Paicines-New Idria-Paicines

With the first rain of the season on the horizon, we had to hastily schedule our Paicines-New Idria-Paicines Boogie to take advantage of the perfect road conditions and honor Jobst and his crew with an all day pedal through this desolate country of the Diablo Range. One of the first fires I responded to while stationed in San Benito County as a seasonal Firefighter with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection was at the base of San Carlos Peak (4,845' elevation). The 8 mile climb always seems to surprise me. The Sierra Range was barely noticeable off in the distance and we saw one car near the Pinnacles and one more on Panoche Rd. Thank you Rep Jimmy Panneta, the BLM and Ranger Wilde for keeping Clear Creek open to the pubic (cyclists) and increasing the footprint of the recreation area. The roads were in fantastic shape and we locked both gates on our way out. See ya next year!

                                                           

                                   Top of R1 looking towards the central valley and beyond

                                                                Panoche Road

                                                         San Carlos Peak approach

                                                          below Hernandez reservoir

                                                         mercury mine- New Idria

                                                                 Frusetta Ranch

                                                       Coastal Range off in the distance

                                              Beaver Dam Forrest Fire Station District

                                                               San Benito Lateral

25 years & 2 weeks ago...

Bill Winsten, Jake Hess and Dan Perry were brought together by Josh Thomas (Cabrillo Athletic Director) to enter the Santa Cruz Sentinel Triathlon (aka The Tin-Man). Josh had the three of us meet at Hobees restaurant downtown to discuss how much of a lead DP would give us out of the water. We set a new coarse record only because Dan absolutely crushed the swim record and all we had to do was stay upright and keep the throttle wide open. Two years later Dan and I entered state service and the rest has been a total blur. DP - Thanks for the friendship and motivation and don't forget me when you are free to pedal California without having to take a day off work.

Photos: Kev McGillicuddy

EAP-DP to the rescue...

Dan - How much do I owe you for the last therapy session? Having a fellow brother of the bear to bounce work related ideas (problems) off of is quite the treat when rolling along south county on a calm and tranquil fall day. I got the yea I've experienced that before look from him a few times which is nice. This week he had us working on our fruit gathering skills and I know there must have been some sort of hidden lesson there for me...be the fruit - no, look to the tree - no, walk in your cleats - no, gather anything you can because you're living on a state salary - yes!

DP- "I know there's at least one more hidden in there, I can feel it"