couple more pics

California poppies are starting to pop:


Cupertino, CA

Stopped to talk to these gentle souls on my bike ride today.

I stop and feed some locals regularly



Mini donkeys

temps finally rising - but trails are still snow covered and roads are salt covered - so another trip to explore a neat (mostly frozen) waterfall













.

Dusk ride, just after sundown. Scottsdale's Sonoran McDowell Preserve. Four Peaks in the Mazatzal Mountain Range in the distance. Trek Roscoe 7 stopped for a photo op.

Southside Valley

Lake Washington (a small piece of)

temps dropped again - so back out again on foot to explore another neat gorge and waterfall

I was in Colorado skiing with some friends, and spent some time in the Garden of Gods in Colorado Springs. Here are some bighorn sheep that were laying about.

We have bighorn sheep in our SoCal local mountains, but they are so shy, I have never seen them! These puppies didn't seem the least bit concerned with our presence nearby.

missed them - great to see them out today greeting the bikers !

Winter in the Eastern Sierra

Though I don't drink beer, I love clever word play:

Clever add but what is up with all the high alcohol craft beers? It's getting difficult to find anything interesting under 7% these days. Add to that the fact that many craft beers only come in 16 ounce cans. I'm sure that is ok for some people but 16 oz. of 10% beer and I need a nap.

lol.

I love a post ride beer on a hot day. My gripe is that a lot of saloons have a wide variety of IPAs (I'll drink them but not preferred), and so few have ales and dark beers anymore. I'm going to be traveling to Ireland soon ... sure hope that's not IPAland as well.

Far from it. Touring from Dublin counterclockwise around the coastline was one of our favorite trips Kinsale, Kilkenny, Kenmare, Dingle and so many charming little towns and the scenery on the ring roads was spectacular.

If you go to the Guiness brewery, I highly recommend their connoisseur experience if they still do it. It is limited to groups of about 12-15 people and done in a private room hosted by people who make the beers. They tell you about all the beers they make (there is a lot more than the stout most people know) and let you taste everything. It cost money and you have to reserve a spot, but a unique way to experience the brewery. It's been maybe 5 years since I did it so not sure if it's still offered.

Last time I was there, most still drinking mostly stout; Guinness in the Dublin area, Murphey's down in Cork, and Beamish if you go up North. Oddly enough Budweiser is also quite popular in some places.

agree - the 16 oz cans are fairly popular - but if I grab a beer in an establishment I almost always get something from the draft selection … and then I will often grab a 4-pack of the 16 oz cans cans to go if the beer impressed

Thanks for the tips!

Is that the same Budweiser they sell in the US? Years ago, I was on a tour in the Czech Republic, stopped in a gas station and they had Budweiser in a can. Bud is not my favorite beer in the world, but I knew that the Czech Bud was different than the US Bud. It seems Budweiser US was very territorial about their trademarks and sued everyone and anyone that they felt infringed on their name. They won all those suits except one ... the one against the Budweiser of the Czech Republic. Turns out their mark predated the other Bud's mark, so it is the one place in the world where the Budweiser trademark (the cans look different) belongs to another company.

So of course, I had to try the Czech Budweiser. You know what it tasted like?

Well to me at least, it tasted EXACTLY like the US Budweiser ... which I think has a very distinct flavor. I was expecting it to taste better ... more European somehow. But nope ... it was the same.

Managed to get out between storms for a short ride today ...

Merced Wildlife preserve. The birding wasn’t as good as hoped but caught a nice sunset.

First time on Skyline Trail. I was headed to John Nicholas Trail, A great ride...13 miles, 2200ft.

Double post...delete

Wow you captured the feeling I have on the coast! Amazing! Thanks for sharing!