Bike! Books! Bike!
Sep. 22nd, 2012 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aNo gaming this Saturday so I did what I've been doing in recent weeks: bike!
I picked up a turkey sandwich at Subway and then took that up to Lake Temescal where I had lunch. However my true goal was the hills above Montclair.
On the way, I was pleased to see a book sale at the Montclair Library. And, they had really good quality books. Like-new hardcovers and paperbacks, totally unlike what I see at most library book sales. I picked up paperbacks of one of the Legends II volumes and Magician: Apprentice, both of which I've been thinking about lately. The cost was $.50 each. I considered picking up the three Anita Blake books past what I'd read (Cerulean Sins, Incubus Dreams, Micah). Although the cost for those was an insignificant $.50 each too, I decided that the cost of reading them might be considerably higher. I had a nice talk with two of the ladies at the sale (one about Neil Gaiman, another about biking), then headed on.
On the Shepherd Canyon Trail I found the secret turn-off that leads down to Shepherd Canyon Park. Sadly, it was the first disappointment for the day. There were two soccer fields and then all the land around it was very poorly taken care of. Trails were slowly decaying, foliage was ugly and browning, that sort of thing. I walked the trail across the park, and then found myself at the bottom of a steep road (makes sense, as I was in a canyon). So I biked back up a ways.
My next stop was the Beaconsfield Open Space. Whereas the Park had been down in a canyon, this one was up on a rise, which meant more unnecessary hill climbing. And sadly it was a bit of a disappointment too. Oh, this area was nice enough with a trail leading down a gully with trees growing up on either side, but the trail was all tambarked which is really nasty to ride. So I went a bit back, realized that I was light-headed from the heat and hills, then sat down and had a Subway cookie and water. Afterward I opted not to fight my way down the tambark trail.
After that I planned to go the Joaquin Miller Park and/or Redwood Regional Park and I indeed biked through the neighborhoods of Montclair to get almost there. But I eventually decided that I was pretty tired out, especially with the unnecessary work that my first two stops had required, and that even if I made it into the Park I wouldn't enjoy the hilly trails. I turned back about a block from the earliest entrance into the Park and then pretty much coasted all the way home (which showed my how tired I was).
Note to Self: Next time I go up to one of those parks, bring the East Bay Park trail book that Melody and Jared got me.
So, I explored a few new parks even if they weren't great and got some good hill riding in and some saw really nice views here and there, even if I didn't make it to my intended destination. Total ride was about 14.5 miles. Next time I'll make it to those major parks in the Oakland Hills, and I might be fresh enough to still enjoy them without that unnecessary up and down on the way there.
I picked up a turkey sandwich at Subway and then took that up to Lake Temescal where I had lunch. However my true goal was the hills above Montclair.
On the way, I was pleased to see a book sale at the Montclair Library. And, they had really good quality books. Like-new hardcovers and paperbacks, totally unlike what I see at most library book sales. I picked up paperbacks of one of the Legends II volumes and Magician: Apprentice, both of which I've been thinking about lately. The cost was $.50 each. I considered picking up the three Anita Blake books past what I'd read (Cerulean Sins, Incubus Dreams, Micah). Although the cost for those was an insignificant $.50 each too, I decided that the cost of reading them might be considerably higher. I had a nice talk with two of the ladies at the sale (one about Neil Gaiman, another about biking), then headed on.
On the Shepherd Canyon Trail I found the secret turn-off that leads down to Shepherd Canyon Park. Sadly, it was the first disappointment for the day. There were two soccer fields and then all the land around it was very poorly taken care of. Trails were slowly decaying, foliage was ugly and browning, that sort of thing. I walked the trail across the park, and then found myself at the bottom of a steep road (makes sense, as I was in a canyon). So I biked back up a ways.
My next stop was the Beaconsfield Open Space. Whereas the Park had been down in a canyon, this one was up on a rise, which meant more unnecessary hill climbing. And sadly it was a bit of a disappointment too. Oh, this area was nice enough with a trail leading down a gully with trees growing up on either side, but the trail was all tambarked which is really nasty to ride. So I went a bit back, realized that I was light-headed from the heat and hills, then sat down and had a Subway cookie and water. Afterward I opted not to fight my way down the tambark trail.
After that I planned to go the Joaquin Miller Park and/or Redwood Regional Park and I indeed biked through the neighborhoods of Montclair to get almost there. But I eventually decided that I was pretty tired out, especially with the unnecessary work that my first two stops had required, and that even if I made it into the Park I wouldn't enjoy the hilly trails. I turned back about a block from the earliest entrance into the Park and then pretty much coasted all the way home (which showed my how tired I was).
Note to Self: Next time I go up to one of those parks, bring the East Bay Park trail book that Melody and Jared got me.
So, I explored a few new parks even if they weren't great and got some good hill riding in and some saw really nice views here and there, even if I didn't make it to my intended destination. Total ride was about 14.5 miles. Next time I'll make it to those major parks in the Oakland Hills, and I might be fresh enough to still enjoy them without that unnecessary up and down on the way there.