Rode Ortega Hwy today

I haven't been on the bike in a week and decided I needed some seat time. According to weather reports it's going to be raining for at least the next week, so I figured why not! I gassed up the bike, bought a few bottles of water and some redbull and headed out. I was going to take off my saddle bags, but I decided to leave them on. I need to get used to riding with them in place so now's as good a time as any. I gassed up in San Juan Capistrano and rolled out. It's been years since I'd been down Ortega, but not much has changed, other than the construction going on next to the road near the SJC end. The ride out to the lake would have been great if it weren't for the jerk in the Expedition whom refused to use the turnouts and sped up every time I tried to pass. What an asshat. The way out there was a nice and slow (make lemonade, right?). I stopped next to the lake (or as close as I could get - seriously, a whole gigantic lake and there's nowhere that I can hang next to the lake to eat my lunch of protein bars and Redbull, so I hung out in a parking lot stretching my legs. After I made some headway digesting the quasi-cardboard and the sugar water I headed back up the mountain. On the way back a dude in an Escalade pulled over to let me pass with a friendly wave and I had no traffic in front of me for quite a ways, until some guy on a stretched out chopper decided that 30mph was the way to go. I pulled off and watched some ants eating a dead lizard for about 15 minutes, no cars passed, and I rolled out with all the new free space in front of me. All in all it was a good day; I got lots of video with the GoPro, which I'll post below.
Ride from Ortega to SJC 1 of 4

Sub Marina > Quiznos > Subway

No offense Subway or Quiznos, but Sub Marina is the business. I love their sandwiches, and I love the fact I can get alfalfa sprouts on a sandwich. Quiznos... if I factored in the broccoli cheese soup, you might win. Subway is cool because they're the only non-heinz dill chip pickles I'll eat. I am apparently hungry right now, since I'd normally never bother writing a blog entry about food.

Visited Dad for the weekend.

It felt strange heading down to visit and actually driving my car. I've been working hard to convert myself to using the bike as primary transport; this week I am going to go grocery shopping on the bike; hopefully my saddlebags will be sufficient - gotta remember to balance them! I really enjoy the mileage I get on the SV... I'm a big guy but the little twin seems un-fazed by it. I'm thinking that by the time the weather starts heating up after winter I am going to need some better gloves; I have either Mechanix mesh gloves (no abrasion protection), some Alpinestars leather gloves (no airflow, no insulation), and some winter gloves that'd be great riding in the snow, but kill any sense of feel I might have had. I'm pretty happy with my waterproof Alpinestars boots, except for when the water main by home busted and I had to ride through peg-deep water; the water splashed up to my waist, ran down my legs, and filled up my boots. Waterproof = water didn't drain out on its own.

Neighbor Randy's Birthday

My parents' neighborhood is strange... Everyone talks to each other, we all throw barbecues and so on. The neighbor straight across from my parents, Randy, is sort of a fixture; he's always there to help out when anyone needs it, and this weekend was his birthday (50th!) so the neighborhood threw him a party. It was neat; we all got plastered and played poker. To be honest, I had never played poker before- I would have done a much better job of learning the game if I hadn't been 60% of the way through a bottle of Bushmills. I had a few good hands, but things like probability and reading people faded pretty quickly; when I got tired of playing I shed my chips over the course of 4 hands so as not to be obvious about it and excused myself. I guess it's a fun game, but I should learn how to play properly before going back into a game like that.

Rode the SV to work today...

Bought a GoPro HD Hero

It's amazing! Wide angle (170 degrees) 5 megapixel stills, or up to 1080p hd video. I am in love with this gizmo! I'll attach a pic or two. I realized quickly that my 2 and 4gb SD cards were insufficient! Looking now for a Class 4 or Class 6 SDHC card so I can actually record 1080p without dropping frames. Good luck, me!

Family Christmas was a lot of fun!

Adam and Meghan brought Leland by Dad's house; so much fun! It was nice to see them; I'm so out of the loop sometimes. By the way... Leland zooming down the street on a gokart wearing a Transformers BumbleBee helmet? Priceless.