The Spirit Rider of the Seasons

I promised to write about public art in Antioch that I ride my bike past, but like so many projects, I've gotten a bit behind. But I'll try to get back on it.

This piece — "The Spirit Rider of the Seasons" — is right down the street from me. I rode my bike down the hill to photograph it with  my funky Panasonic GF2 and a pinhole lens for Worldwide Pinhole Day on Sunday, April 28.

I remember shooting this sculpture for the local, now defunct newspaper when it was being installed back in 1993. I met the artist, David Govedare as the large-scale steel sculpture was being attached to its concrete and granite base.

Like almost all public art in Antioch, this piece is slightly cheesy, but it's still my favorite in the city. And I enjoyed playing with my pinhole camera. I don't think I'll enjoy picking all the stickers out of my socks.

30 turned to 52 and two bridges

We were going to go out for 30 miles and check out Dan's new bike (photos and story later) but somehow it turned into 52. It was a delightful day, with sun and views and that's about it.

Poppies: Open; Base layer, arm warmers left behind

We took the toe warmers off the shoes, left the base layer and arm warmers in the car and launched for a short ride on the beautiful Calavaras Rd near Sunol. We were sneaking in a ride on the way to a social call in Cupertino. What a great idea it turned out to be.

Not only were the poppies out, but the weather was perfect. And as a bonus we were able to see the eagles nest — though we spotted no eagles — off in the distance.

This cycling thing seems to be catching on. I was amazed how many other cyclists we saw, including a club of Lithuanians in cool jerseys.

It was not an epic ride, but it sure was a delightful one.

Party Pardee with Mumbo Gumbo

It's all about the band. We decided to ride the Party Pardee metric out of Ione (sponsored by the Sacramento Bike Hikers) because Mumbo Gumbo was playing at the finish. They are just so much fun, and they even played one of my favorite tunes. We bought their new CD with the wonderful cheery song "Love Makes Me Stupid."

Our day started with the overcast sky spitting just a bit, but it never really rained, though we did have cool temperatures all day. The ride itself was California foothills-green-spring beautiful. The route doesn't have a ton of climbing, and it's only 64 miles. Still, it's a good workout if you push it, which we did despite my plan to just roll and enjoy. There were just too many short climbs I enjoy knocking myself out on to take it easy. As is so often the case on rides like this the strong riders pass me, and then I pass them on the climbs. I end up being passed by the same person six or seven times.



One highlight is riding over the dam at the Pardee Reservoir. It was built in 1929 and has a '29 feel to it.
There's a short climb after the dam where, at the top, a volunteer hands you a tasty lifesaver. It's that kind of ride.



We also managed to get a little wine tasting in after the ride, and Tricia picked the spot she wants our mansion built.



After that much fun, and considering our day started at 4:30, we cleverly chose to stay at the Plymouth House Inn B&B for the evening. Breakfast was grand!