Like anyone after a break up,I'm having good days and bad. My friends brighten my days. But when I'm not busy things creep into my head. I need to look forward focus and move on.Kross is in sight and the legs are coming.
This will be part two of the Kali vacation.


Riding the Santa Barbara area was incredible form the mountains to the club rides. My first club ride was at 7am. All rides seemed to start that early. There were 4 groups of 20 to 40 cyclist. I picked what I thought would be my group. As with any group "your legs" decide. So out we rolled. Bang 26/27 mph no talking. Hmmm. I'll sit in the middle. Then the first hill hit and it explode. I wasn't ready for this. But we regrouped at the top. I was beat. Travel time,time change ? Who knows. I decide to go back with the group that was turning around. Bang again the attacks came one after another. In the end we did 54 miles at 24.4 mph faster than my races at home.
That evening walking around town an electric utility bike caught my eye. As we were looking at the owner introduced himself (Dave Letierri) and we talked bikes. I told him about the ride. He smiled. He then invited me to ride with his group Tuesday morning. cool, I'll be there. Then spinning the next day. I met a guy and said who he was. He was, "Dude that guy is badass." What? Turns out

he was a pro and Olympian and Lance's mechanic at the tour. Great guy. He owns Fastrack Bicycles in SB.

His shop was super cool.

So I show up for his ride. Introduced all around friendly group. We headed out for the "hills". Turns out we were going to go climb  all of the mountain I rode half of the day before. Up to painted cave we went.  54 minutes up,18 down. Saw a rattlesnake without it's head and tail. Talismans?

We did the ride and had a coffee. Thanks Dave. He also gave us lots of local advice.

Our travels took us to Venice beach. Counter culture to the hilt. Did see the muscle guys. But Mills and I had to dip a toe in the ocean. Venice beach brewing was the choice for lunch. Their motto was "You don't have to eat crappy for here."

Did a little hat shopping here.

I got a haircut to help the homeless. Pretty cool. Betty Page girls cutting hair right on the beach.

Lots of interesting panhandlers here on the beach. Lots of vendors that were pro weed. Some good street musicians and college kids just goofing on people. A big change from the polished presence of Santa Monica.

In homage to the Jetta was this Mazda. Art or housing?

Our next adventure took us to the Hearst Castle. This was truly fun. It was easy to just lose your self in the  beauty of it all. The pool was amazing. They dug it up three times to just redo it.

OK kids. That's enough for today. Getting kind of blurry here.

So eat good food,drink good beer and ride your bike. OGQ

R.I.P.   8/12/11 No more tales of City Mouse and Country Mouse. That story has closed. I won't go into details. But it was a sad ending for Country Mouse. Turn the page.


Since blogs kind of run in reverse I have a lot to catch up on.


The vacation in Kali was great. Santa Barbara. What a place. If I was a trustafarian I'd retire there.


Country mouse, Jaunty Mouse and Vino Mouse made the journey to Pixburg to fly out of there.
We started the wine journey with a bottle from a friends vineyard. Rogers and Roberts.

A nice capresee salad. What would this blog be without food? 

We'd rented a house on Craigslist and Vino took care of the car rental. The bike had been shipped out ahead of time. All flight connected and soon we were in LA. Again I have a skewed perspective of Kali. I think everyone drives a cool car,hot rod, low rider etc or it's all choppers. None to be seen.  We did see lots of old cars in great shape. Kind of time travel with cars. We also one genuine low rider a couple lead sleds. One chopper a Big Dog,exactly what it is.

We settled into out digs and went grocery shopping. The Von's near us was a very good market.

Those in the know will get it. So I get up for the Saturday club ride at 7AM. UGH, I'm on east coast time. So around 60 guys show up for this. Here's the M.O. for the rides. Everyone is on high end bikes and Zipps with tubulars are de riguer. Not a aluminum wheel in sight. Dura Ace DI 2 in abundance. If you've seen it in a magazine and it costs too much it was there. Kind of like riding in  catalog. Good for them and the bike industry. This ride was like a race. Who know's what kind of HP was there but it was fast,all the time. We finally regrouped at the top of a long climb. I was whipped and they were going to go 75 miles. I headed back for with a group for 54. Even the return was a flurry of attacks. 24.6 avg speed. More than most races at home.

Our first trip took us to Solvang. The idea follow the movie Sideways. Vino Mouse was  a star. So we took in the countryside and sipped. Blackjack being a favorite.

A field of orange. Splendid.

Memory lapse on days here. I should keep a journal or have done it daily in Kali.

I'd discovered the Brewhouse on the net. It said "Best happy hour in SB". Well, we had fun there and Beth our waitress was the best. I was going to make a video of her and send it to the Ale House to show them how to treat customers. She told us "You can try others, but you'll be back." She was right.

We tried Santa Barbara Brewing OK, but out of beers and no outside seating. The Union Ale House,the worst. Couldn't even get three beers right. We ran for the Brewhouse after that one.

Hollister Brewing. Like going to TGI Fridays with a brewery in it. So the Brewhouse became our home. Beth recommended "the team" as she called us,come for brunch. It was great too. They made a Habernero beer. Did it by 2oz shots. Tasty, but was enough. Cold,then the heat came. They also made a jalapeno popper with fresh jalapenos,goat cheese and bacon. These were super. But the heat varied from a 1 to a 7. I also had the "Cruel Prawn" That was hot. Thats' Pete the brew master. He came out to meet the team. Of course I'm representing Omme. On our last trip there I gave Beth the shirt.

Latino girls are hot. It was Fiesta days in SB. They had this cultural tradition of taking eggs that had been filled with confetti and you smash it on someones head. No could explain it. Confetti filled the streets. The girls said OH you have to put it on Face book.

So let's go to the farmers market. I'd be there everyday. What produce. Things I'd never seen. I got squash blossoms to make. Pretty tasty. This homeless lady was classic. Check the sign. The joy of giving. If I just sit here. You'll give. Sure I will. We saw her around town with various signs.

Now for produce pics.

And a sweet old ride.

OK kids Country mouse has had enough computer for the day.

So ride your bike,eat good food,drink good beer and love the one your with. OGQ

I'll get to riding part soon. That was incredible.