The View from the Saddle

A few weeks ago while riding my bike up the Corte Madera grade, a deer casually walked out of the woods, stopped by the side of the road, watched me ride by, then, I kid you not, looked the other way before walking across the street.


I chuckled to myself about this human-like behavior then got to thinking about all of the unusual sights I've seen while riding my bike.

First, the animals. I've seen many deer and the occasional racoon, which usually flee when they hear me coming. The turkeys, however, do not. They aren't afraid of cyclists. Problem is they travel in groups. They'll move out of one's way, but take their sweet time doing so. I've nearly hit turkeys several times, which can be pretty scary when you're going downhill at 30 miles per hour.


By the way: do you know that the term for a group of turkeys is "rafter" or "gang"? Gang seems especially appropriate for the turkeys around here - they walk around like they own the place.

On the stretch of Shoreline Highway between Muir Beach and the Panoramic Highway junction, I often see Red Tailed Hawks, Owls and other predatory birds roosting on the utility lines or soaring above the valley.


Very cool, especially during the spring, when you can see lots of young Red Tails learning to fly and hunt.

Most unusual animal sightings were the Bobcat, which bolted into the woods after I startled it, and the red fox which darted across the road in front of me. The fox sighting was so unexpected that I googled them when I got home. As I suspected, this is not a native species. Was I seeing things? Then, a couple of weeks later, I saw it again.


Unmistakeably a red fox. So, how did it get here?

Ridgecrest Boulevard between Rock Springs and Bolinas-Fairfax road on Mt Tam is a very popular spot for filming car commercials. While on my rides, I've stumbled upon film crews three times; once while filming a Dodge Magnum commercial and twice for different Acura models, the RDX and the TSX


I also see a lot of cars and car clubs that are just out for fun. The roads I chose to ride are hilly and winding. Good workout going up, a blast coming down. Very little car normal car traffic, but lots of cars whose drivers are attracted to the thrill of driving twisting roads.

Among the cars I've seen are a rare Delorean, which you may recognize from the "Back to the Future" movies. This was a weird car built in Ireland with the engine in the middle, not the front, butterfly doors which open upward like wings and an unpainted body made of stainless steel.


I saw a group of five climbing the road above Alpine Lake.

Another time a metallic blue Ferrari F40 came screaming down the road in the opposite direction. I heard this car long before I saw it.


As it passed me, I got a good look at the driver. It was multiple Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, who lived in Tiburon at the time.


Makes sense that fast runners like fast cars.

Once, a racy looking red car that I'd never seen before passed me just outside of Mill Valley.


It turned out to be an Infiniti G35 coupe, which had not yet been released for sale. It was being road tested by Car & Driver magazine. I later saw the article, along with photos unmistakeably taken in Marin, in which the writer described the test route "on Highway One, north of San Francisco".

One of the first cars that allowed its buyers to customize the way it looked with special paint, wheels and stripes was the Mini Cooper. In order to advertise this and to show the car off before making available for sale, Mini got a group of drivers to go on a coast to coast tour. I encountered this tour, 18 Minis, all customized differently, between Muir and Stinson beaches.


The most memorable and unusual car encounter I had was in 2004, when Lamborghini, an Italian manufacturer of "supercars" introduced a new model called the Gallardo. The Gallardo sells for a mere $200,000, or about the same as 20 Honda Civics. To celebrate the introduction of the Gallardo, and the 40th birthday of the company, Lamborghini invited all Lamborghini owners in the Bay Area to join a couple of Gallardos for a drive. 128 Lamborghinis showed up.


They passed me on the road between Olema and Point Reyes. Loud, beautiful, fast.

Finally, there are the unusual people I've encountered. There was the guy celebrating his 70th birthday, blowing past me on the way up Mt. Tam, and the guy, bombing down the mountain, screaming "YEE HAAAA!", a camera phone taped to his helmet.


Then there were the skateboaders. I encountered three skateboarders racing down a long downhill near Alpine Lake at about 25 miles per hour.


As I pulled alongside one of them, he glanced at me and said, "What's up dude?"

Weight Obsession

One of the nice little things that happened when my family sat down for our Thanksgiving meal (at a restaurant in Carmel) was that my sister ordered, and ate, a steak and everything that came with it, including potatos, a salad and dessert. It told me that my sister is finally happy with the way she looks.


My sister has never been overweight. In fact, she always been on the thin side. But, for as long as I can remember, she's been on a diet. When we were kids and our family went out to eat, she would order a salad for her main course because it was low in calories. The salads she'd order were so small and so low cal that she'd pick at everyone else's food, she was so hungry. So, I was glad to see her eat at Thanksgiving not only for her sake, but for mine, for it meant I got to eat my whole meal too!

Unfortunately, the next day I heard one of my nieces ask the dreaded question: "does this make me look fat?"

First of all, she is nowhere close to looking fat. Secondly, she's 10 years old, which means that she should be gaining weight, for she is growing. Rapid and sudden weight gain at this age is normal and should not be interpreted to mean that one is "getting fat".

Our society places way too much importance on the way a person looks. This overemphasis on appearance leads to people being overly concerned about their weight.

On the other hand, obesity among young people is a problem in this country. This is basically the result of too much of the wrong kind of food and not enough exercise.


The simple solution: eat sensibly, that is, don't eat too much sweet or fatty foods and get regular exercise.


Good news: the people of Marin County are thought to be the "skinniest" in California because of the way we eat and the amount of exercise we get.

So, do you want to know where you stand? Are you part of the obesity epidemic or are you unnecessarily worried about your weight? I've added a gadget to the sidebar which can help you figure it out. It's called a Body Mass Index Calculator (BMI).

To use it, simply enter your height and weight in the appropriate boxes, then click on the Body Mass Indicator box at the bottom and you will get your BMI. Then, compare your BMI to the range shown in the box below the calculator. Most of you will be happy with what you see, for in my experience with fitness testing at Park School, I've found only one or two students each year who have a BMI in the overweight range.

Please note that BMI is only a estimate of fitness and not perfect. For example my BMI is 24.9. According to the adult BMI scale, that means that I'm overweight. I'm not. My BMI is high because I have big leg muscles from riding my bike so much. Muscle weighs more than fat which causes my BMI to be high. So, while BMI is helpful, it isn't the final word.

Revolution Foods Pt II - Your Chance to be Heard

I've been told that representatives from representatives from Revolution Foods will soon be coming to Park School to gather feedback on their meals. Here's your chance to voice your opinion!

Remember, the object here is to help them make their food more appealing, so be constructive and be specific. Just saying "I don't like the pizza" doesn't help. Explain what it is about the pizza, or whatever meal you want to talk about, that you don't like. If you can, tell them what you like about their food, too. This will give them a wider range of information from which they can get ideas to make the food better.

Have fun!