S
SNC1923
Guest
I was lucky enough to take two nice day rides this weekend in and around Kern County.
On Sunday, my riding partner Brad and I took a ride out to Parkfield, about 100 miles from Bakersfield. On the way, we spotted this herd of Antelope.
Known as the "earthquake capital of the world," parkfield rests squarely on the San Andreas fault, straddling the North American and Pacific plates.
According to Wikipedia, this bridge has "piers on either side that have shifted more than five feet relative to one another since the bridge was constructed in 1936." The two plates, North American and Pacific, are constantly rubbing against one another, one of the primary sources of all our wacky earthquake activity. I remember my geology teacher telling me that in a few thousand years, San Francisco (on one plate) will be south of LA (on the other plate).
Unfortunately, the restaurant in Parkfield was not open for breakfast, but we found Vic's Cafe in Atascadero and had a good meal. It was a nice ride, but we tried to get home before it got too hot. It was ranging between 103 and 105 all weekend in Bakersfield.
On Monday, Brad, Myram, and I rode up to Mt. Pinos for breakfast at the Flying Squirrel. We ride up Cerro Noroeste from the 166 all the way up to Mount Abel. It's always a good breakfast and a great ride, just miles and miles of this:
We did have a somewhat unusual diversion from the curves today. In California, you never know what you're going to see. Today we passed combines harvesting corn, ultralight aircraft circling overhead, and skydivers spinning slowly toward the ground. In addition to all of that, we encountered an honest-to-goodness cattle drive in progress.
A young woman waiting in a pickup was kind enough to warn us that they had crisscrossed the highway. We ran through about 3 or 4 miles of cow dung, according to Myram, one of the most slippery substances on earth. Took it slow and easy until the coast was clear.
Finally we took a rest at the Ozena fire station in Los Padres National Forest on the way back into Kern County. While there, I snapped this picture of the last vestiges of the Zaca Fire. Burning out of control for over a month, this blaze blackened nearly a quarter-million acres and blanketed Bakersfield under a cloud of dense smoke for nearly as long. On the bright side no homes were lost and the smoke cover cooled our temperatures; on the downside, no one thought it was possible for our air quality to get worse, but it did. *cough*
That's it. Two nice rides on one holiday weekend. Where did you ride?
On Sunday, my riding partner Brad and I took a ride out to Parkfield, about 100 miles from Bakersfield. On the way, we spotted this herd of Antelope.
Known as the "earthquake capital of the world," parkfield rests squarely on the San Andreas fault, straddling the North American and Pacific plates.
According to Wikipedia, this bridge has "piers on either side that have shifted more than five feet relative to one another since the bridge was constructed in 1936." The two plates, North American and Pacific, are constantly rubbing against one another, one of the primary sources of all our wacky earthquake activity. I remember my geology teacher telling me that in a few thousand years, San Francisco (on one plate) will be south of LA (on the other plate).
Unfortunately, the restaurant in Parkfield was not open for breakfast, but we found Vic's Cafe in Atascadero and had a good meal. It was a nice ride, but we tried to get home before it got too hot. It was ranging between 103 and 105 all weekend in Bakersfield.
On Monday, Brad, Myram, and I rode up to Mt. Pinos for breakfast at the Flying Squirrel. We ride up Cerro Noroeste from the 166 all the way up to Mount Abel. It's always a good breakfast and a great ride, just miles and miles of this:
We did have a somewhat unusual diversion from the curves today. In California, you never know what you're going to see. Today we passed combines harvesting corn, ultralight aircraft circling overhead, and skydivers spinning slowly toward the ground. In addition to all of that, we encountered an honest-to-goodness cattle drive in progress.
A young woman waiting in a pickup was kind enough to warn us that they had crisscrossed the highway. We ran through about 3 or 4 miles of cow dung, according to Myram, one of the most slippery substances on earth. Took it slow and easy until the coast was clear.
Finally we took a rest at the Ozena fire station in Los Padres National Forest on the way back into Kern County. While there, I snapped this picture of the last vestiges of the Zaca Fire. Burning out of control for over a month, this blaze blackened nearly a quarter-million acres and blanketed Bakersfield under a cloud of dense smoke for nearly as long. On the bright side no homes were lost and the smoke cover cooled our temperatures; on the downside, no one thought it was possible for our air quality to get worse, but it did. *cough*
That's it. Two nice rides on one holiday weekend. Where did you ride?
