Recent Rides

Quick photo dump - I've been making the rounds on the mountain bike! Turns out east San Diego County is full of winding singletrack trails and steep wilderness roads that climb along the sides of shrub mountains. It's so easy to find trails - with apps like TrailForks and MTB Project, I can just pull up a map and zoom in on the longest green, blue, or black lines I can find, ideally with some elevation gain. All of these spots have been within an hour drive, and most are within a half hour. Sure, I miss snowy mountains (and moisture in general), but I'm doing my best to embrace southern California winter and enjoy the benefits of snow-free trails. If you can't tell from the photos, I really like when I can see the trail I am currently riding wind up along the side of a mountain - it's pretty crazy how much ground you can cover on a bicycle. What an amazing and efficient invention. 

Raf and I had planned on visiting friends and family in Massachusetts and Maine over the Thanksgiving holiday, but we had to cancel our plans due to a sick cat. Thankfully, Squeaky's health is starting to improve! I continue to make lots of delicious foods: asparagus and green bean gratin, spicy rice noodles, pizza with a sourdough spelt crust and heart-and-soul red sauce, brie and mushroom risotto, arugula and kale salads with feta. Working on figuring out our next move ~June 2023: with the broken state of the housing market in the U.S., we're strongly considering a move to the hills surrounding Lake Como in northern Italy, where our dream might be affordable. Until then, I'll be riding... 

Cedar Creek Falls:

Hollenbeck Canyon: 

Pine Creek Wilderness: 

Otay Mountain Truck Trail:

Otay Mountain Truck Trail

It’s been about a month since I returned from the John Muir Trail! The memories of the trip are only improving with time. I’m still left with a reservoir of chill relaxation energy, and I feel grateful that I had that opportunity to recharge. Since then, much has changed! 

Before I left, I had been living in Ocean Beach, about a block from the Pacific Ocean. I put in my 30-day notice at the end of August, with some tentative plans to spend a month or longer based at a short-term rental cabin in northern California and scope out longer term land / homes / farms. On the JMT, I came to the realization that staying with Raf in San Diego and going about our daily lives together was more important than escaping urban areas (at least until next summer, when Raf will be ready to leave San Diego). When I returned from the JMT, she had received the go-ahead from her landlord / family friend that I could move in. So I decided to skip the northern California plan and move in with Raf – I was fully moved in by the fourth week of September, and I’ve been having a great time settling in!

We have been growing tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus beans, and habanero peppers throughout this spring and summer in the raised bed in the backyard, but I recently reconstructed a second raised bed that had been disassembled a year or so before. I tried to use the “no-dig” philosophy when filling it in: I layered cardboard, woodchips, potting soil, and composted horse manure into a soil lasagna. We are planting this weekend! Lots of brassicas that will hopefully enjoy a winter of mild temperatures and medium sun. We also have a pile of composted horse manure, where I’ll probably plant more cabbages. The lemon tree next to the driveway regularly presents us with the gift of “ground lemons”. I like the asparagus beans - they have been steadily producing 3-5 extra-long beans each week, for months:

I’ve been making delicious food: brown rice risotto with melted brie, delicata squash lasagna made with my “heart and soul” red sauce (heavy on the mushrooms and celery), udon noodle soup with bok choi and homemade ginger veggie broth, sprouted spelt loaves, refried black beans, delicata squash gratin, fermented cabbage, and sweet potato lentil mush that we eat with injera or teff pancakes and sauteed cabbage with ajwain seeds. 

I also bought a full-suspension mountain bike! Florida Canyon (part of Balboa Park) has a small network of trails that I can ride to from my house via Golden Hill Park. It’s a nice spot for shorter evening rides where I can climb some hills and sneak in some trail jollies. Today, I found an excellent ride in the Otay Mountain Wilderness ~25 minute drive from my house. 

Otay Mountain Truck Trail climbs ~2800 feet up from the coastal plain onto the chaparral Otay Mountain, not far from the border with Mexico, over a distance of ~8 miles. The ascent from the west is ideal: mellower grades (4-8%) alternate with tougher climbs (9-12%) and a handful of super steep stretches (17-18%). It reminds me a lot of Kitchen Creek Road, except it is unpaved and closer to home (25 minutes vs. 1 hour). 

The cool and cloudy weather, with mist at the highest elevations, is ideal for a challenging ride - I’m able to avoid overheating while climbing without the intense sun and aridity. I’m definitely looking forward to riding this road on a cool and sunny day sometime soon though. Near the summit at a fork in the road called Doghouse Junction, I talk to a few friendly BLM and Border Patrol folks, who are spending the morning up there as part of a safety campaign. They thank me for wearing a helmet and give me a free map. The way down is pretty chilly: I had sweat a fair bit on the way up, and as I build up speed, evaporative cooling does its work. Maybe I need to stuff a windbreaker in my fanny pack. Throughout the ride, I encounter three border patrol agents (one on an ATV, one in a truck, and one in a Jeep) and two other mountain bikers, who are ascending as I am descending. I’m grateful to have this intense workout so close to home!