A good site : Post-Car Adventuring

I know most of my rides are Central and Southern California-centric, but hey, it's where I live :) Unfortunately, I can't quite traipse around this big blue planet just yet and find all the wonderful S240 or short-tour possibilities (trust me, I would if I could).

So I'd like to point people to a site that documents many car-free adventures (using a combo of transit and bikes) in Northern California.

Check out BikeandHike for a collection of some of their favorite rides. Heck, they even have a book/zine out to purchase.

We even have a little bit of a back story. Laura and I met Kelly and Justin while we were on tour last summer. They were biking down the coast and we had just finished our Not What I Signed Up For Tour. I think we ran into each other in front of a coffee shop on State street near the ocean.

I noticed instantly that Justin had a white powdercoated CETMA rack. I happened to be using my CETMA rack on that trip as well. So, of course, we geeked out a bit and we compared mounting methods (Justin had affixed his to his QR, I believe and I had hacked together a way to mount it to the front eyelets using a stack of spacers).

We were all trying to board the same train. There was a tense moment of wondering if we were all going to get on (Amtrak has only space for 6 bikes on a train that goes all the way from SLO to SD...ridiculous!). But, we all got on and met for a few beers in the cafe car. We shot the breeze about our trips and we talked a bit about touring and Rivendell.

It was a good time and we've kept in contact periodically. It's nice to see that they're still touring and they're doing well. So if you live in the Bay Area or are looking for some good trips around there, check out their site and tell them Russ sent you!