{"id":4235,"date":"2014-12-28T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-12-28T09:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gonesouthblog.com\/?p=4235"},"modified":"2014-12-28T09:00:41","modified_gmt":"2014-12-28T09:00:41","slug":"uvas-canyon-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rideeatcamp.local\/uvas-canyon-park\/","title":{"rendered":"A Night at Uvas Canyon Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Carrie and I have been bicycle touring for about eight years. And in that time I’d only once joined a friend for a tour. We have friends who ride bicycles regularly. We have friends who love to camp. But it seems we don’t have many friends who want to combine the two activities. I don’t know what’s wrong with our friends. Bicycle touring is about as splendid a thing to do as I can imagine. What could be better than spending the day riding through pretty landscapes, getting the heart rate going, eating anything without guilt, and then crashing in a tent under the greatest roof of all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
So it was a pleasant surprise the other day when I received an email from Carrie asking if we wanted to join our friends Lauren and Xabriel for their first bicycle tour. The plan was to ride about 25 miles south to Uvas Canyon County Park<\/a>, camp the night, and then head home the following day. Carrie and I agreed that this would be a good introductory route, with scenic roads and no sustained climbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The night before we left, Lauren and Xabriel brought their bikes by our place so we could outfit them with spare racks and panniers. Lauren seemed a little unsure that she could cram a night’s worth of stuff in only a pair of panniers. We gave Xabriel the beefier rack and larger panniers. He could haul any of Lauren’s extras if needed. My inner gear nerd was about to expound on the joys of ultralight packing, but I held back, not wanting to make them feel like what they planned on packing was wrong or inadequate. I could show them the spreadsheets that itemize my gear and its weight another time \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next day we planned to meet at the grocery store en route at about 10:30am. It turns out that there are two Nob Hill grocery stores about two miles away from each other. Carrie and I rode to one and Lauren and Xabriel rode to the other. After we sorted that out and finally found each other, we headed down the road, four happy people enjoying a crisp, sunny day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first part of the ride to the town of Morgan Hill is pretty much flat. We passed acres of fallow farmland and then entered downtown Morgan Hill for a lunch break. Carrie and I bought some falafel sandwiches. Lauren and Xabriel did the Mustachian<\/a> thing and busted out some bread and meat and made their own sammies.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOff to Uvas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n