The long and windy road*

Emphasis here would be on long. Today I left my house at about quarter to 9 (I had intended to leave at 8, but got distracted with the garden), on my bike and headed out toward Davis. It was chilly (41 degrees when I got up, but all the way up to 48 by the time I left), and felt early, and I was still knocking the sleep out of my head as I rode down Southport Rd.
I started in









and then I went through









on my way to









And then I turned around and went home.

A little less than 7 miles from my house is the never-fun causeway.

It's about 5 miles of a bikepath that parallels I-80. It's the only direct way to get from West Sacramento or Sacramento to Davis. Consequently it's a fairly common commute-route. It's always wind, loud because of the traffic, and it seems to go on forever.

But then it ends, and marks the point when I'm 'almost' somewhere. This morning, I was almost to Davis. This afternoon, I was almost home.

I stopped in Davis for a few minutes at Starbucks. Well -- I thought it was going to be a few minutes, but then I started listening-in on a conversation happening at the table across the way. They were two very religious people who had some sort of an issue between them. I didn't quite catch what the issue was, but I spent about a half-hour out of Davis thinking about it, and I came up with some theories. Okay -- it was more than 1/2 hour. Actually, I'm still thinking about it.

Long country road out of Davis, and then into more country roads in Winters. And then the hills.

These are the hills we did last weekend, when I rode with the group. Big giant hills -- one of which is called "Cardiac Hill." Ominous, no? I'm still fairly slow on the hills, but I just found a good pace and kept at it. When I did it with the group I had a cue sheet telling me where to go and how long the hills were. This time, I just had to keep going until it seemed like there was more down than up ahead of me. Luckily -- there are helpful little signs along the way.

Here's how you know you made it to the top:









When I got to the top, I turned around and came back down -- kind of a scary, twisty, bumpy ride. The view at the top of Cardiac isn't all that great -- so I pulled over once the lake was back in view. Not the greatest picture, but quite accomplished.

And then: back to the flat rode. More country roads, some cows, horses, and lots and lots of motorcycles. I've never really thought before about the native habitat of a peacock. Where do they live? It doesn't seem to me that farmland in Winters, CA would be a peacock's native habitat. But I heard them "meowling" (sounds like the cross between a meow and a howl), and caught a few glimpses of them.


And finally -- this sign, which I found while pulled over to eat my lara bar and fuel up for the hills:









made me wonder how thin the line is between "resting" and "loitering." I suppose the difference is that resting has a purpose and a potential end, while "loitering" is much more aimless. I think I'll make it a point to start loitering more. Hmmm. That's not aimless.

Back to the flat roads, back to the causeway, back to fighting the wind. And suddenly we were back home getting ready for Sunday's ride.
A long and windy day.


*I don't know why both windy (curvy) and windy (blustery) are spelled the same. In this case, however, it seems to be fitting as the road was both windy and windy, and occasionally simultaneously so.