Last Weekend’s Exercise

… and an explanation of the proprietor’s recent absence: I spent Saturday and Sunday on my bike, riding a 600-kilometer qualifying brevet for this year’s Paris-Brest-Paris; that’s 375 miles, roughly evenly divided between a very rainy Saturday and a beautiful if cool spring Sunday. So: I’ve finished all four qualifiers for PBP, and all I need to do now is maintain my edge for another four months, book a trip to France, get there, ride 750 miles or so in four days in late August. … Wait — let’s just take one thing at a time.

More on the ride later. For now, I’ll flash back to the amateur weather prognostication I posted to a cycling group on Friday afternoon. Except for the guess about how long the showers would last Sunday — they were actually over with early in the day — it gives a pretty good idea of what we encountered:

Light rain is expected to spread across most of Mendocino County by

late morning, then [south] across Sonoma County and into Marin during the

afternon hours. The rain is expected to intensify as we travel north

and west. The area from Yorkville, on the high ridge along 128

northwest of Cloverdale, out to the coast is expected to get about

one-third of an inch of rain before 5 p.m., about three-fourths of an

inch between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., and another half-inch or so betweeen

11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday. After that, the rain will become showery,

and you can probably expect to encounter brief periods of

precipitation until late Sunday afternoon. Low temperatures are

expected to be in the upper 40s to about 50.

“The silver lining is that a southerly wind (meaning it’s coming from

the south) is expected to build throughout the day Saturday; after the

storm front crosses the coast late Saturday night, the wind is

forecast to gradually turn to the west, then the northwest.”

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3 Replies to “Last Weekend’s Exercise”

  1. Congratulations on 375 miles. I’m probably not the only reader of yours who is now conditioned to think you’re out riding your bike when there are long pauses in your posting. Good weather predicting on your part.
    Whenever I hear the word “Mendocino,” my mind immediately jumps to the song of the same name by the Sir Douglas Quintet. And now it’s there. Stuck.
    Paris is very exciting.

  2. It’s funny about that song. I like it. It’s sort of a California surf song. But then, when you’re up there — it’s all big forests and very rough, rocky coast and precious little beach to catch a wave (and if you do surf, you need a heavy-duty wetsuit to contend with the frigid water temperatures. the town of Mendocino itself — it’s gone from logging and mill town to pricey art colony. Ever seen “Racing with the Moon”? It was shot in and around the town; beautiful place.

  3. Big Mendo. I’ve gotten to know that beautiful rugged coast a bit, including the pretty town of Mendocino itself and the gittier Fort Bragg, 10 minutes or so north. And there’s AV, home to Boonville and Boontling and some of the very best Pinot Noir in the state. And of course, inland, all my grape-farming buddies, led by Casey, the redneck vintner… I love Mendocino dearly. It’s not THAT far from the Bay Area and its millions, and yet it is a million miles away. I kind of figure, one day, I’ll end up there, in Mendo.

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