update

Nothing posted over the past week, the first of two weeks taken at home. I'll be back in the new year. See you then, maybe sooner.


28"

no rain

A break in the rain allowed emily and i to enjoy a pleasant loop around redwood/pinehurst, photography too.


Gingko trees are bright yellow now. I'm using a belarussian peleng 8mm fisheye here. It's a fully manual lens, which will prove useful as it draws no extra power to itself (making it appropriate for all-night astrophotography without the weight of power supplies). I'm using an aperture plugin, fisheye hemi, to render rectilinear correction to the 180 degree fisheye projection.


A small stand of young trees. (original projection)


Emily negotiating an S curve along pinehurst.


Above tunnel road. My favorite lens, the 50mm prime, is used here.


Heading down, above 24.

snow on mt. diablo

Taking advantage of one of the most extensive snowfalls in recent bay area history, I pedaled the faithful Atlantis up Mt. Diablo.


A false peak on the way up, the snow line seemed around 1200 feet.


lots of cloud cover throughout the day


looking off the mountain, I'm about to push up through the storm cell you see on the right...


in the clouds


though i'm reticent to discuss such things on here, climbing a mountain in a snowstorm lends a certain perspective on the quality of a ride.


the storm cell moved on and the snow calmed down.


I bypassed the road closed sign by using a firetrail above the ranger station.


It was worth it.


Approaching Sunset.




Sunset


20 minutes later.

Riding in snow is quite fun, and I'm glad I had the chance to do it regularly once upon a time. Here, it's nice to be able to descend out of the bitter cold at the end of the ride, though the descent takes much longer when one has to dodge ice.

marin minitour (3 / 3)

After a night of sleep, we woke up with Mt. Tam standing between us and a breakfast of vegetable omelettes and pancakes. The affair of the morning was 2000 feet of climbing over some pristine views along Bolinas-Fairfax and Ridgecrest. We got fairly hungry by the end of it.


Spanish moss above our tent in the morning light.


From our site, overlooking Stinson Beach.


Emily riding out.


One of the many microclimates along the way, this is just beyond the intersection of Bolinas-Fairfax, Bolinas Ridge, and Ridgecrest.


Climbing.


A world class ride.


The view to the horizon pays off any doubts from the climb.


More of ridgecrest.


Looking south out to the penninsula from the top of Pan Toll Road.


SF and the foothills we descended through to reach the Golden Gate (it's peeking out) and eventually the BART.

The beauty and accommodation along so many of the cycling routes coupled with moderate/nonexistent traffic made for an incredibly relaxing tour. We'll be back.

marin minitour (2.5 / 3)

We reached arch rock and took in the splendor of the pacific.


Looking down.


Peering out.


Bird. Rock. Plant. Ocean.


Taken from below, looking through the namesake arch where the previous shots were taken.


Here, you can see how the erosion of this small stream opened a small hole in the rock that was subsequently morphed by the powerful ocean waters into the large arch found today.


Emily's Saluki was wet and filthy.


Sunset, while climbing up Fairfax-Bolinas.


We watched it pass as we ate an early dinner in preparation for the climb.


Taken while cooking the main course later that night, at our stealthy campsite.


If you look to the bottom and middle thirds of this image, you'll make out a small meteor-looking flash. Close up, it is symmetrical, which betrays its being a satellite flare. I didn't see this until I reviewed the photo. It was totally unexpected. We also didn't expect to see the eclipse of the moon by an overhead plane (unfortunately, I was not quick enough to the camera to catch that remarkable sight).


Emily cooking (and holding still).


The view just outside the tent.


The near-full moon was bright.


The view inside the tent. Red lamp for reading refracting across the inside of tent mesh, white moonlight refracting across the outside, cosmos outside.