Mountain Weather

Our front yard faces the Sierra's (West), and as you can see we had some weather blow in last night, and most of the day today. The grounds around our house are snow free, clean and dry though. I like it because I get to have my cake and eat it to. I love watching storms...I just hate not being able to ride my bike.

We've had a gathering of quail in our yard since we arrived, but over the last couple of days, there are two couples (I call them Lucy & Ricky and Ethel & Fred) who've been hanging out and carrying on a regular basis. Lucy will find a snack and go tearing down the yard with Ricky hot on her heels. Ethel & Fred just squak at each other and then follow Lucy & Ricky. It's hilarious. We also have Jack Rabbits who tower over our beloved Jack Russell. Desert wildlife. The animal I saw yesterday (and again today) was a big cute ground hog!

Today I headed out into the SouthWEST breeze...Dodging black clouds, but the rain evaporated before touching down. The clouds come so close you can reach out and touch them. When I rode up to the California-border-Henness pass, a bunch of snow blew off the mountain. I could hear it on my helmet, but it just evaporated by the time it touched down. It was wild! I have to say that, as usual, the wind is ferocious. It is nice to have the valley's surrounded by mountains to ride around in though.

When I headed back home I had a "Marshall-style" tailwind. I was in my big ring flying along the road. Then when I reached the foot of the 1000' foot climb home, a big hail-cloud that was following me exploded and I rode up into the monster gusts and ice pellets. The twisty part at the bottom is kinda cool...but then there's this wide open straight up stretch that was less fun. Closer to our house, the wind took a turn and rolled around behind me to help me up the hill. How cool is that?

Life on a bike in the desert is pretty cool!