A butterfly floats on the breaze...

                                                              photo by Luke Grenier

 

                           ...of a sun lit day, uncle and Mia feel their worries gently fade away
                          Rest Day rule #1 - no bikes, no books, no babyruths (in the pool)
                           
                          
                                           

Hi Thursday, it's me again...

If you keep the sun up until 3, we'll promise to say hello to Miss Henrietta. 

 

For the record: Todd helped me break 4 hours to the top, unfortunately this is an out and back boogie and the wind was on our 12 o'clock for the second 4 hours...

Ball Mauler 3 -only 10 miles from home but...

Ball Mauler is at it again, below are all the details..

Saturday April 19, 2014 for the third running of The Ball Mauler. The route covers around 71 miles with about 11,000 feet of climbing. Meet at Kelly’s French Bakery in Santa Cruz. We roll out at 8:00.

Below is the approximate route with mileage and elevation gain, so you can plan how much of the ride you want to do:

1) Kelly’s Bakery up Western up Empire Grade to the top of Jamison Rd: 17.5 miles/2,900ft
2) Down Jamison to Hwy 236 and back up 6mis (then ride Empire Grade Rd south to the top of Alba 4mis): 10 miles/1,600ft
3) Down Alba Rd to Hwy 9 and back up 7.4mis (ride Empire Grade Rd south to the top of Pine Flat Rd 1.9mis): 8.3 miles/2,200ft
4) Down Pine Flat & Bonny Doon to Hwy 1 and back up 14.8mis (ride Empire Grade Rd south to the top of Felton Empire 1.8mis): 16.6 miles/2,100ft
5) Down Felton Empire to Hwy 9 and back up 7.2mis (ride Empire Grade Rd to Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery 9.8mis): 17 miles/1,600ft

TOTALS:
5 climbs

71 miles

11,000 feet of climbing

And for my next trick I will...

..fillet braze an adirondack chair for DZ and rid you all of spandex

Todd holding court Black Cat style in the SC Mts

patiently waiting for the 1:15 Gazos line

Thanks to Giro a small group of  unassuming pedal pushers wiggled their way safely through the back roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains without issue. We came to the conclusion that the belt loops, zippered flies, and handsome wool had a lot to do with it...

Babe, what should we do for spring break...

Steel WÜleur family road trip 0.0 MPG from Jake Hess on Vimeo.

Dad, can I get a cookie & some m&m's...yep

We got out of dodge for a week on a 200 mile family cycle touring trip of the central coast and quickly discovered the benefits of packing my trusty Grundig short wave radio. We successfully wiggled our way out of a couple storms thanks to some familiar faces who happened to be on night watch at the local fire house. Olive scratched out this rendering of our trip while we waited for some french fries in San Simeon. We already have our next trip planned! Stay tuned for photos and ride report...