Girlfriend time and a long ride

I'll admit it's been a bit of a tough adjustment with having Ed gone. Somehow spending the last 9 months almost constantly with someone means that there's a bit of a gap in one's life when that person is gone. Only 5 more weeks :)

However, with Ed gone, I've been having some really nice girlfriend time. On Sunday I drove up to Berkeley to visit with my friend Sarah. I got myself a real bike lock, which means I can now take my bike places and leave it there without me :). We went to a farmers market, where I got some lovely veggies and amazing strawberries. Sarah got fun running and swimming things, and we both bought beautiful summer dresses.

My friend Christine arrived on Monday to stay with me for most of this week. She's moving to Southern California to start law school at USC in the fall, and needed a place to stay for her last week of work. This had the added benefit of getting some great time together before she's no longer living in the bay area. We're having lots of fun, and even had a bit of an x-files marathon last night as she updated me on what happened with the show after I stopped watching it. Believe it or not, I was a hard core x-files fan in junior high- I went to expos, I read fanfiction, the whole nine yards! With the X-files movie coming out at the end of this month, it's time to rekindle our devotion :).

____

So, I've been a bit of a bad biker lately. I've been really struggling with my timidity towards street riding. Without riding on streets, my biking options are a bit limited. I love biking on the Los Gatos Creek Trail, but getting there isn't all that easy without loading the bike into Ed's car (not easy!). So far, the only ways I knew of getting to the trail including going past freeway on and off ramps which is worrisome to me on bike.

So, I haven't been biking much. Yesterday I was going to bike but was running low on time so I decided to just walk the creek trail. This ended up being an amazing experience, because it became a walk of discovery. I had seen this bridge going off to the left of the trail on all of my creek trips, so I decided to go ahead and see where I went. I followed it and walked on a dead end gravel trail for a bit, but on my way back, saw that the bike trail continued to an OVERPASS!!! There was a way to get over the 17! I walked over it and through the neighborhood it put me in, successfully making it to the major street that my apartment complex is off of. But, I had seen bikers go off in a different direction from the way I went, so I went off a hunch that there would be a way to get to the overpass from a street just a few blocks from my home so I walked to that street and, sure enough, was able to loop back!

Today, I put this discovery to the test, biking from my home successfully to the creek trail! It was amazing to not have to drive there (made me happy both because it was easier, and I've been feeling like I should drive less now that I have a bike). Once I got to the trail, I was in familiar territory and really enjoying myself. My balance was feeling so much better today and I was just in general feeling so much more comfortable on the bike. Before I knew it, I was at these gates that marked the furthest I had gone on this trail. I went through the gates and onto this great wooden bridge going over the creek. The bridge took me to another overpass, over the 17 again, and to the dirt trail I had heard about :)

Suddenly, I was on a very nice dirt firetrail, enjoying being on a trail. It was mostly in the shade and very pretty, even though we were pretty much next to the 17. The 17 was above, though, and easy to tune out. There were plenty of people on the trail and I was having such a great time. Soon, though, I realized I had been biking for 45 minutes and should probably turn around so that I wasn't out for too long. My legs were getting a little tired anyways. I stopped at a bench, had some water (another thing I need to learn is drinking on the go!) and then headed back.

Before I knew it, I was back to the overpass and the little neighborhood, and then home :). Next time I want to go further on the trail and see how far into the mountains I can get.

Tomorrow I'm off to southern california to stay with my family for a few days, which should be great. I'll be stopping at my Sister and fiance's new apartment. They've just rescued a stray kitten, which I'm really excited to see, as well as the apartment. They just moved in about a week ago, and I'm so happy for them :)

Have a great fourth everyone!