GreenTech Geek: Recharge

Lunch spot of the gods: Mission Point Park at Mission Bay, San Diego.
(Click on any picture in this post to make it bigger.)

What's a greentech geek to do when the world gets to be just a little too much to handle? When too much ice melts in the arctic? When too many innocent bicyclists get killed by careless cagers? When an elected leader on the right says one too many deplorable things regarding the better half of humanity?

Well, this greentech geek takes sage advice from his wonder-sister in Eugene, Oregon regarding "childlike fitness" and hops on one of his bicycles for a long, fun ride to a place of beauty and unpredictable occurrences.

Which is what I did yesterday. No work. No chores. Just good, clean riding. As my publisher told me:

"How can you save the world if you don't take time to rejuvenate?"

-- Publisher 

See how it went ... after the jump.

Winning the mountain bike of redemption.

I threw my "mountain bike of redemption" in the back of my Prius and headed to the coast. It's a sweet Diamondback Overdrive 29er I won in a drawing at Bicycle Warehouse's 20th anniversary celebration in Pacific Beach last month. Several weeks prior, my beloved Gary Fisher Cake 3 -- which I purchased over a decade ago to console a broken heart following the end of a relationship --  was unceremoniously stolen near Lestat's Coffee Shop in Normal Heights.

I decided to ride from one end of the Mission Beach/Pacific Beach boardwalk to the other end, and back again. It was a fine, sunny day. I wanted to soak up some old-fashioned SoCal goodness ... and not have a care in the world.

It started off on a perfect note, with lunch at Mission Point Park at the southern end of the boardwalk, along the shores of Mission Bay. My lunch spot is pictured at the top. It's what you see in the dictionary next to the phrase, "perfect lunch spot."

And it only got better from there. After a vigorous ride the length of the boardwalk, I ended up at the northern end in a beautiful cliffside green space called Grassy Knoll Park. That's where I pulled the mountain bike to a stop ...

... and did some chillaxing in the sun, like this dude who happened to plop himself down right by my bike:

I surveyed the coastline. A sandy beach filled with volleyball players, frisbee-throwers, picnickers, and sunbathers gave way to foamy white waves, backed by rippling azure water, carrying standup paddle boarders and surfers, leading to a blue horizon marked by patchy cotton clouds. Taking it all in, I breathed deeply ... and sensed my internal recharge light turning on.

"Mission accomplished," I thought. "Here is a reason I live in San Diego."

Near me, there were a couple of guys doing yoga on one side, and assorted sunbathers and chillaxers on the other side. As I turned in the direction of the yoga masters, something caught my eye .... 

Yep, a pot-bellied pig ...

He or she was having a great time sauntering about among the other beach bods on display ...

On my ride back down the boardwalk, I spotted a fellow cyclist exhibiting a bicycle protection maneuver more economical -- and perhaps more effective -- than using a Kryptonite lock. Fall asleep on the seawall with your road bike. Keep one hand on the bike as you slumber. And you're golden ...

I saw things that made me realize I wasn't the only one who headed to the beach to get away from it all yesterday ...

And then I threw the bike in the back of the Prius and headed home, down the 8 back to North Park. Freshly rejuvenated, perhaps I saw things more clearly than I would normally. But something about this huge cumulonimbus cloud I saw rising in the distance ...

... made me ponder -- like Linda Hamilton's character, Sarah Connor, at the end of my favorite movie -- the mysterious, sometimes glorious, sometimes ominous, world to which I was returning ...

Until next week ...

Posted in: beach,bicycling,entertainment,GreenTech Geek,Linda Hamilton,Mission Bay,Mission Beach,mountain bike,NOTW,Pacific Beach,rape,sustainability,Terminator