Tag: Wildlife

Water and birdsound, stopped trailside on Bornholm (longer writeup of this island cycling trip coming soon):

Ten years ago I’d go on a 70 or 80 mile ride to Santa Rosa for a beer at Russian River Brewing… but I’m not feeling anywhere near that strong these days. But I’d been musing for a while about some sort of Russian River area ride on some bike paths I’d wanted to scope out, assisted by the newer Marin/Sonoma SMART train. One transit-heavy way to do this could be to take BART to El Cerrito del Norte, change to Golden Gate Transit bus #40 from that station to the San Rafael Transit Center, and hop on the SMART train there… but there are some timing logistics to make work: ...

Roadblock (riding in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park). Reminds me of 5 years ago.

Another day in Copenhagen, another itch to point the bike in a direction and explore under the wide-open sky. Apparently I lucked out and this was the first sunny week all year. My phone showed a large green area , labeled “Kalvebod Fælled" criss-crossed with car-free paths (thanks, Google maps bike layer) between the city and the airport. But what is it? From Wikipedia: ”[Kalvebod Fælled] consists of reclaimed sea bed, with a number of former islets making up small isolated hills; it was dammed and drained during the 1940s to serve as an artillery training range. […] Most of the area, however, lies as lightly maintained parkland featuring a range of nature types, from young forests to tidal marshes […] After years of preparation the area was finally cleared of unexploded munitions and fully opened to the general public on October 15, 2010.“ ...

An easy, relaxing local adventure. Meet at Velo Rouge in the morning. Bike to Larkspur, partly along dedicated paved bike trails (about 17 miles). Rent kayaks from Outback Adventure ($30 for 2 hours, I called ahead since we were a group). Paddle along Corte Madera Creek and side creeks under Mt Tam (a few hours before low tide so we were paddling against the current on the way in but the ebb was carrying us back out). Head to the Marin County Brewing Company a few blocks away for some food and refreshment. Catch the 4:45pm (sunset) ferry (also right there) back to SF. ...

Take BART -> Fremont. Bike to Alviso. Ride for hours on levees, around salt evaporation ponds and in-progress-of-restoration wetlands habitats, past trains and abandoned buildings in an alien landscape. Jackrabbits and egrets galore. Ride on to Caltrain, completing a full circle of the Bay. ...

Angry Birds near Skokie

Miniature pony obstacle course on the bike path

Beware of Frog?

In the woods, surrounded by chirping birds, I heard a strange noise and came across this: a guy laying bricks, with the tink-tink-tink sound of a metal tool on brick in sync with techno playing from a portable stereo.