Do You Smoke After You Do It??

It’s a stream of consciousness, not a novel. Read on, friend.

While in S.Cruz today, I was able to score some parts from another cyclist, and after a great / brief conversation I was riding off to tear it up before the phantom rainstorm arrives Friday, Saturday, whenever.

It's not going to rain. The weather today : None. Seriously. If you knew how, you could have built a house of cards at the Eucalyptus grove at Wilder today.

OT: What other job can you get paid handsomely for making televised claims that don't come true... and then you still have a job, a paycheck, and an audience following for the next week and so on?? Don't say "a bookie".

Returned home tonight from one of those memorably kickass rides at Wilder/UCSC today. The kind of ride that puts a suspicious shiteatin' grin on your face all the way home.
Traffic? Pshaw!
Radar CHP on motorcycles? Not on my side of 17.
I rode Magic Carpet twice today. Once on the saddle, and again on the cushy heated leather seat of my FUV during the return trip. A co-worker calls them that because she has seen drivers change lanes w/o their signals as if to silently say “FU” while passing.

The recent rain makes it easy to climb all the usual sandy slides on Old Cabin, including that soggy log with the red ants. (they're on vacation btw) Got my heart rate up when I spooked a deer and it darted through the forest... only after I recognized that familiar heavy, double-thump of paired hooves striking the earth did I relax and clear my mind of images of man-eating cats that attack unseen.

I don't bring a music device when I ride. There's already a soundtrack installed. Coupla times I heard Jimmy Buffett singing about a cheeseburger in paradise. A minute of Master of Puppets cranked through my sound system as I descended and as I climbed once more, a minute of a posthumous Miles Davis instrumental mashup found on Doo Bop.

Nearly clear and very blue skies. Good drainage on the ST so there was very little mud. The gravel overlay on the fireroads was doing it's job just fine. The two cyclists bombing down Engelsmann gave me plenty of room to continue my climb and there was no "yield" issue to rant about online.

I wish, however, that somebody had told me there was a controlled burn in process today. You're right. Nobody tells these things. One must ask. When I walked though the door to my house, my woman gave me a smooch and asked if I had been smoking. "Not possible", I said.

I had to divert my route today to avoid the smoke that pressed in the cool air near Wilder Ridge and Euc Loop. The absence of wind bathed cyclists in acrid smoke and ash. There just wasn't any way to get to Enchanted Loop w/o fighting a self-preservation instinct that steered me onto... Twin Oaks. Not my first choice, but it worked out fine. Along the way, black earth marked the fire's advance. Adjacent to the trail the smoke waved and rose to give chase.

Today, I was faster.