“The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we don’t live in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.”
—Thick Nhat Hanh
Bill Rothenberg and I began our invigorating ride from Pillar Point Harbor along Half Moon Bay State Park’s Coastal Trail taking in sweeping views
of the Pacific Ocean as we made our way to the Ritz Carlton. These parts of the coast are known to be cloudy, foggy and cold. Though it was brisk, we had plenty of sunshine throughout the day. Other than a quarter-mile along a sleepy beachfront street, the ride is virtually removed from traffic. Though it is mostly one, long, unbroken beach, there are actually around 11 named beaches. Along the way, we saw surfers in their wet suits, crows doing acrobatics on thermal air currents, guided horse riding groups making their entrance over a sand dune to the beach.
As we got, further along, we noticed some RV campgrounds. The treeless expanses made the ride very scenic. There were detour signs safely re-routing us to avoid
areas of slides and collapses of some of the trails. It was a relatively easy ride until we hit a quarter-mile of trails that were disjointed and unpaved and filled with ruts and sloping, bumpy, varied terrain that required our deepest attention.
As if the wide-open scenery and refreshing ocean air weren’t enough, we rode along The Ritz-Carlton and the adjacent golf course. The ride turns around a designated area where the public trail ends.
I ended it with a crash in front of four golfers as I was turning off to the right & Bill went left. I broke my fall with my right hand. Disrupting the attention and concentration of a golfer about to tee off is like walking noisily into a Buddhist monastery while the monks are meditating. But, they were kind and showed concerned for my well-being. Fortunately, we were only going about 5 miles an hour and it appears I sprained my pinky finger on my right hand.
Speaking of Buddhist monks, upon our return Bill and I took a short cut to a very colorful downtown Half Moon Bay and encountered two Buddhist monks at the 46th annual Safeway World Championship PUMPKIN WEIGH-OFF exhibit. I noticed they were taking photos of each other in front of a gargantuan 2,175 pumpkin, so I offered to take one of them together & they reciprocated. A conversation ensued and it turned out they were Theravada (of the elders) monks from a local monastery. I shared with them the five years of annual three-week mindfulness meditation retreats I did at Kyaswa Monastery in the Sagaing Hills outside of Mandalay, in Myanmar. They were familiar with the monastery and my late teacher. One of the monks, asked if I could email him the photos and as we said our goodbyes, he extended an invitation to visit their monastery.
By this time we were famished. We discovered a charming place Mexican Restaurant called the Cantina across the street from the Pink colored Half Moon Bay Feed & Fuel Company, where two musicians were serenading patrons. I had battered fish tacos and Bill had enchiladas, rice, and beans. After lunch we made our way back to Pillar Harbor, having clocked 17 miles worth of biking before heading home.
Postscript: I had an X-ray taken of my 5th digit (pinky finger) on my right hand and was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture, and the doctor dispensed a padded aluminum finger splint and I’m ready for my next adventure.
