California Dreamin' Part 4. Mtn. biking

Did an urban ride on my brothers Marin to the salt flats of the Alviso Wetlands Loop. Started at the motel on El Camino Real went 1 block to hit the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail bike path. This connected to the Guadalupe River Trail.
In a city that has huge traffic issues...biking is the way to go..even if I did get a couple flats!

Locals call it Puncture Weed...also known as Goats Head.

Went out to a few trails over my last weekend...Saratoga Gap Trail. Great stuff on a great bike rented from a nice bike store. Tread in Campbell.

Met a new friend on the trail..Jamie from Palo Alto via MA 6 years ago.

Not me, but I did make it up...Saratoga Gap Root.

Russian Ridge, high point on the Ridge.

 Looking down in San Jose:

 Toward the Ocean.

Toward San Francisco.

Then did some great riding in Basin Redwood Park.

 Some guys tree house.

 All downhill from here.

Ended the day in Santa Cruz with an easy little ride at sunset by the Ocean. Wilder Park...I didn't get to do the single track...another trip is required!

 Sea Lions.

 Cliffs in the setting sun.

 Sea Lions.

Seemed appropriate.

California Dreamin Part 3. Giants Baseball

Stepped out from our motel and across El Camino Real in Santa Clara to the Bus 22 stop, got on and took it East a mile or so to the Caltrain stop and got on board for the 90 minute/54 mile ride to within a few blocks of  AT&T (formerly Candlestick) Park.
We were pleasantly surprised by the stadium and enjoyed a great venue and game.

 From the Stadium, McCovey Cove. Where the balls land after leaving the park over the Right field wall.

California Dreamin' Part 2. Fremont, Ghost Bike

Had some fun close to San Jose at Fremont Open Space. Pretty wide open double track. We got off trail on some pavement then poached up a hilking trail to get back into the park that turned out to be some good single track.
Got to see the quarry that I'll be helping to start up some equipment the next 2 weeks.

Also can up on a Ghost Bike memorial. Sad situation. Olympic caliber gal killed along with a guy on a group ride when a policeman came across the center line and hit them head on. Might have fallen asleep. Happened in 2008. Story.

California Dreamin' Part 1. Demonstration Forest.

Spent 3 weekends/2 weeks working and playing near San Jose, CA.
The new job presented an opportunity for training on the equipment I'll be selling soon and as luck would have it, my brother and son both live in the San Jose area.
My wife also came out for a week, so all in all it was an very busy time with a ton of activity packed into a short amount of time.
If a picture can paint a 1,000 words, I'll let them take over with some comments tossed in to help explain a few things.



Flew in late on a Friday.
Got up early with son Chris at his place in Los Gatos and brother Gary came down from Santa Clara.
Demonstration Forest. Plenty of uphill, limited singletrack. We definitely didn't hit the stuff in the trail description. Still a fun ride just to get out on the bike.

Unloading the bikes. Son on the left brother on the right.

 

Other half of the sign...ok, I get it, if you have a kid, offer it to the lion.