Following on from where I left off last week, it did indeed rain for most of Saturday. I was able, thankfully, to get out at first light and ride the short loop I had wanted to do – south on Skyline to the 84, taking the descent to Woodside, and coming back up King’s Mountain Road. It was still mostly quiet out, and it only rained for the last five minutes; the ride itself felt like pretty hard work, though I was glad I did it.
I spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching football, observing the rain fall from the inside of the cabin, and seeing the mist and cloud roll through the redwoods. I decided against trying to explore any trails, as the rain never seemed to move on as forecast.
On Sunday morning it was chilly, but I dressed up and went out at sunrise, to the 84, this time descending in the other direction to La Honda, which was even colder, before emerging in the comparative warmth of the coast, and having a decent go at the climb of Tunitas Creek Road, as the sun shone through the trees, illuminating the evaporating damp. I was torn about wanting to take the longer loop to Pescadero, but I was on a timeline.
I dropped off the rental car at noon, and wandered over to the start of the planned roam. It was a sunny afternoon in the east end of the city, and I enjoyed taking people around the old and new spaces.
We had a warm day on Tuesday, which I enjoyed until I started riding back to the ferry in the afternoon, and suffered a double pinch flat on my way to the Park St bridge. At first I though only my front tyre had gone, but when I stopped on the other side, I realised both were out. I had one spare and some patches and a mini-pump, but it took a while to even find where the tell-tale parallel slits in the tubes were. I knew right away that I would miss the ferry, so I rode back to Fruitvale BART and was glad of the little bike store there, where I could pump my tyres properly and buy a new spare tube.
Unusually, the warm, still weather moved on – the wind picked up again that evening, and the temperatures dropped. The extra roam on Wednesday afternoon took place on the cusp of the rolling fog, as we made our way around the five squares that were first laid out in the plans for the western addition to the city (west of Larkin, the previous edge of the street grid) in the 1850s.
Nancy asked me if I would offer the dharma talk on the 2nd, which I am very happy to be able to do. I am kind of at the magpie stage, just pulling in loose threads of ideas while letting things roll along (something I wrote about on Patreon after my last talk). On Friday I had a couple of corporate meditation presentations to do, and I also have some recordings to take care of, including a trio designed for middle school students, so I need to focus just on one set of things at a time, which, in this realm, is not so hard to do.
That will be my third consecutive weekend of donning robes; today, assuming I return a second negative COVID test in the morning, I will be attending Kim’s shuso ceremony at City Center, which will be a treat.
Shundo David Haye 