trip but my headspace wasn't really in the game.

I finally left my Aunt and Uncle's place at 1:30 pm and I was on the road. My destination was Santa Rosa. Ubi felt a little slow and unstable probably the wind and the poor weight distribution. Traffic though San Francisco was slow but not too bad. I crossed a mental threshold driving over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin headlands that signaled to me that I was heading into Northern California for an adventure.