In The Saddle Again

Last night I got my bike out of storage (i.e., unchained it from the fence outside my front door) and rode it for probably the first time in two years. I rode over to the Los Gatos Creek Trail (see links in sidebar) where I'd biked a few times back when I first moved in here in 1999. I remember not being terribly impressed with the trail when I first moved in, but now I figure I must have just been adjusting to my new locale, since it really is quite pleasant.

Last night I took a 50-minute ride down to Vasona County Park, which I'd thought was the end of the trail, although talking with my cow-orker Anders and then looking up the info on the Web I find that it actually continues about few miles south from there to Lexington Reservoir. So I'll probably tackle that ride some weekend. I did, however, spend some time biking along some of the spur routes from the trail - which are really just long paths so people living, say, on the other side of Highway 17 can get to it - and generally checked out more of the scenery.

My endurance was pretty good for the ride, though my quadriceps and (especially) my butt really felt the exertion. Nonetheless, I'm planning to start biking on the mornings when I don't go to the gym to work out (though maybe not necessarily on weekends).

I decided to go out again tonight and bike the other direction along the trail, which has been extended another mile or so since last I rode it. It doesn't head as far north as I'd prefer, but I guess eventually the planners hope to extend it all the way to downtown San Jose, which would be cool.

Of course, I probably won't be living in this part of the Bay by then... but by 2005 Campbell should be a pretty lively place, what with the light rail coming in and all.

Lately I've been missing my annual trips with my family to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. There's a nice bike trail there, for instance, but I miss the lazy week or two lying on the beach, visiting the villages on the Cape and buying various things at the bookstores, and trying the various restaurants around the area.

Cape Cod is a big part of my childhood, and even of my teenage years. Build sand castles and "hermit crab villes" as a kid, and hanging around with my Canadian friends Matt and Leah and their family as a teenager and even into college. (They were the first people I ever played Bridge with, in fact; Matt's father played, and tried to coach us, but mostly we weren't taking it seriously enough to really learn. Matt was also probably the last person I ever played Star Fleet Battles with.)

I haven't been to the Cape in six or seven years, but it hadn't changed too much in the previous 15 years. Some of the local stores (like the drug store) had gone out of business, but our favorite burger and fried seafood joint is still there, and of course the beaches don't change a whole lot over time. And, basically there's just something pleasant about waking up whenever you want, and being able to step outside into lovely weather and walk five minutes down to the ocean or the bay, and stand on one of the few shores on the east coast where you can see the sun set over the ocean.

When I was growing up we had a Welsh Corgi named Punkin, who was a sweet (if plump) little dog, and awfully enthusiastic. For a while we were able to take her to the Cape, until the cabins there started forbidding it. She loved to run around on the beach and paddle around in the water. It was one of her favorite things, I think. (The realtor from whom we rented was - for many years - a nice old lady who had an elderly dachsund, and picking up the keys from her was also fun. She eventually either retired or passed away and turned her business over to a realty firm.)

There are a lot of things about California which remind me of the Cape, particularly the smells, probably the result of living half an hour's drive from the ocean. But it's not quite the same, I'm afraid.

Sooner or later I'll have to take some vacation in the summer and spend it on Cape Cod again. Some day...