A Scale of Loose to Clenched

A few months ago, my car got broken into. Unbeknownst to me, there was a viral TikTok video about how to hotwire my particular brand of car, which caused a rash of break-ins across the US. I do not watch TikTok, nor would I have watched a "how to hotwire a car in 5 seconds" video, nor did my car dealer send me anything warning me that this was an issue, so I was caught very unaware when it happened. I won't get into all of the details; the short story is that it was inconvenient and expensive and I was without a car for about 10 days. However, the good news is that four of those days were weekends and I had group trips planned so I did not need the car then. 

For the other days, I went back to my pre-pandemic method of biking to the train station! I used to do this every day but when the pandemic hit, first I drove to work and then when I started taking public transit again, there was no early train from my station so I had to drive to a further one to get to work, and then there were earlier trains but I was out of the habit. So the vandalism was a blessing in disguise and since then, I have ridden my bike to work about 99% of the time that I have gone into the office! This increases my weekly riding by about 12 -15 miles per week. 

Marina Green, San Francisco

This also spurred me to ride sometimes on the weekends, or do a longer loop after work on my way home. However, riding in a city is sometimes more of an adventure than you bargain for and there are some things that cause my butt cheeks to clench a little bit and I thought I would share with you my clench scale. Think of it like a normal scale of 1 - 5, with one being loose and comfortable and five being clenched and tense. Here are a few examples. 

1 - Loose and comfortable. Riding along on a nice bike path, or very smooth street, road or trail with no cars, the weather is good, the birds are singing and everyone is in the lane they are supposed to be in, going the direction they are supposed to be going, calling out etc. 

2 - Small pucker. Bike path or lane where cars are using their turn signals and giving me at least three feet of room, if not more. But there are groups of people taking up the whole path, or that have dogs with a leash that covers the entire space or with kids that are unsure of which way they are walking, so I have to take it slow and be careful. Or getting to a four way stop where everyone is stopped, but now that I am there, even though they were first, they wait and then they wave at me to go first and my armpits start to sweat from the pressure of having to get going from a stop in front of everyone, even though I am the slowest vehicle, and I grunt my way across, hoping that nobody gets impatient and just decides to gun it through the intersection. 

3. - Sweaty and tight. Google tells me to turn left at the next intersection when I am on a five lane street in the far right lane and it is rush hour. I contemplate veering left across four lanes to get to the far left lane but when I look up ahead you realize that the left lane takes me onto the freeway. I do not get into the left lane; instead I drop an F bomb at Google and go find the grocery store to buy ice cream. 

4 - You could bounce a quarter off of it. Dude comes from the left turning lane, across three lanes to turn right on a green light with no blinker or any warning, as I am attempting to go straight at said green light. I literally stop myself by putting my hand on his jeep as I nearly careen into him. He does not stop or give one of those "I'm so sorry, I did not see you" hand waves. Luckily I was just getting going on the green, so I was not going too fast yet. After this I ride through a tunnel on a street that Google told me to take, and there is not only no shoulder, but this is also the main thoroughfare for the semi trucks going to unload in the Oakland shipping yards, so I am passed by several of them while I am in the tunnel. I put all my energy into pedaling through as fast as possible and hoping that my little red blinking light is bright and these semi drivers are patient and awake. 

5 - Clenched and tense. Dude opens his car door without looking first, almost sending me ass over teakettle in the middle of a busy pothole laden street with no bike lane, causing me to swerve into traffic. Then I narrowly miss getting hit by a bus that is pulling over to pick up passengers. The bus clearly did not see me, nor did they use their blinker so I would know they were getting over. I get ahead of the bus and 30 seconds later they are passing me again, and I feel the wind from their bulk as they speed by, about six inches from my left elbow. Add pouring rain to this and I may need to make an appointment with a proctologist. 

So yes, some days are kind of fun and others can be a litany of near misses, sweaty armpits and holy-crap-what-did-I-just-dos. Yesterday I saw three cars run red lights on my two mile commute home. These were not turning from yellow to red lights; they were fully red and the people just decided to ignore the rules. Having said that, I just learned that the following states have a law called the "stop as yield" law, which means that bikes do NOT have to stop at the stop signs, but can instead yield (it seems many Oakland car drivers follow this premise too), and in some cases, can even treat red lights as stop signs, and can go when it's safe/clear. FYI, as you can see, California is not one of them. I do wonder how well these states do with educating car drivers of these rules. I also wish that I knew this before I rode across Washington! 

So...next time I tell you that today was a five, you will know exactly what I mean! 

Have you ever ridden a bike in an urban area? Do you have any pucker stories? Do you live in a stop as yield state and if so, did you know about this rule? Do people follow traffic rules where you are from? 

Random Rambles

Lately it's pretty much all Giants all the time around here. Sorry. In a week, we will have won and you won't have to hear about them for...5 more months. Actually there are a few other things going on in my six minute mind these days.

- (Spoiler Alert: Mom, don't read this part) Last night after work I went running out on the trails and it got dark a little earlier than I thought it would. I think it was partly due to the cloud cover and also due to the tree cover. So I was just finishing up my run up the last hill when I saw two pairs of eyes. You know how they reflect in the dark? Two pairs, maybe a foot or two off the ground, but it was hard to tell, as I was going up a hill. I clapped and shouted and made a fool of myself and at first I thought they were coming toward me (and I had a moment of "huh, what the heck am I going to do now?") but then they retreated. Up the hill. Where I needed to go. To go back around the other way, I would have had to go about 5 miles. To go up the hill, I would be back at the parking lot in about .2 miles. So I flapped my arms and clapped my hands some more and they finally went into the bushes. I took advantage of that to get the heck out of there! I could hear them in the bushes and for the entire rest of the way I kept checking behind me to make sure they weren't chasing me.

It was probably just a couple of deer.

Lesson learned. Maybe trail runs should be done a little bit earlier in the day. 

Mountain lion in Tilden Park. Photo by Jim Hale (source)

- My friend's cat died on Tuesday. I went to the animal emergency room with her and we were there until late at night. I don't really know how to deal with with grief or with emotions. I can deal with death, but I have a hard time dealing with the people who are dealing with death. I am the person who is reliable and durable and good at things that are black and white like math, but I am not really good at the grey things, the emotional things and the feelings. What do you say or do? Do you just BE there? Because that I can do, but I am not sure if it's better to talk about other things to take her mind off of it or to talk about it or to let her talk about it or...what!! I feel so inadequate. It's a problem I don't know how to fix.

- Okay I have to throw one Giants thing in here. It is just me, or does Timmy look like that kid from Dazed and Confused?

Timmy (source)

Mitch Kramer (source)

Do you think they look alike? Or not?  It'd be a lot cooler if you did (if you can name who said that you get a golden star!)

Have you ever had to frighten off a wild deer animal in the dark? How are you with grieving friends? Has anyone ever said that you look just like someone else?

Snakes and Stones

I love running on trails. However, I have started to avoid a few nearby ones due to the fact that there are massive poison oak bushes. I don't mind when it's on the sides, but on some of the smaller trails, its up over the trail and it's unavoidable. Usually I try to find trails where it's not so prevalent. That's one thing I try to avoid.

The other thing is snakes. Unfortunately, I guess Spring has Sprung (!) because they are everywhere. All of the below incidences were in the last two weeks.

Case 1: I decide to go on a 6 mile trail run at my parent's house on the Pacific Crest Trail. I guess spring maintenance hasn't happened yet, because it was so overgrown and the trail was covered with grass and I saw 2 rattle snakes and in trying to avoid them was running into poison oak. So I quit early.

Case 2: The next day, my Dad and I find a clearer trail (brush wise) but see a rattle snake, a racer snake and a gopher snake. Whew. On our drive home, we see THREE (!!) King snakes. However, the King Snake is a good snake, since it is immune to rattlesnake venom and it preys on rattlers as well. I don't know what happened with these three, but they were all run over on the highway about 100 ft apart. I guess they were all trying to cross at once?

California Kingsnake

Case 3: On the American River Bike Trail, in the middle of Sacramento, I almost stepped on the head of a fairly large rattlesnake. I gave a VERY girly scream and jumped out of the way.

Case 4: A few days ago in Oakland, I was doing some trail running and saw a rattle snake and another black snake with long (lengthwise) yellow stripes. I think it's a racer? I did not poke either with a stick. This would not be prudent. Did you know that approximately 72% of rattlesnake bites are due to someone (usually intoxicated males in their 20s) handling them? Less than 30% of bites are from accidental contact.

Case 5: On my volunteer run in the Ohlone Wilderness, we came across a baby rattler. Did you know that they are more dangerous than the adults because they don't filter how much venom they inject? They may empty out all their venom into you in one go. This would have been especially bad that day, since I was approximately 8 miles away from any help.

(that's 12 total folks!) 

I am not sure why there are so many snakes out right now. Perhaps the dry winter spawned a few more babies (did you know rattlesnakes give birth to live young?) this year! Whatever the reason, be on the lookout! My problem is that every stick I see, every root, every tree branch...is a snake!

Just so you are aware, if you are bitten, remain calm. Only 5 out of approximately 7000 bites are fatal. If you can get the anti-venom within 2 hours, you have a 99% chance of survival. The more calm you are, the lower your heart rate, which also slows the spread of the venom. Also, don't handle a rattlesnake, even if you think it's dead. They can inject venom even after their head has been chopped off for several hours.

Just for fun, I made a collage of some of the other animals I have come across on my runs/hikes lately.

Middle: 

Rattlesnake 

Clockwise from top left corner: 

Racer Snake, Goat, Bison, Mule Deer, Weird lizard with stumpy tail, possible Western Fence Lizard, Banana Slug, Black snake in KS (huge!)

Not Pictured: 

Cow, Coyote, Quail, Turkey, Bluebird, Rabbit, Squirrel

Do you see a lot of animals on your runs/walks/outdoor adventures? Do you know anyone who has been bitten by a rattlesnake?

Two Roads Diverged

Happy 11.11.11 Everyone! 

Now that I am not in Missouri anymore, I am running wild. Literally. I am ON the path less taken. Where I am these days is miles from civilization and so I have been running on trails, logging roads, abandoned fire access roads and other secluded roads in order to get my miles in. As you can see from the photos from last week, they are some beautiful places to run, especially in the fall.

Running into people or cars is not really an issue for me here. However, I may run into many other interesting things instead. Like the huge pile of bear scat that I narrowly missed the other day while on my long run. I grew up in the area, so am not particularly afraid of the wild animals. However, one must be careful, especially now when some of the animals are foraging for winter and sometimes come down a little lower on the mountains to find more food.

Instead of cars, here are some of the things you may run into in my neck of the woods. Once again, this is in a very literal sense.

Black Bear and Paw Print

Beaver, Grey Squirrel, Feral Pig, Skunk

Rattlesnake

River Otter, Mule Deer, Red Fox

Mountain Lion

All photos were taken from The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada by John Muir Laws. This book is awesome. It details all the plants, animals, prints and scat of the local area. If you are into plants, animals and scat like I am (hehe), you would love this book, or a similar book, for your area.

Do you live in the city or the country? What animals might you encounter near your house? Have you ever gotten too close for comfort to any of them?

Mitad Del Mundo and More!!!

For the first time in about 9 months, we are back in the Northern Hemisphere! We spent one week in Ecuador, ending in Quito and visiting the Mitad Del Mundo, or Center of the World, where we straddled the equator and passed for the first time into the N. Hemisphere. Next we crossed over into Columbia, where we are now.

Columbia is not as scary as the US Government would lead you to believe, but there are still some precautions that should be taken. Buses have been known to be hijacked at night, so we have not been taking buses at night (obviously!) However, this means we have to do all of our travel during the day, which cuts into our time to explore the country. However, the scenery here is beautiful; the mountains are all green and they are in their growing season, so there are plants and vegetables and fruits everywhere!

We first stopped in Pasto, in a 7 dollar flea bitten hotel near the bus station. That was a 10 hour rest stop so we wouldnt have to travel at night. Then we went to a nice little colonial town called Popayan, where the streets are all numbers and you can get lost, but not in a bad way. Next we went to the town of San Augustin, which sits at the top of the Cordillera Central (Central Mountain Range) and looks down onto the valley of the River Magdalena. We took a horseback tour to a bunch of old ruin sites which are from BC.

Our most recent stop is here in Bogota, where we are now. It is nice to be in the city, where there is semi decent internet, but it is just so big and everything is so expensive....we are looking forward to our next stop, Valle de Leyva, where we will go hiking and biking and nature watching.

Titty Caca

Haha, I can actually say that without feeling like I am disrespectful! We are near Lake Titicaca, in Puno, Peru. According to the Peruvians, they got the Titi and Bolivia got the Caca. The funny thing is that Bolivia actually has the more beautiful side of the lake. There are a bunch of mountains surrounding it which are more than 6000 meters high (19000 Feet) and are covered in snow. It is a very nice place to be.

First we went to the WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS ROAD, which is near La Paz, in Bolivia. We survived! We mountain biked down from about 4000 meters to about 1000 meters in about 4 or 5 hours. Half of it was paved and half dirt, but the whole thing was a lot of fun! Next we went to Copacabana and the Isla de Sol, which is supposed to be where the Inca civilization began.

Next we headed to Peru, where we visited Arequipa, which was built in the 1500s and is quite beautiful with a huge church on the main square which occupies the whole block. We also visited the Convent of Santa Catalina which occupies a whole city block and is where the rich Spanish families would send their daughters (for a hefty fee of course). The picture above is one of Santa Catarina. It was beautiful!

From Arequipa, we came to Puno, where we are now. Yesterday we went on a tour of the floating islands and got to spend the night in the house of an indigenous person as well as dressing up in local dress and going to a local fiesta (pictures to come later - it was great!).

Tomorrow we head to Cuzco and then we will tackle Machu Pichu!! I am very excited about this although the altitude has been a little rough at times!

Honk If You Are Bolivian!

I almost got hit by a car the other day. It is becuase the people here drive like they are the only ones on the road. It is funny sometimes, the complete lack of rules or maybe just disregard of the rules, but sometimes there are some close calls. They just honk when they are about to hit you, so at least before you get hit, you are sure of what is about to happen.

Here is the thing. At most of the intersections, they dont have stop lights or signs. Basically, whoever gets there first and squeezes their way out into the intersection first, has the right of way. Where there are lights, they are just suggestions. If it is red, but you dont think that other cars are coming, go ahead and go (maybe to make yourself feel better, you should honk). If other cars ARE coming and they are about to hit you, just honk, you will be fine.

This is all well and good, but if you are a pedestrian it is a little hard sometimes to figure out what the cars are going to do. You cant just go if your light is green... So that is what I was doing. The traffic was stopped. There actually WAS a light, which was RED. The green way was stalled becuase they were all backed up through the intersection, so I had a green light basically. So I went. And some dude with a red light decided to try to creep through the stalled intersection and make his way across...and he almost hit me.

But I survived. I just laugh when I see the way they drive. It is comical. Oh, and PS, the car at the top is a Volkswagon Brasilia...this is the most common car in the city of Cochabamba...