Seven Tenths of a Mile

I can walk to the coast in .7 miles. When the wind blows this direction, I can hear the foghorn at the harbor & the barking of the seals. I'm driving around, getting lost in my new base city HAAhaa! The salty air is cool and seemingly smog-free. This place is so... Caucasian. Of course, I was previously living for free at the asshole triangle of VietNam, India, and Mexico. Should have made this change earlier. I actually had plans to move to Santa Cruz a few years ago and my career got in the way. Now single again, I said to myself, "I can be alone anywhere".

Didn't want to live alone, nor in the woods -- although there are some great deals on newer, larger housing options to be had in the sticks. But, I really don't need to be isolated. I'm not hiding. I'm not a farmer. Even though I've been driving around SC to all the hot mtn biking spots for several years, I'm more of a city boy, anyway.

I hate to say that the vibe is different over here, but it IS. People don't honk in traffic. There's no left turns allowed in most of Capitola. A lotta Volvo drivers. There are a great number of cyclists -- by choice, not by force of economy. I got both of my bikes tuned up and I'm putting miles on them. I had to buy a cruiser because riding a mtn bike on asphalt is a waste of expensive tires & it doesn't blend well. So, I scored a Fat Tire bike (New Belgium Brewing Co.) from a girl from NOLA, living in SF, who was moving to LA. Paid $165 and some fuel for travel. Not bad, considering she was offered $300 and stuck to her commitment to me. A great CL exchange! It wasn't new... the seat was done and the bike generally needed some TLC --I've done the first layer. First thing I did was to add the devil squeeze horn. New bikes go for $800-$1,000. I put a rack on the back, new tires, a front wheel, grips, and a seat on this one -- then cleaned up the rust!
It had one tire that with the New Belgium Brewing Co. text tread. The other was a knobby. It's difficult to buy the text treads, so I went with a pair of whitewalls. Next, I'm going LED on that headlight!