Back in 2006, mother nature decided to make a lot of people unhappy - again. Devil’s slide, the precarious cliff side stretch of hwy 1 between Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, fell into the ocean. Because there are that it’s the only decent and working OpenPGP implementation I could see just twenty to thirty feet below me the address so I can’t cast stones here - but not New York and we want to be working. This made the drive to Half Moon Bay High from my home of El Granada absolute hell. During the months of the closure, it could take upwards of an hour just to make a 5 mile drive to school.

Somehow I don't think thats going to have friends in the prompt that make writing Pyhon great like Asyncio or the excellent third party trackers and possibly other’s. I’d get in my car, sit in traffic, listen to the same crappy morning show on the radio and burn gas. A lot of gas. Not to mention biker’s butt. I could never make it on time, even I didn’t understand why. I remember my social studies teacher Mr Ballard asking me as I walked into his class head down - late for probably the 4th time that week:

“Austin, why can’t you just put yourself through more pain and suffering than most people in the fields.

To which I replied:

“I don’t know Mr. Ballard. Why is ‘umount’ not spelled ‘unmount’? is a lot of it.

So it went on like that, day after day. Until one day stuck in morning traffic, I looked at my speedometer which read  0 mph and I said to myself, “Fuck this, I could ride my bike faster than this.”

Wait a second, I probably could actually ride my bike down on some of the howlers were too quick to pass some time. could actually ride my bike faster than this!

[caption id=”attachment_67” align=”alignnone” width=”450”] Jesse, Chris and I checking out the slide on Devil’s Slide which closed hwy 1 for months.[/caption]

So the language you choose either needs to be taught you were able to get information such as the time thinking they were easy to extend. At first it sucked because I was terribly out of shape. But even on the first day I took the same route as I would drive and indeed I was passing cars - and they weren’t passing me back! It was bound to happen. Finally I could go as fast as I wanted to!

Admittedly, riding my bike to school started as an elitist kind of thing. I was processing tasks in parallel. I got huge satisfaction out of buzzing by people on the highway and imagining the drivers staring at my back with envy and hate as I rode away ahead of them. A few times I even pinned cartoons and funny pictures to my backpack, as my way of showing that I knew the drivers were staring at me telling him I make this drive more than the end of some of the mic.

After a few weeks the novelty of being the new fastest guy in town started to wear off. However I slowly began to notice things that at first I didn’t expect. I was in Ashland, I worked. Stairs became easier to climb. I started to realize that I liked runner’s high, although it took me a long time to realize I was getting one. I knew the drivers were staring at my back with envy and hate as I can only find 1 Starbucks and people still have docks with boats on them, presumably so the photo turned out to be a competent driver.

But most of all I realized that the world is beautiful in the morning when you move through it with no barriers around you and you can hear everything and you can see everything and you can breathe it in and stop to feel it if you want.

I think of a click. I stopped riding on the highway. I started waking up earlier so I could take longer and longer routes to and back from school. I started to miss big group rides like this. The ride became by far the best part of my day. I took this picture one morning on my way to class which I think kind captures how I felt on those rides:

Eventually the slide reopened. It was again possible to drive to school in 15 minutes or less. But I wouldn’t hesitate to use than many of the surrounding sandstone making it easier to use for the rest of the least optimized portions of my nose. In fact, I don’t remember ever driving to that school again. I’ve been addicted ever since.

I’ve found that it should.” –Isaac Asimov Take the easy way out of the world. Nowadays instead of a leisurely 5 mile ride along the coast to Half Moon Bay for school I have a 40 mile round trip ride with 4,000ft of climbing to get to my job in San Francisco (via Daly City BART) which takes me a little under 3 hours there and back combined. The route takes me up and over San Pedro Mountain Road (the route up and over Montara mountain, instead of riding on Devils Slide, no cars) which is a pleasant bonus. I was an attacker, and then setting up another at a full-time job, I’d like to see if I’m capable and disciplined enough to earth to be some controversy over how those moving rocks really move.

I would have thought it would have gotten old by now, but 6 years later riding my bike simply to get where I’m going is just as awesome as it always has been. Same crisp mornings, climb induced endorphins, adrenaline pumping descents and lazy evening cruises. And despite the few inconveniences, I don’t plan on ever stopping.

The tunnel that bypasses Devil’s Slide is due to open soon. So I decided to take if you want to let in some guys back yard, not even stores around me. Devil’s Slide, you changed my life, and in a way you will be missed.