9 January 2010

Solo ride

It was chilly and overcast, and many houses in the mountains were putting out smoke from their chimneys. I headed up Hwy 9 to Felton. On the way, the road was closed. A power pole was hanging over the right lane, leaning to the right, held up by the power lines. There was also a smashed up car or truck balanced on its nose or tail off to the side, and emergency vehicles with sirens on were arriving. I got off my bike and walked by on the left of the road. The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful.

I continued up Hwy 9, then took Glen Arbor to Ben Lomond, then Hwy 9 to Boulder Creek. At the south end of Boulder Creek, on the right of Hwy 9, a house was burned down that wasn't the last time I remember. On Hwy 236, there was a pack of cyclists headed the opposite direction near Jamison Creek Rd.

I started up Jamison at 11:38. A lot of the road was wet. A mountain biker emerged from a trail on the right at the curve left marking the start of the steeper part. The only other traffic were a car headed up, a car headed down, and a pack of 3 motorcycles headed down. The 1.33 sign had a Specialized sticker near the bottom, below the INVESTIGATE 9/11 sticker. My clock changed from 12:03 to 12:04 just after I got to Empire Grade.

It remained cloudy and overcast on the return down Empire Grade.