drought (7 | 7)

after drinking the remnants of water still in the line at the abandoned campground (and narrowly avoiding being spotted by a ranger with a searchlight...) we started riding well before sunrise. 40 miles done by 9 and out of the 100+ degree heat in the valley before it even hit hard. amtrak fresno > home.

shaver lake south (6 | 7)

today repeated such a great stretch from my traverse of the sierra crest a few years back.


if pressed to chose, this is my favorite "road."


















the first at the primary reservoir on the king river : shockingly low


abandoned campground and empty reservoir, closed since last labor day. a real sobering reminder that we are running out of water.
*I wanted to write something about riding, I feel like I need to. It's been a few years, so relax -- I won't make a habit out of it. But, it's sad to say that i wonder as I hit publish how many people could see this and drive to the top of this ride. I don't publish as many ride details, let alone many of the best places I ride anymore, because i'm afraid somebody is going to spew 8 hours of pollution to drive across a desertified central valley to poach the idea of the experience with a conveniently loaded gps track on their iphone. The SCENE, if something so simple as bike touring ever could have one, is partially abandoning the prime understanding laden to this activity -- that there was more to life than consumption -- especially now that the big players are joining the game and selling you this garbage as if it were ever cool. take the train. it's there so you don't have to live a life of marketed experience. don't let rich kids with blogs they paid somebody else to design and specialized bicycles sell you bullshit you don't want and more importantly don't need. please. focus on the local. think about what and who you are supporting. what you are standing for. there is a real community of riders out there, and you don't need any clothing (musa, rapha, or otherwise) to take part. ride your bike everyday and never ever buy a toyota pickup, a westie, or otherwise just because you saw it on instagram. Stay true to the thing that brought you into this in the first place.

What will you look back and think about what you did while our planet was undergoing anthropocene collapse?

Keep it real. Back to the regular programming. Thanks for giving me a paragraph and thanks for reading.

traverse (4.5 | 7)

drought, fire, power replacement


power, water


upper san joaquin


power


abandoned pipeline tunnel




circuit board at 1" = 100'


last climb through to darkness. about 18k feet today.

dropping (4 | 7)

high sierra dirt (3 | 7)

turned left and climbed on forest roads through hill and dale / to the mountain top




approaching the summit of fresno dome, third of many such things




not bad


impromptu pizza altar




cookin

the valley (2 | 7)

rode into the valley, left the camera off, where i met jared at the amtrak stop and kicked off the push of the trip. plan was about 35k feet of climbing over the next 4 days -- much of it on dirt or closed infrastructure service roads.

great basin (1 | 7)

was lucky to get a ride to the great basin with friend justin. from our last camp.




still light