Worn Treads

I forgot how hard it is to get a good ride in on days off when there are groceries to be bought, checks to be deposited, and other things to just tidy up the loose ends of life. Luckily on Friday I found some time to get a short ride in with roommate Scott. Our destination was the Albany Bulb, a land fill (meaning a fill on the Bay, not a junkyard!) jutting out of the city of Albany just north of Berkeley on the bay. This little section of fill on the Bay has gained some notoriety for the artwork that sits there, but I’ll get to that later.

First we took off along the semi-hazardous streets of Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville, I say semi because drivers in the Bay Area are a lot friendlier than those I faced back in Western NY (and way better than middle of the country RVs). From there we turned down along the Bay Trail pathway, which is a work in progress that will loop the entire 500 miles of the Bay! The ride reminded me a little bit of the Niagara Pathway, highway on your shoulder and a rocky shoreline on your other shoulder, except no large fences that seem to box you in.

The mean streets of Berkeley! 

The Bay Trail along the highway and Bay.

Riding with Scott is always a pleasure, because he jams his pedals. Scott did a tour in Southeast Asia a bunch of years ago, which is actually how we met (he commented on my loaded touring Cross-Check), he’s now a bike commuter and must do sprints all the way to work to keep the legs he’s got, I wouldn't say I truly struggle to keep up, but if I get lackadaisical about my riding I realize he starts pulling away, forcing me to push my legs to catch up. But I got back at him at the Golden Gate Fields where there is a short climb. I nailed down a smooth cadence and blasted up the hill, crested and then descended and we were there, the Albany Bulb.
We rode some off road at the beginning of the Bulb, both rocking our Cross-Checks we barreled over the mud for a little while, but then concrete jutting out of the ground forced us to carry them, I wish I had some fat tires or a real mountain bike to just never get off the bike.

Off roading at the Bulb.

Cyclocross!

With the view of both Oakland and San Francisco skylines on our left we walked around the hill that is the center of the Bulb. Turning a corner this concrete structure sat like a citadel protecting the shantytown on the other side of the hill. Riddled with spray paint by numerous artists, crisscrossing and overlapping as graffiti artists fight for a spot to put their work.

Hard to tell but Oakland skyline to the left, SF to the right.

Scott's new home.

After marveling at this site we walked around some more peering into little encampments that are scattered off the main road in make-shift shelters. It reminded me a little of my night in the Targahee National Forest in Idaho. As you may or may not know, camping in the National Forests is free and legal, and on this reservoir in Idaho, families met to spend a week or two living outdoors in fairly comfortable fashion, with tarps and trailers arranged in ways that looked like they’d live there forever. Dogs and children ran around enjoying the cooler air of the higher elevation before the brutal desert of Southern Idaho. It was a strange experience, part of me wanted to grasp it like some idealistic place to live, in an old school community. The lack of walls creates an open-air community where everyone knows their neighbor. But that’s not what it was. Instead people were more protective because of these lack of walls and seemingly more suspicious. I only spoke to one family, but the man I spoke to seemed stand-offish and uninviting. He staked his claim and didn't want me near. Later his sister offered me dinner, but I was already put off by this fella's attitude (plus it was a meat dish).
The Bulb had this same feeling. This homeless encampment had no idealism (despite the library Scott told me about, but we didn't see). It was a place to live, in fear and rejection from society. There were some people that were looking to work together, but other than that it was not very welcoming.
Then on the other hand, there was the free art gallery essentially nestled at the very end of the Bulb. Here people had arranged gnarled metal and lost driftwood into structures resembling some sort of steampunk robot people that seemed to have personalities all their own, like the Farmer John sculpture that had an almost Mid-Western workhorse attitude to it. Or the lazy traveler couple sitting on the bench.Some roses made from the same gnarled metal stood out of the ground, which gave the metal a feeling of rebirth and growth, even though it’s been discarded and isn't going anywhere soon.

The Lazy Travelers

Roses on  the Bay

That was about all there was to see at the Bulb, so we took off, nabbed some tasty Indian food and some nice looking but over roasted coffee then headed home before 5 PM to give ourselves time to finish off our day off chores. It wasn't a long ride, but I got to do what I love doing on the bike, exploring something new. That’s why I got into cycling, I didn't know Buffalo until I got a bike and just decided I needed to see new things around the city. Maybe that's why cycle-touring is the life for me?