Last Gasp...

I suppose that riding south on Highway 1 from Jenner to Bodega Bay is on most people’s list of favorite rides.  I agree.  But I have a shorter ride here in town that I enjoy at least once a week:  riding from work in Tupper Hall to G St.  I follow a very straight line, and use bike paths and roads with different things to see and for different purposes.

On most days, when I leave lab in Tupper Hall, I start eating an apple.  Whether I go home or run errands in town, I have to dispose of an apple core.  When I go downtown, I leave by way of the bike path that runs south of the cow barn, next to the pasture.  I’ve seen some interesting things in that pasture, but let’s just continue east.  I ride through Tercero, which usually has some college kiddies out doing something.  I continue east past the UCD ReproGraphics building and past the Crocker Nuclear facility to Roessler and Physics/Geology.  There’s a trash can in front of Physics/Geo where I can ride by at speed (commute bike, Xtra-cycle speed) and toss the apple core in.  I make a slight jog north and ride under the Chem Annex, to the grassy area north of Mrak.  Lately, there have been loads of squirrels to watch out for.  So far, my personal squirrel tally is one incident, no fatalities.

After cutting across the Mrak area, I get on a very lightly trafficked road along the north side of Putah Creek, south of the art/music buildings.  Redwoods shade the road and ducks are usually to be seen, rooting in the mulch, for bugs I guess. In the summer a few years ago, Chris Froh, campus percussion master held classes outside in the small deck across Arboretum Drive from the old University Club.  That was really interesting.  He’d have students start rhythms and have others join in and the drums mixed and merged and changed as he directed the groups.  I didn’t see/hear it often, but I always stopped when I did.   The little art annex road ends at the east end of Hutchinson and from the intersection of Hutch and A St, I get into rush hour traffic.

This is when I get a thrill out of passing cars that are all lined up at one stop sign or another.  I stop at all the Stop signs and signals, but usually end up a couple blocks ahead of car traffic and love it.  I pull into the go straight lane at First and E and when the light changes, head past the Boy Scout cabin and into real downtown.  All the fun is done, I just keep both eyes open for cars and hit the Co-Op for food for dinner.